Chapter 73: Obscure and Unknown
In the hollow at the bottom of the final dogma, C.C. shuddered as she faced the huge white human form nailed on the cross. She had never thought that a betrayer like herself would be able to come back, and come back only to find answers for herself and another disparate creature.
Kaworu Nagisa looked at Lilith leisurely. C.C. knew they were having a conversation, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Kaworu Nagisa was right, unable to do something as trivial as a mind conversation, she herself was worse than even a NewType.
"Ah, I'm so sorry, Ms. C.C., I forgot you couldn't hear." Kaworu Nagisa gave an apologetic salute, "I was discussing with Lilith whether it makes sense for an ageless superior being to fight for something like love and hope."
"That's none of your business." C.C. ignored Kaworu Nagisa's flirtation. She took a deep breath, tried to conjure up a figure in her mind, and asked in a trembling voice, "O Lilith, please tell me, is he Lilin?"
"He is Lilin, and he is not Lilin." The answer appeared directly in her mind, in a language that she couldn't recognize, couldn't pronounce but could understand just by intuition.
"Hey?" The inexplicable reply made C.C. freeze in place, then she made an expression as if she suddenly remembered something, "Neither an animal nor a plant … So that's what Ade was saying all along? So he can have Geass and be NewType at the same time?"
"In terms of the body, he's the same as Lilin. In terms of the soul, he's the same as me. He is my child, and he is not my child." Lilith's voice continued to float in her consciousness.
"The same as you?!" C.C.'s eyes widened in disbelief, her chest heaving violently with her breathing, and she twisted her head to look at Kaworu Nagisa, "Like you, but in human form, that is, he… Ade is an angel? How is that possible?"
"Conceptually, judging by definition alone, to you alone, yes, he can be called an angel."
C.C. fell into silence as Kaworu Nagisa watched her silently until she lowered her head and looked at her closed fists.
"Ah … finally … found … finally I met …" C.C.'s big beautiful eyes were watery, but she did not cry, only in front of Lilith she had difficulty controlling her emotions, "I can also … I can also get happiness …"
"Surprisingly, there still exist such interesting creatures, I can understand Ms. C.C.'s disorder." Kaworu Nagisa stepped forward with a curious expression on his face, "May I ask how I can meet him? Forgive me for having trouble suppressing my desire to know him."
"Stay away from him!" C.C. turned her head sideways and snarled, paused for a moment, and then calmed down, "Just go and complete your mission, go to find the alien species. Is it the time to worry about such things?"
"Don't be nervous, I'm just asking." Kaworu Nagisa smiled gracefully and waved his hand, "Then let's go, I'm going to find the intruder, and you can go back to your man, as you like it."
"Wait a minute." Lilith's voice rang out in C.C. and Kaworu Nagisa's minds at the same time. "Something is coming toward Earth."
…
The battleship had been traveling for several hours, and there was still about an hour to go before it reached the agreed-upon space. Taking advantage of the free time on the way, Amuro was called from Argama to Ade's Blue-eyes White Dragon to discuss some NewType issues with him.
"I've recently developed some immature ideas about what NewType really is." Ade sat opposite Amuro in his room, "I'd like to hear your opinion as a veteran NewType."
Amuro nodded slightly to indicate him to continue.
"I've explained the concept of S.E.E.D to you before, right? Starting from the data obtained from both Kira Yamato and Shinn Asuka, we might as well make a bold assumption that S.E.E.D does enhance some basic ability or quality of humans themselves." He put together what he had been thinking about for a long time recently and said, "And this enhancement does not necessarily manifest itself in the same way in everyone, and in fact, Kira and Shinn do gain differently."
"The sample size is so small that it wouldn't hurt to assume so." Amuro looked at him in disbelief, "But what does this have to do with NewType?"
"Lacus also obtained S.E.E.D, and what she gained is in perception, which subtly overlaps with NewType." The corners of Ade's mouth couldn't help but rise slightly as he seemed to think of something, "So, can I assume that the perception ability is a basic ability that all humans can gain? NewType is a basic quality that humans don't exhibit?"
"… You mean that everyone can be a NewType?"Amuro pondered, "Interesting idea, unprovable but also unfalsifiable for now. It's a promising idea, I like it, but Char won't like this."
"It's as if different people are good at different things, some can run and some can jump, and some are particularly good at NT." Ade continued on, "It is like most human talents, it can grow, and this non-linear enhancement process eventually leads to qualitative changes. In the ends, it will be strong enough to be observable and become NT, as you and I are."
"If only there were more examples …"
"Then give another example, the little girl I recently adopted." Amuro also knows about Mineva, but knows only the Audrey version, "She has vague NT abilities, but not to the extent that can be observed by me. With time, she should eventually become a NewType."
"We have so little information in this field, maybe there's more data in Char's New Type Institute." Amuro pondered for a moment, "But I can't find anything to refute your conclusion, and personally I hope you're right."
"Now one can only make bold assumptions and be careful in seeking proof." Ade shrugged his shoulders helplessly, "The essence of the problem still comes back to what NewType really is. Existence is reasonable, this thing can surely have an explanation."
"Existence is reasonable, it's indeed your style." Amuro hesitated for a moment, "By the way, there's another question I'm curious about. Are you really infertile? Can't even the moon's medical level solve it?"
"If I was a bit more irritable, I would have tried to beat you up, you know?" He looked at Amuro who was holding back a laugh, “Although I can’t beat you up either.”
Sometime later, the ships finally arrived at the meeting place. There were only three ships on the Haman side in sight, Ade wondered what happened. After greeting both sides, as a symbol of friendship, Athrun went to PLANT's ship in a lifeboat and was received safe and sound.
"Dr. Lingus, thank you for your kindness, we have received Athrun Zala." Haman opened the video conference, "What follows is too appalling, something that must be conveyed by talking face-to-face. As a NewType, you must understand it."
"It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't trust you guys." Ade's tone was firm, "How about to talk on my ship?"
"But I don't trust Londo Bell either, that is the Earth Federation's force after all." Haman sighed, "That's how humans are. Even if we are NTs, our status, identity and the relationships around us can lead to us not being able to trust each other."
Just as Haman hesitated, Bright suddenly interjected, "Emergency, Londo Bell finds a large number of ZAFT troops and the moving Junius 7. Speaker Karn, do you have anything to explain?"
"It's Char Aznable, PLANT did not betray." Haman immediately told them the truth, "He just snatched an MS, I didn't expect him to act immediately. Junius 7? Has he gone crazy?"
"Can you tell me the name of the MS that was snatched away?" Ade went into a trance for a moment.
"Does it make any sense?" Haman thought for a while and answered, "Sazabi."
"Crap, I know what is going to happen." Ade whispered to himself, "But it's only U.C. 0085 now, what the hell is Char trying to do…"
"Speaker Karn, the meeting must be terminated." Bright looked grim, "Now start returning at full speed."
"This is PLANT civil unrest, please let our side also-"
"Denied." Bright replied categorically, "There is not enough evidence to show that your two sides are different forces, and your side's tailing will be regarded as hostile by our side."
"This is the so-called inability to trust each other. Give it up." Ade shook his head at Haman, "Captain Bright, please hurry up. If my guess is correct, Aznable wants to drop the asteroid on Earth. I hope it's not too late."
The fleet began to return at full speed, with everyone maintaining an anxiety-inducing silence on the way. No one in this world had ever successfully dropped a asteroid on Earth, not Zabi, not Gato, and no one could imagine what the consequences would be if they succeeded.
"Junius 7 is conical in shape and about eight kilometers in diameter at its base." In the briefing room, Ade was doing quick calculations on the big screen, with all the people on board listening in real-time, "If it succeeds in falling into the atmosphere, at that density and mass and the possible wear and tear and disintegration in the atmosphere, it will fall to the ground with about this much left. If it smashed into the sea, it would cause a tsunami and destroy several coastal cities, depending on the distance from the coast. If it smashed onto land, its damage would be depended on where it hits."
"Anyway, it will destroy cities, right?" Lacus apprehensively asked for everyone.
"If it smashed to the Yellowstone volcano, half of the earth will be directly destroyed; smashed to Iceland, the smoke and dust caused by it would be enough to produce nuclear winter." Ade drew a few circles on the map, "There are actually many danger zones on Earth. As long as the smash is accurate enough, or our luck is bad enough, it can easily destroy the ecosphere."
"Char." Amuro frowned, "I have to stop him no matter what."
"You have known how bad the result could be." Ade returned to his seat as Bright in the video took over and continued down the line, "Stop Junius 7 from falling to Earth no matter what. The enemy's force is not too strong, we have a chance to win. I'm going to talk about the battle plan, attention of Londo Bell's people."
"Wait, I want to join." Uraki volunteered to raise his hand, "My friends are still on Earth, I can't stand by and watch."
"And me." Shinn followed and raised his hand too, "Mr. Adrien has always taught me to use my power in the right way, and I want to do my part."
Bright looked to Ade for advice, and Ade in turn looked at Uraki and Shinn. Both of whom had determined eyes. He nodded to Bright and decided to respect their will.
"You can't go. I don't allow you to go." Beside him, Lacus held his hand hard and said in a low voice that only the two could hear, "Even though I don't know anything about the military, I understand that our side has had enough strength, there is no need for you to show up here."
"Lacus …"
"Sorry, I'm selfish, but I don't want to go through what happened in the Genesis event again. Just leave it to Londo Bell and Shinn and the others." Lacus looked at him with a plea, "I have a bad feeling, it feels like you are going to a far away place. Think about the feelings of those left behind, and listen to me for a second, you're going to stay out of the fight this time, okay?"
"… Okay."
Several hours later, when Char looked at the row of Gundams in front of him, he was gape-mouthed.
"Even if you succeed, there is no way the Earth Federation will not retaliate, right?" Shinn questioned Char through the public channel, "You are also a PLANT person. Your homeland has just restored peace, do you want to cause war again?"
"A kid?" Char was slightly surprised, "You are talking about positive theory, but there are some things in the world that cannot be explained by positive theory. There's no need to do meaningless QA, I'm not going to stop."
"There's no need to try to convince such an evil demon." said Uraki, studying Ade's style, "Let's beat him side by side!"
"Char." Amuro gazed at Sazabi in front of him. "Leave him to me alone, let's all split up. Time is running out, what we should do first is to destroy the thrusters on the satellite and set the explosives."
"Just what I wanted." Char ignored the MSs that scattered in all directions and stared intently at the Hi-ν Gundam, "Lingus' work, right? Are these Funnels on its back? Nice power."
"Char, why?"
"You've been bound by gravity for too long, Amuro. You don't know what kind of prison you're bound in." Sazabi began to move, "Let me see if your powers as a NewType have become dulled."
"Is it by such means?" Hi-ν Gundam dodged the Funnels, "After Junius 7 falls, the Earth will be uninhabitable!"
"Don't you understand, Amuro? That's the purpose!" Sazabi approached Hi-ν Gundam rapidly, "Humans must go to the space!"
"Nice talk, but all excuses." Hi-ν Gundam shot and pulled away, "You simply refuse to accept Lalah's death and are venting out your frustration!"
"What's wrong with killing two birds with one stone?" Char couldn't help but roar, "You simply don't understand. Lalah Sune is capable of becoming-"
"Your mother?" Amuro snapped, "So what?"
"Huh?" Sazabi stopped in place as if the engine had suddenly gone out.
