Chapter 194: Lingus on Earth
Kira had been staring motionlessly at the thin stack of paper for several minutes, but he vaguely found it a little hard to breathe.
"Don't think too hard." Loran said in as relaxed a tone as possible, "Anyway, the department you're in has been rather idle lately, so think of it as a regular part-time job and get some extra income."
Of course he understands what Prince Loran means, he would not be sitting in this place at the moment if it wasn't for money.
Originally, with Anaheim's salary and Dr. Lingus' bonus for Celestial Being, he and Cagalli were living quite well.
But the problem occurred faster than anyone could have imagined, when two new lives joined the family, the original spacious house suddenly became cramped. No matter what he wanted to do in the house, he was tied down.
"Hmm, Kira, why don't we sell this house and apply for a bigger low-cost apartment?" Cagalli knowledgeably suggested as much to him.
He knew that Cagalli had a point, and that he could easily get a larger low-cost house with his current status, which was a basic national policy that the Lunar government had always promoted. But he couldn't help but ask himself, do they have to go back to the years of renting? Cagalli had already lost her country, should she lose her only house too?
So he made an impulsive choice for the second time in his life - to sell his house for a bigger one, and that was the beginning of all the nightmares.
The moon, due to its scarcity of land and perfect welfare, the high price of land is second to none in the entire human society.
Kira spent all the proceeds from the sale of the house, put up all his savings, and even sold Akatsuki to save enough for a down payment on a three-bedroom house, while Kira had still to support his family while paying the mortgage. Cagalli also thought about going out to find something to do to help the family, but when she did the math, she couldn't earn as much as she could afford to hire a nanny to take care of the kids.
Kira is so stressed by the monthly mortgage payments that he reflexively gets numb when he sees a bank sign on the street, and the future is so dark when he thinks about how many decades it will take to pay off the loan.
However, this is not the end. What will happen when the children grow up? Kira's original plan was to send the two children to Anaheim Elementary School, Anaheim Middle School, and finally Capital University, but the astronomical school fees are simply too much to them. Even with Dr. Lingus's help, they get a great number of fee waivers, the huge tuition fees of each semester are still too much.
Even in the face of Amuro's F91, he could try to fight Amuro and he thought that he even had a chance to win, but only the bank was one of the things he couldn't defeat in any case. Now he finally understood one thing: his heart and strength alone could not protect him from anything.
Cagalli also considered looking for Lacus's help, but was refused by Kira. Kira is a good and decent young man, he thinks that although the Lingus family is rich, it has nothing to do with them. Besides, it was their own decision to take out a loan to buy a bigger house, there was no reason to bother Lacus insatiably.
So when Loran put the contract in front of him, the string of zeros on it makes his mouth dry and his heart pounds? The bad thing, however, was the non-disclosure agreement at the end of the contract, which required that he must keep it a secret to Lingus and his relatives, making him feel like betraying his friend.
"Your Highness Prince Loran," he asked, summoning up all his courage, "May I ask the reason why do we have to hide it from Dr. Lingus?"
Loran answered frankly, "If this issue is what you're dwelling on, there is no need to worry. It's not for any bad reason, it is just a temporary job requirement, and someone will also explain to you in detail after you sign the agreement."
"You and Doctor are very close friends, and the Doctor has said that he trusts you more than anyone else." Kira picked up the pen, "I … trust Doctor's judgment."
"Oh? Did Ade say anything else like that?" Loran quickly turned around and pretended to look for something, lest Kira sees the uncontrollable curve of his mouth, "How did he talk to you about that?"
"It was after the final battle between Celestial Being and TITANS, when everyone was talking on the Iserlohn. We was talking about Kamille's bad habit of not setting a password for his MS." Kira signed the contract, "Kamille said that there was no point in setting the password. If he told one person, everyone would all know eventually. So we discussed who is the most trustworthy person that won't tell anyone else of your MS's password."
"Quite an interesting topic." Loran asked carelessly, "Ad… hey? Where's my thing? Ah, found it here. Ok, what did everyone say?"
"Kou picked the Doctor, Kamille picked Shinn, Shinn picked Mayu, and I didn't pick anyone because Cagalli is pretty confused sometimes." Kira smiled good-naturedly, "When it was the doctor's turn, he hesitated for a while and finally said it was you. Kamille doubted if the Doctor was lying, and the Doctor swore that if he lied, he wouldn't be able to find the right worldview forever."
Loran was silent for a long time, suddenly turned around and picked up the contract in front of Kira. The smile on his face was obviously as light as before, but somehow blinding Kira's eyes, "This contract is mainly a promise. For the need of secrecy, we will not do complicated procedures, the execution is personally guaranteed by me on behalf of the government. "
Kira was forced to lower his head by the radiant glow in the other party's eyes, "I understand, no problem."
"Good then, let's get going before Ade returns~" Loran put the contract away and walked towards the door with a light gait, "Let's be quick, Dr. Aeolia is still waiting for us~"
Harry drove Loran and Kira into the underground, and the road curved around like a maze. Kira and Loran are not very familiar, so they didn't talk on the way. Even so, he could see that Loran was in a particularly good mood.
They finally arrived at a place that resembled an underground secret base, and Loran led Kira all the way through various security checks and eventually into a wide warehouse. As soon as he stepped inside, Kira was attracted by a chic-looking Gundam, and then noticed the old man and short-haired girl standing at the foot of the MS.
When they walked to the foot of the Gundam, the old man's sharp eyes surveyed Kira through the lens, "Loran, I have no doubt about this man's ability, but he is one of Lingus, right? Can we trust him?"
"I believe in Yamato-san's character." Loran whispered to Kira, "And Mr. Yamato's happy life with his wife and two children on the moon is not easy to come by, I believe he cherishes it."
Kira's heart pounded, this was the image he envisioned of the ruler, the smiling look just now was really a false one. But it didn't matter to him what Loran's real character was. Since he had signed a confidentiality agreement, he wouldn't leak any information to others.
"He stays, Loran, you can go." Aeolia waved his hand with a stern look on his face, "I trust your judgment, but I don't trust you personally to keep it a secret, so the less you know, the better."
Laura smiled sardonically and turned to leave. Only after Loran was away, Aeolia looked at Kira again, "This Gundam in front of you is the MS you need to serve as a test pilot. I will not accompany the whole process, you will mainly be guided by this one beside me. Her name is Ayanami Rei, you two can get familiar with each other later."
Kira greeted Ayanami Rei, who ignored him expressionlessly.
"This MS exists as a secret weapon for the moon, it will be needed in the future to act as a strategic deterrent in case something goes wrong with TurnA." Aeolia continued to explain, "This explains why it was kept secret from Lingus, not because he was not trusted, but if the two machines were networked by the same system, it has no point to design and build a new MS."
Kira nodded in understanding. Such a statement made him feel almost guilt-free.
"This MS is temporarily named 00 Quanta, you will know its specific performance parameters when you do the test, there is nothing to explain." Aeolia paused, "I'm done, anything else you want to ask? If not, let's get to work today, I'm going back to the lab."
"Dr. Aeolia, please wait a moment, I have one more question." Kira didn't really see it when he entered the door, but from the angle below, he finally saw the full picture of this MS, "The barrel-shaped devices on the left shoulder and the back, are they …GN-Drives? Is that the real reason why you want to hide it from Dr. Lingus?"
The air was quiet for a moment, and Aeolia slowly spoke, "Yes, they are GN-Drives."
Kira immediately retorted loudly in an agitated voice, "Even if you are the father of Coordinator, I must say that this anti-human thing is too much!"
"Listen." Aeolia looked solemn, "First of all, this thing is still driven by the LCLized NT, indeed inhumane, I admit. Secondly, it is now empty inside, and I'm not going to kill any NT, everything takes voluntary principle. Finally, the GN-Drive you see is my new and improved model, generating GN particles in a paInless way with double furnace resonance."
"Was it necessary to go this far?" Kira accepted this explanation, but still didn't feel very comfortable in his heart.
"As you heard just now, 00 Quanta is an MS to replace TurnA in case of emergency, and all the technology that can be used will be used. But the double furnace system can not be practically verified, I am still adjusting the balance, so I don't need you to test this function now." Aeolia slapped his palm, "There's another thing I forgot to mention, the λ-drive testing will be done by Rei, you also don't need to do it."
Kira looked at Ayanami Rei with a bewildered look, and then at Aeolia.
"I changed Lingus' λ-drive and added the psycho-frame into it as a brain quantum wave amplifier. It works better, but it becomes necessary to be triggered by NT. You can't activate it since you're not NT." Aeolia sighed regretfully, "The most ideal pilot is actually the Innovator, which can activate λ-drive and further resonate with the furnace, but also will not be affected by emotions like NT, only he … ugh …"
Kira continues to look at Aeolia confused. He has never even heard of what the Innovator is.
"By the way, are you interested?" Aeolia suddenly asked as if he remembered something, "Coordinators are all benign carriers of nanobot, the success rate of transformation is quite high. Do you want to become an Innovator to protect the world?"
Kira was still confused. The topic changed too fast that he didn't understand a word he heard.
"Forget it, let's not talk about it." Aeolia waved his hand again in a lukewarm manner, "I haven't confirmed whether the Innovators will become prone to extremes, it's too early to talk about it."
Kira took it in stride, "You're right, let's talk about it later."
"It's getting late, you guys get to work." Aeolia sullenly turned around and slowly left, his hunched back looking mournful and inexplicable, "Rei, I'll leave the back to you."
Next, Kira aboard the MS and started the test. Opening the skylight of the warehouse, he realized that he was already in the suburbs. He also tried to talk politely with Ayanami Rei, but the other party didn't say a word except for the necessary work exchange.
The test work lasted until the afternoon of lunar time, and the performance of the MS was so good that Kira was amazed. He couldn't imagine how powerful it would end up being if the two GN-Drives were activated. But maybe it also depended on the strength of the NTs inside the GN-Drives?
When he returned home, it was already dark, and Kira, who felt the vibration in his pocket, took out his cell phone in front of his door. His pupils slightly dilated in the light of the screen - it was an Incoming SMS.
The moment he pushed open the door, he smelled food. Cagalli was cooking dinner. After greeting his wife, he went to play with the kids. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a fashion magazine spread out on the coffee table. The magazine had a corner folded on the upward page, and on it was a very new fall/winter fashion, the color and style looked good with Cagalli's short blonde hair.
"Cagalli should really like this dress." He touched the phone in his pocket and couldn't help but smile happily when he remembered the balance on it, "Why don't I give her a surprise?"
