Jeanne and Leila were in one of the other rooms of the temporary base. Marcus' Knight was blushing like a tomato as she heard the sounds coming from the living quarters.
"...umm… are you okay with that?" Jeanne asked the blonde. As she always thought that Leila was THE girlfriend of the prince.
The Andraste's pilot crossed her arms and looked at the knight.
"The short answer is yes, but I am a bit annoyed." The blonde answered.
"...But… I mean…" This wasn't what she was expecting to hear…
"He has what is considered unchecked Ambition, controlling him or trying to contain him is suicidal." The girl explained to the knight with a sigh.
"And I am annoyed that I haven't done with him for a while myself." She looked away for a bit before walking to the computers in the room.
There are no hologram projectors here, so they are using regular laptops. The design of the temporary base is still a work in progress.
"...I see… I suppose he is a bigger-than-life personality, as they say."
Leila chuckled after hearing that.
"You don't say. He single-handedly pushed us into the next era."
"...Yes…"
The pair stopped talking for a second as Leila checked the consoles. The ice removal of the city was going according to the schedule; the only issue is that the collection of ice is a bit slow.
They are utilising a new type of black bird version that is running tests as they are collecting these ice containers.
It's literally the incarnation of recklessness. Thankfully, they have Legion that runs a decent number of simulations before beginning the construction of these carrier planes.
But apart from that, they are untested vehicles.
Well, the frame is somewhat similar to the original planes used for asteroid collection and a simple people carriage, so it's not an unknown frame.
Yet, the engine layout is new, so there is that.
"How is the digging going?" The knight girl asked he blonde.
"It's slow. The city is considerably big, and there are huge arches. We don't want to collapse, as there is a huge chance they will do so once the ice is removed.
This is a literally never-before-done project—a city under deep ice.
Thankfully, we have mobile workers and Arctic Legion Bots that can do all of this." Leila explained, as she checked carvings that the AI can make out on the step pyramids.
These pyramids, and the way they are built, are similar to the ones found in Central America, the Yucatan Peninsula—the step pyramids.
"...We can confirm that they did use Geass." She showed Jeanne bird carvings on walls, pyramids, and the large ark carvings.
"...I see…"
"I knew it!" A third voice said, as the pair of girls looked at the sofa in the distance in the relaxing area in a different container that is connected via an elastic tunnel.
It was in another container, but she said loudly before getting up and walking over to them. It was C.C. who had messy hair. The girl was camping in the area, in the most literal sense.
"...I knew that it was related somehow to an old civilisation. I was living in Europe way before the New World was discovered, but by the time I was the leader of the Geass Order, we found evidence that people in the Americas had Geass before the colonisation!"
"...You were the leader of Geass Order!?" Leila scrambled, getting up from her seat, getting cautious all of a sudden.
"Relax. I left them over ten years ago. They were looking for me; that is why I ended up in captivity." C.C. shrugged before walking over and checking the computer screens.
She could see vague images of the Geass bird sigil.
"...I would say that this civilisation was based around the whole subject of Geass. Like the current civilisation is based on technology, this one was based on Geass."
The witch reasoned, making the other girls look back at the carvings on the walls.
[That is not incorrect.]
Legion commented.
[The carvings I have studied indicate that they did possess advanced construction means.]
The AI pulled up some of the buildings it has scanned.
[The pyramids, the large arches, all of these are built with precision that rivals even mine, and I use advanced computing software.]
"...Geass?" C.C. said the obvious conclusion in her opinion.
[It could have been Geass at first, but they could have developed a technological equivalent.]
"...so there was a person who had Geass that assisted in building, and then the people created something that could help them after the person died?" Leila stroked her chin as she pondered this.
[That is a possibility. We have only begun to delve into Geass Energy and how it can be utilised. The so-called Thought Elevator is a simple carving on a wall.
Yet, it supposedly elevates consciousness into a plane where the Collective Unconsciousness exists.]
"...If it's a simple carving, then does it mean it can be carved anywhere?" Leila asked the AI.
[So far, I do not possess any data that proves it otherwise. Unless there is a specific method that I am not aware of.]
The AI's reply caused the blonde to ponder on the meaning of this.
Could they use a similar appliance to cross large distances?
Like colonise Mars and place the Thought Elevator there? Then they could move between planets instantaneously!
"We do need to test that out!" The blonde commented. If this works the way she has envisioned, then it could be a game-changer!
"I know what you are thinking, but those things can be very dangerous." C.C. noticed Leila's enthusiasm. That needed to be put down before she does anything reckless.
"I know." The blonde looked at the witch." Something like this will be tested before being utilised." Leila said seriously to C.C., and the AI joined her.
[Precisely, it's part of my programming protocol.]
The reassurance didn't mean much to the witch, who didn't respond; instead looked at other images on the screen.
~~~
"Hnnn, let me sleep more~~~," Kallen complained as she was snoozing in the bed.
Marcus simply smiled, seeing the crimson-haired girl sleeping face, it was cute to look at..
His finger poked her cheek again.
"As my Fire Queen wishes, it shall be~." He teased, making her eyes snap open as she slowly looked around.
Her eyes eventually ended up on him as she realised what had just happened.
"Y-You…" The girl wanted to scramble to get up, but she stopped midway and ended up lying in bed. She sighed.
"Now I have done it," Kallen mumbled to herself.
"No, it was a natural course of action." He ended up lying next to her. The Inventor scooped her closer as his hands wrapped around her thin waist. He began to enjoy her sexy body lines.
"...Hnn~ fine…whatever." She blushed while looking away.
"Come now. No need to hide from me." His other hand went to her face and made her look at him once more.
He then got closer and kissed her. Kallen rolled her eyes as she answered back and tried to beat him in tongue 'wrestling'.
Eventually, she needed to pull back as she needed to breathe.
"...Damn… you, how can you keep your breath for so long!" The 'Fire Queen' complained to him as she was breathing heavily; she was flustered.
"Training. I practised Kendo, breathing is part of it."
"...I-I see!" She mumbled before she got a couple of ideas.
"SINCE… we crossed this specific bridge in our relationship, I need to learn some things AND maybe get eyes like you have."
"...Training is not an issue… but Geass? Are you sure?" He asked quite seriously. He looked into her eyes.
"...Very… after all, C.C. said that Geass users become isolated and they are like Kings and all that stuff… I want to be on the other side." She honestly explained why she wanted to have her eyes.
"... I see…It would seem my Kallen is not only cute but cares a lot." He teased her a bit, making her flustered.
"S-Shut up! Of course I care!" The girl exclaimed with a red face.
"Good, then we can talk with the witch." He said that, but then he got an idea. "Or we can use the skull."
"...skull? How does that work?" Kallen forgot her embarrassment as she got curious.
"Simple, really, we just pump it with energy, and your body takes that energy, which triggers Geass manifestation." He explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"...You seriously think stuff like that would work?" She asked, not sure such a thing could even work.
"We will see." After saying that, he went back to snuggling into her.
"...You can't just return to this after dropping something like this! Damn it!" The girl once again got flustered.
"You will get used to it, or should we take a shower together?"
"...A-Are you serious?" She looked at him.
"You said yourself… we crossed that bridge, Kallen." He winked at her.
"...D-Damn you…Now you are using that against me!" The girl realised that he was using her cards against her!
"You are the one who started that, my precious."
"...Ugh…fine, let's go…besides… what time is it?" She caved in without much pressure before asking time. Because she has no damn idea… all she can see through the windows is that it is white…
"No idea, we can check later, not that I care about that." Marcus shrugged as he didn't care.
~~~~~~Meanwhile, in Britannia~~~~~~
In California, where heavy Mobile Suit development was going on, Marrybell and Oldrin were invited to see the first proper Britannian Mobile Suit.
Inside a large R&D, there was a standing machine. It was quite bulky and humanoid in shape. It had a single pink eye, and it looked like it had a breathing mask.
"HMMS- Type 1 Zaku. The prototype machine of the Britannian Mass Production unit." A blonde Indian lady said to the pair of girls.
"..."
"..."
The pair looked at the brown and green machine. It was tall! A head and a half taller than any previous knightmare they have seen!
"...Is it… Supposed to be this big? Won't the size make it slower?" Oldrin asked, concerned about how size would impact the performance.
"I had the same concerns when I first started to work for you, Britannians. But that's the beauty of Anaheim technology. Did you know that Setanta, the mainstream machine for Anaheim, weighs just a bit more than Gloucester?"
"...!"
"!!!"
The pair gawked at this information.
"The mobile suit skeleton and its joints make them react faster than any Knightmare to this date, and then they are head and a half bigger." The woman explained as she looked at the two girls.
"Are…you serious? They are that good?" Oldrin commented, she couldn't believe it. She always thought that they were bigger like this to deliver absurd damage!
Not that they are as fast as Knightmares. For her, it was damage for the price of speed. But turns out they have speed AND that damage.
"They are. Why do you think Anaheim is already the second largest nation in the world, in a matter of several weeks?" The blonde developer rolled her eyes.
"But enough of Anaheim. I am Rakshata Chawla, the mother of the machine you see before you." She smirked while saying that.
The pair were confused by that strange declaration.
"This is the prototype for all the new mobile suits that Britannia shall develop—based on Anaheim, Britannian and my own technologies.
This is Zaku Type 1. The mass-produced machine that will face off against Anaheim's superiority."
"...Can it beat those Setantas?" Marrybell asked, intrigued by this machine.
"It can destroy Setantas, that is for sure. They use the same weaponry." The blonde mobile suit creator commented.
"The alternative weapons are the revamped railguns. That we know can damage Setantas. They are far easier to use on a bigger platform like our Mobile Suit Zaku.
"...I see… so we don't know if one of these can face off a Setanta one on one," Oldrin commented, realising afterwards that she was walking through a mine field.
Rakshata showed an ugly grimace for a second.
"Well, I do apologise that I can only work 24 hours a day and have to carry your struggling empire by myself."
The pair of girls' ears began to heat up as they felt embarrassed.
"Regardless, we still have no idea about the armours used by Setantas, or their batteries, the main computers of these machines self-fried upon destruction.
We can't recreate something when we don't know how." She explained in fury.
"That is why, there will be more operations to steal Setantas and raid their logistics hubs!
You want me to build something that can challenge a Setanta? Then bring me the tools to develop one!"