"Engine ignition successful… Once we connect your Red Frame's power supply as well, it should be enough to carry us out of here. Over the next two days, all we need to do is finish adjusting the control program."
Out in space, Athrun had finally connected the thruster unit from before to the Aegis.
No—it was connected to both the Aegis and the Red Frame.
The Red Frame's legs were wrapped around the Aegis, its arms embracing it. Under the impact and extreme heat, the metal foam had deformed slightly, nearly embedding the Red Frame into the Aegis.
Athrun and Cagalli had no way to separate now, so they could only make do like this.
"Athrun, are you all right?"
They still had plenty of nutrient fluid, but their water consumption had been greater than expected.
Nutrient fluid was highly concentrated, and drinking too much left them feeling thirsty.
That had driven up their water consumption. On top of that, Athrun had left most of their water for Cagalli.
"Ah, I'm fine." Athrun's voice was a little hoarse, and he tried to speak as little as possible.
But Cagalli noticed how weak he was.
—This can't go on.
Going without food for two or three days wasn't a problem for an ordinary person.
Going without water was another matter entirely.
Through the visor, Cagalli studied Athrun's face.
He looked slightly pale.
His lips were cracked, and exhaustion clouded his eyes.
Cagalli had already noticed over the past two days that Athrun was deliberately cutting back on both food and water.
He drank less so Cagalli would have more water, and ate less to avoid making himself need even more water.
But even for a Coordinator, he had now reached his limit.
He might have held out if he had been lying still, but Athrun had spent all this time performing intense physical labor.
By comparison, Cagalli's burden had been much lighter. Athrun had chivalrously taken on most of the physical work, while she had mostly just passed him tools.
At last, Cagalli couldn't bear it anymore.
"I still have water over here," Cagalli said.
"Hm? But we—"
"Don't worry, it's purified water!"
No, no, that's not what I meant!
Cagalli realized she had let something slip.
Her face turned scarlet. "It's reprocessed water used for cooling and emergencies. It's fine—it's purified after filtration. It is pu-ri-fied water!"
Cagalli had a "hidden reserve."
She wasn't actually short on food or water.
They had only run low because Cagalli had been using the "external water" until now.
There was much more water inside the recycling system.
Its source was just a little… delicate.
[Wait, don't tell me?!]
[Holy crap, it's holy water!]
[What holy water? It's purified water!]
[Right, right, purified water, hahahahaha!]
"Recycled water…"
Athrun suddenly remembered that the skin-tight spacesuit Cagalli wore was transparent almost everywhere. The crucial areas were covered, but it didn't look as though there was anything like a diaper beneath it—the suit was far too thin.
Which meant it had to be collecting moisture from the surface of her body somehow…
"It's purified water!"
Cagalli roared.
Their comms were already off, but since they were connected by tubing, sound could still travel between them.
And with his helmet on, Athrun couldn't even cover his ears.
All he could do was listen as Cagalli repeated "purified water" again and again.
It would have been fine if she hadn't emphasized it. They could have pretended nothing had happened. But the more she insisted, the more painfully awkward Athrun found it.
Drinking it felt wrong, but refusing felt just as wrong.
"Just drink it!"
Cagalli switched Athrun's line over to hydration mode.
"Thank you."
The water was warm, close to human body temperature.
It was perfectly pure, without the slightest taste or smell.
Yet perhaps because even their breathing had effectively become "connected," Athrun could have sworn he tasted something… slightly different.
After taking in a large amount of water, Athrun finally began to feel much better.
Cagalli, on the other hand, had ducked her head and seemed incapable of speaking.
Once he had rehydrated, Athrun's strength returned as well.
"All right, let's continue… Hm?"
At that moment, the crude communicator Athrun had assembled by hand suddenly picked up a signal.
"Is that a rescue signal?!"
Cagalli's eyes lit up.
—Were they finally going to be saved?
But Athrun frowned.
"I'm afraid something's wrong." His tone grew heavy.
"Wrong? What could possibly be wrong?" Cagalli looked baffled.
"Besides ZAFT and the Alliance, there are many other factions active in this part of space," Athrun said.
Cagalli swallowed. "Mercenaries…?"
In space, mercenaries were practically synonymous with space pirates.
"Not necessarily. They could also be Junk Guild members," Athrun said, trying to reassure her. "We fought a battle here and had no time to clear the battlefield afterward. Once we left, Junk Guild members might have come to collect some wreckage."
If they were from the Junk Guild, then in most cases, the two of them would actually be safe.
If they were mercenaries, however, there was no telling what would happen.
Both the Aegis and the Red Frame were still in relatively good condition. They had temporarily lost control, but neither was a total wreck. With repairs, they could still be used.
Cold sweat began to bead on both of them.
"What do we do?" Cagalli asked.
"The thruster is already installed. We can escape once we feed the Red Frame's and Aegis's propellant into it, but if we ignite it now, we may not be able to make it back." Athrun thought for a moment. "This signal isn't ZAFT's, and probably isn't the Earth Alliance's either. We still don't know whether they're friend or foe."
Should they flee immediately, or wait for the newcomers and see whether rescue might arrive?
At a time like this… what should they do?
From the images on the Stage, Inori had also noticed the situation on Athrun's side.
"It will likely be difficult for them to leave that region under their own power."
Over the past few days, the chemistry between the two had heated up quickly.
The suspension-bridge effect, combined with a prolonged period of living together in space, had gradually caused feelings to bud between them.
And after that, the "purified water" scene was a massive hit. SEED's Popularity Points shot up by one hundred thousand.
—That single shot alone raised completion by a full one percent.
Her constant behind-the-scenes maneuvering hadn't gone to waste.
When putting on a show, the most important thing was giving the audience what they loved—performing what they wanted to see.
"Mm. It's about time I started preparing too. First, let's see whether I can obtain authorization…"