Chapter 49
Of Obliged Conception
"That was absolutely amazing!"
With the immediate danger past, those who had just borne witness to such miraculous feats were finally able to express themselves. First and foremost amongst them was Kaguya, who despite the training and preparation her seniors in the Ise priesthood had tried to confer upon her, still found enough wonderment in what she witnessed to begin gushing almost immediately.
"How you and the grandmaster and Arashi-sama faced off that entire horde, and then how Your Eminence went one-on-one against that tengu and defeated him by calling down a lightning bolt on him!"
As enthused as Kaguya was, she was of course not the only bystander to the battle. From the expressions they wore, the others did not quite share in the girl's zeal.
"Yeah, about that," Kevin began. "I don't mean to sound dense, but could someone explain to me what just happened here? I mean I get that the thought elevator was attacked, but what was with the weapons all of you, projected, was it?"
"We can certainly answer, but let it be on your head if your superiors decide you know too much," C.C. said, flashing an all too serene smile.
"They sent me to look after the little lady," Kevin responded. "Me picking up a few extra secrets along the way is inevitable."
"How audacious," C.C. said. "In that case, Lelouch, why don't you take this one?"
The cardinal rolled his eyes but answered nonetheless. "The inside of a thought elevator is ultimately a virtual data space, linked to the collective unconscious of mankind. Within it, our perception of the data that exists reflects the cumulative knowledge and imagination of humanity as a whole. Our thoughts become manifest, and miracles are made possible."
"Huh," Kevin said looking down at his hands. "So you just, think up whatever weapon you want, and it appears?"
"A simplistic interpretation, but yes," Lelouch said. "The more powerful, and complex, the weapon however, the greater strain it is on the person doing the projection. You may have noticed that my attendants began with modern firearms before the majority of them switched over to bolt-action rifles. More modern firearms are easier to project, due to their greater proliferation amongst the extant human consciousnesses, but those weapons that linger and accrue a long history in the collective unconscious are more malleable and able to effect greater phenomena, which make them better suited against the more robust threats one might encounter in the data space. It's a balancing act between the age of the weapon and how prevalent it remains within the current conscious awareness, hence the usage of the M1903 Springfield. The rifle itself is over a hundred years old, but Britannia built over a million for both its own military and for sale to the Europeans during the War of 1914, which served nicely to anchor the design. Projecting such weapons however can still be quite difficult even for geass contractors."
"I'm sorry I wasn't much help," Leila said, alluding to the mere pistol she had been able to summon.
"No apologies are needed," Lelouch said. "That you were able to arm yourself at all meant one fewer person we needed to actively defend, which was worthwhile in and of itself. In the future though, if you do ever find yourself in need of a weapon inside the thought elevator data space, I would recommend the M1911 if you are not in position to project a more powerful conceptual weapon."
"The M1911," Cornelia murmured as various bits clicked together. "Wait, is that why Eden Vital still uses that as its standard sidearm instead of a 9mm Browning?"
As the name implied, the pistol also had about a century of history behind it, meeting the criteria necessary to make it a more potent weapon. And by keeping it within circulation, the M1911 could obtain the benefit of more modern counterparts by being easier to project due to its prevalence in the conscious awareness.
"It certainly doesn't hurt," Lelouch said with a shrug. "The true benefit of keeping the M1911 in service however is that it allows us to retroactively apply some of the upgrades made to the base design even onto the original concept. It's served as a useful little experimental platform to see how flexible the phenomenon alteration capabilities of the thought elevators are."
"And just when I thought this whole thing couldn't get more insane," Kevin sighed. "At least this is all just a thought elevator-only thing."
The cardinal raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at the Catholic priest. "And what makes you think that?"
Kevin shot Lelouch an incredulous look in response. "Oh come on, you're not seriously suggesting you can pull this stuff off in the real world?"
"What is real aside from the fidelity of one's perception?" Lelouch said, then began counting on his fingers. "Alice is capable of superspeed, Dalque, superstrength. Kallen can outright absorb and redirect tremendous amounts of kinetic energy. All these require the manipulation of macro forces at levels our technology cannot yet replicate and our understanding of physics can barely understand. What makes you think there are not other feats that would otherwise seemingly break the rules of reality?"
"The fact that I'd prefer not to have to imagine all sorts of new threats to watch out for?" Kevin said glumly.
To that Lelouch chuckled. "Well, be that as it may, as you yourself said, there are still limits we must abide by, so you probably don't need to worry about myself or other Eden Vital contractors pulling guns out of thin air."
Kaguya clapped her hands together. "Does that mean weapons from Japanese mythology can also be projected?"
"Presumably," Lelouch said, "though I am not sufficiently connected to the Japanese mythos to be able to summon any. My repertoire is limited to the English, Welsh, or French mythos."
The Scottish and Irish mythos were notably absent, despite their long association with the rest of the British legends.
"French?" Kaguya tilted her head aside.
"My mother was of French descent," Lelouch explained. "Joyeuse is beyond me, but I could probably manifest Durendal if there was a genuine need."
"Joyeuse and Durendal," Kaguya said with a slight smile. "I'm afraid those are just names to me."
"Joyeuse is the name of Charlemagne's sword," Leila said. "Charlemagne is considered ancient France's great king, in a similar vein as King Arthur is to the British. And Durendal is the sword of one of Charlemagne's knights. One of his twelve, actually, a parallel to the twelve Knights of the Round."
"I see," Kaguya said with a sincere nod, then looked over at Kallen. "What of you, Kallen? You were able to project a bow from Arthurian legend, can you do likewise from Japanese lore?"
"I'd need a reference," Kallen said. "I can project a basic katana just fine, but I'd need a point of reference for anything actually legendary."
That saw the girl give another nod, before another thoughtful expression crossed her face.
"So wait, this projection, is it similar to what I learned how to do to summon the ceremonial fans and bells?"
"It is indeed, Kaguya-sama," Arashi said. "Though you will hopefully have no need to call upon such other instruments. That duty falls upon those such as myself and Subaru-sama."
"Though it might not be a bad idea to provide her the requisite training," Lelouch chimed in. "Just in case."
Kaguya graced Lelouch a wide smile at his support, while Arashi simply sighed. All of them were inside the main shrine building now, but instead of stopping, Arashi summoned the same bells Kaguya used during her dance. She performed a less elaborate series of motions shaking the bells, revealing a set of stairs that led downward. Another layer of security, to protect something even more important.
"Good setup," C.C. remarked. "Robust defenses. Even had the heretics managed to seize control of the thought elevator, they likely would have needed a century or two to override the lockouts. Little wonder they were waiting for us to do it for them."
"Now that they have failed, they will undoubtedly redouble their efforts in striking at us," Arashi stated.
"They will find no greater success," Lelouch declared, "not under my watch."
"We shall see, Your Eminence," Arashi said plainly. "We shall see."
After a few moments where the silence was only interrupted by the clicking of footsteps, Cornelia spoke up.
"How deep does this go?"
"Quite a ways," C.C. said. "I suppose this is as good a time as any to elucidate, on what the thought elevators are and what purpose they serve."
"You mean there's more than the whole, connection to the human unconscious?" Kevin said.
"Indubitably," C.C. said, a wide smirk crossing her face. "Query. What came first, the thought elevators or the collective unconscious that they are connected to?"
The question was clearly directed towards the newer aspirants to the thought elevator's secrets, but those amongst their numbers with even background knowledge to even try to answer were even fewer.
"The collective unconscious," Leila nonetheless took a crack at it. "Assuming the dating methods used are not misleading us, the thought elevators arose around the start of the Neolithic Age. Archeologists have managed to find several indications, albeit somewhat speculative, linking the petroglyphs seen inside the thought elevators with those at various other prehistoric sites."
"And the thought elevators on the moon?"
To that Leila did not have an answer, as the girl's silence attested.
"A good answer nonetheless," C.C. assured her. "A better question however would be, who built the thought elevators?"
The ones that knew the answer remained tightlipped. Whether that was because they were enjoying the sense of mystery being invoked or did not want to tread upon the grandmaster's fun remained equally unanswered.
"Well, since I seem to be serving the role of jester already," Kevin said, "I'll just say it. Was it aliens?"
"A broken clock is still right twice a day," C.C. said, running her hand along the stairway's wall.
The wooden wall disappeared, replaced by a dimly light expanse that seemed to stretch on forever. In that void however hung a readily identifiable sight, a projection of Earth and its moon.
"There are many mysteries associated with Earth's sole satellite," the grandmaster continued. "Its composition, for one, shares an identical isotopic signature as that with our planet, which would imply a significant percentage of the material that it is made of comes from the Earth itself. The prevailing public theory is that another planetary mass struck Earth early in its development, blasting enough material into space that then coalesced into the moon we know today."
As C.C. spoke, the projection on the wall played out the very events she described, showing a primordial, molten Earth that collided with another, smaller planet. The debris from this impact parted from the Earth, before settling into an orbit that saw them come together to form a new sphere, the moon.
"Of course, this was all before more sophisticated measurements of the moon's interior revealed something else entirely."
The Earth disappeared, with the moon now taking center stage. A cross-section view was created, showing the layers below the outer crust. Instead of the familiar layers of mantles and cores however, an entirely different sight was beheld.
"What in God's name?" Kevin said, his jaw dangling in what looked to be an entirely earnest reaction.
At the center of the satellite was not a spherical core, but a massive cube, which by all rights should be impossible considering the pressures involved. What was more, four massive branches grew outward from the cube, stretching all the way to the surface. Additional tendrils fanning out from these main trunks created a massive superstructure which anchored all of the rocky material that composed the rest of the moon's mass.
"Eden Vital has a different theory as to the formation of the moon," C.C. said, shifting the projection again such that the interior construct of the moon was now hanging alone. "We postulate that it was not a rogue impactor that knocked loose the material from Earth that formed the moon, it was the construct that forms the moon's internal superstructure that deliberately harvested material from the Earth to form its body."
The accretion of material was replayed, though this time without anything striking the Earth. Instead the material was simply siphoned from the still hot Earth, accumulating around the superstructure to form the spherical shell. Once complete, the cross section showing the mysterious cube reappeared.
"We call the main core the Moon Cell," C.C. said. "It by all indications appears to be a massive, and massively powerful, optical computer, far beyond anything human technology is capable of replicating. Much of what we know about it is based on the few rudimentary queries we are able to make to it via its communication nodes, the four thought elevators that are on the lunar surface. Thought elevators that, based on our best dating techniques, are over 4.6 billion years old."
Sharp gasps sounded there, and a few of the newcomers even came to a halt as they contemplated that number.
"That's at least as old as the Earth itself," Leila voiced their mutual conclusion.
"Which puts the Moon Cell squarely outside the bounds of human creation," C.C. said. "Unless one wishes to postulate time travel to be involved."
"Please tell me it isn't," Kevin said, sounding genuinely eager for that not to be the case.
"Worry not," Lelouch said. "As far as Eden Vital has been able to determine, nothing has ever violated the linearity of time."
Relief could be heard in the sighs that followed, though that only resolved one concern the others felt.
"Do you know what the Moon Cell is doing?" Cornelia asked, focusing on the practical consequences of the revelations thus far. "Why it's here, in orbit of Earth?"
They were now at the bottom of the stairs, though one more set of doors barred their way to whatever was held in this most sanctified place of the Kamine thought elevator's data space.
"What it does is simple enough," C.C. said. "It monitors all of the information generated on Earth and transmits it back to the Moon Cell for archiving. Indeed, the Moon Cell has what appears to be a complete history of the human race, from when our ancestors first gained awareness to this very moment. Why it is doing this, that is one of the great mysteries Eden Vital works to unravel."
In other words, they didn't know.
"One thing we have managed to confirm," the grandmaster continued, "is that sometime around three hundred thousand years ago, around when the modern human species arose, the internal topology of the Moon Cell's data space began to grow in complexity. It is as if the Moon Cell, via the connection it forged to our collective unconscious, was able to use the sum of human thought to further improve itself."
"Umm," Leila hesitantly began. "Then, what exactly is the Moon Cell's relation to the human race? What does it mean, for our collective unconscious to be connected to its thought elevators?"
"You mean, whether our collective unconscious, and our individual consciousness, are our own," C.C. said, "or whether it's merely a byproduct of the Moon Cell's computational power?"
Again there was a bit of uneasy shifting about as C.C. struck at the heart of the matter. It really was a chicken and egg problem. Did humanity as a species exist as its own discrete entity, or were they little more than extensions of a much greater whole? C.C. however shook her head.
"Recall what I just said. It is because of us that the Moon Cell has been able to improve its own computational capability. If we were merely extensions of the Moon Cell, we would arguably be bound by the same limitations that precluded it from such self-improvement. What we are, what humanity is, is independent of whatever power created the Moon Cell. That is why we provide the means for the Moon Cell to exceed its previous limits, and why in time, we might surpass the Moon Cell itself." The grandmaster gave a wry chuckle. "Or at least, that's what I and Eden Vital like to think."
Even were that C.C.'s opinion alone instead of representing the collective hypothesis of Eden Vital, the reasoning was at least sound enough to offer a measure of reassurance. Even if it did open up a whole other can of worms.
"We may provide some benefit for the Moon Cell for now, but that doesn't necessarily mean its intentions are ultimately benign," Cornelia pointed out.
"No, but its past actions in defense of mankind suggests it is prepared to go to bat for us if the need arises," said C.C.
Kaguya tilted her head. "It's come to mankind's defense before? When?"
C.C. waved towards the door. "Arashi, if you would be so kind."
The priestess pushed open the doors and once through the party found themselves standing on a balcony overlooking a truly gargantuan chamber. Mounted within the chamber was a large, angled construct, the extent of which they could not fully discern from their present vantage point. Even looking down, the bottom of the construct was not visible. What was visible however was enough to elicit an instinctive, primordial sense of dread amongst everything that saw it.
"What in the world is that?" Cornelia exclaimed in a mixture of terror and wonder.
"Not of this world," C.C. responded. "Even less so than the Moon Cell and the thought elevators."
The chamber around them disappeared as C.C. once more brought forth a visual projection. The partial wreckage was made whole and reduced in scale, revealing the original shape of the construct to be octahedral. Hovering over the Earth, the construct looked comparatively tiny, but that only belayed the immensity of its actual size.
"Despite the Moon Cell having been present since basically the formation of Earth, there is a notable discontinuity approximately fourteen thousand years ago, wherein a significant amount of its data was badly corrupted."
Another projection appeared, this one on the surface of the planet showing what appeared to be a large human settlement. And not just of simple huts one might have expected of Stone Age humans, this here was a proper city with buildings constructed of white stone several stories in height. Such a sight would not have been out of place in a late Bronze Age or even early Iron Age timeframe, but fourteen thousand years ago was before humans were conventionally thought to have even developed proper agrarian societies.
"The images you see here are some of the only records we have of human development from this timeframe and before," the grandmaster continued. "What it reveals is that humanity had actually achieved a considerable amount of development by this era, before it was all nearly wiped clean."
Suddenly, the projection of the octahedron in orbit showed flashes of light sweeping across its structure. Moments later, the idyllic looking city disappeared in a roaring inferno. Gasps sounded amongst those watching, and even those who knew what was coming grimaced.
"Fourteen thousand years ago," C.C. repeated, "life on Earth was nearly wiped out with the arrival of Velber 02, Sephyr. Would have been wiped out, had the Moon Cell not intervened."
More flashes of lights appeared, but these originated not from the octahedron. Zooming in, a flurry of small, curved fighters became visible as they launched attacks upon the invading construct. Their pinprick attacks illuminated a protective barrier that enclosed the octahedron, but none seemed able to actually get through to do damage to the ship proper. That task fell to the much larger ships now making their approach. Each one was of towering heights, the graceful curves lending the appearance of a great war bow instead of an interstellar vessel. The artistically crafted faces at the center lent a certain majesty to them as well, as if each one was the manifestation of an ancient god come to defend its realm. When they came into range, the storm of plasma they unleashed finally pierced the enemy's defenses, creating cracks along its hull.
All throughout this, the octahedron had not remained idle. Soon its own fighters were dogfighting with those deployed by the Moon Cell, while the octahedron redirected at least some of its larger batteries to fire upon the larger warships. Slowly, the Moon Cell forces began taking losses, but they continued their attacks, determined to inflict as much damage upon the octahedron as possible before their own destruction. In the meantime, the invader still had enough leeway to continue its bombardment of Earth. More and more of the planet took on a decidedly orangish tint from the fires that raged below.
Down on the surface, it was not just the orbital bombardment laying waste to the land. Massive giants of light waded through the already devastated landscape, seeking to crush those that might have miraculously survived the initial firestorms beneath their footsteps. And yet these monstrosities did not have the land all to themselves. Rising to challenge them were large, red armored constructs wielding sword and shield. The clash between the titans further roiled the earth, but there was no doubt these red war-gods were on the side of mankind. More than once, one intervened to shield the frail, tiny humans from the white titans.
In such a clash, it would not have been unreasonable to presume such mere humans would do everything in their power to stay hidden and out of the way. The human will being what it was however, images soon appeared of people trying to fight back. And not just fighting back, but even winning.
"What was that!?" Kaguya exclaimed. "Did that archer just slay one of the white giants!?"
It was not just bow and arrow that was somehow proving effective, spears, swords, and a myriad of other seemingly mundane weapons were actually inflicting damage upon the titans. While sometimes the humans suffered calamitous casualties felling a titan, other times a single hero arose that proved able to slay a multitude by their lonesome.
"For countless millennia the Moon Cell recorded the concepts that humanity gave birth to," C.C. said. "Now it returned them to us, in our great time of need, and those that wielded the conceptual weapons it forged would be passed on into legend as heroes. Then there were the conceptual weapons it deployed directly. All this in defense of mankind, and at great cost to itself."
Despite the destruction being wrought, that the Moon Cell would be victorious was a given, as otherwise none of them would be here watching this recreation of the titanic battle. Or for that matter overlooking what was clearly a fragment of the octahedral invader. The cause of the construct's downfall however still came from a most unexpected place, as suddenly a bright beam of light rose up from the Earth itself, cleaving clean through the ship. The immediate hit bisected the vessel, with a series of secondary explosions further fragmented those two halves. Of the larger chunks, seven in total could be seen drifting apart and falling into the Earth's gravity well.
"By the time Sephyr was destroyed, over 80% of the data the Moon Cell had accumulated was corrupted beyond recovery," C.C. said, "with the Moon Cell itself heavily damaged. That was probably why it resorted to what it did to deal with the fragments Sephyr broke up into."
Trailing after each one was one of the surviving large ships deployed by the Moon Cell, which latched onto the wreckage and slowed their mutual descent. The trajectories projected saw the wreckages headed for England, the Antarctic, the eastern coast of North America, the Middle East, central Africa, the middle of Asia, and finally Japan. In other words, the sites where today a thought elevator was sited. The projection C.C. was generating trailed after the wreckage destined for Kamine Island, and they watched it descend all the way to the ground, where the Moon Cell ship tethered to it brought it to a surprisingly soft landing. Then, the entire thing began sinking into the ground as if the island was some mere mirage. Eventually, all that remained was the towering edifice of the top of the Moon Cell ship, with the wreckage laid to rest under it.
"Seven were the fragments that ultimately made landfall," C.C. declared. "The Antarctic thought elevator sealed the main computer and command core, the New York thought elevator the main defensive shield generator. The Taklamakan thought elevator sealed the primary weapon, while the London thought elevator sealed the self-repair and construction module. The Congo thought elevator sealed the main propulsion system, while the Baghdad thought elevator sealed the main communications array. And the Kamine Island thought elevator sealed the main power core, which by the way, is the reason for the bountiful vein of sakuradite Japan enjoys."
As revelations went, this was certainly a doozy. Even without that last bit of trivial, this was still quite a bit for the newly initiated to chew on. Maybe even too much, from the wide-eyed expressions they wore. And C.C. was not even done yet.
"The Treaty of London stipulates that no ecclesiastical orders can assume custody of more than two thought elevators," the grandmaster stated. "The official, public rationale is to prevent the sort of strategic shifts that would result if a single faction were able to network together more than two thought elevators. The real reason is to prevent anyone from doing something as colossally stupid as trying to reunite Sephyr's remains."
More than one person could be heard making a choking sound.
"Is that actually possible?" Cornelia asked.
"I'd prefer not finding out," C.C. said. "You saw the destructive power Sephyr possesses. If any single power was able to put it back together, they would become indomitable."
"And yet Eden Vital had previously seemed rather dead set on taking over custody of the Kamine thought elevator," Kevin interjected, "and now the Taklamakan thought elevator."
"We have been insistent on naming the successors," C.C. countered. "It was always our intention to relinquish the Kamine thought elevator once Ise could be reestablished, or if need be handed off to another order such as Koya. The same holds true for the Taklamakan as well."
"So why then the insistence on amending the Treaty of London to increase the limit?" Kevin countered.
"Because even if temporary, Eden Vital would be holding custody of more than two thought elevators," C.C. said, with all the patience one might expect when explaining something to a very young child. "The Order certainly isn't going to let the other signatory try to rules lawyer us about breaking either the letter or the spirit of the treaty."
"As if the spirit was ever upheld," the Catholic priest muttered, then more loudly. "Couldn't you have been more frank about that fact beforehand?"
"It is hardly my fault the Holy See's leadership is of such conspiratorial bent," C.C. said with a dismissive sniff. "After all, it is not as if the Holy See's highest authorities are ignorant of what the thought elevators seal."
In other words, no. Though to be fair even with the current revelations Kevin was not sure if his superiors would be mollified. Too many of their concerns were driven by personal insecurities than the actual facts on the ground, unfortunately.
"Velber 02," Leila murmured, then more loudly. "Why the numerical appellation, Grandmaster?"
"Because Velber is merely the designation of the vanguard force of the true threat, the Umbral Star," Lelouch however was the one that answered, "and that vanguard force is composed of three ships, of which only one, Sephyr has been confirmed neutralized. Preparing humanity to face the greater threat that the others represent is Eden Vital's great mission."
Several people actually winced at that, while others looked incredulously at the cardinal. After witnessing the firepower Sephyr possessed, they could barely imagine what it would mean for two more such ships to exist, never mind something even more powerful. In the face of such power, did humanity even have a chance?
"Preparing humanity," Kaguya said for all of them. "In what form do these preparations take?"
"By uplifting mankind so that we can match the level of development Sephyr represents technologically," C.C. took that one. "The destruction it visited upon Earth took thousands of years to repair, and humanity itself was set back an even greater period of time. It took us over ten thousand years before we were able to reach the level of development we possessed before the invasion, and then another four thousand years to reach the point where we can finally begin to properly unlock the secrets of both the Moon Cell and Sephyr." The grandmaster directed a smirk at a certain other priest. "Having to deal with superstitious luddism has certainly cost us at least a few centuries of lost progress."
Kevin grunted but did not rise to the bait. It would have served little purpose trying to debate the matter with C.C. anyway.
"And?" Cornelia interjected anyway. "What sort of secrets have been unlocked?"
"The Yggdrasil Drive miniature solar furnace," Lelouch was the one that began listing them, "the Blaze Luminous plasma shield, the Float System anti-gravity generator, and a few others. All are the fruits of Eden Vital's reverse engineering efforts on the Sephyr fragments. We are still several generations away from reaching the order of magnitude of output the originals are capable of, but given enough time, humanity will be capable of fighting and triumphing over a Velber vanguard without help from the Moon Cell."
When the cardinal laid them out like that, everything suddenly made so much more sense. The breakthroughs in physics that each of the listed pieces of technology represented would have been paradigm changing individually. That over the span of the last ten years or so Eden Vital was able to achieve multiple such advancements seemed unreal, were they to have done so alone. With actual examples of the technology to reverse engineer though, the breakthroughs seemed that much more plausible. Mostly, at least.
Kaguya tilted her head. "Wait. Of the technologies that Eden Vital has developed, I can understand the Blaze Luminous, since you have possession of what I presume to be a similar shield generator in New York. I can even understand the Yggdrasil Drive, since Ise and Eden Vital have had a longstanding relationship. But the Float System, does that not correspond to the propulsion system in the Congo, which is under the Catholic Church's stewardship?"
A rather astute observation on the Japanese girl's part. And an implicit question as to why the Europeans were not the ones to come up with it first, if at all.
"Sephyr's main databanks of course have schematics for all its systems," C.C. explained. "That and the Europeans have been, less aggressive, in their examination of the fragments." The grandmaster shrugged. "Or less capable of it, since one can only access them via the thought elevator's data space."
Which, with their lack of geass contractors or code bearers, the Europeans were at a marked disadvantage attempting.
"After fourteen thousand years," Cornelia spoke up next, seeing as they seemed to be in a Q&A portion now, "how certain are you that Sephyr's, sister ships, are still out there? Shouldn't they have already shown up to investigate what happened to the other vanguard?"
"Under normal circumstances, that would be the case," Lelouch said, "but there are two factors that work in our favor. The first is that, for all their advanced technology, whatever civilization created the Umbral Star does not appear to possess the ability to travel faster-than-light. Wherever they want to go, they need to do so the slow way, taking decades if not centuries to cross the void between star systems. And the second is that we are fairly certain Sephyr never actually reported the Moon Cell's location before it was destroyed."
"Fairly certain how?" Kevin asked. "Wait, never mind, that another thing you dug out of that database you guys have?"
"It is certainly one of the factors contributing to our conclusion," Lelouch said. "The other is that Sephyr's long range communications array was one of the first things taken out in its battle with the Moon Cell. For whatever reason, despite lacking FTL travel capabilities, Sephyr does possess an FTL capable comm. Examination of the fragment sealed by the Baghdad thought elevator however indicates the system to be inoperable." The cardinal shrugged. "Whatever message Sephyr might have managed to send out would again be restricted to the speed of light and possess a correspondingly lower bandwidth. Whether that message would ever reach the Umbral Star, or how long the Umbral Star would take to notice something was amiss, we cannot say, but it would still likely be on the order of centuries."
The pensive expression indicated Cornelia's concerns were not fully assuaged, but she appeared more contemplative than perturbed. It seemed the princess was regarding the issue from her perspective as the Empire's ranking military officer, on the strategic and tactical ramifications of this interstellar threat to her nation.
"Previously you mentioned how Japan's reserves of sakuradite was a product of the Sephyr fragment sealed here," Kaguya said. "What did you mean by that?"
"The mineral we know of as sakuradite is not native to Earth," C.C. answered. "It was however used extensively within Sephyr's system, as a conduit for power transfers, as a lasing medium for its weapons, so on and so forth. Indeed, the Order Dialogus chose ichor as the translation for what the Umbral civilization itself called sakuradite. And the largest concentration of that ichor was of course in its main power core, which is part of the fragment that lies before us."
A reasonable enough explanation, though not a complete one.
"The other thing to keep in mind is sakuradite's rather unique properties," C.C. said. "Do you recall what they were?"
Kaguya blinked. "It's a room temperature superconductor and is also capable of emitting very low levels of radiation."
"And?"
After a few moments Kaguya shook her head, not able to surmise the answer the grandmaster wanted.
"Hmm, perhaps you weren't briefed on this yet," C.C. mused. "Well, the other special quality of sakuradite is that, with sufficient input energy, it is self-replicative."
That saw more than one pair of eyes widen.
"All of the thought elevators around the world have sakuradite deposits around them, though they are all dwarfed by the Japanese deposit," C.C. continued. "That is because the volcanic nature of the Japanese islands provided a more readily accessible source of geothermal energy, which has been driving the transmutation of new sakuradite over the past fourteen thousand years. Combined with the larger amount of sakuradite that was seeded by the power core, and it is only natural that Japan would have the largest reserves in the world."
"So much of our history and heritage, tied to all this," Kaguya murmured. "It's so much to take in."
C.C. chuckled, walking over and rustled the girl's hair. "Do not be in so much a hurry, there is time aplenty to delve further into the thought elevator's mysteries."
Kaguya offered a slight smile in response. "I will keep that in mind, Grandmaster."
"If sakuradite really is self-replicative," Leila spoke up, "then shouldn't it be possible to produce more of it artificially? Why does Japan still have a de facto monopoly?"
Technically Britannia via its possession of Japan, but the point still held.
"Because the energy cost is exorbitant," Lelouch answered. "You would be looking at diverting the electrical production of half a continent to jumpstart the process, and then you would have to sustain it."
The answer was probably obvious, but there was no harm in it being asked.
"Considering the nature of the threat this Umbral Star represents," Cornelia began, "why all the effort to keep the fragments split? Why not unite them, and all the nations of Earth, to better marshal the world's resources in preparation?"
More than a few grimaces appeared at that suggestion, and not all from those peoples that might be on the wrong end of such a unification effort.
"Such an effort would only be worthwhile if the resulting polity was actually capable of dedicating the requisite resources into preparing for the Umbral Star," Lelouch answered. "Based on the social modeling Eden Vital has performed, that would be difficult even if the Umbral Star's existence was revealed to the general public."
Cornelia tilted her head. "Why would that be?"
"Because long term planning is not a strength of the masses," C.C. said dryly. "At present much of the elevated defense funding that enables Eden Vital to make such rapid progress is because of the visible strategic competition between Britannia, China, and Europe. Should there be no evident adversary, there would be insurmountable domestic demands that that funding be diverted to what the citizenry consider to be more pressing needs."
"Even with the lack of input the average Britannian citizen gets?" Kevin seemed unable to resist.
"Well with the fine model of indecisiveness Europe provided sitting on the sidelines during the latest of Britannia's conquests, one wonders why anyone would prefer otherwise," C.C. said with a smirk.
"There is also the issue of whether a repaired Sephyr would be controllable," Lelouch interjected before the debate could devolve further, "or whether if made whole it will simply attempt to complete its mission."
"Point," Cornelia conceded. "And I can see why Eden Vital is so motivated to remove the heretics from their control over the Taklamakan thought elevator."
"We as well," Kaguya said, glancing sideways to Arashi, who likewise nodded.
Lelouch returned the motion, then raised an eyebrow towards Kevin. After a moment the priest dipped his head, albeit reluctantly.
"Though," Cornelia continued. "The weapon that destroyed Sephyr, it was launched from the planet's surface, not from the moon. Was there a reason for that?"
C.C. chuckled. "You possess a rather clearsighted intuition, Your Highness. And yes, there is a most profound reason for what you witnessed. Anyone care to take a guess as to what that is?"
The usual suspects exchanged looks before Leila ventured a guess.
"The weapon that destroyed Sephyr was of human creation?"
"Indeed," C.C. said with a beaming smile. "The Moon Cell, for all its seeming omnipotence, has some rather severe limits. It can reproduce near anything it might have recorded, but it cannot create anything new outside of its recorded conceptions. For that matter, it is barely capable of combining them successfully. The earliest record that we have been able to find of the weapon that slew Sephyr is from the moment it was fired. That would indicate, though the concepts it was forged from came from the Moon Cell, the actual creation was done by human hands. And if one keeps in mind that many of the concepts the Moon Cell recorded were also the product of human creation, then this weapon serves as indelible proof that it is within human means to fight and defeat not only Velber but also the Umbral Star."
Morbid as the topic may be, there was still something rather encouraging about such an assertion. Still, there was undeniably a distinction between it being with human means and possessing that means outright.
"Do we have that weapon now?" Cornelia asked.
"Umm," C.C. equivocated. "Give us another fifty years, and we might be able to work out all the underlying physics behind the thing."
That was rather less confidence inducing, but with the travel times previously implied, there was probably time enough to recreate whatever this weapon was before any of the Velber vanguards appeared, or the Umbral Star itself for that matter. On the other hand, if Eden Vital was really able to recreate this weapon, what was to say they could not turn it towards ends other than defending against the Umbral Star?
For some reason, a smirk crossed C.C.'s expression.
"Do keep up that sense of skepticism," the grandmaster said. "It would not do for all of you to just swallow everything I say unquestioningly."
For some inexplicable reason, several gazes fell upon Lelouch. The cardinal however gave a nonchalant shrug.
"I am Cardinal of the Order Militant. Until such time as there is actually a weapon for me to employ, I leave such matters in the hands of the Order Sabine."
Whether that was irresponsible escapism or an entirely rational division of labor was probably subjective. At the very least the others were not likely to get any further answers regarding this mysterious weapon.
"Any further queries this day?" C.C. said. "Otherwise we probably should get Lelouch and the others into proper hospital beds."
Kaguya gave the cardinal a worried look, but he offered a reassuring smile in return.
"Umm."
As such, the one who reluctantly raised a hand was not the Japanese girl, but the British one instead. The others looked over at Leila, which seemed to make her even more reluctant to speak up, but after a moment her face assumed a resolved visage.
"A doctrinal question for you, Grandmaster," she began, "if you would be so kind."
"By all means."
"Considering the existence of the Moon Cell and the Umbral Star, what does all that mean for the existence of God?"
From the way Kevin grimaced, Leila was not the only one that realized the potential crisis of faith that was being precipitated by everything they had learned today. Perhaps not surprisingly, those members of Eden Vital already aware of such revelations remained wholly unperturbed, whatever uncertainty or anxiety they experienced long settled.
"The Moon Cell and the Umbral Star have little relevance as to the question of God's existence," C.C. declared. "God exists, that much needs little in the way of doctrinal proof. What the Moon Cell and the Umbral Star helps reveal is the nature of God."
One might be forgiven for forgetting that C.C. was the leader of an entire ecclesiastical order, and so well versed in matters doctrinal. Indeed seeing as she was the one that more or less set down what constituted Eden Vital canon, she was arguably the best person possible to address such concerns.
"The nature of God?" Leila repeated.
"Of course. We of Eden Vital strive to understand God by understanding the world He crafted, along with all the wonders within it. That of course includes the Moon Cell and the Umbral Star. Indeed, it is our duty to make use of the gifts He has graced us with to explore His creation."
"So you believe God to have created the Moon Cell and the Umbral Star?" Leila asked.
"What an odd question to ask," C.C. said. "Do you consider God to have made the clothes we wear?"
"Umm, well…"
"Or the food we eat? The houses we live in?"
Leila could find nothing to say back.
"We of Eden Vital do not believe in divine providence. The world that we live in may be of God's creation, but to presume He ever has need to take a direct hand afterwards is to impinge upon the perfection of His work."
"Perfection?" Leila said. "Would a perfect world be abound with so much suffering?"
"Of what impact upon the cosmos does mere human suffering have?" C.C. responded.
Again Leila was momentarily taken aback, unsure how to answer.
"It is an all too human an erring to presume our needs and wants warrant some sort of special entitlement in the grand scheme of the universe," C.C. said. "It is even more presumptuous to think that we warrant greater attention from the Almighty than the gifts that He has already granted us. Our failure to make proper use of His gifts lies with us alone, and He is in no way obliged to remedy them."
"Don't let the Grandmaster's cynicism get you down, Leila," Kevin interjected. "For all her certitude about the impersonality of God, the Lord we have faith in is still a merciful one."
"I have never claimed otherwise," C.C. countered. "But where the Holy See relies upon that ephemeral mystery called miracles to quantify God's mercy, we of Eden Vital rely on nothing so fragile to ascertain His benevolence."
The two ecclesiastical seniors were now locking eyes, the question Leila originally rose now inciting an almost dogmatic debate on matters doctrinal.
"That is enough," Lelouch said in a tone that would brook no further argument even from his ecclesiastical superior, then looked over at the British girl. "Regardless of which doctrine one ascribes to, faith is ultimately a personal matter, Leila. While the Grandmaster, myself, or even Father Kevin here might be able to provide you with clarifications on what the established canon might be for our respective ecclesiastical orders, whether that canon can be reconciled with your own personal beliefs is for you alone to decide. That you struggle to do so is nothing to fret over, the issues involved are weighty and that you seek answers is a far better course than to passively accept them from others."
Leila thought over the cardinal's words before nodding and giving him an appreciative smile.
"Thank you for the sage advice, Your Eminence."
It was also easy to forget that Lelouch too was an ordained priest, that his title of cardinal was not merely ceremonial. At times like these, it certainly felt as if the cardinal might be a bit better suited to the shepherding of wayward souls than his nominal superior.
"If that is all then, I and my attendants will disconnect first," Lelouch said, "so that we may be carted out to the infirmary. All the better to spare you the sight of our bloodied bodies."
The looks cast Lelouch's way were probably of concern. The reproving glint was probably just a trick of the light. The cardinal was in any case too busy gripping his side to notice, the pain that was previously forestalled now coming to the fore.
As it turned out, the Eden Vital personnel attending to the thought elevator had managed to get Lelouch and his attendants fairly well stabilized and bandaged up while the cardinal and the others went about their task in the thought elevator, enough so that they could actually stand to be flown back to Tokyo. They were still restricted to being loaded up in gurneys however, which required a reconfiguration of the shuttle's interior to make the necessary space that consequentially left little room for the other passengers. Fortunately the shuttle that had ferried the Japanese party over had enough spare seats to handle the overflow, so the Eden Vital party had the first shuttle to themselves.
"Though Clarent is a perfectly serviceable weapon, you do need to overcome the limitations that presently prevent you from wielding Caliburn," C.C. said to her charge.
Lelouch grimaced. "The last time I tried manifesting Caliburn, I was out for two weeks from the blowback. Unless you think my geass has developed so drastically since then, I'm not particularly enthused about being put out of action for that long a period again, especially with all of my other duties."
"That may well be the case," C.C. however was not deterred. "Kallen during training was actually able to visualize Rhongomyniad, and that only knocked her out for three days. Granted the nature of her geass is different, but the telemetry we gathered should still be applicable to your own in helping you conceptualize Caliburn."
Off to the side Kallen tried not to grimace as she recalled that little fiasco. Learning how to perform trace projection had been one of the last things her hurried induction and augmentation entailed, but it was arguably one of the most grueling, even taking into account her physical rehabilitation after the cybernetic augmentation. One had to have an exceedingly clear visualization of what one wanted to project, something that was made easier for more mundane arms by having actual examples to touch and examine first. For those rooted deep within a particular mythos, getting ahold of such examples was of course much more difficult.
"You also now have access to the Kamine thought elevator," the grandmaster continued, "which is a much shorter hop. In fact it would probably behoove all of you to resume your conceptual training. Aside from Kallen and Dalque, the strain from projecting your weapons took far too great a toll upon you lot."
A disparity that was evident in how Kallen and Dalque were the only ones of Lelouch's party that were not laid out on gurneys, even if they still had a bandage or two slapped on. Alice was even fast asleep, drained as she was from the day's exertions.
"If time can be set aside, certainly," Lelouch however did not budge either. "Things have improved in Japan, but we still have some fairly significant threats to deal with, as the attempted hack of the Kamine thought elevator demonstrated."
"Yes, the seeming collaboration between the heretics," C.C. conceded. "Very well, your main priority shall remain finding and eliminating them. But keep an eye on the Kamine thought elevator. Whatever else, we must ensure the heretics are not able to open the gateway, especially as the Sword of Akasha nears completion."
"Ah yes, that little surprise," Lelouch said with a sigh. "You certainly beat around the bush when Cornelia asked about it."
"I gave a completely truthful answer," C.C. said with not a hint of contrition. "We might need another fifty or so years to understand the underlying physics, but that doesn't mean we can't use it even so."
"The Sword of Akasha?" Kallen repeated, tilting her head quizzically.
"Hmm? Oh, right, you haven't been briefed on that yet," C.C. said nonchalantly.
Lelouch's sigh this time was more resigned than weary, while Kallen looked like she was starting to regret drawing attention to herself. While the lack of any outsiders afforded those present a measure of privacy to discuss sensitive matters, it was still no guarantee that those present were cleared for all the secrets that Eden Vital itself held.
"Surely you've worked out what the Sword of Akasha is," C.C. said. "You certainly have enough context."
The grimace remained on Kallen's expression, but she answered nonetheless. "It's the weapon that defeated Sephyr."
"Correct," C.C. said with a wide smile. "Now it's your turn to ask a question."
"I'm not sure there's really anything for me to ask," Kallen said. "You, or I suppose Eden Vital, has its reasons for keeping secret the fact that you possess the weapon that defeated Sephyr. Or, are close to possessing it?"
"Close enough at least," C.C. said. "The Order Sabine estimates system readiness within the next two years."
Another secret that Kallen was probably not officially cleared to know. It was hard to tell if this was also above the paygrade of the rest of Lelouch's entourage, not least because of Lucretia and Sancia's lack of concern and Dalque's complete lack of interest.
"Actually, I guess there is one thing I do want to know," Kallen said. "Does Eden Vital intend to use the Sword of Akasha against the heretics?"
"I would prefer not to," C.C. said. "And all indications are we have the resources to defeat the heretics without resorting to such extremis."
"But that's not a no," Kallen pointed out.
"Astutely noted. And you are correct, I am not precluding usage of the Sword against my fellow human beings. I have invested a great deal of trust in all of you to ensure the necessity never arises, but it would be the height of irresponsibility if I did not have some contingency in place in case you fail." The grandmaster chuckled. "So in a way, whether the Sword of Akasha is ever unleashed upon a human target is contingent on whether all of you are able to meet my entirely reasonable expectations."
Was that regret Kallen was feeling for indulging her curiosity in the first place? It just might well be. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound.
"What is the Sword of Akasha exactly?" Kallen asked. "Not, the weapon that defeated Sephyr, but what sort of weapon is it?"
"Hmm? Oh, that?" C.C. said with a shrug. "It's supposed to be something that fires a beam of charged antimatter particles. Capable of annihilating anything it touches, no material in existence would be capable of defending against it."
"I, see…"
In truth Kallen was not sure whether she was more or less informed about the Sword of Akasha now. Still, she would not be underestimating the Sword on account of her own ignorance. Not that Kallen needed more reason to do her all in bringing the heretics to heel, but if the contingency was something this destructive, she really needed to make sure Eden Vital would never have cause to fall back on it.
End of Chapter 49
Whelp, this chapter ended up even longer than the previous one. That probably isn't too surprising. Note that while a whole lot of secrets have been divulged, there are still a few others that C.C. is keeping close to her chest.
It should be fairly obvious where I'm pulling the Moon Cell and etc from, though I need to emphasize again that I don't do crossovers. If I draw material from a different franchise, I do wholesale transplants to integrate that material into the universe I'm crafting. As such don't become too invested in relying on any familiarity any of you might have with the Type Moon verse in trying to predict what else may appear, or what the limits of the bits I pulled in are.
Next chapter will take longer to get out, since unlike this one it isn't already 90% complete.