Chapter 283 - 284: Le Creuse—Master, I’ve Seen the Light!

Chapter 283: Chapter 284: Le Creuse—Master, I’ve Seen the Light!

Badgiruel’s idea was a good one.

Against any other enemy commander, her strategy would have succeeded.

No fleet could operate in that layer of the Debris Belt without taking losses.

Any commander with a brain would choose to give up the pursuit of the Archangel.

But who was Le Creuse?

Gundam SEED’s one and only designated world-ending Demon Lord.

"The Legged Ship went into the Debris Belt?!" Deputy Captain Ades was dumbfounded upon hearing it. "—Isn’t that suicide?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Le Creuse propped his chin on his hand. "But do you remember the AI we found on the G machines?"

"—Could it be... the warship?!" Ades caught on too.

"Yes. If this kind of AI can be used on an MS, then why not on a warship?" Le Creuse paused, then went on. "Here’s my conjecture. The AIs on those four machines are most likely just copies."

"Copies? The prototype’s on the Strike? Right, that would explain why the Strike had that kind of overwhelming power from the very start." Ades nodded.

But that wasn’t Le Creuse’s meaning: "I mean, the Black Monolith that fleet lost a year ago is very likely the prototype. Remember the Black GINN? If that was being controlled by the AI in the Black Monolith..."

—So that’s what it was?!

Ades had a flash of realization.

As Le Creuse spoke, he was also sorting out his own train of thought.

Once he strung together all the intelligence he knew, things began to become clear.

"So although we obtained the G data, that intelligence isn’t complete," Le Creuse said. "A year ago, the GINN carrying the Black Monolith went berserk by accident and ended up at Heliopolis, where the incident occurred. The Black Monolith was very likely lost at that time. And judging by the situation now, if it isn’t on the Strike, it’s inside the Legged Ship."

He didn’t know exactly what the Black Monolith was, but if it was a super AI, everything made sense.

As for why a colony researching genetics would have something like an AI, Le Creuse guessed it was very likely a biological computer.

A DNA computer or the like—the concept had existed since the Common Era, and MS design included things like nervous systems modeled on biological structures.

During an earlier communication, Le Creuse had specifically used an encrypted channel to reach Gilbert Durandal—his good friend, a renowned PLANT geneticist who’d once done genetic research work at Mendel.

If it was him, he might know something.

But Durandal had been vague about it too.

He didn’t seem to know very clearly either.

He’d only said: "Doctor Ulen Hibiki once created a very special individual, but he himself deemed it ’something humanity at its current stage should not touch’ and sealed it away. One thing can be confirmed, though—he once created a key for that seal..."

As for anything more, Durandal didn’t say, and even over encrypted comms, some things weren’t convenient to explain.

Ending his recollection and straightening out his thoughts, Le Creuse had made up his mind.

"We can try copying the AI inside the G machines and installing it in our navigation system," Le Creuse said. "And then... we’ll enter the Debris Belt too."

"Yes, sir!"

[He’s a ruthless one]

[This villain has a brain]

[Forget having a brain—this guy’s brain is on another level]

[Oh crap, it’s over!]

[Ah!]

[Nooo!]

[Gaia!]

[Tiga, save us, Tiga!]

Everyone was still discussing at first, but as the screen gradually went dark, they suddenly realized time was up.

Episode two had ended.

Next came the ED.

The ED sequence was very similar to the "original." But many "background characters" still hadn’t appeared.

The ED’s opening image was Kira, Cagalli, and Athrun.

And at the same time, the lyrics went, "We were once so close."

But when Inori saw the end, she was dumbfounded.

Because the final character arrangement of the ED was Inori and Lacus, back to back.

"Hold on, Stage, what the heck is this? Lacus-san and I haven’t even met yet, have we?"

[The ED was independently produced by the client; inquiring now]

[The client has replied]

[Client’s exact words: We’re hyping a pairing! They’re both songstresses, so of course we’re gonna hype it up—otherwise how do we sell these discs, how are we supposed to make a living?!]

Inori: ???

Got some nerve.

A fake pairing, huh!

Aren’t you afraid I’ll actually run off with Lacus for real?

After a wave of danmaku hype, the screen lit up again.

Episode three had begun.

[First!]

[Sofa! Bench!]

[Here it comes, another seven years of grueling wait!]

[The OP has new footage!]

[The overlay hiding Lacus is gone]

[They said earlier the OP had no Astray—now they’ve added it in]

[It’s a minor tweak, but changing the OP every single episode—that’s so extravagant]

[They’ve already made a fortune just selling songs—over on Depressed Cloud Music, the SEED songs are dominating the charts, four in the top ten, four whole songs!]

The audience was chatting heatedly.

Meanwhile, the Archangel was being carefully maneuvered through the debris.

Helmsman Arnold Neumann was now drenched in sweat.

The AI assist had sharply reduced the pressure he had to bear, but advancing through a place that was all debris was still terrifying.

And the warning system kept issuing alerts now and then—extremely high-speed debris rushing in from ahead or behind that had to be avoided.

"This is way too intense..." Neumann was soaked in sweat.

"Looks like this AI really is something. If this keeps up, we won’t even... hm?"

All of a sudden, the system sent an alert.

"A distress signal?"

Someone had sent a distress signal, and it looked like it wasn’t far from this location.

"Captain, we’re a warship," Badgiruel said. "And the other party has already sent a distress signal, so a rescue team should be arriving soon."

Clearly, Badgiruel had seen through Murrue’s hesitation.

Murrue definitely wouldn’t have the heart to ignore it, so Badgiruel had to cut off that thought right now.

"But... hm?!"

Murrue was about to say something more when the source of that "distress signal" appeared on the screen.

—A lifepod numbered "26," "run aground" and immobilized on a massive asteroid fragment, in very bad shape.

And the AI system gave a signal alert too.

"A Heliopolis escape pod?! But why is it in a place like this?!"

Could its propulsion or navigation system have been damaged, causing it to stray into this zone?

"Nani?! Who gave her permission to do that?!"

At that very moment, Badgiruel let out a cry of alarm.

"What’s wrong?" Murrue asked.

"It’s the Strike. That kid took the Strike and launched without permission." Badgiruel sighed.