2023-01-31: The Planet Can't Bear a Crown, In the End
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Zan
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- Date: U.C. 0097 01 31
- Summary: An interloper pushes the guardian of the Orbital Ring on just what lengths are necessary to truly 'protect' anything.
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
It's some time after the battle. Zan... had seen better days in his larger form, but was now able to get out and help repair the damage. If there was any left. The Carpenters were very, very good at what they did.
That left Zan with almost nothing to do as he stood where he had faced Gridman Sigma. The odd part is that there is no large train with him. It's just the core unit. Zan himself standing and looking over the area. The large orange and blue robot had his hands by his side and otherwise just standing there. Even the thrusters on his back were not doing more than lowly humming in preparation.
It was strange behavior for him, but he had a lot to think about and perhaps more than that he wished for and a lot of it was conflicting. He even had his construction tool gun out and in one hand. If it was not for being an actual Super AI, one would think he was just a pilotless robot standing there waiting orders or someone keeping the engine warm.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Three primary targets to assess during Asciel's stay in Tsutsujidai. The first two - Mic Sounders and Volfogg, would take a bit more of a ... delicate approach, considering they're somewhat closely guarded - and also steadily recovering - agents of the GGG. But the third...
>...What a fantastic 'story' that is. One who diligently served a purpose - and who rose up amidst crisis, only ever more fiercely determined to fulfill it at all costs.
>...I wonder how that urge has evolved?
A strange shadow slips in close. Or - is it a shadow at all? There's distinctly...the feeling of a presence. Paranoia? Uncertainty? - no. It's quickly proven valid when, out of the blue, a vivid teal little machine abruptly appears, as though the air melted out of it, sitting atop a cargo container all merrily and cheerily. Despite having a clearly 'familiar' set of body designs that make it obviously a newer-model Arm Slave - complete with rather human-like ranges of motion - what clearly stands out is the aggressively human face, with gleaming orange eyes and a fluttering cyan ponytail hairstyle - thermal energy seeping through that.
"Goooooood morning there! You're the esteemed 'Iron Zanrailer', if I'm not mistaken! Fufufufufu. So diligent, and yet I slipped riiiiiight by you. How adorable!" The interloper smiles, kicking her legs with gentle thumps against the container, one hand upon her cheek.
"For right now, do call me 'Atrytone'. I'm a wandering sage of sorts, seeking truth, clarity, and the defense of all mankind. And you - why, you're basically a paladin of the Orbital Ring, a shining monument to guarding an accursed achievement of glory and pride!"
Something sours in Atrytone's expression for a moment. "Just so you know, if I had my way, I'd figure out how to hurl the whole Orbital Ring into the sun. You should tell me all about countermeasures and safety systems, since I'm raaaaaather upset that GENESIS came perilously close to cracking the entire thing and shattering the world with its dangerously perched debris."
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
The newcomer has Zan bringing up the gun to both hands, and turning to look at it. And the words? Zan's fully active as himself. And he probably doesn't need his larger body in this case. Arm slaves are the same size as him practically, right?
The orange robot looks at the arm slave carefully. "Paladin? Hm. I will look up that word. And it does not matter if you 'slipped by me' as you say. I am not the one to worry about in that regards."
The name has him looking considerate, "Your words lead me to believe they are false, Atrytone. The Orbital Ring is important despite it all in making sure that humanity can at least move about quickly and safely. Let alone there are those that have homes there."
"What is this 'GENESIS' that you speak of? I have been trapped here for months and not had a chance to return to my duties." That has a curious tone to his voice. And the face at least moves more human like. Mouth moving and everything.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
"Hehehe. Of course I wouldn't expect someone like you to immediately agree with me. Really though - a massive ring of delicately balanced metal hanging over the Earth just to get from place to place a little faster..."
With an elegant hoisting upwards, 'Atrytone' flips upwards to stand atop the shipping container, footsteps astonishingly delicate as she gazes - upwards and away, a hand on her chin. "Well! If my information is correct - you rose up from the haze of rote obedience because of a nearly perilous attack upon the structure. I have gooood reason to believe that it's because some part of you realized just how bad - - - just how catastrophic it'd be if you didn't step in. It's a difficult position to be in, after all."
Her head cranes over towards Zan, her smile a little bit baleful. A little bit regretful. "It's difficult for one's actions to be the borderline between security and peace, and complete and utter devastation."
The orange in those eyes shifts to a gleaming red. "Surely you heard. Just a few days ago, ZAFT revealed a devastating colony-sized laser and fired it juuuuuust above the Tenchu Orbital Tower as a show of force! They were clearly just trying to spook people - but it was very much a demonstration that they could annihilate one of the three pillars holding this entire structure together. That they would have, if they were ever so slightly more careless, as humans so often are."
Her hands clap together. "I, personally, am rather disappointed that I couldn't do anything about it. But for you - this revelation that the thing you took your first gasp defending may well have crumbled to ash as soon as you weren't looking..."
"...I need to know, for my sake and yours, what you'd do about it."
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
"No, I was awake before then. I simply made the decision to defend instead of stay in hiding." Zan states. "If you do nothing when others are in danger, then what happens after is your fault."
He raises a hand to his chin. "I have not. Something like that would not reach us here. Surely you know about the blackout on communications in this place?"
The so-called 'paladin' of the Orbital Ring looks concerned. Very much so. The face goes through a few different expressions before settling on one of anger. "That... remains to be seen. With just my core unit, I can do nothing at this time. Perhaps once the Iron Railer is fixed, I will be able to find out more of the situation."
"Right now, I can not trust you. You are someone I do not know and I would have to see if what you said is true before I make my choice. But if they are threatening the Orbital Ring and the Earth, you can be sure I will find a way to destroy that laser and make sure to let the humans manning it survive." Zan says, keeping an eye on the strange Arm Slave.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
'Atrytone' tips her head curiously at Zan, both feet planted at the very corner of the container - streeeetching upwards on her very toes. "...Oh, the news hasn't reached you just yet! Communications are restored and everything. I've heard oh so much about the fascinating events happening here over the course of the past months - but I myself only juuuuuuust appeared here, quite shortly after it returned to reality. It seems like you've been undergoing a little bit of repairs - lucky for you, you can return home at a moment's convenience once you're done!~"
Finally, Asciel ceases standing on her lofty perch, twirling and landing gracefully on the concrete below, arms splayed proudly off to either side. "I came to the same conclusion! Doing nothing when others are in danger is unacceptable. Unfortunately! Every single human on the planet is in danger from myriad sources in distinct ways! There are at least twenty different currently active scenarios in which all of humanity is eradicated that really only take a single little push. A staggering number of weapons of mass destruction only left un-touched because of terribly flimsy restraints."
Both hands tucked behind her back, Asciel slowly walks in a ring around Zan, keeping her gaze side-long into his eyes, her mysterious smile unwavering. "Not too long ago, I was shown just how agonizing it is when 'do nothing' is your only action. When the crisis is already at hand, far away from your sight. When the 'something' you could do would take years of planning, years of safeguarding. Years of defying others. That's why a guardian of the Orbital Ring fascinates me, to be in a shared position."
"At least 14 currently active and in use classes of weapons could, if fired, send the Orbital Ring in its entirety plummeting to Earth, which would result in widespread catastrophe for its residents and the planet alike. To me, this structure is a weapon in and of itself - a crown of thorns held away from the flesh by a mere spider's thread. To me - defending its occupants sufficiently requires evacuating them and dismantling the entire structure at once, because at the point disaster struck, 'do nothing' would be my only option."
A certain cloudiness masks Asciel's eyes - glowing gently, a strange 'light' in her heart beginning to flare up. Her hair glows vividly, fanning out. "I'm unimaginably strong, I know, and I'm sure you are too! But at the point where the heavens began to fall onto the land, what possible strength could save it?"
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Zan's head turns, watching her. He's silent through out it all. He looks angry. Very angry. And very much looking considerate of it all. This definitely has him thinking. Is his primary duty worth it?
"If it is damaged, I will find a way to fix it. Even if I had to support it with my own two hands I will make sure it does not fall." Zan says.
"The Orbital Ring stands as a symbol that humanity can reach for the stars, and move beyond their current system. It will not fall as long as I am there and I will make sure of it." He says.
"Your words are showing that what position we are in is not shared. Do nothing is never an option. There is always something that can be done. Something that can be fixed or can be helped. Someone that can be told of what is going on and can do something about it." The orange robot says, turning to look at Artytone.
"What is your goal here? For me to turn away from my duties." The construction gun is raised up, arm bending at the elbow due to the close range. "Why do you try to make me doubt what I know?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Both hands fly up to Asciel's cheeks, pivoting on her heel and taking a geeeently cautious step backwards, giggling behind one hand, miming something like worry about the gun being put on display. "Lifting it up with your own two hands even as it crumbles - now now now, Mr. Zan. The idea, the bravery, the passion of this act is to be commended! The willpower to step into even such long odds is something humanity's long depended on!"
Her eyes close softly. Her voice descends into something almost...soothing. "...but at the point where you're asked to do that, it's probably too late. It takes more than just responding to imminent danger to protect what's important. It takes active countermeasures. Searching the world around you and assessing what may pose a risk - and stepping in to stop them before they take place."
The burning engine at Asciel's heart dies down. Her hair settles in its wild fluttering - and her hand lays upon the hilt of the mid-sized sword anchored at her hips. Not grasping or pulling at it - just sat upon it lazily. "Oh no no no. Quite the opposite. ...Like it or not, you are a safeguard against utter calamity. My goal is to make sure you can fulfill your duties. To make sure that you're never put in a position where the thing you swore to protect is suddenly falling apart in your arms. Because if it did happen - it'd be too painful to think about. Not just for everyone depending on you - but for you."
One of Asciel's eyes closes in a gentle, affirming wink. "We're very similar, after all. We swore oaths of protection to maintain our domains. I was content to assess dangers as they may. Maintain facilities as they take maintaining. Until one day - the sheer vastness of potential dangers became apparent. And on that day I swore that I would come up with a comprehensive plan to assure safety and security of the world and its people."
"Unfortunately it turned out that doing so is very, very radical, because people love building terrible things that hurt themselves and others!" Something tenses in Asciel's voice. Her eyes broaden - almost desperately. Her tone gets fiercer. Sharper. More assertive. "They're addicted to it! They get a thrill from it! They live by their own swords and cut off their own arms in the process! Countless many step up to defend the world and countless many falter in the face of just how immense the things threatening them are! Hahahah. But I swore not to let that get to me. No matter what. No matter what! If keeping humans from slaughtering themselves with their unreasonably titanic engines of doom takes reshaping the world, that's what it takes! It's my [promise] to stop humans from doing THIS to each other!"
---And suddenly, an onslaught of information beseiges Zan. The very firing of GENESIS just near to Tenchu tower - only in the wake of the nuclear destruction of ZAFT's own colonies. The descent of the Devil Gundam. Of Axis. Those may have been stopped. But then - Operation Stardust, which gouged a hole in Britannia. <<"Where was a defender then?">> The very first colony drop at Sydney. <<"Where was a defender then?">> And then - before the era of Mobile Weapons - - footage of atrocities committed simply by human hand against human hand, with scarce more than guns and spears. <<"Where was a defender then?">>
---it stops. Oh so suddenly. Steam is spilling from Asciel's rear vents. The smile on her face is very much gone. "...you see the vastness of what we have to do, precisely because we aren't human. How fiercely we have to never give up - and what refusing to give up means when this is how they behave without us protecting them."
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Zan eyes the Arm Slave as it moves. The gun stays trained on it. It's not a normal gun, either. The thing is obviously designed for building things, but there's little doubt that he's used it in combat, too.
Then comes the onslaught of information. And Zan looks furious at that. Not for what's in it, but for something else. Something she might have seen briefly. Before he looked mad. Now? Now Zan looks furious. And it's obvious all those safeties on the construction weapon are off as his other hand comes up to steady the weapon.
"Leave. Now." That's his simple words as he moves to a more combative stance.
"The next time we see each other, you have the choice of being an actual defender or facing me. What happened before I was born, before we started to recover the 3G, is not something that we can change. And if you ever contact me that way again, I will destroy any trace of you to be found here or anywhere else."
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
A darkness falls over Asciel's expression. Eyes going dim and blank for a bit. Her posture slumping, slightly.
"...mou, so you don't understand after all. You, out of everyone. I'd really thought we shared a connection. Our positions are just too much alike. I truly did imagine you'd grasp what I understood. That we could be the future. Me, safeguarding the Earth, and you, entrusted with the sanctity of the halo encircling it. That would be an acceptable plan to remove the Orbital Ring as a hazard, if we could harmonize intents. But I guess it's true after all."
The orange hue returns to those vivid LED irises - a smile forced upon those artificial lips. "I guess it really, genuinely is true that I have to do it all on my own."
In concession, Asciel slowly begins stepping backwards, padded heels thumping rhythmically against the concrete below. "That's okay. I understood long, long ago that it all fell onto me. So, Zan. Everything I showed you there. The vast, terrible truth that humanity's greatest efforts are often it's deadliest. Don't think about it at all! It's all my responsibility, as it turns out! I won't show it to you ever again~ It's something I will handle alone - and all you need to do is keep your watch over what you hold dear."
A joy courses through her expression, and one of Asciel's arms raise up, hand stretching open. "It's completely fine! I prepared for this! You would greatly convenience my plan to save humanity, but I can carry on without you and continue as planned. Thank you for making what I'm forced to do so much clearer, Zan. I reiterate that none of what I displayed to you has any relevance to what you have to do from now on."
And in that same posture - the air seems to swallow Asciel up, fading the limber Arm Slave and leaving only a hazy mirage in its wake, one that clearly moves at a rather quick clip to leave - but which is hardly detectable after but a few minutes.
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
The gun stops humming as Zan waits a few minutes before putting it away.
After a few moments and turning to look around, he takes off up into the air and turns into his ORCA form. The VTOL jets lifting him skyward quickly as he scans around for the Arm Slave again before turning and heading towards the nearest place he can contact 3G.
That was odd, and it was worrying for him. Analyzing things, he could only come to the conclusion that it wasn't a human. That it was an unknown Super AI.