"Ya know I fix ships, not humans, right?"
"I am fully aware of your job description, Xanthus. But I feel like I need the extra set of sensors, and you have a much stronger core than I do. You've been absorbing all those medical texts off the internet, right?"
"Yeah, yeah I read em. Why ya even doin this?"
"I don't know, dammit! Because I'm a sentimental idiot, probably. The Code expects something from me and I don't know what it is. I just have to do what feels like the right thing."
The repair ship's mental model taps her right temple rhythmically as she stares at me with a probing look. I again find myself wondering why the Admiralty Code sent her here. I would have been fine receiving new supplies in a box at the bottom of the bay. Is there something important about Xanthus in particular? She's a Flagship, but she's outside the chain of command for warships.
She probably wonders why she's here, too. The difference between me and her is that I question the point of all this, while Xanthus just dismisses those questions and does what the Code tells her.
"This human freaks me out, ya know? He ain't normal for humans."
"I already understand how disturbing he is if you look at him from our perspective. Physical proportions notwithstanding..."
I suppose now would be a good time to note that Xanthus doesn't have CLAMP body proportions. While still a little bit exaggerated, she is pretty much normal from my point of view. I actually worry that she'll look really weird to the locals. Maybe it could help with the whole "aliens" thing if I play it right. Xanthus clearly gives off that vibe of trying to be human but failing at it.
"This quantum network ain't in a language the Fog knows. Without knowin the language, we dunno what commands or queries it responds to."
Trying to understand a new language without any context is definitely not a simple process. I stare at Mao's unconscious face for a moment, wondering how to approach the problem. Failing surgical means, which I don't think is going to work without serious consequences, we'll have to attack it through the mechanisms by which Geass operates.
"It has to be something human brains will understand... Focus on the language and speech center. His Geass remains active even when he's unconscious, so it should react to incoming signals."
"He hears signals from other humans. What good does it do us if there ain't any humans nearby?"
"He hears something from me, which means he's probably picking up my IFF beacon. But he doesn't understand it. It sounds like noise to him."
"We could use that, maybe. Convert your IFF into somethin a human would understand?"
"Worth a shot."
Humans in Arpeggio of Blue Steel have significantly better understanding of neurology than they did back in my time. They're not that far behind Ghost in the Shell in terms of brain-computer interface technology. The Fleet of Fog have that knowledge available on the Joint Tactical Network.
I... didn't cry when I linked up to Xanthus this time. Her emotions towards me are no longer disgust, but care. Not care in the way a human would with empathy, but more analytical and factual. It's more like she's my doctor or something. She approaches our interactions with that kind of professional manner. I'm not sure that makes me feel better, but it's not as hurtful as the alternative.
So our first serious attempt at this is to convert my IFF signal into a pattern that would be recognized by Mao's brain. This takes a bit of fiddling around since we're not working with a hardline connection, but eventually I'm sending a signal I think Mao's Geass should comprehend. It closely mimics brain patterns associated with sounds, specifically human speech.
For about 20 minutes, I put this out and don't seem to get any response. I almost throw up my hands and quit, but I finally get some brain activity outside of the norm.
"You finally get somethin, I take it?" Xanthus said, pausing in the middle of using her Klein Field to form the individual feathers of her bird sculpture.
"Yeah. Now to start poking it and see if I can figure out how Geass talks."
-------------------------------
Yokosuka Port
01:27
"She didn't give us very specific instructions, did she?" C.C. said.
Kallen idly tapped the steering wheel and looked at the radio clock again. They'd been sitting in the truck for over a half hour waiting for Morgan to show up, but the self-declared "alien warship" hadn't said exactly when or where to meet her. So they'd picked a spot out of sight between a pair of warehouses, assuming Morgan would be able to find them.
"If nothing else, she should call us." Lelouch replied, wondering why Morgan had told them to bring the Gurren. It didn't seem like there was another obvious reason besides upgrading it somehow.
"Nothing makes sense anymore." Kallen sighed. "How did we go from nationalist rebellion to... aliens?"
Lelouch admitted that Kallen had something of a point. It was already strange enough to run into a woman that didn't die from being shot in the head and could give away mind control and mind reading powers. Morgan added another layer of weirdness that made life all the more surreal. He suddenly found himself wondering if tomorrow a big hairy man would show up and tell him he was a wizard.
"... Lelouch, who are you?" Kallen asked. "Why do you hate Britannia so much you'll lead a bunch of Japanese rebels?"
Lelouch grit his teeth slightly. He'd expected Kallen would start asking eventually, but that didn't make the situation any more bearable. He didn't want Kallen knowing everything. Perhaps he could divulge the truth in pieces so that she would fill the gaps in with her own misconceptions?
"My mother... was murdered on the grounds of the Britannian royal palace. Nunnally was with her."
"And that's why your sister is..."
"Yes." Lelouch growled out, startling Kallen with the pure hatred in that single word.
"W-why is that Britannia's fault?"
"My mother had influence with the royal family that others in the aristocracy hated her for. The guards left the grounds undefended, which they would only do if ordered."
"You think another noble killed her in some... political power play?"
"What better way does one advance in a hyper-meritocracy where assassinating the king and all one's competitors is an acceptable means of attaining the throne?" C.C. said.
"When I began asking questions, even going so far as to accuse the royal family of having a part in it, we were disowned by our father and sent to Japan. I thought that we would at least be left alone, but then Britannia invaded. As far as anyone in Britannia knows, Nunnally and I are dead."
"So... what is Japan to you in all this?"
"Does it matter what Japan means to me? Everyone has different reasons for why they fight, Kallen. Do I need to have personal loyalty to your lost country in order to hate the same enemy you do?"
"No! But... are we just a means to an end for you?"
"I had to carry my sister through a field of rotting corpses. Since then, I vowed I would destroy Britannia with my own hands and create a world that would make Nunnally happy. If Japan can make that world a reality, then perhaps it is a bit more than just a means to an end."
The truck got very quiet after that.
Several minutes later, Lelouch's phone rang.
