In a futuristic world1,
the couple Hayato and Yutori faces the problem of infertility. But owing to the
dystopian set up when even UN issues The World Population Explosion
Declaration, treating infertility is almost impossible. In fact there are
black markets for treatment and possibility of immigration, however
consequences are bad if attempts are discovered by authorities except for
bearing via natural pregnancy.
1. Under
the current law, the birth of a child born out of wedlock wasn't recognized,
and in the event of a mother becoming pregnant with such a child, abortion was
mandatory; should such a child be born nonetheless, the authorities were obliged
to carry to carry out euthanasia.
In this short crafty prose, time
shifts between past and present, but not in ordinary way. In one version amidst
couple's ceaseless effort for fertility, Yutori gets pregnant by someone else
than Hayato, and by law he must give in to divorce. Hayato, for healing his
emotional loss or even for handling other human complexes, asks for a Stand-in Companion2—a humanoid duplicate of Yutori—with
authorities. This new partner, with manipulated memory, can live with Hayato
for ten years… Yutori, the Stand-in Companion, is convinced that the infertility
problem is with her. Hayato, tries to find happiness by inflicting silent
disgrace to Yutori, but finding meaning with meaninglessness tires him, until
he finds renewed love again. In another version of the story, it's Hayato who makes
someone else pregnant, confirming his fertility, and here comes, Hayato, the Stand-in
Companion with his side of the story.
2. The
rental period granted for a Stand-in Companion was limited to ten years without
the possibility of extension. Strictly speaking, the stand-in program was put
in place to promote the independence of people who have lost their beloved in
an unexpected event, so there was no room for flexibility regarding the rental
period.
The ideas, such as humanoid's rights to request another Stand-in Companion in case the mortal partner is dead
and Stand-ins having all the rights equal to human, makes us suspect,
with all the interplay with juxtaposed contrary versions and character's psyche
that for the purpose of emotional healing a duplicate might live with duplicate
in the near future, and even after mortal end humans will live until they find mental
and emotional peace.
As can be inferred from the
novella, the basic complexes and characters of human beings will find ties with
AIs and humanoids, establishing emotional significance being the top value in
the futuristic world. When memory and personality can be manipulated, new human
side will come to light. The futuristic art will be the art of handling
emotional intelligence of people. New realities of the future world might be
even absurd than we can imagine. The thought of new ethics and morals set in
the future world dominated by technology is as intriguing as this novella with
tightly packed surprises. One of the Red Circle Minis, Stand-in Companion
is a meditative exploration on human love and relation set in the future world.
Author: Kazufumi Shiraishi
Translator: Raj Mahtani
Publisher: Red Circle
Page Count: 58p
Price: $9
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