In nineteen forty-five, Indya became free, and inherited, intact, the two and a half million men that Albion had spent two hundred years training. The largest army in Asia did not go home. It went east. It landed in the west of Zipang, forced the surrender, and then, claiming to speak for all of Asia, took its place on the winning side of the occupation. The headquarters rose in the old naval port of Kure. The soldiers were victors. But an Indyan soldier is bound by religious law. His food must be kept apart, his quarters must be kept apart. So the occupation invented a solution. Let him register her, formally, as a wife. One sheet of paper. The Inner Tie. Once accepted, the soldier owed her a home, a living, and remittances to his family back in Indya. And conversely, the moment a soldier wanted it, and filed that paper, the woman of Zipang was, by definition, engaging in breeding activity. She had no veto. She had no complaints either.
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