Yzak felt that the whole thing was utterly absurd.
It was ridiculous.
She went for the kill because she was "low on energy"?
But when she had plenty of energy, she could afford to hold back instead?
Ridiculous.
This was just too ridiculous!
"That blue machine doesn't even perform as well as ours!"
The blue machine might outperform a GINN, but it still could not compare with the three G-series units.
Even after the wired gunbarrel pod was added later, there was still a limit to how strong it could be.
Against GINNs, maybe five-on-one was asking too much, but surely they should at least have been able to keep it tied down. Instead, they had been cut down effortlessly.
And that blue machine had done all of this while its energy was already close to the limit.
No. It was precisely because it was "almost out of energy" that she had done it…
Otherwise, she might actually have held back…!
"Then what the hell does that make us?!"
Yzak angrily slammed his fist into the wall beside him.
"This isn't your fault, Yzak." Le Creuset floated over at that moment. "The enemy we faced may genuinely be some kind of existence beyond the limits of our current understanding. Some form of super-advanced AI."
Le Creuset had no intention of hiding this information.
If anything, emphasizing how threatening the other side was would only make ZAFT pay more attention to military expansion.
That was precisely Le Creuset's goal.
"AI…? AI is everywhere, isn't it?" Dearka looked confused, but after remembering the AI systems on the G-series units, he revised his wording. "Well, I guess there are differences even between AIs."
Intelligent systems had existed for a long time.
But compared with the AI aboard the G-series, the difference was enormous.
"I suspect the other side may be connected to the legendary 'Black Monolith.'"
"What did you say?!" Yzak looked at Le Creuset.
"The Black Monolith…" Athrun murmured as well. "That person really was controlling the Black Monolith."
"Does something like that really exist?" Nicol asked in surprise.
"That's what she called it—Black Monolith," Athrun said.
"What exactly is it?" Nicol still did not understand.
"I don't know the details either. But it seems like it can be used to manufacture robots." Athrun did not know much himself, because all Inori had demonstrated was making Fyu-Neru rice-cooker robots.
Le Creuset, however, knew a little. "It's a quantum computer."
"It's just a quantum computer." Yzak had expected something far more extraordinary.
"A computer humanity is still incapable of manufacturing. A computational device known as an 'Unreached Domain,'" Le Creuset added.
[A bunch of biotech people ignoring genetics and getting into computers instead]
[Could it be that being experts in biology is exactly why they were able to build something like this?]
[Or maybe humans didn't build it at all]
[What the hell is actually on Mendel? Are they going to pull out rejuvenation next?]
[Rejuvenation? I'm down for that]
[Sounds possible]
[That would be fun]
[I want to raise a little kid version of Kira]
[???]
The viewers' discussion suddenly veered off in a completely inexplicable direction.
But inside the hangar of the Nazca-class, the group was still thinking seriously.
"So who the hell is piloting that blue machine?!"
Yzak finally could not hold it in anymore.
"Orb's Songstress."
Athrun knew there was no way to keep this hidden anyway.
"Huh…?"
Yzak couldn't process that for a moment.
"She probably failed to escape with her companions and was taken in by the Archangel… Incidentally, she owns a large share of the property rights in Heliopolis."
That was one way of putting it.
But in truth, some parts of the situation were difficult to explain cleanly.
Inori did indeed own part of the rights to Heliopolis, but owning property rights there and being able to control Heliopolis were two completely different things.
The rights to Heliopolis itself did not actually generate much profit, and the colony itself belonged to Orb.
So even if Inori held one hundred percent of the ownership interests in Heliopolis, she could only nominally own its property rights. Control of Heliopolis would still remain with Orb.
In other words, she was the sucker shareholder who owned most of the shares while someone else still controlled the company.
But…
Financial Liquidation was a different story.
At that point, the valuation would be calculated directly according to the shares she owned.
In other words—Bad Assets Turning Positive!
None of them knew much about the domestic situation in Orb.
But after hearing Athrun's explanation, the others immediately understood.
—So ZAFT had blown up the woman's property!
[They had it coming]
[Tragic]
[Give me a minute to laugh]
[Wait. Even if Inori is a huge celebrity, she hasn't even been one for a full year, right? Can one year as a Songstress really make that much money?]
[Why can't she have other businesses or investments?]
[It'd be a waste if an AI didn't play the stock market]
[So Inori's fight just now had at least a little personal grudge mixed in, right?]
[It was entirely personal]
"Interesting. Since she isn't part of the Earth Alliance, she rescued Athrun while she was at it. But because we threatened the Archangel, she chose to fight us." Le Creuset rubbed his chin. "In that case, the Archangel's sudden transformation must have been caused by her as well."
"That Grim Reaper-like fighting strength…" Dearka sighed.
"So the battle earlier…"
Athrun had not taken part in the battle, so he did not know exactly what had happened.
"Right. Come with me. We can't stay here forever. Athrun, go take a proper shower first. We'll discuss the details in the conference room."
"Yes, sir!"
After Athrun saluted, the scene shifted to the other side.
"Ha! Finally back!"
After returning to the Archangel, Cagalli also let out a long breath.
It felt so good to have solid ground beneath her feet again.
"Cagalli-san!"
Murrue and the others arrived at the hangar as well.
"This machine…"
Mu looked up at the Gundam Astray Gold Frame inside the hangar.
It was another Gundam Astray, but Cagalli had been piloting the Red Frame before. How had it suddenly turned gold?
Come to think of it, wasn't one of this Gold Frame's arms still sitting in their hangar?
"Wasn't this machine taken away by people from Orb?" Murrue found it strange as well.
And why did the Gold Frame's cockpit hatch also show signs of having been pried open?
Of course, replacing it would be easy enough. They still had two sets of spare Astray parts here.
The Gold Frame was in fairly poor condition, but with some repairs it should still be usable.
"It's a long story…"
Whenever Cagalli thought back on her incredible experience, she could not help feeling deeply emotional.
It really had been one bizarre encounter after another.
Meanwhile, the Strike's cockpit had opened as well.
Kira floated down from inside, her gaze more somber than ever before.
"Inori…!"
The moment she came down, Kira ignored everyone else and floated straight toward the Gundam Astray Blue Frame…