Himmel

This country is only a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's small but it's a paradise just like its name, Paradise. I hope you never underestimate small things. You have to know why this country is called Paradise. The year is 2087 and the technology is very advanced here. Unlike in any other countries, everybody in Paradise is equal. They have everything. No poverty, no criminals, no unemployment, and no miserable people! Ah, this country is really perfect in everything.

The progress of this country is hundred times better than any other countries in the world. In other countries, they still drive their cars on land but here, in this paradise, the cars fly. Our cars can go as fast as lightning to reach our destination. People here literally do not need to drive the cars. We just sit and say the place we want to go to. For those who don't like flying on a car, they can take an elevator that is already installed in each
house. How does it work? Ah, this is much easier than taking a flying car. If you take the elevator, you don't have to go outside and burnt by the sunlight, you just need to go inside this elevator which is very similar to a transparent tube and just say where you want to go to. And, if you want to visit your neighbor's house, you can also take this elevator. It's simply amazing!

Then how about the people? This is the most interesting part that I want to tell you right from the beginning. You need to know that the people here live with robots. There are so many shapes and types of robots in this country. One of them is a regular robot; I mean ...you must know how the general robot looks like, right? But, there are also those that are so difficult to distinguish from humans. These robots are truly like humans. They are very similar to humans and they are called humanoid, humans in a form of robots. I mean robots which look like humans. Geez, you know what I mean right? They are very difficult to distinguish from real humans. Perhaps, it is because of their almost 100% similarity. Time flies and they are considered as human beings now. Everyone is happy with it, no one protests. These humanoids are produced by the biggest IT company in the world, HIGH TECHNOLOGY OF LIFE AND PROSPERITY or commonly called as HITECH O.L.A.P.

These robots live like humans. They work, play, and even go on a date! They're originally created to ease humans' burden. For those who don't like working, they can order their robots to do their works. Everyone has the privilege of his/her own robots. They buy them, own them, and use them for anything they want. People can also buy a customized robot. Because of this customization, many people order humanoid robots in various forms. The reasons are many. For examples, those who feel lonely and need friends, they tend to want a robot in a form of a pretty woman or a handsome man. For celebrities or famous people, they tend to customize the robot in a form of a physically strong bodyguard. And, there are also people who deliberately customize the robot to satisfy their sexual desires.

With the existense of robots, of course, this is very useful for everyone and the government. They take many advantages from these robots. They don't need to feed them nor pay them. They just need to replace a spare battery in the robot's body. And, this too can be done by the robot itself. The robots really reduce people's burden from every aspect of their life. Problems seemed to be gone years ago from this country. But, one day there is a big problem. The President of Paradise calls his ministers to attend a sudden meeting on the issue of population crisis in this country. The meeting is attended by the President, Mr. Stevenson, whose face appears on a virtual screen, and his ministers who are present in the room. With a very worried and serious expression, Mr. Stevenson opens the meeting.

"I have received the data from the Minister of Population about our decreasing population in the last 20 years. Now, our human population doesn't even have a half of our robot population. How can we have more robots than humans in this country? And, the most ridiculous thing is that many of our people prefer to marry robots rather than humans!" The last sentence made everyone in the room laughing so hard. It is indeed a ridiculous thing. But, all fell into silent because of the serious look from Mr. Stevenson.

"This is a serious problem, how dare you laughing? Marrying a robot, have you lost your mind? Even though they are satisfying, the robots cannot make a baby. If this is allowed, our next generation will be lost! Who will inherit our super technology? Robots? Or foreigners who have tried to enter and seize our wealth for hundred of years. We must protect our country! I will never allow this country to fall into their hands.This problem must be solved!" The President continued.

There is silence, no one dared to open their mouth. Then, Chilmar, the Minister of Population with a little hesitation starts to speak.

"Ehmm, Mr. President and all the ministers, I have invited someone related to our issue here." Everyone is curious, and soon after, Eros, the CEO of HITECH O.L.A.P comes to the meeting.

"The number of our robots are more than the number of our humans. As we know, they can be customized according to our wishes. I don't mind that, but customizing them as a wife or husband, I think it's too far." Chilmar said.

Eros cannot accept that Chilmar is blaming him. He cannot accept if the robots are blamed on this demographic problem.

"If you blame HITECH for this, you are wrong." Eros opened his defense.

"And I will never accept that. It is not my fault if the people are marrying humanoid. And, it is not my fault if a humanoid can be more satistying on a bed than a human. I just carry out my duty to make people of this country happy." With a sharp grin, Eros looks confident in expressing this. Chilmar is mad at him. His face now turns into red.

"But, BECAUSE of your humanoids, our young people are not interested in marrying human. They spend a lot of time with YOUR robots, go on a date with YOUR robots, make love with YOUR robots, live together and marry YOUR robots!" Chilmar replied with full of anger in his voice.

"Don't think like a stupid man, Mr. Chilmar. Don't forget that I created them to help US, they replace your work, they wash your clothes, they become your assistants. They are equal before the law, they are a part of us, and they are guaranteed by the constitution." Eros said.

"HOW DARE YOU???!!!"

"Calm down Mr. Chilmar, it's very unfair if we only blame humanoids on this issue. In fact, the young people prefer to work and make money rather than make babies. It's good, isn't it?" Ms. Helen, the Minister of Entertainment, started to speak.

"Watch your mouth, Helen." Chilmar doesn't like the way Helen talked.

"Let me finish my words! Imagine if our young people are married. They'll take care of their wives, or husbands, or children. Oh, come on!" Helen sounds arrogant but her opinion gives an idea to the Minister of Science, Mr. Stein.

"Why don't we just make the babies?" He chirped, makes everyone frozen.

"Emm, have you ever heard Brave New World?" All fell into silent. "That is a famous fiction. You guys really never heard about it? In the book, they can make humans in bottles, they only need sperm and ovum. They breed them in a big factory. In that way, women don't need to be pregnant to have babies." Smiling, Stein feels like he has found a miraculous solution for the country. But, not until one minute his smile faded.

"Stein!!!" Mr. Stevenson replied in a very emotional tone. "I want humans, not a pig farm, if that's what you mean!"

"You dumb! Don't think this is a fairytale. Stop reading nonsense, no more people do that kind of thing. Reading those rubbishes just makes you such an idiot." Said Mr. Andres, a Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"Um, Mr. Stevenson, how if we open access for the immigrants? I mean we can let them in and become citizens of our country, we can choose those who are intelligent and competent. We can tell them to have babies if they want to stay here forever. I think this is the right time to let them in. We all know that our country is a contention for the world. They are willing to do anything in order to live here." Andres continued giving his explanation.

Listening to Andres' opinion makes Stevenson mad. In the beginning of the meeting, he already stated his opinion of foreigners. For him, they are just cunning people, they like war and rob others.

"If you dare to open access for them, you will leave this country forever. Live with them in wars and poverty. If you don't have a reasonable idea, you are useless here!!" Angry Stevenson is ready to leave the meeting but then Chilmar speaks,

"Mr. Stevenson, how if all humanoids are taken from the owners? Especially those which are functioning as girlfriends, boyfriends, wives, or husbands. We can still making robots but no more humanoids."

Eros as CEO of HITECH and the man who is fully responsible for all robots including humanoids doesn't accept Chilmar's solution. He speaks right in front of Chilmar's face and loudly says.

"I can't take this, you are really a small-minded man. These humanoids are not things! They are humans too! If you take them, you will only cause a new problem."

Chilmar takes a deep breath then grinns. "We never consider them as human beings! We never do that! Just because you create them, it doesn't mean you are their parents. Stop being sensitive."

If there is no Stevenson, maybe, Eros will throw Chilmar out of the building. Poor Eros! Everyone agrees with Chilmar's idea.

###

A super alarm is sounded marking an important announcement. Not long after the alarm, Mr. Stevenson appears on every virtual screen across the country. The announcement echoed accross the country day and night. A new regulation has been made. The youths aged 17 -- 28 are stopped from all their activities. This has drawn protests from young people. Their protests vary and appear in various billboard screens.

A 24-year-old girl appears giving her comments. "I don't want to get married, I can have sex with anyone, and anytime, with human or with humanoid. For me, both of them are the same..."

Another girl appears. "I don't mind to get married, but I don't want to get pregnant. Married is not just to get pregnant and raise a child, right? I don't wanna do that."

The next girl, 21 years old with blonde and curly hair. "My career is more important, dating is such a waste of time. It just makes problems and really stressful."

Another girl appeares, she is a famous singer. "I don't like dating or getting married. You know, I'm an idol, if I get married and have children, I will be fat and I will be very ugly." Anyone who listens to that will feel nauseous.

This man, really really handsome, a world celebrity, said, "I don't care if we lack of young generation. Why do we have to worry about that? Just make humanoids as many as possible! For me, we are not different."

Another man said, "I love my career and having fun. I have Selena, my beautiful and sexy humanoid. We can make love anytime. She makes me happy and never makes me feel lonely. The most important is she never makes any trouble, and she doesn't need to eat, she often replaces me to work. So, I like her more than a real girl."

The next man, he is somewhat different from others. He is shy and there is a pretty girl besides him who turns out to be a humanoid. They are a sweet couple. "Hello, I'm Rei, em... I love her." They look each other face to face, they are really drunk with romance. It makes everyone say, " Oh so sweet."

Soon, the screens turn into black and white. The government are astonished by the behavior of their young people. Understandably, what the government are concerning about so far was just technology and economic progress to make other countries jealous of them. This is really beyond expectation. It's been a long time since babies were born. The old and the young people are busy with themselves. Technological advancement and their wealthy life make them hesitate to get married and to have a child. Even those who are married are busy with themselves. They don't want to have a child. In other cases, some of them get divorce just because they are bored and prefered to live with humanoids rather than human beings. Another case is the wives don't want to get pregnant, so they order humanoids in the form of boys and girls to become their children.

It turns out that Chilmar's solution receives lots of protests. He then forced Eros to deactivate the entire humanoids automatically from the HITECH system. But, Eros refused and said that the right to deactivate humanoid is entirely in the hands of their owners. Only ordinary robots can be deactivated by his system. Whereas, if they take these humanoids from the owners, it will take a long time because there are too many of them and it is so hard to distinguish them from real humans. Ah, really? Who aksed HITECH to make robots that are very similar to humans?

Then  a  solution  has  been  made  like  a   royal contest:

FOR EVERYONE! COUPLES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES. PEOPLE WHO ARE MARRIED OR NOT MARRIED. DATING OR NOT DATING. IF YOU CAN GIVE THIS COUNTRY A BABY, YOU WILL BE RELEASED FROM ANY TAX. FREE FROM ANY KIND OF WORKS AND WILL BE GIVEN A LUXURY HOUSE WITH ALL TYPES OF ADVANCED AND LATEST VEHICLES.

Unfortunately, many people are not interested with the contest. Why?Because most of them already have everything, luxury vehicles, and luxury houses. How about the tax? Ah, money is a small thing for them. For work? Geez, they are not like people in your country who have to work in the office all day, sitting in front of a computer for hours. They don't work like that. They can work anywhere they want, there is no strict rules. In this country, the majority are inventors and scientists. You certainly understand what kind of people they are. Celebrities live like kings and queens. As long as they have beautiful and handsome faces above average, sexy bodies, and beautiful voices that can thrill the whole country. Then everyone will bow before them.

Of course, the government don't lose their minds. They have an idea. They will take advantage in an annual festival which is only attended by humans. This event is held annually to reward the scientists and inventors who have made the greatest works in a year. They will come for this event because they are always hungry of achievements and will be proud of any appreciations they receive. Their names will be mentioned across the country and appear on billboard screens. They will also be listed on the book of The Great Discoveries of the Year. Their names will be remembered forever.

The event goes as usual, some of young inventors and scientists receive their awards, and everyone makes standing ovation. But near to the end of the event, all accesses to the entrances and exits of the stadium where this event is held are closed. All the lights are turned off. This raises a chaos inside the stadium. One by one they are automatically inserted into a glass tube. The government is breeding humans. For weeks, the people are confined in tubes. The government begin to choose fertile men and also fertile women who can get pregnant.

Months later, women who can get pregnant are put in a special building to protect their pregnancy process. It turns out that they have been brainwashed using an advanced technology to erase some memories and then obey the government. The government have trully anticipated this. But, one humanoid managed to spy the project and spread the news to everyone, humans and humanoids, who did not come to the event. Fortunately, there is someone who can restore the memory of people who were in the building. The entire people and humanoids are angry. They carry out a large-scale demonstration throughout the country. They shout about human rights violation. They gather in all government buildings. Instantly, this country becomes out of control.

Poor Chilmar and the government! They are not smart enough to cover up their secret project. Then, they send all troops, human troops and robot troops to destroy every humanoids. These humanoids are like humans, they will get hurt by a gunshoot. They don't bleed, but their system will be damaged until it doesn't work and dies. The robot troops have no mercy to kill humanoids. There are also human soldiers who casually fire guns, killing not only humanoids but also human beings. What a chaotic situation!

The HITECH system is fully controlled by Chilmar's men. Eros can do nothing about it. It is over now, he thought. Chilmar watches calmly inside his luxurious house. A woman is coming to the house. She tries to protest what Chilmar has been doing.

"You are a monster! I know you don't really care about this country! All you want to do is just destroying all robots especially humanoids! This? This is just ... You don't even care if this country is uninhabited. You are a fucking monster!!" She said to Chilmar.

"This wouldn't need to happen if you didn't leave me for your damn humanoid! You know I love you. We were not like them, we trusted each other, we wanted to be happy as husband and wife. But, since you have that damn humanoid ..." Chilmar said to the woman who's in fact his ex-wife.

"He has a name! He is a hundred times better than you. You forget? You are the one who started this! You ignored me! You, you came to the entertainment center every day! Every night! And, you made love with those fucking whores! Then, you said that this is my fault?"

Anger between them is unstoppable. Chilmar takes a gun and shoots his ex-wife! The time cannot return. It cannot be played back like a song. He loves this woman so much and now she is covered with blood, not breathing. All of the memories with her came into his head, memories before the humanoid were created, memories when things weren't like this, memories when they promised each other. Indeed, they are only memories. Sometimes, they come when you are regretful and hurt. He hugs the body of the woman he loves before finally he shoots himself.

###

Ten years later.

Now the country has a new name. It's Himmel. You don't have to ask why and how! The most important is that they become more perfect than ever before. Eros becomes the new president. What about Mr. Stevenson? I forget to tell you. He was just a coward hiding behind his wisdom. He died in the hand of his own humanoid who turned out to be a mistress to satisfy his sexual desire.

The women who were made to be pregnant in the project, they are fine. Their children were born and grew up healthy. However, many of these women were shocked. They felt a deep trauma because of their bodies were forced to be pregnant. As a result, they must go to the consultation room to restore their psychological state.

What about the demographic problem? Is that solved? You must still remember Mr. Stein's idea related to a fiction book, Brave New World, as his solution in the meeting. Now, the idea has been brought into reality with the help of the best scientists in Himmel. Eros was the first person to support Stein's idea. Embryos are bred in a large factory. The difference is that they do not experience the social class classification as in the Brave New World. Both Stein and Eros become the most influential people in Himmel. Humanoids and all kinds of robots live peacefully with humans. They are free to live as they want, no one forbids them from falling in love, to marry or not, to have children or not, to love humanoid or human, it's up to them.

• This short story has been published by Kultural 45 publishing (2019) in the short stories collection book The Self/Diri
• Edited by Aris Masruri Harahap