Chapter 295 - 296: Ask-Anything Inori-chan (Bonus - for 150 Power Stones)

Chapter 295: Chapter 296: Ask-Anything Inori-chan (Bonus Chapter for 150 Power Stones)

The production factory had been unlocked.

Once the authorization was unlocked, the rest was easy.

What the Archangel lacked was daily-living supplies.

When they’d relocated the materials from the two dismantled Astrays, they’d actually transported quite a lot of material in this regard.

Murrue permitted Inori to use these materials, and this time Natarle didn’t stop her either.

Besides, the materials weren’t entirely the Archangel’s to begin with—some of them belonged to Orb.

[Why does it always feel like she’s scamming her way into permissions]

[It’s a legit authorization, right?]

[Does this mean Inori can manufacture weapons on her own?]

[The Black Monolith’s secret is out this early? Not that impressive]

[I’m more and more convinced the Black Monolith is Inori’s true body]

[Inori’s carbon-based, right? She’s gotta be an artificial human]

[Inori did say she’s not a Coordinator, right?]

[Different definitions—so what does that even mean?]

[Guess we’ll wait for the experts in the comments to break it down]

[I’m more interested in the Black Monolith’s production factory]

[Don’t tell me she’s gonna hand-craft a Gundam?]

[That thing’s tiny—the most it could make is an exoskeleton]

Compared with hand-building a Gundam, what Inori really wanted to hand-build was a Variable Fighter (VF).

A pity she couldn’t.

Of course, if the Client wanted to sell model kits and issued her a new commission, then whipping up a Gundam or a VF or the like wouldn’t be out of the question.

"About how long will the search take?" Kira asked.

"One to two weeks."

But whether it was one week or two depended mainly on how the two’s feelings warmed up, as well as the situation on the other side.

"So this is the so-called ’Black Monolith’? What in the world is it?"

Inori didn’t hide it away; she displayed the Black Monolith openly and generously, and quite a few people gathered around to watch.

With the machine’s help, one rice cooker after another... pfft—one insect-type robot Fyu-Neru after another was manufactured.

The so-called Black Monolith was like an assembly line: material went in one side, and robots came out the other.

The mechanic Murdoch, along with Murrue and Mu and the others, all came over to the hangar to watch.

"The main body of the mechanical device Black Monolith is a quantum computer, and I am its humanoid_Interface_Element."

Inori didn’t talk in riddles; she just laid out the setting outright.

"A quantum computer? Nothing so special about that... though its size and power source are interesting." Murrue looked at the black object. She had no idea that the quantum computers of the SEED world couldn’t remotely compare to a "Lacia-class" supercomputer. It was like a bipedal raptor—you think they’re talking about a free-range chicken, when in fact they mean a Tyrannosaurus rex...

Still, with this, Inori’s optimization of the Archangel seemed to make sense now?

"Just how much can you actually do?" Mu said, somewhat moved.

"A great deal."

If she went all-out, tearing apart a mobile suit with her bare body was possible too.

But this was a Gundam set, not a superpower-battle set, so Inori had no intention of doing so.

The Black Monolith’s greatest benefit was actually that it made it convenient to set up a stage and sing.

Now that the authorization was unlocked, Inori could basically carry out all kinds of production activities—building her own sets and the like was no trouble at all.

"Who built this thing? And what connection does it have to the incident a year ago?" Murrue pressed on.

"The GINN suffered an AI infection."

That’s right—she’d done it herself.

"Is this also the reason you can control the Strike?" Murrue found Kira’s piloting quite baffling.

But put that way, she understood.

"This thing wasn’t built by ZAFT, was it?" Mu asked.

"Correct." Inori nodded. "I was created by Dr. Ulen Hibiki."

"Wait—how exactly was this thing kept hidden? Mirage Colloid? But isn’t that our Alliance’s technology?!"

The Mirage Colloid technology, which uses Mirage Colloid particles, could achieve invisibility.

So-called Mirage Colloid particles were basically the SEED universe’s "Minovsky particles"—a kind of "magic hand-wave particle."

It was just that, compared with other Gundam series, this technology didn’t occupy a central position in the SEED world.

"Slightly different—because the Black Monolith’s stealth can achieve an effect of complete light penetration." Inori said.

"Mm... how to put this. Inori-san. It doesn’t matter for the few of us, but you’d best keep this Black Monolith hidden—don’t let anyone else find out. That Black GINN is a trauma for a lot of people." Mu cautioned.

Murrue said as well, "Since this is neither Alliance technology nor ZAFT technology, I won’t pry into it."

Just as, in the "original," when Kira came back piloting the Freedom and made everyone leave the Freedom alone, Murrue and Mu both chose to show respect.

Some might think the Archangel’s crew were hypocrites.

But it had to be said—at the very least, they were good to their comrades.

"And after this? What’ll happen to these... probes?"

Mu kept looking at the robots.

"Once the Fyu-Neru enter the Debris Belt, they’ll gradually disperse throughout the entire belt within a week, forming a simple communications network. Their power will last a month, after which they’ll self-destruct. Once fully dispersed, they’ll be able to pick up the P.A.R.A.’s signal."

That said, in reality Inori had been monitoring the true situation on Cagalli’s side all along.

Then Inori looked at Kira. "Kira, just leave it to me."

"Mm..."

"Then next it should be our turn." Natarle stood up to keep playing the villain. "ZAFT has lost our coordinates for now, so we can take the chance to leave the Debris Belt and head for a nearby region."

"Nearby... Junius Seven?!"

Murrue’s eyes went wide.

"Leave?!" Kira was a little tense.

Natarle looked at Inori.

Inori said, "The Fyu-Neru network can stay connected; the moment they find her, we can carry out a rescue immediately."

"Captain!"

And just then, Sai and the others hurried over as well.

Earlier, Cagalli had stopped them from joining the Alliance.

But now wasn’t the time for that.

Even Cagalli had gone missing, so Sai and the others decided to do whatever they could.

The current Murrue, though, was unlike the "original"—with AI assistance, the Archangel basically wouldn’t run into a shortage of hands.

But the enthusiasm of these few was still there.

"The Archangel is a secret of our Alliance. If you join her, you won’t be able to leave so easily. Are you willing?" In the end, Murrue played her trump card.

"But Inori’s a different case!" Tolle felt there was still room to argue.

"That’s different."

But as for how exactly, Murrue found herself at a loss for words.

Aboard the Archangel, Inori could in fact erase her own information—including the Archangel secrets she’d come into contact with.

You could say that as long as Murrue and the others didn’t sell Inori out, then no matter how hard the higher-ups racked their brains investigating, they’d come up with nothing.

Fortunately, Mu stepped in to smooth things over just then. "These Astray MS are Orb machines, and they’re Orb citizens—surely they can look after this machine? And besides, we’ve still got to go gather and dig up supplies later; an engineering vessel should be fine too, right?"

"Please leave it to us! This is exactly what we do!" Tolle thumped his chest.

Other things were hard to say, but when it came to engineering machinery, these industrial-college students handled it with real finesse!