2022-12-31: The Void of Solitude Upon the Light of Possibility
- Cast: Leina Ashta, Sayaka Yumi
- Where: Fujinomiya City - Photon Power Research Institute, Director's Office
- Date: U.C. 0096 12 30
- Summary: As Yuliana and Elisa Kafim's crimes inch closer to Fujinomiya City, Sayaka requests that Leina explains all she knows about the situation. A gaze into another cruel reality, and a decision occurs.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
It's been a few days since the mysterious kikaiju attack in Mongolia, and although the Photon Power Labs have been extra-vigilant, Gamia NX-2 has yet to have been sighted.
Despite the state of heightened security in the Labs, Sayaka is expecting a visitor, and so Leina has received clearance to meet in the director's office for maximum privacy.
%Although it's an office, it's quite tidy and comfortable, and Leina will find a choice of coffee or tea brewed on a table across from Sayaka's desk.
Sayaka herself is wearing a slightly dressed down version of her usual Director's outfit, foregoing the lab coat. Glancing away from the laptop she has open when she hears footsteps into the office, she smiles at her guest. "I'm glad you could make it, Leina. Please, make yourself comfortable."
The intent of this meeting of course, is to discuss Yuliana Kafim and Alma Stirner, who seem to possess mind control powers - and attempted to terrorize Leina and her partners. But Sayaka allows Leina to take it at her own pace - it's a meeting and discussion on how the Photon Power Labs should act in response, not an interrogation.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Once the clearance came, Leina arrives in a grey pantsuit with the hint of a white blouse in the neckline, a pair of black flats, a manila file folder tucked under an arm, and a purse slung over her shoulder.
She's on time for the meeting, stepping in the moment she got let in, "Thank you for taking the time, Sayaka..."
She reaches across the desk to shake her hand if she'll take it, before taking a seat, taking up her choice of coffee, "... and the hospitality. I know things aren't easy for you right now with Koji having vanished to the same place Sayla has."
Leina sounds tired? Seems tired. She's been taking a lot on herself ever since she disappeared. Right after this meeting she's going to be on a flight to Dublin immediately. after.
"Also now that he's not at the table, wanted to thank you for your advice with Banagher... it helped a lot with dealing with his guilty conscience."
Leina takes a sip of coffee, keeping it black, then sighs, "Sorry you're having to deal with this as well, but I guess it can't be helped."
Leina opens the file folder, reviewing her notes, "I unfortunately think it's something... big, that we're all going to get drawn into eventually, even if I can't exactly prove that."
Her eyes slip up to Sayaka, "Before we get into all that, what do you and Koji know about Yuliana and Elisa Kafim? I know you were at their wedding and... it might make things easier if I have that as a starting point."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka pours herself her own tea, before taking a seat at the table instead of her desk. Admittedly, she looks a little tired as well, and she's made very limited "public appearance" aside from the kikaiju battle, even if the Federation is almost at the brink of war.
"Honestly, like I said at Boss Ramen, the main thing keeping me going is that 'promise'. But I've been just as worried for you and Sayla too.. I hope for both our sakes we're all reunited soon." Well, despite Leina being on her thoughts, she wasn't expecting her to show up in a Double-Zeta. But one thing at a time!
Leina confirms that her advice was actually really helpful to Banagher. "That's good to hear - he seems.. harsh on himself but he's a very sweet guy. You're a lucky gal, Leina." She smiles - she can tell that Banagher cares a lot for Leina, and Audrey too.
"Then I suppose we'll just have to figure out a way it can be helped. That's why I called you here, after all." A vague shrugging motion. Sayaka ultimately feels it's better to stop this problem in its tracks before it can fester and become a further danger to Fujinomiya.
Leina then asks what she and Koji know about the Kafims. "Right, the wedding. The assassination attempt was unsettling enough, but the rituals were actually the first sign something was deeply wrong - see, they somehow completely stopped our Ichinana's Photon Power in its tracks for just a moment." That just doesn't happen, and the Labs' top scientists still have never been capable of explaining it.
"But my suspicions of Yuliana Kafim began sooner than that. I'm not sure if you've met Shiho Hahnenfuss, she used to be an intern at the Labs," she pauses for a moment, before a grim expression emerges on her face.
"until manhunters found her. We met again at JOSH-A, and it's probably not so surprising she chose to fight for ZAFT."
"She warned me to absolutely not trust Yuliana. At any rate, it seems like I was right for keeping that warning in mind." A bit of a long story, but it puts her knowledge of Yuliana Kafim into context.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Part of Leina wants to get up and give Sayaka a hug, just feeling how difficult it's been for her, with only that promise keeping her going... but she decides to wait for the end. She knows Sayaka's time is valuable, and as much as she wants commiserate... she knows once she gets going herself, she might never stop.
"I feel lucky. He's a real sweetheart. I'm still getting Shiro used to the idea I'm dating someone... that's in the middle of this whole Federation conspiracy." She has a rueful smile, and takes a breath, "One step at a time."
There's a small nod at the idea of figuring out a way it can be helped, but then she listens to Sayaka, both eyebrows shooting up when she mentions something stopped the Photon Power in the Ichinana.
She doesn't comment right away, until she asks about Shiho, "We met. I used to talk to her about my Coordinator advocacy, protests I was involved in she uh..."
Her eyes move sidelong, "... she was never really that interested I admit. She told me she had it good here so it's like she didn't think it was all that bad."
Her hands wring together, "That's how it always is until... you're targeted I think. I just wish that hadn't happened to her, I've been on the receiving end of Manhunter injustice myself - but I'm lucky, Sayla has my back, and my permits are all in order so they can't really deport me."
Closing her eyes, she murmurs, "Poor Shiho."
There's a soft pause... and... "Alright... so, Yuliana Kafim - formerly Disperal. She implied she lost her home to Operation British. While I can't confirm this, I believe she was part of the REA's early Cyber Newtype efforts."
She gives Sayaka a serious look, "Don't bring that up to her, she'll become violent. ... Unfortunately the REA did something to her the moment they awakened her as a Newtype."
Leina snapped her fingers as if to demonstrate, "They turned the lights off. She's now a psychic walking deadzone. Being near her for me is... disorienting. It's like the world goes from being a Sixteen lane Britannian freeway into a balance beam."
Leina closes the file folder, leaning back as she tries to consider how to put this, "An awakening for a Newtype can be... traumatic. It was for me. For her, it was just as traumatic, because where she was supposed to feel people. She doesn't. Just hollow spaces. As a result she believes noone but herself and her wife are real, because she's supposed to be feeling something but does not. Newtypes that come near her actively cause her pain..."
She lowers her gaze, eyeing Sayaka, wondering how much she's buying this, "... as best as I can tell, our presence creates this, bridge, to another reality for her - which causes her an untold amount of agony." Leina then adds, "And we believe it's the same reality that her spouse draws her powers from. Which may be why it interacts so poorly with Photon Power. I've... stumbled upon trying to connect to something from that reality..."
She looks abstracted, and a touch pale, looking sideways, "... and what I felt were eyes upon me, trying to overwhelm me, to destroy my sense of self. There's... something there, in that other reality."
She sounds like she's done for a moment, but then after a pause, quietly adds, "Something that doesn't like me."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Figures he'd probably freak out about it," Sayaka smirks. "But if nothing else, he's good at adapting, given time. So I'm sure it'll work out just fine."
So Leina had met Shiho before.. and even had to face the manhunters herself. Shiho not being particularly involved in politics or advocacy isn't a surprise - she certainly wasn't the most loud of ZAFT's troops at JOSH-A.
"Shiho was always bright and passionate about her work at the Labs. So I'm not surprised she would say that.. just wish I could've done something when the manhunters showed up." Sayaka responds, a hint of regret in her voice, as Leina closes her eyes and wishes Shiho was so lucky as her.
"If nothing else, I'm glad she made it out of that hellhole." She alludes to the utter destruction of JOSH-A, and shakes her head.
The topic shifts to the horrifying truth behind Yuliana Kafim - a "failure" of a Cyber-Newtype who acts as a psychic void to all around her, including herself. Sayaka clasps her hands together, parsing together what that lack of feeling would be like. "Hm. So it's like losing an entire sense.. but more."
She continues to listen grimly as Leina outlines the trauma of a Newtype awakening, and how the trauma for Yuliana was intensified by an inability to make connections. "...I won't condone what she's done, but it must be horrible, living your life in darkness like that." There's an expression of disdain as she continues. "No wonder the Federation finds her so useful.. and evidently weren't afraid to discard her at JOSH-A." Being present at the battle itself, Sayaka strongly considers the destruction to be caused by Blue Cosmos elements.
The presence of Newtypes creates a bridge to another reality for Yuliana.. normally Sayaka would shrug such a statement off as superstition, but in combination with the strange interaction with Photon Power, it's something to consider. "A lot of this is still under wraps, but Koji's primary area of study is quantum interactions of photon power. And a... discovery we recently made heavily implies its links to different dimensions." She is very careful to describe the nature of Infinity without outright revealing the existence of the giant Mazin just under where they're sitting. "So I think you're on to something."
And Leina turns pale, when she describes contacting some kind of... entity that exists in that dimension. And with nothing positive to imply from that revelation, Sayaka interjects. "Leina, are you.. okay? If you need to take a few moments, then by all means." She reaches out her hand, to imply that no matter the nature of that reality, she's safe here, in this one, at this moment.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Not as much as he did the first time he found out I was piloting..." Leina says with a sigh, "...that was a whole thing."
There's a sad look on the subject of Shiho, "Unfortunately Blue Cosmos and the NIA aren't entities the Photon Power Labs can really apply pressure on, given that the Britannian Union isn't a part of your network. I'm not sure what you could have done."
It's bad up there, and she knows it, but she can't really say too much on it without tipping the hand that she was involved in secret missions to the PLANTs.
"Yeah. That she's... alive, means there's hope for a better future for her."
There's an absent nod when it comes to losing an entire sense, "It's definitely more than that, but that's the simplest explanation I suppose. It interferes with our... connections to other people while we're close to her."
As she considers JOSH-A and how they were willing to discard her... "Yeah, I'm not... telling you that so you can sympathize with her. Despite her circumstances she still chooses to be... who she is. She's actively harming a lot of people I care about. And I'm pretty sure the REA uses her for wetwork against Newtype... inconvenients."
Shifting uncomfortably, she decides to just tell her, "The reason I started piloting in the first place is she came for Banagher, Sayaka. It was either climb into a mobile suit without any training or- let her take him away, and in the REA? That likely means putting him in some lab."
As Sayaka reveals that Koji's primary study is quantum interactions of photon power, Leina actually sits up a touch straighter, "... That's..." Pause, "... so Photon Power might be related to Quantum Brainwaves? ... Wow."
She's not a scientist or a technical person, she's more into the arts, but even she can at least draw a link in the implications.
"That would explain a lot. Though I do wonder now how Yuliana would interact with a Mazin. She's... different, from her spouse's powers, just linked."
As Sayaka reaches out a hand, it's like Leina doesn't see it for a time, but then with a blink of her eyes, she reaches out and squeezes it, as if to ground herself on that feeling and touch...
"I'm - sorry... Sorry I'm okay. It's just sometimes I feel like it's still watching me. Like... knowing the monster you were told was under the bed - or in the closet is real."
Still, she clings to Sayaka's hand for a moment longer, then reaches out to take another sip of the coffee, "I... I should try to continue. Doctor Elisa Kafim is - an enigma. She's a Xenoneurologist, and an Olympic Medalist in Gymnastics. It is my belief that she derives her strange powers in part from Green Crystals of some kind?"
She takes some time to regather her thoughts, "You remember Captain Aidan believing that Yuliana did something to her lover, Lieutenant Alma Stirner? At the time I thought she was being paranoid, because... I know Alma. I'd just met with her only a short time before that, and she seemed fine, herself in every way."
Her seagreen eyes touch upon Sayaka, "She transferred to the REA immediately after that incident. So Audrey and I invited her to Boss Ramen to talk about it. She'd put herself at great risk for me in the past, risking her job in the Federation... so it felt unlikely she'd cause trouble. I still prepared, just in case. Boss knew there was a small possibility of trouble, and was okay with it, as he said Boss Ramen was a safe place for us."
Leina takes out a photograph of Alma from her folder, and passes it over to Sayaka to look at, "From the get go she was different, new look, new attitude. I wondered if it was just her recovering from a bad breakup, but her reaction to Lilith was... extreme. There were no mixed feelings at all, it was just, all hatred. When before the two had been as close as two people could be."
She then gives Sayaka a meaningful look, "The next thing I know, the Green Jewelry she was wearing was glowing, and she was demanding we betray Banagher and hand over the Unicorn to her. And I could - feel her in Audrey's mind. I'm pretty sure she was in mine too but less so..."
She tries not to think about what it was like, that feeling, because it leads back to the eyes, "... I flipped the table at her, tossed a smoke bomb and just, grabbed Audrey and ran. Whatever she did to her, it was like... she had to rebuild her sense of self. Like... Alma had tried to erode that away."
It sounds very much like what Leina said when she accidentally stumbled into connecting to the Eyes in the Dark...
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"I was surprised too," Sayaka admits, in regards to Leina returning to piloting. "You always hated fighting.. I'm sure you have your reasons. Everyone does." The old Aphrodite was never built for combat, but Sayaka always fought her hardest anyhow.
"Right," Sayaka nods, in regards to the Photon Power Labs being independent and not really holding an influence on Britannian affairs. "And Father - Prime Minister Yumi - hasn't made much of any moves because of the Area 11 situation." In conclusion, it feels awful to feel utterly powerless in the face of obvious injustice.
As Leina explains that Yuliana's void interferes with emotional connections, that makes it easier to parse. "...Right, even I can understand how lonely that must feel." Is lonely the correct term? If you're used to feeling others' presence and it's no longer there, it must be. Even still, Yuliana is complicit in her actions, that much is true.
And Leina explains just what Yuliana did to harm her friends, and in the same breath, her reasoning for piloting. "I can't blame you there, Leina. I'd make the same decision a thousand times over." The fact that she targeted Banagher at all is really strange, though? "Do you have any idea why she went for him specifically? Was it the Unicorn...?" If the Unicorn is powerful as it is, and it require him as a pilot, she can see why she might chase after him.. but the thought of him being whisked away to a Lab makes her shudder.
"Koji and I actually clashed a lot previously, considering my field is practical applications of photon power. But in cases like this Koji's research might actually teach us a lot we wouldn't otherwise know." Funny that a "theory built on theories" could be key to solving this particular mystery.
"I can't say I noticed anything in particular while piloting a Mazin in her vicinity." It is something to consider though... how an empty void of darkness would directly interact with the light of possibility.
As Leina reaches out for Sayaka's hand, she leaves her own out as long as it is needed, slowly sipping some tea with the other. "It's okay, Leina. You have me right now - you have Banagher and Audrey - I'm certain you'll have Sayla before you know it." She assures her. "Those connections aren't any less real.. regardless of those terrible powers and reality. After all, we're living in this one."
Once Leina's ready to let go, she clasps her hands back onto the teacup. "I can't say I know much about Doctor Kafim, aside from how well-respected her work is." Green crystals.. Sayaka wonders what they are and where they come from. The obvious conclusion is that Elisa Kafim herself is from that alternate reality.
And finally the reasoning behind why Lilith Aiden felt something was wrong with Alma Stirner because of Yuliana Kafim, at the wedding, and why she is banned from Boss Ramen. "That is quite the extreme change." Sayaka nods. She never personally met Alma Stirner, but she never heard a single bad thing about her. "And.. I hope Audrey is okay." She replies, concernedly. Even in just a small concentration, the power to erode the sense of self.. those green crystals are dangerous.
Sayaka considers the whole picture.. it's like a chain. From Elisa Kafim, to Yuliana Kafim, and now Alma Stirner. And Alma tried to pass it on to Audrey. "I think I understand the situation. And honestly, someone like me, just wants to march up and give a piece of my mind." She almost looks angry, the same way she did when she was younger, before smiling, ruefully.
"I know that won't help, of course. It would be actively detrimental if anything." She looks Leina closer in the eyes. "You have my whole support. But my question is, how do you think the Photon Power Labs could help without putting you and your partners in danger?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
She may have made the decision for Banagher's sake, and she knows Sayaka would empathize with it, but - it would have been a simple matter for her to step away from it again, wouldn't it? So when Sayaka reminds her of becoming a pilot.
"I still do... and, I do." Leina tells Sayaka of fighting, "It's something Roux told me when she got back that I couldn't get out of my head. How she didn't feel like she did anything... good, piloting for the AEUG. All she did was stop bad things, and that's not the same thing."
Leina looks sheepish, for all those years she resisted the idea, "Things have to change. And I want that change to be non-violent. But... for that to happen, the bad things have to stop."
Leina's gaze moves lower, "And... if I just stand by, and leave that part to the people I care about- it doesn't feel right, like our relationship isn't... equal if I'm always the one being protected."
After a moment's thought, she answers Sayaka on Yuliana's motive, "She wants the Newtype Destroyer system within it... for revenge on Captain Aiden. I think she intended to put Alma inside of it."
Her eyes half-lid, "That's only where it would begin. She hates all Newtypes, so she'd use it on a campaign to murder more."
There's a glimmer of amusement in her eyes on Sayaka and Koji clashed on practical application versus theory. "That sounds like you two." Her Mazin wasn't disrupted though? There's a thoughtful nod, "I could... feel Dr. Kafim's... whatever she was doing. It was... horrible, overwhelming. So it stands to reason that Yuliana's interference is connected - but it's not the same."
It's ... grounding, to be reminded of her connections, Leina focuses on those she can feel right now, trying to put those she can't right now out of her mind, and manages a thin smile Sayaka's way before she lets go.
Listening to Sayaka, she understands that anger, that idea of giving her a piece of her mind. If it were years ago, she'd be doing it herself.
She can't help but think though of those careless words to Elpeo... right before never seeing her again.
What can they do for them? Leina is quiet for some time after she says that, before, "For starters, there's something I need to tell you." Leina says quietly, "Audrey. My girlfriend?"
There's something serious in her seagreen eyes, "Her real name is Mineva Lao Zabi. And she's on the run from the Federation, just like Banagher. If she's caught - she'll be used as a pawn, either for the Federation agenda against Spacenoids. ... Or, to create a third Neo-Zeon."
There's an almost apologetic smile, "It's a lot to ask of you, but - the two of them are often in hiding, and need places to stay, and people we can trust to lend them their support."
And she knows how much it is, but perhaps if Sayaka feels bad about Shiho...
"As for Yuliana and Elisa, the situation is complicated... we'd have to prove the threat. And nothing about most of what I've told you is provable. Newtypes are still a politically inconvenient fact, and are thus still unrecognized officially by the Federation."
Again she takes on that thoughtful expression, "Yuliana herself is an REA secret, and under their protection as a result. While I'd like nothing more than to close the secret Cyber Newtype lab she comes from - that's not exactly something I can ask you or Koji to do, cross blocs in order to shut a place like that down."
There's another pause at that, "Furthermore, the knowledge that Photon Power can be disrupted is dangerous. How many groups would try to take advantage of it for their own gain?"
And thus... with all this in mind, Leina falls upon a different course of action, "Since we can't simply act against them outright, then our best option to be proactive would be to devote research resources towards this. Towards deciphering the connection they have to this strange reality - and developing countermeasures against it. Given that it appears to be the antithesis of Photon Power, the benefits are clear, both in a practical sense, and in a symbolic one as well."
Her eyes slip to the window, to look out upon the city itself, "... If this reality is actively hostile to ours, then it's hostile to everything the Photon Power Labs stands for. And - on a more personal level it is hostile to everything a Newtype is meant to represent. Humanity's potential to understand one another... and the possibility of a better future for all of us."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka listens carefully and patiently to Leina's explanation - why she became a pilot and why she'll continue to pilot. It would be very simple indeed to step back away - that's what Sayaka had done for many years.
"That was just about the same reason I had Aphrodite Areia built. I was vehement about keeping the Photon Power Labs an institute of peace - enacting change without violence, just like you." That patient look remains on her face, though. "As the years went by, yes, it felt more like bystanding. That's why Areia had to be a symbol of peace and war." Her version of the God and Devil dichotomy everyone knows Mazinger for.
Banagher, and by extension, the Unicorn Gundam's purpose... "I have to admit, the idea of a weapon called a 'Newtype Destroyer' unsettles me. All the more reason to make sure it doesn't end up in the wrong hands.." In Yuliana Kafim's hands, it would be a massacre, for sure.
"Different, but connected.." Sayaka thinks out loud. "I have a sense that Yuliana Kafim's powers are a mere fraction of what Elisa Kafim is capable." During the wedding rituals, Elisa Kafim demonstrated control over the portal to that reality, while Yuliana only seems incidentally connected through contact with Newtypes. And furthermore, only Elisa's portal was capable of affecting Photon Power...
Leina offers a way to help, through first sharing a secret. Audrey, is in fact Mineva Lao Zabi. "A Zeon princess..." Then Leina isn't just a lucky gal, she hit jackpot - Sayaka is tactful enough to NOT say this out loud. "I see.. that's a lot of pressure for one girl. And I don't think anyone deserves to be treated as a political pawn."
And then the request. Sayaka thinks it over for a few moments. On one hand, she's direly worried what might happen if either side finds them here.. if she didn't have the authority to save Shiho, then she certainly doesn't have it for Banagher and Mineva.
On the other... "Well, I fought to keep the Labs independent for a reason." Sayaka smiles wryly. The Labs being an institution of peace in name can be politically convenient. "You remember what Boss said, and my answer is the same. I'll do anything in my power to keep you and your partners safe."
As for the reminder that Yuliana and Elisa's situation is unproveable, Sayaka looks more grim. "Research.. that's a smart idea. After all, the only way to deal with something unproven is to prove it." And Leina is right, although the theoretical avenue of photon power research was never hers, a situation like this forces it into her hands. "In that case, I'll write up a report. Why it's clear this is important to research and the imminent threat it possesses. After that, nothing to be done except to get to work." A rare spark emerges in Sayaka's eyes.
"Hostile to both the Photon Power Labs and what a Newtype is... when you put it like that, we're more similar than it seems." The skyline of Fujinomiya continues to bustle, a symbol of hundreds upon thousands of human connections.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There's a faint smile at Sayaka's explanation of why she decided to have Aphrodite Areia built, why she had to be a symbol of peace and war.
"If you'd told me that a few years ago I think I would have been upset with you, despite all the stories Shiro told me of you and Koji's early adventures."
There's a sigh, and a rueful smile, "For years I just told myself I wasn't bystanding, that one day I'd be a part of the change, but... I can do something now."
There's a shake of her head that hardly even shifts her short but fluffy brown hair, "If I'm being perfectly honest? I hate it myself. I hate all Newtype technology developed for war... especially technology designed specifically to kill Newtypes."
There's a pause, "But - if I had to choose one person to have it, it'd be the person who doesn't want to kill anyone."
The subject of Elisa though, "Yeah, to be honest? Dr. Kafim terrifies me. If I have a choice, I'll never go near her again but... I feel like she's the true key to all of this."
A Zeon Princess?... "... Yeah. If I were being honest I've... been thinking about her for years, even before we actually met."
Leina's smile is genuine at this point, most times she seems too adult, too responsible for her age, like she was forced to grow up far too fast... but in that smile, she seems more like a teenager than ever, by just how in love she looks, "And it is. The two of us are trying our best to keep her away from the people who would use her like that, to let her just... find herself, outside of that family legacy."
To let her be a teenager perhaps in that sense.
Her eyes light up at her answer, knowing how big an ask it was, perhaps seeming... relieved, "Thank you! Thank you so much, Sayaka! I promise I won't take your help for granted."
As much as she'd want them to stay at the Villa with her all the time, it's just so dangerous. Vist knows of her connection to them, and often has her under surveillance. Keeping them there is just asking for them to be taken eventually.
Listening to her speak of research - and responding to the imminent threat, Leina perks up as she sees that spark in her eyes, but...
"It is interesting, that this place is hostile to Photon Power and Newtypes both - I do wonder beyond symbolically, if there's a link that's been ill explored as of yet?"
Leina sits back in consideration, "Unfortunately I'm more a theater kid than... looking into a future in STEM." She says with a lopsided smile, "But... if there's anything I can do to help with your research, please, don't hesitate to ask. I usually balk at the idea of Newtype research leading to anything good..."
Those sea green eyes are smiling at Sayaka in a sense, "But I trust you, and I trust Koji, and I trust what the Photon Power Labs represents. I know you would never do anything unethical in that realm, so I don't mind putting myself at your disposal."