Chapter 172: The Eternal Snitch
Regarding Lingus' nonsense and grandstanding, Char wasn't moved at all and even wanted to laugh. The more the over-inflated Lingus said, the farther he went on the road to his own destruction, and everything that happened to Lingus was proving that his own theory about NT and humans was correct.
"Let's go back to what we were talking about." He continued, ignoring Lingus, "None of us has contact with the aliens, so we just put this aside. Now we are only talking about the satellite cannon itself. The project of Mememto Mori has created a considerable number of jobs for P.L.A.N.T., which coincided with the mid-term election time of Karn the Speaker."
This is the subtlety of his argument. It's easy to fool Senators with Lingus' expertise on the satellite cannon, but it's his domain once things get political.
"You will all remember how the support of Karn the Speaker soared at that time and how she won the election with a bang, while the project itself, which contributed the most, was financially paid for by Earth, Moon, and P.L.A.N.T together." Char looked solemn, "Of course, Dr. Lingus has a family of beautiful wives, and is himself a favorite of the Prince, I believe that with his character, he would never do anything to the detriment of the public."
Teasing laughter rang out in the room.
"Sorry, gentlemen, I'm late." A voice line with no emotion rang out, and Nunnally's avatar appeared on one of the blank screens in the room, "Shall we get down to business?"
After saying that, as if she just noticed Lingus, Nunnally smiled, winked, and waved at him, as if she was afraid that others didn't know that she and Lingus, a married man, had some kind of relationship.
Although Britannia nominally rejoined the Federation, the actual situation is well known to everyone. The Nunnally Queen, as the supreme leader of one of the world's leading polities, has the right and duty to be unscrupulous.
"Her Majesty, we are just talking about business." Char gave a covert glance at Lingus, who was still expressionless, "The coincidence between Dr. Lingus and Karn the Speaker seems to be a joke, but if it involves the agreement of the three forces and billions of taxpayers' tax money, even if it is really a coincidence, it cannot be treated as a mere coincidence, we have to give the public—"
"I did find one thing more interesting." Nunnally interrupted him with an unhappy look, "Mr. Quattro's appearance reminds me of someone I remember, who is also an acquaintance of Karn the Speaker, is that also a coincidence?"
"Her Majesty, you might see some ridiculous rumors on the internet, and I have to admit that my appearance does look like that terrorist who committed crimes against humanity." Char smiled faintly, "Hereby, I'm announcing the news to everyone, early this morning, the remains of Char Aznable were found in the desert area of Dakar, and were confirmed to be Char himself by DNA checks."
Lingus frowned slightly, and Char mentally laughed at his lack of urbanity.
"The identification work was just completed not long ago, and you should see the official report this afternoon." Char raised the corner of his mouth at Nunnally, "And I myself am willing to undergo DNA testing by formal institutions."
Indeed, this is his biggest capital — the issue of identity legitimacy. When the political enemies are all eliminated, he can save the poor Mineva from the watery grave of the Lingus family in a fair and square manner. Char looked at Lingus again as if provocatively, waiting to see how Lingus would respond to it.
"Well, since everyone has almost arrived, let's get down to business." Lingus seemed to feel that what just happened had nothing to do with him at all, and spoke with a calm look, "You should have noticed that the super small star located at Earth-Sun L4 began to move slowly towards Earth. The experts under your command may have done all kinds of wrong analysis, and now I am announcing the correct answer — I did it."
The atmosphere on the council was blown up instantly, no one cared whether Char was dead or not, all were ranting and raving.
"According to the contents of the three countries agreement, I am now exercising my obligation to tell everyone what this is all about." The Senators quieted down again at once, "The star will be relocated to the vicinity of Earth and transformed into a device to protect the safety of all mankind. I have calculated the mass and movement orbit, it will not affect the human ecosphere. I am sending the information to everyone, please click on your devices to receive it."
After getting the information from Lingus, regardless of whether they could understand it or not, Senators all clicked on it and read it, and sent it to the think tanks around them to study it together. Even Char browsed the document sent by Lingus, speculating what he was going to do.
"The students are on summer break, at the current rate, the star is expected to reach the Earth-Moon L4 in January of next year." Lingus cleared his throat, "Hereby, I have to inform you all, before next New Year's Day, you must move all satellites and factories away from the Earth-Moon L4. I'm not responsible for all the damages caused by me. That's it. I'll get off, goodbye."
After saying that, Ade turned off his device and the screen got dark. Everyone was quiet for about five seconds, and then the entire council boiled over. Char also felt some headache, and he could only hastily announce the meeting adjourned. After leaving the meeting, Char rushed to the Prime Minister's residence, organizing the information sent by Lingus, googling the proper nouns that he could not understand, so that he would not be unable to answer the Prime Minister's questions later.
When he arrived at the Prime Minister's residence, Prime Minister Marcenas was already waiting for him in his study.
"Quattro Bajeena." The prime minister sat in his seat with his arms crossed and stretched out in front of him, "Look at what you have done."
"Are you talking about Char Aznable's death?" Char explained blandly, "We got too close to A-Laws, and the council would never want to see power returned to your hands. There will only be more and more political enemies, and sooner or later, my identity will be revealed, and then it will be all over if the enemy uses it to attack you. I will leave the details of how to handle this matter in your hands later, and you can be sure of my fidelity."
Marcenas thought for a moment and laughed, "You are the one I trust the most, how could I be suspicious? Good job on the Char Aznable thing, very good. I was just asking you about Lingus' appearance today. Sit down and talk slowly."
"About the aliens, he has a lot of confidential information that we don't know about, take a look at this." Char handed the collated information to the Prime Minister and pulled a chair for himself and sat down, "I have reason to believe that he did destroy or control the aliens through some means unknown to us, but it is also possible that Lingus and the aliens secretly reached some kind of agreement and lied about the aliens being destroyed."
"Aliens … is a term from science fiction. Sigh, I don't feel it real at all." Marcenas casually flipped through the papers. The content had been organized and labeled by Char, so shallow that even he could easily read it, "Quattro, do you think it's possible that Lingus … betrayed all of humanity?"
"There is such a possibility." Char said in a deep voice, "Have you forgotten how Coordinator was born? For the sake of the so-called desire for knowledge, all human taboos are worthless in the eyes of scholars like them. What if, I mean what if, the aliens used the unknown advanced technology as bait to make Lingus a betrayer, do you think he would accept?"
Marcenas thought about it carefully and couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air, "If that happened, wouldn't the Three Countries Agreement be equal to hand over our lives to aliens?"
"I've only realized that recently." Char narrowed his eyes, "P.L.A.N.T. gets food and economic aid, the Federation gets Britannia's franchise and Anaheim's preferential armament treatment for A-Laws, and the Moon has Lingus' decision-making power over technological development and the unknown frontiers of humanity. There is a very hidden logical trap in the most central clause of this agreement."
"A trap?" Marcenas was also familiar with the agreement, He pondered for a while and reacted, "The unknown frontiers of humanity?"
"That's right, Your Excellency Prime Minister, it's exactly the Unknown Frontiers." Char nodded, "For us, 'unknown frontiers' is more like a window-dressing word in the article, because our common sense tells us that unknown frontiers are very rare. But for Lingus, I'm afraid most of his 'known frontiers' are our 'unknown frontiers'. In other words, he can call the shots and do whatever he wants with this one."
"Terrible, terrible. I can't imagine that Lingus is so sophisticated at such a young age, and I thought he was merely a lustful genius scholar." Marcenas smacked his lips, "Then why did he make the unwise move of making an enemy of the entire council today?"
"He didn't make an enemy of everyone, so he doesn't care." Char continued, "The Lunar government and he are of one mind, Haman Karn needs him to support her election, and Queen Nunnally is haunted by him. He is already invincible with their support. In addition, the Wang family and the Halevy family have released goodwill to Lingus, and although Alberto seems to be scolded by Lingus, Cardeas has always been determined to uphold neutrality."
"There's also a bunch of fence-sitters and shysters in the council." Marcenas pulled the corners of his mouth with a smile, "I think they will eventually move everything on L4 and honestly make room for Lingus."
"In fact, I received news on my way to your residence that Britannia has announced to move all the satellites on L4, I don't know what means he used to charm the Queen of a country." Char shook his head in disbelief, "Your Excellency, I remember that your son, Riddhe is studying on the moon, right? Just in case, I urge you to bring him back to Earth."
"Oh, Riddhe? Yes, he is studying on the Moon, but the political situation is still unstable, we can discuss it later." Marcenas changed the subject as if nothing had happened, "Quattro, there is still a long way to go to return power to the Prime Minister, we still have a lot of works to do."
…
"Still have a lot of works to do?" Char sneered, pulling off his tie and tossing it aside, "It's funny how you can't even give up your son, and you want to bring down the council and kill Lingus? What a funny joke."
"This is also common sense, who can give up their own children so easily?" Nanai leaned down to pick up his ties and hang them up, "Didn't you also let Mineva stay in the safest place? When the day comes, will you be able to part with Mineva?"
"If it's Mineva …"
Char put aside the terrible thoughts in his head and kissed Nanai without saying a word. Ten minutes later, the two of them lay naked on the bed. Nanai pillowed on his arm and asked softly, "Char, I don't understand, why do we have to turn against Dr. Lingus? Wasn't he always the best candidate for New Type navigator in your mind?"
"Was." Char looked at the ceiling thoughtfully and said, "My father, Zeon Zum Deikun, believed that the NT's insight into the truth and perception of danger made them best suited to be the leaders of humanity. I've always believed the same, that a knowledgeable, visionary non-combatant NT is the most suitable choice."
"Wouldn't that be Dr. Lingus?"
"But I neglected one thing, Nanai, that the more mentally powerful an NT is, the more likely he is to go insane and act crazy." Char said coldly, "Lingus has somehow lost his NT ability now, but once he regains it, he will become a time bomb. It's not even just him, Haman and Queen Nunnally will also become time bombs."
"They are all very capable NTs," Nanai immediately understood, "And NTs with too much power should not be supreme leaders, it's too dangerous, once they get out of control, they will pull everyone to their doom. Isn't that right, Char?"
"My father's philosophy was flawed, and I patched it up. Humanity does need NTs with great vision to lead, but not NTs with too much spiritual power, and the most suitable person among those I know would be…" Char paused for a moment, "myself. "
"I think so." Nanai smiled proudly, "What about a powerful NT like Lingus?"
"They're better suited to specialize and contribute in a fixed area like Amuro, rather than being involved in the overall decision making." Char narrowed his eyes, "I must take away Lingus' decision-making power, it is something I must do for the future of all mankind."
"You sound like …" Nanai stopped languidly halfway through, "I'm sorry, it's nothing."
"It's like when I made up my mind to throw Junius7 at the Earth." Char gave Nanai a look, "Someone has to make a decision for the sake of all mankind, no matter how implausible or unattainable it may seem."
"As long as you're sure of what you're doing, I'm with you." Nanai sighed, "But Lingus has many allies, compared to the Prime Minister on our side, Commander Bright of A-Laws is on good terms with Lingus, and the politicians are all opportunistic."
"So the first task is to promote capable partners, we can't make it work alone." Char had a flash of light in his head, "By the way, where is Kamille?"
"Kamille Bidan?" Nanai knew that Char had a special affection for this boy, so she had been focusing on Kamille. She answered immediately, "He went back to Earth some days ago."
"Not on the moon?" Char was taken aback, "What's the deal?"
"He said that he was planning to go back to Earth for college, and now he moved out from his home to live alone, and a female high school student named Fa Yuiry often goes to his home to take care of him," Nanai explained.
"Letting such a powerful NT go home to college? It's such a waste of talent, I wonder what kind of stuff Lingus is thinking." Char grinned disdainfully, "First thing at hand, recruit Kamille into A-Laws."
