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KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 2

2012-05-02T04:22:27Z

115.77.135.185: /* Part 1 */

==Chapter 2==

===Part 1===

In the starry universe, there was a biplane that’s flying with a propeller. It was a middle-century classical plane that operates on gasoline.

As he stared at the plane blankly, Riddhe Marcenas imagined himself to be sitting on it. He was wearing a flying visor, a white muffler around his neck, and using fighting flying skills that were like acrobatics to tease the enemy’s destroyer. A pilot had to be like this. Even if the propeller planes were all replaced by jet planes or even evolved into space fighter jets with g, pilots were all proud riders. A pilot shouldn’t be part of minor things like being called out by an older non-commission officer or pointed at by a senior pilot. That’s the bad customs that passed down from the navy. And the pilots after the mid-century occupy a unique atmosphere called the air force, and they’re an unique existence that had to be separated from ordinary soldiers. At least they shouldn’t forget about this…that’s what he thought.

However, reality was cruel.

“Ensign Riddhe, the captain’s calling you over to his room.”

A window opened in the space, and the Mechanical Officer Jona Gibney’s mustached face chuckled as he said that. He was the oldest and the most experienced of the maintenance staff, and he was one of those senior soldiers who would not hesitate to scold an officer. Riddhe was sitting on the linear seat and pouted, “Why always me?”

“You have to bring stuff to the captain’s room. This job is more or less suited for a rich boy!”

“I’m an officer too, you know! This has nothing to do with lineage, right?”

“Only those who shot down an enemy’s plane has the right to say that. Now go!”

Mechanical Officer Gibney’s face disappeared from the screen, and only angry roars echoed throughout the cockpit. Riddhe unhappily turned off the full-view screen and grabbed the biplane model that was floating above his head.

Once the space simulated image disappeared, the screens that were connected on the inside walls of the ball, and the cockpit suddenly became a cramped and unpleasant cockpit. Riddhe used a plastic bag to wrap the plastic body of the biplane and put it behind the display guard before opening the door. The door that could only be passed through by bending down was right in front of him. The sound of welding, cranes and metals rubbing against each other entered the cockpit.

Also, there was a chatter behind him, and Gibney, who was in that jumpsuit that the mechanical staff would wear was showing blank white eyes. Riddhe kicked the linear seat and easily let his body float out of the cockpit. Gibney’s body didn’t move as he floated in the air, and he said with a heinous tone, “Were you meditating inside that cockpit again?”

“I’m embracing the time when I can be one with my beloved plane. Are you touched?”

“And you even dare to say that you brought a toy in!”

“Please don’t randomly touch and spoil it. That’s a limited edition. It was hard to get it!”

One has to strike the fine balance between being orderly and doing things one’s own way. One shouldn’t remember the grudges when there’s vexing words said, but to forget it after hearing it. Having grasped the secret to ship service, Riddhe took the documents he was to deliver and left. “Who cares about you, Mr Mania?” after leaving these words behind, Gibney looked like he exchanged places with Riddhe as he slipped into the cockpit. His underlings, 4 new technicians in spacesuits followed him from behind and looked into the cockpit from all directions.

Their job was to pay attention to all of Gibney’s actions and quickly hand the important tools to him. This deck was often filled with air, so there was no need to wear the bulky work spacesuit. However, Gibney wanted the rookies to wear them at all time. “What’ll happen if we’re attacked and there’s a hole in the wall? Once you’re sucked outside, the blood in your body will immediately freeze and you’ll immediately die.” That was Gibney’s saying, and he did see this personally on the ship he was on. Those who experienced the One Year War, the ones who fought in war, had the most weight in their words.

When Riddhe was first assigned to this ship, he would also show respect to this, and would wear a pilot’s spacesuit when he entered the deck. However, he would now be lightly dressed in a jumpsuit and a jetpack. Since he’s riding on a spaceship, he will die anyway if they were attacked, no matter where they were, and even Gibney himself wouldn’t wear a spacesuit before the siren rang. After seeing the tense profiles of the rookies, Riddhe thought that they were really pitiful…but this made Riddhe remember his own sadness, and he suddenly had an urge to drop the documents that he was told to deliver onto the floor. He took a deep breath, held back this urge, grabbed and messed up his blond hair that was a little longer, and used the steel cable to move alongside the floor.

As he was being dragged by the cable, he could see his personal suit fully as he went near the passage that’s located at the wall. It was a blue humanoid body that showed the artistry of straight and curved contours. This was the RGZ-95 ‘ReZEL’ that had a variable booster unit behind. As the front part of the booster was extended out from the back of the head, it looked a lot larger than an ordinary mobile suit. Gibney and his subordinates who were gathered at the cockpit right at the abdomen looked like they were the size of the ‘ReZEL’s fist.

On the large mobile suit deck that was more than 7 levels high, there were 7 similar-typed ‘ReZEL’ and the main forces of the Earth Federation RGM-89 ‘Jegan’ were also at their fixed positions and undergoing maintenance. The ‘Jegan’ was a mass-produced frame, and though the ‘ReZEL’ was classified as the latest transformable mobile suit, both mobile suits inherited the basic design from the Federation Army’s mobile suit, the RGM-79 GM, which wasn’t changed too much. Most notably, the visor protector on the head that blocks the optical sensor was of the exact same design. Riddhe’s personal suit, the ‘ReZEL’ had the identification number NA-R008 on the chest, and the visor that was basically its eyes was being washed.

There was no sign of any streamlined winged mobile suits, only the humanoid mobile suits that looked like they will pop out in old cartoons. This scene just looked like the rows of Buddha statues Riddhe saw with he was young and went on a trip to Asia, which irritated him again. The beauty of aircraft was created from the coordination of air resistance. Thus, it would be natural for machines that’s to be used in vacuum to display other characteristics. Also, the reason why space fighter units that resembled planes and replaced by mobile suits called ‘robots’ was because of the One Year War that happened when Riddhe was 6.

If one hasn’t found the new particles that would bring about the revolution to physics, the Minovsky Particles that would jam all electronic devices, there wouldn’t be humanoid machines that formed the basis of recent wars. If it wasn’t for the creation of mobile suits and the Principality of Zeon’s creation ‘Zaku’ being such a huge success that caused the Earth Federation which had overwhelming advantages to be on the brink of defeat, this hangar would still have signs of the descendant of the biplane, the space fighter jets.

Of course, the fighter jets didn’t disappear completely. The main machine of the Federation’s air force, the TIN Cod II was a fighter plane that resembled an aircraft. The space army still had the fighter planes that were used for long distance support, but they were already out, and the budget for new machines was already interrupted for so long. Also, once the air force finished clearing the remnants of Zeon Forces on Earth, they were treated like they fulfilled their purpose and were abandoned. No matter how much one liked planes, to this person who graduated from the Officer Cadet School with outstanding grades, it wasn’t an attractive path.

In the end, Riddhe came here. He was affliated to a top-notch large ship under the Federation, and became a pilot of a mobile suit. He managed to fulfill his dream since childhood…and he even used his links with his ‘family’. What he got was completely different from what he expected though. He was living in the world whether that brave pilot was gone and began living his life while being called a ‘young lord’ by experienced pilots and soldiers as he was told off every day.

Considering that he couldn’t get away from the pressure of his ‘family’ whenever he goes, this was still a surrounding he could compromise with. He continued to hold back the unhappiness within him and reached his hand out to the handle on the deck. Suddenly, he heard voices from under his feet going ‘what’s with that ugly and fake tank?’. A pilot who was being pulled by the cable was glaring at the two vehicles parked in the corner of the deck.

The dark brown machines that were over 10m in length were large crawlers. They did look like armored cars or tanks. While leaving ‘Lunar Two’, about 30 transport carrier personnel suddenly came in with the vehicles. As Riddhe watched these vehicles, other voices could be heard, ‘Did the special forces bring these people in?’.

“They had been using cover to cover it, and they didn’t allow us technicians to touch.”

“The killer squad of the hunters. Such annoying visitors.”

On hearing these bad words that were deliberately said for others to hear, the ‘visitors’ who were maintaining the vehicle—the special Federation space forces ECOAS glared over, but the pilots themselves didn’t seem to reflect on this as they went above while holding the cable. Instead of merely being crude, it was more like small fries acting childish, and Riddhe really felt like sighing.

The ECOAS, also known as the hunter squad, had quite the bad reputation. They would often have a clear divide from the ship crew, and they would cover their equipment with cloth and not allow others to get near. Riddhe really didn’t like such secrecy at all. However, it would be immature for him to return nail for nail. Basically, the training and regimentation of the space army were all like the navy, and the group mentality for each ship was too strong. An experienced soldier like Gibney could be so cool was because of the bad habit of experience triumphing over rank. The concept of the term ‘ship’ in space and bringing the seaman’s mentality into space was the cause of all this.

If the spaceship could be described as a large plane, learning the elements of the air force may be like becoming an independent organization that had open communication channels. While repeating the meaningless grumbles, Riddhe looked over at the armored car-like thin the ECOAS had. The squad members were getting ready as they started to pull the covers off the vehicles, most likely because they were getting close to their destination, and they gave a tense feeling from their backs, making that place look like a completely different world. They were dressed in impromptu T-shirts and army pants, but they were highly skilled in moving under zero gravity, and they wouldn’t shout randomly. They weren’t extremely muscular, but the abnormally thick upper body and the thick chest muscles made them look like they trained.

Riddhe’s eyes met one of them. It was the man who shot a glare at his crewmate for saying harsh words. Riddhe gave a smile as he tried to compensate for his crewmate’s unreasonable action. But the man didn’t smile as he looked at Riddhe like he was looking at a ‘thing’ and then looked away before continuing his work.

He didn’t look like he was looking at other people. The cold inorganic-like eyes was definitely of someone nicknamed a ‘hunter’. Riddhe felt like he was being held at knifepoint on the throat as he hurriedly left.

===Part 2===

The ship’s name was called ‘Nahel Argama’. It was an assault landing ship that belonged to the independent unit of the Earth Federation, Londo Bell. Right now, it was in between Earth and the moon, right before the dark wasteland space of L1. In three hours, they would be entering the space debris field, and they will deploy all forces to monitor the region.

The ship that was almost 400m in length had a mobile suit catapult launcher at the deck of the ship. The bridge was right in the middle like a bow, and there were 2 giant wings with hidden solar panels extending out from the back of the bridge and reaching out to both sides. If one were to designate the two engines that are equipped on the rear left and right sides of the ship as the hind legs and the catapult decks on both sides as the fore legs, it would look like a sphinx with wings or a large wooden horse. Based on this point, this ship could be said to have inherited the Pegasusc-class obile assault landing ship that was active during the One Year War—the Federation’s first mobile suit carrier ‘White Base’.

However, the ‘Nahel Argama’ didn’t belong to any class, and neither did it have a similar ship. If there’s a need to classify it, it should be classified as Nahel Argama, a one and only ship. That’s because it was a ship that wasn’t designed through standard National Security planning during the time after the war, in the internal tussle that divided the Federation Army into half—what one would call the Gryps War. However, it didn’t have interchangeability and was hard to deal with, so it was removed from the army’s reorganization plans. Though there was a large scale reconstruction after the Gryps War, Londo Bell, which took it, didn’t know what to do with it, and it wasn’t set as a cornerstone of a fleet. It was hard to mobilize, so there was no accompanying fleet, causing it to be mobilized as a single ship.

This ship of the external group of the space army Londo Bell was an isolated one…and the isolation caused a twisted group mentality. It couldn’t be helped that the old habits of rejecting others happened. Riddhe used this thinking to scatter the anger that he couldn’t purge and left the mobile suit deck to move towards the center of the ship.

These weren’t all bad things, and Riddhe could even say that it’s better for him to be isolated. Also, he didn’t really dislike this atmosphere completely. He was the one who volunteered to be assigned to Londo Bell, and he considered his position and suitability before being assigned to the ‘Nahel Argama’. If he was sent to a main fleet, that wouldn’t be all the pressure. He would probably end up with his superiors fearing him, his peers hating him, and he couldn’t fulfill his duty in such an environment.

The weight of his ‘family’ was this great. He was the eldest son of the important senator in the Federation Central Council Ronan Marcenas. It was a political family that once gave birth to a Prime Minister, and he was the heir to the Marcenas’ glory. This guy’s here to pilot a mobile suit? Impossible. He’ll most likely be decommissioned after a while. It’s not rare for a political heir to enter an officer cadet school as one would say that being outstanding in the Federation army would be a shortcut to being a politician. Most of the time, he would be intending to get along with future generals to creating camaraderie with the army…

No! But no matter how many times he emphasized this, such words continued to be echoed. I didn’t want to be a politician. My dream is a pilot, so I entered the Officer Cadet School even with my family against it. However, having entered officer cadet school for 4 years and the mobile suit learning squad for a year, Riddhe really felt that it was meaningless to argue back, and didn’t want to face these words already. In contrast, he started to search his way from the center. It was a place where high ranking officers wouldn’t try to latch on to him so that they would be outstanding in the future. Even if they teased him as ‘young lord’, this was a place where they wouldn’t have any ill intention, but treat him as a pilot—

However, it was unexpected that they would call him to be a runner. Grimacing inside, Riddhe let go of the moveable handle and used the momentum to float through the path and stop in front of the lift that would lead to the gravity area. Mihiro Oiwakken, who was his junior that graduated in the next batch, was coincidentally in the lift.

“Oh my, are you delivering these documents?” “Yeah.” Both of them continued to talk as the lift carried them. The inside of the ‘Nahel Argama’ had a cylindrical gravity area that was like a space colony. It uses centrifugal force to create gravity on the inside of the cylinder. Of course, as the diameter was smaller, it could only create a weak amount, but even if the object’s not fastened to the floor, it could keep it to the floor. When flying for a long time, especially while eating and undergoing military medical treatment, this design would be extremely important.

The lift went through the axis on the side of the gravity area and arrived at the rotary axis of the cylinder. Both of them were exchanging information this time about the emergency departure and the uncertain battle plan before the door opened again. The destination was the Construction Space Colony ‘Industrial 7’ that’s in the Dark Wasteland space. The main operation would be carried out by ECOAS, and the ‘Nahel Argama’ was in charge of sending them.

“Industrial 7’s Anaheim Electronics’ Space Colony, right? The Dark Wasteland Region a place where a new Side will be built on in the space colony redevelopment project…I don’t think that it’s a place where the ‘Sleeves’ will show up.”

“I don’t know about the details, but the atmosphere in the bridge is really bad. We’re already unhappy that the hunters are using us as a transport, and we may even end up in a real battle. First Mate Liam was forcing the captain to make the hunters tell the truth…”

“Captain Otto can’t hold on for long if that old hag’s going to continue pressuring him like that, right? Even I can’t handle it.”

“Yeah. It’s really hard to imagine him when he’s commanding.”

Even though she would say this, Mihiro herself looked like she was far from the active battle. Her dark brown eyes and hair showed a heavy Eastern heritage. She was wearing a grey officer uniform and was shorter than Riddhe. Perhaps it was her inferiority complex in her height that she was so hardworking, and she was giving the nickname ‘mini-tank’ in Officer Cadet School. However, she wouldn’t give a vexing feeling, and is a nice female officer who wouldn’t lose her cool. The way she rolls her eyes would give people the impression of a small animal like a chipmunk instead of a mini tank.

22 year old Mihiro was only deployed to Londo Bell for half a year, and Riddhe, who graduated a year earlier, went to the mobile suit learning squad, so he was assigned here at the same time as her, and for the two of them, it was their first duty in their first ship. It’s been three years since the war with the remnants of Zeon in what people called ‘Char’s Counterattack’, and right now, even Londo Bell, which was meant to be an immediate response team, had not fought for a long time. Thus, there were quite a lot of people who didn’t have actual combat experience. Recently, the renegade organization called ‘Sleeves’ were starting to move, and had fought against several squads under Londo Bell. However, the ‘Nahel Argama’, which was on the outside, didn’t take part in the assault, thus, new cadres like Riddhe weren’t the only ones who couldn’t imagine the actual scenario.

“Real battle…since we have the hunters on board, it won’t be an exercise, I guess.”

“It’s troubling to have to fight secretly in a civilian space colony. ‘Industrial 7’ has the school Anaheim Electronics runs, right?”

Mihiro said this as that student-like face of hers became gloomy. As he saw that delicate Eastern skin of hers, Riddhe’s thoughts became a little uncouth, and the lift reached the gravity area before opening. After saying goodbye to Mihiro who was heading to the bridge, Riddhe let his body float through the passage that looked like the axis of the rotating gravity area.

Once he landed on the gravity, the body that was captured by gravity creaked, and Riddhe felt like he was struck by dizziness. He grabbed the handle on the wall. Riddhe frowned as the blood in his body was being pulled down as he didn’t feel well about that. He moved past the weapons personnel who came over from the cafeteria and entered another lift. The captain’s room was at the lowest level in the inside wall, where the gravity was the strongest. After descending down the axis for another 50m, his body started to become heavier because of the zero gravity during the journey, which caused his body to expand.

In fact, the atmosphere in the captain’s room was rather heavy too. After reporting and calling out ‘excuse me’, Riddhe walked into the captain’s room, and immediately knew the reason.

The captain’s room of the Nahel Argama had the operation room and the reception room. The reception room itself was a wide space that was more than 60 sq meters large. The ship was being expanded continuously to match the current mobile suit capacity needed. However, the basic amount of facilities needed wouldn’t require that much space, which ended up allowing them to use as much space as they wanted to. Inside the reception room right now was captain Otto Midas leading the people in charge of the weapons and the navigation were here. However, they weren’t the ones who made the presence in the room heavy. In contrast to the tired looking captain, there was a commander sitting on the opposite sofa, and there was an organization where everyone was dressed in suits—the dangerous ‘guests’ who were riding on this ship. They were the ones who made the reception area feel so heavy.

Such a heavy feeling made him remember about his ‘family’. Once Riddhe entered the room, he immediately saw the mobile suit squadron leader, Norman Basilicok. He avoided the looks of the rest as he handed the documents over to the colonel. He wanted to immediately turn around and leave the room, but Commander Norm said, “I need to sign this. Please wait for a moment.” Causing him to remain where he was.

Sitting at a corner of the L-shaped sofa and signing the nominal roll, Norm’s face looked rather unhappy, and Captain Otto took off his cap, a rare feat for him. As they had to put on spacesuits in battle, the space army wouldn’t use military caps when riding in ships, but Otto would definitely wear the normal cap. This was to hide his reclining hairline, and it’s an open secret in the ship. Some vicious mechanics would even say, “Does he even need to worry about being bald when he looks like that?”

“We’re fine with ECOAS leading this battle.”

Otto touched that head of his that was lacking in hair and broke the silence. The voice of a middle-ranked officer bemoaning matched his face that looked like an old uncle in a civilian factory.

“But Londo Bell also has what Londo Bell needs to do. At least tell us your objective…”

“That’s classified. I personally have no rights to reveal this.”

Sitting opposite Otto was the fierce commander, who answered without an expression. He was the leader of the ECOAS squad, Daguza Mackle. His straightened back and those sturdy thighs of his would make one wonder whether he could still maintain the same position even when someone takes the sofa away. No matter whether it’s the stone-like expression or the sharp expression that would make anyone freeze, he does look like a man who could lead the hunters.

Commander Norm stopped his hand from flipping through the documents and stared at Daguza. Riddhe found that he was in a situation where he didn’t want to face at all, as his straight body froze harder. As the leader of the counter-terrorist Special Forces, Daguza had handled much more covert missions. Compared to his expression, Otto, who was forced onto the Nahel Argama which no one wanted, lost out a lot. Norman and all the crew on the ship saw that the captain was losing out a lot, and were obviously looking outraged. However, Daguza didn’t really pay much attention to these stares. Riddhe was right in the middle of the epitome of a messy situation.

“But this is to be held in a civilian space colony. At least make some explanation to reduce the causalities to the minimum…”

“That’s why I’m allowed to come along.”

Otto manned up his pride as a captain and spoke, and the one who interrupted him was one of the men dressed in suits beside Daguze. Amongst the men dressed in traditional suits, there was a man who was wearing a collared Nehru Jacket. He placed the Nahel Argama model he was playing in his hand back onto the table and looked around at everyone.

“I’ll reveal this then. There’s a deal that’s about to take place in Industrial 7. The parties involved are the ‘Sleeves’ and the leader of the Vist Foundation.”

The man said as he smiled and relaxed his plump face. He was a ‘visitor’ that came along with Daguza and the ECOAS members, and the one with the largest profile. They only knew that he was an important member of Anaheim Electronics, and his name was Alberto. This man had an arrogant smile, and he seemed to be telling everyone that the authority over this entire battle is in him. Otto asked back, “Did you say Vist Foundation…” and at this moment, Norman and Daguza narrowed their eyes in unison as they gave unhappy looks.

“That’s right. On the surface, it’s a philanthropic foundation that transports art pieces into space colonies, but in fact, we control practically all of the Vist Foundation’s wealth and power. Though there’s a difference in the authority wielder, it’s the major stakeholder of our company here.”

With his back facing the Earth Celestial Sphere map on the wall, Alberto ignored the unhappy looks everyone gave.

“Of course, Industrial 7 is our company’s asset. However, even if there’s some damage, we have to prevent the deal between the ‘Sleeves’ and the “Vist Foundation’. This isn’t Anaheim’s decision only, but also the conclusion the highest authorities of the Federation Army came to.”

His eyes with double eyelids made him look like he got a doll like face, but his demeanor and bulky frame really made it hard to tell his age. Though Anaheim Electronics was the largest military enterprise in the world, but for a civilian like Alberto to take part just because he was a crucial figure in this, for what reason did the highest authorities make such a decision? “What’s this…deal that we needed to prevent at all cost?” Captain Otto asked with a somewhat trembling voice.

“It’s the ‘Laplace Box’. The Vist Foundation intend to hand that thing over to the ‘Sleeves’.”

Immediately, the heavy damp air scattered all over, and Riddhe felt cold air blow through the reception room. “‘Laplace Box’…?” Otto frowned.

“No one knows what that thing is, or even what’s inside. But one thing’s certain. Once the ‘Laplace Box’ is opened, it would bring about the end of the Earth Federation government.”

Alberto leaned his back on the sofa as he gave a serious look. Captain Otto tried to force a smile, but wasn’t successful as his stiff expression started to ache in numbness. Daguza’s sharp expression remained on Alberto.

“The Vist Foundation hid the ‘Laplace Box’ and used that to preserve its wealth. Anaheim shares the same fate with it too. No matter what the aim is, we must stop the leader who lost his mind, if the thing that can topple the Federation government lands in the ‘Sleeves’ hands…things will become serious, captain.”

Alberto said as he gave a self-mocking smile. Facing the doubts and fears everyone showed as they remained silent, Riddhe could only curse himself for meeting such an unlucky and unfortunate situation.

===Part 3===

No matter how one walked on the side of the corridor, there was the sound of a fist slamming into flesh. Marida Crus let go of the moving handle and saw the back of Flaste Schole.

“IT’S BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T CHECK PROPERLY THAT WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT WE WERE USED AS TRANSPORT!”

Right in front of Flaste, who was roaring away, was a young deck crewman whose face was beaten till it was red and swollen. Under zero gravity, both of them had their feet stuck to the ground by magnets, so anyone who’s hit would be hurting. Even if Flaste held back, that hard metal-like punch that can’t be dodged landed straight on his face. The crewman swayed about and stood still, saying, “I won’t give any excuses for this.” While blood was dripping from his mouth.

“THAT’S JUST YOU TRYING TO ACT COOL! WHY DON’T YOU JUST GET ON YOUR KNEES AND APOLOGIZE!?”

Flaste grabbed the front of the crewman’s hair and looked like he intended to deliver a few more punches. However, he was stopped by a voice “Stop fighting.” Marida watched the human wall that was gathered on the passageway scatter, and Captain Zinnerman’s bearded face appeared.

He sounded calm, but the expression hidden under the captain’s hat showed utter distress. It’s been an hour since they got a signal from the headquarters ‘Palau’ that ‘she’ went missing. In the large Earth Celestial Sphere, the ‘Palau’ itself would be a lone island in the large ocean. If she disappeared, it’s likely that she would be hiding inside the ships that come in and goes out. After having checked the entire ship thoroughly, they found that one of the storerooms that was used as a storeroom had signs of a stowaway inside, which caused a huge commotion in the ‘Garencieres’.

Marida herself joined in the search, but ‘her’ presence wasn’t inside the ship. It seemed that she slipped out during the mess when they docked. It was the crewman’s mistake for not noticing that she left, and he should be punched by Flaste, but everyone knew that they couldn’t solve the problem by getting angry. Marida ignored the men who were staring at each other and went into the cabin ‘she’ looked like ‘she’ was in.

She looked through the window on the wall and out to the central dock, closed her eyes and concentrated. She couldn’t grasp the presence of people moving about, and the messy thoughts that was like heat from a crowd caused her head to spin. Though she felt a little hot on the forehead, she couldn’t detect ‘her’ presence. There were too many people. Marida could only be amazed about how the human presences she could focus on in the battlefield could move about messily at will. As expected, an artificial being couldn’t detect a specific presence—

“She’s inside this space colony…but it’s not good if we take action and get held at ransom by our trade partner.”

Zinnerman said outside the entrance. Marida wiped away the sweat on her hands that came out unknowingly and returned back to the corridor.

“Is it likely that the ‘girl’ made contact with the other party already?”

“It’s likely that ‘she’ was opposed to this right from the beginning. Most likely, she made contact with Vist Foundation…”

Once Flaste pushed the crewman aside and finished saying that, Gilboa Sant continued on. Zinnerman watched his two henchmen, said “Not really” and put on his captain’s hat.

“It’s impossible to make contact with the outside world from Palau. She most likely intends to make direct contact!”

Most likely, she wanted to prevent the deal of the “Laplace Box’. Zinnerman let air flow through his hair that’s linked to his beard and put on the old captain’s hat. His eyes showed bitterness and pride. During these past years, he put in his heart and soul to protect ‘her’, and to this man who viewed himself as her substitute guardian, he may be able to judge that ‘she’ would do this, and this was somewhat of a self-defeat feeling. Marida was thinking as such, but decided firmly that she didn’t understand this, and looked away from her master who looked somewhat old now.

She only knows one thing, and that is, this is a huge crisis that would bring about danger to the entire organization. If they lose her, the ‘Sleeves’ will lose their focal point, and the organization they were finally able to build will develop cracks. If she even ends up in the Federation’s hands, the problem wouldn’t be only about the organization called the ‘Sleeves’. It may even bring everything to an immediate halt, the 16 years of war—or even the struggle that originate about half a century ago. All the sacrifice, blood, sweat that were shed for this would lose all meaning. The ‘Sleeves’ and the members of the Garencieres will lose their support.

‘She’, who was really smart, couldn’t possibly not understand this. This was foolish…but as she thought this, Marida felt that doing this would fit ‘her’ nature, and thus she stopped thinking. No matter whether it was about ‘her’ or the ‘Sleeves’, all the necessary decisions were to be made by her master, and she only needed to obey. The more she thinks, the more she would hesitate when carrying out the order. It’s something an ordinary person would normally do. After using this logical thinking process of hers, Marida gave Zinnerman a look that showed that she was waiting for instructions.

“Please, Marida. That child doesn’t know about normal life, so she wouldn’t be too far off. She’ll probably leave clues behind.”

Perhaps sensing the stare over at him, Zinnerman looked over at her and said this. This was the minimum transmission of talking and breathing, the familiar voice of her master. After answering ‘understood’ simply, Marida left the scene. After hearing Flaste’s voice “Don’t create any commotion” from behind, Marida took the lift and head towards the bridge area.

The ‘Garencieres’, which had a vertical landing function, has the end of the ship as the floor when it lands; which made it look like a building, and the bridge at the front of the ship was at the highest level. While they’re docked with the port now, the floor inside the ship that’s parallel to the port is lying horizontally. The lift itself is moving horizontally, but under zero gravity, the scenery around would decide how it looked. Marida ‘ascended’ by about the equivalent of 10 levels and entered the bridge,. She then entered the bottom of the bridge—or rather—the back—where the server room was. In this small room that’s filled with communication equipment and screens, the crewman continued to stare at the screen all this while, and the sound of the keyboard being typed on never stopped.

Besides the colony news network that anyone could read, they could see the construction progress of Industrial 7, the blueprint and even the movement of the industrial workers. As they could use the network provided by the port while they were docked and connect to the colony’s network, a highly skilled hacker could check out a large amount of information. After plucking away the coffee tube from the air, Marida asked “How is it?” and the crewman didn’t look back as he tossed a printed paper over. What’s printed on it was the hottest selling news at the moment.

“A mini mobile suit was forced to land in the park. The student who used it insisted that he used it to save someone…is it?”

The sound of things piecing together rang in her mind. Marida looked at the time the news was broadcasted, and confirmed that the time was already past 9. She held onto the printed paper and left the server room.

===Part 4===

“…As described above, the One Year War ended at the large scale battle at A Baoa Qu. After that, the Principality of Zeon transferred control over to the new republic and signed a peace treaty, and where is the lunar city where the peace treaty was signed? Banagher Links?”

Fidgeting around and passing through the back of the classroom, Banagher was about to sit down at his seat, but was called out by his teacher, Mr Bancroft, and was immediately stunned.

“Yes. Un, that…‘Von Braun’?”

“It’s ‘Granada’.” BAM. After slamming the desk and correcting it, Mr Bancroft adjusted his glasses in an unhappy manner. “I heard about everything. Sit down.”

What’s going on? Banagher muttered inside his heart as he sat at a corner of the fan-shaped table. Takuya and the other students gave him looks as he plugged his laptop into the power port at the table. He opened out the retractable keyboard, entered his log in ID, and the world history definition that he missed out was shown on the screen.

It’s said that the advance in technology in the old century and the wireless network system weren’t rare at all—an age where even handphones could be carried along—right now, the network and phones were all wired. That’s because as humans are living in human colonies, such ‘intricate technology’, there’s a strict limit on the electric waves used. However, as there’s Minovsyu particles floating everywhere, the limit became meaningless. These Minovsky particles that were of unknown origin causes electric short circuits of all types to happen often. Although there were many protective measures for life support systems, it’s a habit after the One Year War to print a copy of data out.

In other worlds, this Earth Celestial Sphere still had Minovsky particles floating about after the war. To put it plainly, there’s still a need for it—war continues to happen. Banagher suddenly thought about this and felt that his neck was aching a little like it was twisted. Of course, it need not be a real battle. Particles were also scattered for battle training. Recently, it’s said that even trading ships would scatter the particles to deal with pirates. Some of them would definitely float over from a real battlefield, right? Maybe at this moment, someone’s betting his life and gets burned by a laser. Just like how he saw a mobile suit this morning amongst them remains.

''"A war. There’ll be a large-scale war again."''

The jade-colored eyes flashed through his mind as those words rang beside his ears. Banagher shook his head that was still swirling and gathered his concentration on the history lecture.

“The Principality of Zeon was a military country that was controlled by the Zabi family. The Zeonism that Zeon Deikum promoted described that humans in space shall bring a brand new ‘Newtype thinking’, and garnered lots of supports like Gihren Zabi. It wasn’t Deikum’s own intent, but after he died, his name was used by the Zabi family as an excuse for a war of independence. In a certain sense, it was still a dangerous thought.”

''Someone could actually say such words even though it’s not knowledge derived from their own experience. How does it feel?'' Seeing Mr Bancroft continue to talk away, he wondered as a chat window appeared in the corner of his laptop.

This was to be expected. He was the one who caused an uproar in the entire colony by uprooting a cable on the road. How would the other students who weren’t motivated let this off? Banagher impatiently pressed the button and let the chat window appear on his monitor.

“Master Icarus. How does it feel to be investigated by the police?”

Most likely, Takuya was asking on behalf of the entire class. “Icarus?” Banagher asked back, and then, there was a link to a webpage. Banagher clicked on the click to check.

It was the front page of the ‘Daily 7’ news that Anaheim Electronics run. Banagher saw the photo of the Torohachi in the lawn and the headline ‘The Icarus that challenged the Artificial sun sadly fell onto the park’, and immediately turned off the webpage.

He felt the students around him all holding back their laughter as they looked at him. “Am I wrong to save someone?” Banagher answered.

“I heard that the person you saved disappeared like smoke.” “What did the police say about you using a mini-mobile suit on your own and wrecking property?” “What about the College?” The students asked, and Banagher used one hand to support his face and he typed with one hand.

“The surveillance camera of the maintenance system captured the image of the girl, so it was deemed that I did save someone. I was given a severe verbal warning and acquitted of charges. From the way the counseling teacher came to get me from the police, it seems that I don’t have too much problems with the school, but I have to head to the principal’s office after school.”

The male students, who made up about 70% of the class, started to get excited and tap away at their keyboard “A girl!?” “Age, looks?” “What did you talk about?” “Where did she come about?”…On seeing the screen seemingly come to life, Banagher entered, “I don’t know. The police’s still looking for here.” At this moment, the sound of the lecture desk rang throughout the classroom.

“You people. Don’t think that you can slack around just because it seems that history isn’t so useful to your work. Anaheim won’t hire idiots who can’t even pass a high school standard. Don’t just stupidly believe that they will hire all you people!”

Mr Bancroft used his ultimate technique, and the students immediately closed their chat windows and looked back at the podium. The reason why vocations were quickly switched was because the vocational students know that their future jobs will lie in the teachers’ hands. Banagher sighed and focused on the lecture screen. The One Year War, the Gryps War, the two Neo Zeon war. As he looked at the boring timeline, Banagher couldn’t get rid of those jade green eyes spinning in his dizzy mind.

The bright eyes he saw several hours ago; the soft touch when he hugged her together with both hands; everything just felt so distant, so vague that it feels like he was seeing another person’s memory. Even Banagher himself couldn’t dare to believe that he stole a mini mobile suit to save her. He didn’t think that he would have such a reckless impulse. Why did he do this? Who was she?

As it was close to noon, there was a bright sunlight outside the classroom window. At the field in front of the vocation building, there were mini mobile suits that were used for training lined up over there, moving equipment that’s to be used for training. Opposite there was a stack of trapezoid layers of the school campus that was designed with the Coriolis’ Effect of the colony’s self-rotation in mind. And far over on the other side, there’s a large wall that showed the end of a space colony—the materials were still exposed to the airtight wall facing the moon. As it was blocked by the light of the artificial sun, it’s import to see the entire mortar-like war, but there’s a hatch in the center that’s connected to the colony builder, and right now, there should be equipment that’s to be used for building colonies that’s being moved in and out.

The colony builder collects the debris that’s floating around in the Dark Wasteland region and start to purify, refine and build ‘Industrial 7’. That’s the redevelopment plan of the Dark Wasteland region, often called the experimental phase of the ‘Frontier Project’. In other words, this colony was built from the debris of past wars, and the colony builder was a magic funnel that uses this junk to build a ‘world’—and because of the shape, this large facility was given the nickname ‘Snail’. Banagher couldn’t help but concentrate on this seemingly blurry airtight wall.

''That was the thing that built the space colony, this ‘world’. She said that she had to go there, that there’s someone she had to meet. For what? To prevent a war?''

“After the war, organizations that called themselves the remnants of Zeon created lots of conflict. They called for space migrants to be self-independent, pushed for Ere-ism, and viewed Earthnoids as enemies. However, don’t forget the Newtype thinking in the republic that maybe people saw. That’s why colonies and meteors were thrown down to Earth. It’s unknown how many people sacrificed their lives because of this, and as citizens of the Federation who follow the idea of democracy, we…”

Another voice rang through his ears, covering the voice of Mr Bancroft who sounded more and more agitated. ''“How spineless…!” Who cares about you,'' Banagher argued back at the girl in his mind.

''It has nothing to do with me. No, I can’t possibly be involved in this. Whether it’s this One Year War or the second Neo Zeon War 3 years ago—the so-called ‘Char’s Counterattack’, all these has nothing to do with me. That’s just something I only saw through the television screen, what happened in a far away world. It’s the same for all the students here and Mr Bancroft here too!''

''If there were countless billions of people who were sacrificed in the war, then including those that survived, it’s our job to rebuild Earth and develop.'' The commotion during the One Year War brought about the unification, and babies who were born after the war like Banagher grew up listening to these adults. Thus, even if there’s people trying to start a space migrant independence or even start a large scale war because of this, it basically has nothing to do with them. It’s only that they would feel uneasy about hearing that some colony got wrecked because of war, but one could think that the chances of it was like being hit by a huge meteor. They were too unlucky, and could just treat it as other people’s business and forget about this. Movements of independence were just what people who to vent their depression as they weren’t able to get used to society. The stand that ‘lucky children who don’t know about war’ will never change, and it’s undoubted that tomorrow would be the same as today.

That girl was about the same age as he was, but the war she said ‘war’ had a different force from what the teacher said. It’s like a membrane covering a greenhouse breaking apart, and a strong gust of wind blew in. it’s also like a black spot that appears in an overly bright space, and then the shadow of the entire world appeared—

“Our company allows every factory to be independent financially. Thus, a group of uncouth people accepted the orders from Neo Zeon, causing both ally and enemy to have machines made from Anaheim. Thus, people would view Anaheim as death merchants. However, do not forget that the people in charge will be punished too…”

Then, I, who’s attending Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, am already part of war. Thinking about this thing that he had never thought about before, Banagher’s brain suddenly remembered the pure white color of the mobile suit he saw this morning outside the subway train window, and felt bothered by his far-fetched thinking.

The unicorn that cut through the vacuum dragged its white afterimage of its mobile suit like it was soaring in space. It flew towards the “Snail’, the creator of this world, the place where the colony builder was at, where normal people were forbidden from entering. If that girl was correct, that place would be the most critical place where the ‘war’ will be associated with.

Something was about to happen. No, maybe it had already happen, it’s just that he only saw part of it. it’s like a curtain was drawn right in front of his eyes. Banagher again looked outside the window, saw the airtight wall that was filled with an unknown thing, and felt something in his heart throbbing. Mr Bancroft’s voice that was becoming more excited moved the air.

“4 years late, in Universal Century year 1000, the Republic of Zeon shall give up on its self-independence and will be drafted back into the Federation as Side 3. When the country in the name of Zeon is destroyed, Zeonism shall fall, and humanity will be united again. Just like how our grandfathers or fathers continued to exist for Earth and humanity to create this united government called this Earth Federation after so many tribulations. To inherit such a great legacy and let the Earth Celestial Sphere continue to develop, you young ones…”

===Part 5===

“Idiot, treating such words as well. That girl must be someone who’s enthusiastic about activity, thinking that the capitalist Earth is all evil and sort. That’s why she must be going over to Chairman Cardeas Vist.”

Puffing her slightly brown face, Micott Bartsch simply said. Banagher kicked aside Haro lightly while it was shouting ‘idiot, idiot’, and uneasily drank up his remaining coffee.

Studying in the private high school beside Anaheim Electronics, Micott’s dress code and verbal mannerisms were all a lot more free than the vocational school, and she wouldn’t even hesitate about entering other people’s schools. She came over to the vocation school to discuss about the night’s party during lunch break, and while Banagher tried to explain what happened in the morning, that was the answer she got.

The reality the girl said was the best weapon to deal with a boy who wanted to do something and was being all pumped up. Dressed in a hooded coat and shorts, Micott raised her leg as she sat on the bench, and Banagher avoided her gaze and said, “The chairman, as in, our vocation school?” he tried to avoid the thought that this may be true, and anyway, even if there was nothing he could say, he had to find something to say.

“That’s right. There’s a photo when you entered the school, right? Cardeas Vist, the largest stakeholder of Anaheim Electronics, also known as the second generation leader of the Vist Foundation that was the secret owner.”

“That person lives inside the ‘Snail’?”

That girl said that there was ‘someone she had to meet no matter what’. On hearing the term ‘secret owner’, Banagher’s heart started to pulsate. However…

“Idiot, how could such a big hotshot stay in such a rural space colony? The chairman’s just a title to him. He never even appeared in the graduation ceremonies before.”

Sitting beside Micott, Takuya put down the magazine he read halfway through and interrupted. That was the robot related monthly magazine he would regularly buy, and there was a photo of a mini mobile suit tournament on the cross-pages picture.

“But it seemed that he really has a house here! It’s said that the house was directly moved over from Earth. Even the ‘Snail’ was said to be Vist Foundation’s property.”

Micott’s father was the factory owner of the 3rd Industrial area, so she would often hear about such underground news. The factory owner over here in ‘Industrial 7’ could be said to be like a mayor in the States, and even though Micott was a rich princess who’s studying in a private school, she would continue to come over to this vocation school where the smell of grease was thick. Maybe its because this space colony was supported by the industry. She herself even said that ‘the boys in our school are boring, all spineless princes’.

“But isn’t the colony builder managed by the colony builder management? Why is it that there’s rumors of it being the Foundation’s personal property?”

“That’s because the colony builder management had some members of the Vist Foundation, right?”

“The rich ones are really different. Launching an entire house into space, that’s crazy.”

Takuya looked like he didn’t have any other thoughts as he said what he wanted and continued to read his magazine. An open secret’s really scary, so scary that it can numb a person’s sense for the strange, Banagher thought. However, he himself never heard of the name of Vist Foundation. Was it because he was transferred in midway through, or was it that he was too dazed for a long time? Banagher really couldn’t tell which was the reason, and he looked through the trees in the school as he wondered what happened to the girl.

Anaheim Electronics wasn’t just the largest military producer in the Earth Celestial sphere, but there’s a house for the sponsor in the ‘Snail’. It’s no wonder that the crazy radicals will rush in to kill just to oppose war. In fact, there’s a lot of terror attacks on Anaheim every way, and it’s said that there’s a lot of expenses on safety. Even if the chairman of the Institute was just an open title, even Micott knew about the relationship between the Vist Foundation and Anaheim. It’s likely that this leader may be attacked.

However, the girl’s eyes made Banagher feel that things weren’t that simple. She had a strong will, but those eyes weren’t the eyes of a fanatic. It’s different from all the people he met till now. Those jade-green eyes had a strong allure to them—

“The police’s looking for her? You better not get involved with this. If the army gets hold on this, you might not even have a job.”

Perhaps reading through his own thoughts, Micott said the absolute truth and ended the current conversation before looking over at Takuya. “Speaking of which, tonight’s party…” Banagher wasn’t interested in this topic and took Haro away before leaving.

''Do you think I don’t know about all of this?'' On one hand, he felt really angry, but on the other hand, his rationale side had to admit that Micott was right. His emotions that were being built up inside was forming a vortex inside him. It’s better not to get involved with her, and I know that. At the police’s side, he may be questioned hard by the police, and also by those executives in suits. Most likely, they would be public security personnel. ''If they’re eyeing me, my path to Anaheim will always be closed, and I may even be expelled from school and return back to the old colony of Side 1.''

The old city Banagher grew up in was the first of the space colonies that were built, and was at a corner where it was past its durability use. Other than old residents, there were refugees from war, people with unemployment and frustrated activists who were practically useless and had to rely on others. It was a small town where the circumstances were really bad, where the public drainage were often so bad that stench would always come out from it. Both mother and son seemed like they were fleeing from the sights of the world as they moved to his hometown, and it was the best place to live in for someone with no place to go. He also had the money his mother left behind, and he should be able to continue living on. However, there’s no future in that town.

Then, what about here? He intended to continue relying on this father of his who he had never met before and join the bottom rungs of the enterprise, but there wasn’t anything really different, nothing that he hasn’t seen. He didn’t have a goal, had no interests, and just felt ‘disjointed’ as the days pass. Does this mean that he had no future—he continued to be pressured by the swirling thoughts, and just when he quickly moved past the door, he heard a clear and refreshing voice “Are you Banagher Links?”. Banagher stopped.

There was an electric car parked on the road in front of the school gate, and a woman was standing right in front of it. The woman was wearing a fitting coat and tight skirt, and her long hair was tied behind her. She lifted her head and straightened her back, and one could tell from afar that she had a good figure that resembled a secretary of a large company. However, her face that didn’t have any make up made her look younger. Even though one could feel that she would fit into the school with just her appearance, the impression would change when they look into her eyes.

The emotionless blue eyes made it hard to tell whether she was focusing on him. The dark blue eyes that would remind one of the deep seas on earth made it look like there were two holes in front of her eyes. Banagher started to have goosebumps and picked Haro up from beside his feet. At this moment, the woman passed through the gate and said “that’s good. I have a question I want to ask you” as she approached. She was wearing a business suit, but Banagher realized that she was wearing sports shoes underneath.

“Can you please tell me what did the person you saved this morning say?”

The woman merely showed a smile, and behind her, two men got off the electric car. Both of them were dressed really casually, but their expressions and looks didn’t look friendly at all. Banagher felt that his hands which were holding onto Haro were sweating and asked back, “Are you the police?” The media didn’t reveal his name, and these people didn’t look like reporters. That robotic smile the woman gave didn’t change as she answered with silence.

Banagher felt that the air around him went cold as his knees were trembling. Something’s not right with these people. They had the same stench as of those frustrated activists in his hometown—those who were already used to violence. He looked away and backed off, “I told all I should say to the police.” He quickly said that and wanted to get back into the school. Immediately, his shoulder was grabbed from behind, and the foot that was about to step out missed the ground.

“Just say the same thing you said to them. We won’t do anything else then.”

The hand that was grabbing onto the shoulder didn’t let go as her blue eyes closed in while she continued on. The force wasn’t great, but his body still couldn’t move. It felt like he would be taken down if he tried to struggle. Banagher just felt that this action was of someone who was extremely skilled and forced out a hoarse voice, “What do you mean by that…” and the woman whispered to him, “You don’t want to be involved in trouble, right?” and exerted even more strength in her grip.

There was a sharp pain in his neck, and he let out a cry before he could endure it. His upper body couldn’t help but twist, and Haro dropped off his numbed fingertips. Banagher couldn’t breathe normally as he moved the only free eye. There weren’t any students nearby, and there weren’t any signs of the old guard beside the gate. These two men were standing behind the woman and creating a blind spot. He wanted to cry out, but his abdomen couldn’t exert force, and he could only let his sights move about before seeing those blue eyes again.

It was killing intent. The term that matched her blue hole-like eyes accompanied this chilling fact as it went down Banagher’s body. Unlike those activists who lost their way, these men were professional. They knew how to wreck a human body, they were soldiers—people who would use violence without hesitation if necessary. Just when he thought about this, he heard the woman say “Where did ‘she’ go?” Banagher inadvertently said out carelessly “‘The snail’…”

“‘The Snail’?” the woman asked back as she exerted even more force. The pain that was added on struck Banagher as he answered, “The, the colony builder!”

“She said that she had someone she wanted to meet and talk with…”

He spoke too much. Just when Banagher felt that despair the moment he let out his voice, the pain suddenly vanished, and his body that regained its freedom took a few steps back. Banagher finally managed to support his knees and turned over to look at the woman who had already turned around. The two men who followed her from behind quickly left the school gate as if they weren’t looking at Banagher at all.

“You can’t possibly get over to the ‘Snail’…! It’s forbidden there. There’s also construction areas all around. You can’t even get over there!”

Banagher held his aching shoulder and shouted out unhappily. The woman stopped, and the beige hair that had a bit of orange was moved by the wind as she used those emotionless blue eyes to stare at Banagher.

“I’ll remember that. Thank you, Banagher-kun.”

It was a tone that was without compassion nor arrogance, which made Banagher feel all the more humiliated. The woman just took the electric car and left with the men. Banagher used his last ounce of courage to run out of the school gate and glared at the electric car that was gradually moving away. The electric car took a turn at the road beside the school and immediately went missing. Obviously, they were headed towards the Industrial area.

That girl was chased by people, and they weren’t the people—but more like guerillas who were like soldiers. “A war will happen.” “There’s still time” to stop it.” voices like this accompanied the weight of the current situation as they echoed in his head. However, Banagher didn’t think of what to do at this moment. He felt even more guilty that he succumbed to violence and let out these words.

Having stayed in the old city that was like a slum, Banagher developed a resistance to violence. He had a belief that if he had to fight or hide, he would be stronger than an ordinary boy. But the fact was that right now, he was no different from a child. He just said everything out just to avoid pain. He knew that this would bring about danger to the girl, but he couldn’t even muster a lie in his mind—no, he was just that spineless.

“I’m really…weak.”

He remembered those jade green eyes that had some anxiety in them. ‘How spineless’. The words echoed in his heart. Banagher gripped his fists hard and couldn’t help but run out.

At this moment, he didn’t even have the rationale mindset to think about his future as his body went hot from the impulse of trying to make up for his own mistake. Banagher and Haro, which caught up, went to the nearest electric car park.

===Part 6===

Having come all the way here, one would really feel that Industrial 7 was really a space colony that was being built.

The block that was completed was only 20km long, and right in front of it was the colony builder unit ‘wheel’, and the inside was 3.2km long and 1.6km wide. The construction area was divided into 4 parts. One of the land cabled structure has 4 territorial blocks that’s being built, and these were lined together without much any bumps. There’re 6 of these land cable structures that surround all 360 degrees on the inside of the wall of the space colony. This scene itself wasn’t just a congruent sight itself, but one would realize that if they peel off this foil of artificial earth, they would just be living in a cylinder. It’s a barren and lonely sight.

For the past 10 years, she had been to many places, including Earth, but she had never seen a space colony that was being built on the inside. As she stood in front of wire mesh that separated her from inside, the girl didn’t look bored as she looked at the large builder unit. The large unit builder was a large metal frame that was about the same as the area block. The lines that run on the rail were moving about, fastening the area block that was under construction, and the fully automatic machines will finish off the area blocks that they were supposed to construct. Simply put, these were extremely large industrial machines, the basis of the land making process.

Based on the information on the mesh wire, a construction would take about a week. The first construction will move onto the second one, and the second one will move onto the third one. It will move all the lines on the area blocks to be completed systematically as it progresses, and it will move back once the fourth construction was complete to the first construction. This was the day when the final construction will be completed, and the other side of the wire mesh look busy. Work vehicles and cars with supervising civil servants would move about to and fro. Once the construction group back off, a new ‘land’ will be completed, so the district office itself would be busy. They had to check the name of the area according to the city’s plan, and also check the electric cables and the underground sewage. There were a whole lot of things they had to do.

The land builder units would back away in all 6 lines and return back to the start. The wheel itself would back away too. In other words, the colony will increase in length by 1.6km. At that time, the colony itself would let a siren and get ready for a slight tremor that would coming with the growth. However, what would be the scene of 6 builder units rolling at the same time when they’re more than 3km long and about the height of 25 levels? Just thinking about it alone made it exciting, but right now, the current situation wouldn’t allow for her to sightsee leisurely. She looked away from the high builder unit and looked at the construction gate that’s between the wire mesh fence.

Though there were guards, the security wasn’t strict. Maybe vehicles could sneak in here. However, there was a problem. She didn’t know what the builder unit looked like, and even if she passed through it, there were still 3 blocks of area blocks that were under construction. She didn’t feel that she could walk 6km into this construction area without being discovered, and especially when there was the commotion this morning, it’s likely that the police may be watching them.

The girl looked up at the artificial sun that was shining through the clouds. She wondered if she could walk over through there. It’s impossible to see from here when the land builder was blocking, but the artificial sun that passes through the space colony would extend out to the airtight wall on the other side where the moon was, and it would form part of the basis of the gantry linking to the colony builder. The gantry would often let out construction materials and dust as cranes would then move these materials to the construction site. Thus, it should be easy to sneak in through the artificial sun.

And since this path is inaccessible, she could only move through the construction area if she wanted to get near the colony builder. The girl again looked at the gate of the construction site. As she noticed the cars and the guards who were busy dealing with them, kyururu…her stomach rumbled.

She immediately looked around. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone nearby. Even if there were though, the sounds of car moving through would overpower it so much that it couldn’t be heard. However, she still felt herself blushing unknowingly. The girl hasn’t ate for more than half a day, and wondered how she was actually able to be hungry at this moment. But on the other hand, she could understand the importance of eating. The girl sighed. She should have taken some dry food when she left the Garancieres, but it’s now too late to regret about this.

She was thirsty too, and in this situation, her concentration will drop. Also, it’ll be easy for someone to spot her when she remain at the same place for a long time. The girl left the scene and head towards the Industrial area in the street construction block. On the way, she went by a large trailer that had lots of mini mobile suits on, which caused her face to be covered with dust that flew off the road. At this moment, she suddenly remembered about that boy she met in the morning, his presence.

The boy who desperately reached his hand out of the mobile suit cockpit to save her life while she was floating in the air seemed to be an ordinary citizen. ''Why was he able to do that? What happened to him after that? I should have at least thanked him…''

===Part 7===

To ease the stress of being hidden in a sealed space, the space colony had routes that were designed to be part of the city’s plan. One of them was the commercial area that was right beside the construction area. The thin and long path had shops littered on both sides of the road, and each of the shops were set up to their ideal image, causing the street to look like those remaining shopping streets in those old cities on Earth. The back of the short roofs had builder units that were like hills, and clouds that covered the airtight wall facing the moon. The area just felt like a rural town.

It was 1pm, and all the eateries were no longer packed with workers. The shopping streets entered a time of relaxation. She snuck in between some old people and some housewives with children and continued walking down the street. There were bakeries, bookstores, customer service shops and eateries. At times, there would be the smell of hot dogs or oily Chinese food coming out from the messy row of streets. Though she could drink from the water cooler in the park when she’s thirsty, her empty stomach couldn’t be filled, and if she let her guard down, it would rumble again, which would make it embarrassing.

However, she was more worried about the housewives who were walking by and glancing at her. She had firm belief that she wasn’t caught on camera by the port’s surveillance camera, so nobody would suspect that she was the one involved in the incident this morning. Or maybe her clothing was rather strange for the people here? She checked on the internet for the latest fashion trend before she left for Palau and tried her best not to choose the most outstanding on. As she looked at herself through a glass window on a cupboard in a shop, the girl wondered whether it was because she buttoned up her collar. However, she didn’t want to opened her collar so randomly, so she started working again.

She made preparations before, but there would be lots of trouble when it came to reality. To her, who never carried money or credit cards before, she didn’t know that she couldn’t buy bread without having money as it was not part of her knowledge. Thus, she made the mistake of running out without taking the money. I really don’t understand social rules—the girl thought as she felt even more depressed. She had no experience of going out alone. Speaking of which, she did watch a romantic movie about a princess in a small country who slipped out onto the streets for a day of happiness. It was an old century film. The story was ordinary, but the actress who acted as a princess who did not know anything was really charismatic, and it was a movie she really liked. What was the name of that actress?

Thinking about it hard, the girl suddenly realized that she was seriously thinking of the actress’ name. She abandoned the useless dream behind her. The princess in the movie was just leaving a boring duty, but she had something she had to do. Ever since they knew that she was opposed to this deal, Zinnerman didn’t reveal anything more about this deal to her. Thus, she wasn’t certain when the interaction with Vist Foundation would be held, and where. However, some of the other crew members said that it would begin at evening, and it’ll be too slow for her if she continued to laze around. Palau should have found out that she was missing. She had to be faster—the girl left the shopping street, entered a complicated alley, and found a van parked in a dead end.

She looked at the van that was filled with metal filings, and thought that it would be impossible to get on. She then looked over at the driver’s seat. She didn’t want to use this method, but would it be possible to talk to the driver and let him help transport her into the construction area? She could say that she wanted to get closer to see the colony being built. If she’s successful, she could even get inside the area builder. If she could get in and understand the rough situation…

Suddenly, she felt a stare from behind. It’s like someone who had been prone suddenly lifting its face, a stare that was full of intent. Her body unknowingly tensed up, but she didn’t make the mistake of turning around carefully. The girl quickly turned around a corner, but there was a man who blocked his way on the alley, causing her to stop.

The man was dressed in a short coat, and his cap was kept low. The girl recognized his face. He was a member of the Garencieres. The girl intended to leave the alley before the man walked over, but two people were standing at the exit of the alley, blocking her escape.

The exhaust fan from the restaurant pumped out greasy smoke, and the alley only had dirty trash bins fallen about as there was no one else around. Knowing that she had nowhere to go, the girl hid her uneasy feeling as she faced the two people who blocked her getaway. She didn’t think of why she was discovered. She knew that the crew of the Garancieres could do this.

And if Marida joined in the search—the girl pulled about 3m away as she stared at Marida. Marida was wearing an office suit as a disguise, yet it couldn’t hide her ominous presence. The girl knew that she would be immediately caught at such a distance, and used her eyes to tell her not to be rude. Marida’s expression showed a shift, and one could tell that she was wavering,

“Let’s head back, princess.”

Heading that little wavering in her, Marida said, “The captain’s worried about you.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Please consider your position. If you’re discovered by the Federation at such a place, who knows what would happen…”

She stepped forward while wearing the sports shoes. Even if the disguise wasn’t perfect, it’s really Marida’s style not to wear high heels. “It’s because I thought of this that I did it.” The girl used a tone that fit her ‘position’ and prevented Marida from moving forward.

“Right now, we can’t use the ‘Laplace Box’. No matter what kind of thing it is, Full Frontal will only use it as a tool and start a meaningless conflict. You should know that, right?”

“I don’t understand. I just listen to orders.”

“You’re lying. You’re just escaping. The ‘power’ that was given to you normally wouldn’t be used in such a place.”

The girl didn’t just say this randomly. Marida, who would blindly listen to Zinnerman’s orders and never faced her own life—showed wavering in her blue eyes again and looked away from the girl, but the ominous presence on her body didn’t subside. Marida recollected her expressionless look as she looked over, “Princess…pardon me for my rudeness.”

With such a signal, the crew member standing behind put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. He did control his strength, the skilled move wasn’t something that could be shaken off whenever anyone wanted to. The girl saw Marida and the other crew member close in and shouted, “How rude! Let go of me!” as she continued to struggle. At this moment, a loud alarm suddenly rang throughout the entire alley.

The sound was so loud that it probably didn’t just ring through the alley, but also possibly through the road. Even Marida was stunned as she looked around. The girl saw the crew member beside her reach for a gun in his chest, and the force on her shoulder was weakened. She used this chance to struggle hard and escaped from his grasped.

The girl dodged past the hand Marida reached out for the first time and went around the corner. Amidst the siren, she could hear Marida call out “Princess…!”. However, the girl continued to run. She turned around several corners, went through a narrow alley, and was aiming for a main street with people on. However, the girl soon lost her way, and as she looked around at a crossroad, someone suddenly grabbed her on the wrist from beside her.

The soft hand was different from Marida and the rest. The familiar feeling appeared through the girl’s mind as she even forgot to struggle and looked at the owner of the hand. That was the face of the person who saved her from impasse.

The head that was full of sweat and the dark brown eyes were staring at the girl’s eyes. Why…? The girl thought, and then heard the boy’s shout, “Over here!” The girl was pulled away by the hand. She ran from behind, and the ball-shaped robot beside the foot started to roll. The noisy alarm suddenly stopped. It seemed that this mascot-like robot was the one that made the sound.

The boy pulled the girl along in this narrow alley and continued to run through complicated alleys without hesitation. The girl was certain that he was that boy through the robot and the deep blue jacket in front of him, and continued to follow him and run. It may be careless for her to follow a stranger, but right now, she couldn’t allow herself to be caught by Marida. The boy who seems familiar with this place is leading, so let’s have him lead. The girl continued to run between the gaps of the packed houses.

Also, the hands of this boy were easing themselves to prevent hurting her and yet grabbing tightly so and not letting go. She was helped by a lot of hands before, but the girl never grabbed such a hand that grabbed onto hers firmly and without hesitation. It was unexpectedly soft too; it had the weakness of age as it was tightly sticking to her skin.

''I was saved by these hands twice. Who is this boy?'' At this moment, the girl forgot that she was being pursued and seriously looked at the back of the boy.

===Part 8===

The self-defense alarm system inside Haro actually worked in such an unexpected manner. While sweating and holding onto the girl’s hand, Banagher moved through the alleys of the shopping area.

Banagher didn’t come to the construction site only one or twice, so he had roughly remembered the entire place. He just needed to head over to the distribution center to compare the vehicle license plate that terrifying woman and the rest used and confirm their location. It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to take the initiative. Banagher intended to use the complicated alleys to shake off their pursuers, that is, if they weren’t caught in the process.

He first heard the breath of the girl behind her. Then, it was Haro, who was bouncing like a ball as its body was of strengthened plastic with an enhanced layer of rubber. Haro used the spring inside its frame to jump, and as the center maintains the movement, it couldn’t turn right immediately. After turning around a few times, Banagher picked up Haro, put it in a gap that’s 50cm wide between two houses, and used his expression to call the girl over. He thought that she would hesitate for a while, but the girl actually followed Banagher and entered the gap.

The gap was so small that he had to tilt himself sideways just to walk through. After walking through it, they used the piled up garbage for footing to climb up the walls. Then, they continued to move down through a corridor in the air near the roofs. A granny who was watching television inside a window turned around in surprise. A stray cat was scared away by this sudden intruder, and someone angrily shouted, “WHO’S THAT BRAT!” While stepping on the cheap plastic roofs, Banagher continued leap off them, and the girl nimbly followed him as her purple shawl fluttered with the wind.

After moving for about 20m, the rows of roofs vanished, and a large space appeared in front of them. They arrived at the boundary of the commercial area and the industrial area. Normally speaking, the area was a road, but the houses here were built towards the wired fence. This was a screen that couldn’t be seen unless one deliberately look from the ‘wide space’ where there’s deliberately no set up. Banagher checked that he reached the end of the cable like as planned, looked at the colony builder units that’s several hundred meters in front of him, and again turned to look at the landscape from a height of about 3 levels.

There’s a small pile of dirt beside the fence, and there’s no construction worker. Thinking about this, Banagher thought that this would be faster than climbing down the fence and turned to look at the girl. But before he could ask whether they should jump, the girl’s determined look was facing him as she jumped onto the pile of dirt. I lost to her…Banagher thought and carried Haro before jumping.

Banagher’s feet landed into the soft dirt and beside the girl. He climbed out from the pile of dirt that was at his chest level, spit out the dirt that entered his mouth, and saw that the girl who had already climbed out from here and slid down. They ran for a long distance, and those who don’t know the landscape wouldn’t know such a path. Banagher wanted to take a short breath and called the girl “Oi…”, but the girl stared sharply back and him and shouted, “HURRY UP!”

“MARIDA WILL CATCH UP TO US LIKE THIS!”

The girl’s jade-green eyes showed anxiety. It was really the expression of that girl. “Marida, as in that scary big sister?” The girl angrily growled back without answering Banagher’s question, “Hurry up!” and started to run off. Banagher climbed out from the pile of dirt and hurriedly followed behind.

He grabbed the hand of the girl who was intending to run to the outside of the builder area, said “Over here” and was about to pull her back, but immediately felt the girl gasp. He looked over at where she was looking at, and found that it was the woman who went through the residential area and was standing on the layers of overlapping roofs. The pretty-looking woman called Marida was looking over. Her blue eyes narrowed to a fine line. The next moment, the feet with sports shoes on them stamped onto the ground, and the hair that was tied into a ponytail fluttered. The body easily leaped past the metal wire and the pile of dirt as she landed on the ground.

She was as nimble as a cat. “No way…” Banagher couldn’t believe it, and the girl grabbed his hand, shouting, “HURRY UP AND RUN!” Banagher pulled her hand and ran towards the builder unit. The pyramid-like large monorail track and the structure was like a hill. On seeing this structure that was so large that it occupied their line of sight, they ran to a workyard with construction materials and mini mobile suits.

“What should we do?”

“YOU WANT TO GET OVER TO THE ‘SNAIL’, RIGHT?”

Banagher roared as he answered the girl and saw the crowd that was scattering in front of the builder unit like ants. It’s about time for the colony to expand and the creation of new land. They were already moving through the workers that were moving back, and one of them who looked like the worker head shouted, “Oi! Who are you!” Banagher went by the man and got near to a slope near the monomial stop. Looking back, he saw Marida easily pushing aside the workers who were coming over, and they were less than 20m away. Banagher’s idea to stand up and adjust his breathing was gone as he desperately ran up the slope.

The mobile rail of the builder units—the monorail was located at a place 1.5 times the height of the units away, but 170m high. The construct that looked like a triangle from the front was set in front of both sides of the builder. And at the start, or the end, there’s a builder unit linked to the slope used for transportation. Banagher was climbing up this slope. In other words, if he continued to run up this slope to the top, he would reach the ceiling of the builder unit.

[[Image:KSGU 205.jpg|thumb]]

The ceiling was 25 levels high from the builder, and there’re another few levels to the link point of the monorail. It’s a slope where a cart could move, but it would be really tiring to run up about several hundred meters at one go. He panted quite a few times, but on the way there, his feet started to feel lighter, and it felt like the muscles on his waist seemed to be floating from his bones. That’s because the further he was from the ground—the further off from the inside of the colony made the centrifuge force weaker.

There’s no high-rise buildings inside the space colony, and one could tell that the centrifuge force could only be used for a height of about 5,6 levels. The higher he climbed, the more his body felt the weakening of gravity. Banagher felt that such physics laws was really useful for the first time as his running motion was like long jumping continuously. However, it would be the same for the pursuer ass well. Marida kicked the slope with much more leg power and suddenly accelerated. Her hand reached r the back of the girl, and only missed her shoulder by inches. However, she didn’t mess up her rhythm as she continued to pull her distance close. She was just like a machine that didn’t know fatigue. ''We can’t run away, we’ll be caught in the next second.'' Getting ready for this, Banagher suddenly heard a deep-sounding alarm.

At the same time, the warning lights on both sides of the slope rang, and a slow tremor went through their legs. Banagher used all his strength to move his legs and pulled the girl over at him. Because of the tremor, Marida’s feet became slower, and the link to the slope was being dragged up, turning a straight lane to a 2m tall wall. Banagher shouted: “Jump!” and leaped at the wall that’s rising.

Shaking off the gravity that was less than half of usual, both of them jumped with Haro, and their fingertips reached the edge of the wall. Banagher grabbed the rising wall, and the girl did the same too, but her fingers nearly slipped. Banagher grabbed the girl’s hand and climbed the wall. They didn’t stop rising, but they saw Marida, who couldn’t jump in time, slowly becomg slower.

The builder unit was starting to move. The builder unit that was stuck on the new block of land rose up the monorail by 170m. It moved into the moving circuit before starting to move horizontally. The unit just moved though the builder circuit and retreated back to the airtight wall facing the moon before starting to work from the first construction area.

Banagher checked that the girl and Haro were both fine, and for a short while, didn’t have the strength to move a he looked at the landscape that was getting further and further away. Marida continued to remain on the broken slope as she looked over. There’s no anger or disappointment in her eyes, just eyes that were as empty as a cave.

===Part 9===

All the gates would be closed when they’re moving. Thus, nobody could enter the inside of the builder unit. Both of them dragged their tired legs and continued moving up the remaining part of the slope before reaching the top part of the builder unit. Right in front of their eyes was a hilly region that was composed of metal frames that was tilted towards the inside, creating a gradual gradient of materials that extend far beyond. This size wasn’t to be described with a number of football fields, but one that could accommodate the entire city.

Banagher spread his limbs out wide on the floor of the passage linking both frames. He felt like he was lying on the clouds, most likely because he felt that gravity was weakened. The girl sat beside him, and both of them spent a little time regaining their breaths. The builder unit was already starting to move, and the breeze that gently blew by felt refreshing on the sweaty body.

“We can ride on this to the airtight wall near the moon. We can get close to the ‘Snail’…the hatch of the space colony builder, but I don’t know whether we can get in.”

Having finally adjusted his breathing, Banagher said this, and the girl merely answered softly, “Is that so…” without even looking back. Her voice sounded drastically different like she couldn’t even keep up with the sudden changes around her, and she had already used up all her strength just looking around.

“My name’s Banagher, Banagher Links. What’s yours?”

Banagher sat up, wanting to catch the girl’s attention. The girl let out an “eh?” and exchanged looks with Banagher, but immediately averted her eyes and said softly, “Erm, I’m called Audrey Burne…”

Audrey. Banagher felt that this was a nice name, but he didn’t have the courage to say it out, and looked away unnaturally. Haro instead came in between them and shouted, “Haro Haro” as it fawned around. The girl’s tense expression became relaxed somewhat as she reached her hands out to grab Haro.

The first time he saw her smile, Banagher had a strange feeling that the artificial sun got brighter, and then told her, “It’s Haro.” But Audrey gave him a puzzled look.

“Don’t you know? This is a souvenir robot made by the ace pilot of the war. It’s rather popular when you were young, right?”

“No idea, I’ve been living in the countryside.”

''Which countryside?'' Banagher looked at her face that was becoming more earnest and wanted to ask more, but Audrey’s smile suddenly vanished as she asked, “Why did you save me?” Having been asked this, Banagher was at a loss of words.

“That’s because…I don’t want people to call me spineless.”

''Actually, it’s because I was unhappy that I was threatened by that big sister''…he didn’t want to say this, and he felt that it wasn’t just that too. However, Audrey frowned and looked aside. Right now, her confused mental state was full of doubts. Seeing her without any response at all, Banagher said, “That, that’s what you said!”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I was then caught by the police. And I met that scary big sister when I went back to school…”

“Then, you followed Marida and the others?”

Interrupting the misunderstood explanation, Audrey stared at his eyes and said. Just when Banagher was left speechless by her fast understanding, her clear jade-colored eyes shook, and her expression because gentle after understanding what happened. She suddenly blurted out a ‘sorry’, which stunned Banagher.

“If I told you off for being spineless, I’ll take that back. It seemed that I misunderstood you.”

“Misunderstood?”

“Misunderstood you for being a person trapped in your own little world.”

Such unrestrained words caused Banagher to be stunned. He stared at Audrey’s face, who in turn looked like she didn’t say anything wrong, and again felt unhappy for being hit on the sore point before shouting shrilling, “EVERYONE’S LIKE THAT!”

“Everyone’s been living in such an exaggerated cylinder. Can’t that do?”

“That’s not it. I apologize if my words do sound scathing…because I have never experienced such a life before.”

That somewhat shocked look on her face looked like she had never expected her words to hurt other people, and she looked like a strange creature who lived in a completely different habitat. Banagher asked in disappointment, “Are you some rich princess or something?” Audrey herself smiled as she answered,

“A duckweed floating about. That’s how I was born like.”

Her gaze turned to the builder unit that was moving on the lane beside them and said in a self-mocking manner. Banagher secretly glanced at her somewhat lonely looking face, and felt that she was someone who he could get along with, and said, “Is that so…then I’m the same too.” Audrey didn’t answer as the artificial sun that seemed to have gone brighter shone on the duo’s head.

The builder would spend about 30 minutes to retreat completely from the builder cable that’s more than 6km long and would dock at the airtight wall facing the moon. During this time, both of them cautiously moved through the wide roof and moved to the other side of the builder unit. It was on both sides of the roof, but the distance was about 1.6km. Once they finished walking, the builder unit had finished moving.

They were only moving about 20km per hour on the builder cable, but the wind that blew by was exceptionally strong too. Banagher let Audrey move in front and carried Haro as he followed from behind silently. This is in case Audrey was about to fall off in the wind, but even in low gravity, her body wasn’t blown away by the wind. The cabled rail didn’t let out any sounds of tremor as only the wind surrounded both of them.

“Who were your pursuers?”

After going through half of the roof, Banagher asked. This was the one question that appeared in his heart amongst the pile of questions.

“My allies. I escaped from them.”

The wind blew Audrey’s brown short hair as she casually sad. Banagher remembered what Micott said and tentatively said, “Are you an activist or something?”

“Activist?”

“Those that oppose the Federation or want the independence of spacenoids or something…”

“…Yeah. That’s sort of correct, but it may be scarier than what you think.”

Looking up at the airtight room where blocked her path, Audrey gave a wry smile. It’s unknown whether that expression was either to mock Banagher’s foolishness or herself. Banagher felt that a war that far exceeded his expectations was about to start and swallowed his saliva. He felt that he could be involved in it and lifted his head, and felt that his sweat and body went cold.

He looked up at the artificial sun that was gradually becoming yellow, and then looked at the watch which showed 2.15pm. He skipped all his lessons, and since it’s vocational classes where everyone’s split up, he couldn’t print notes from Takuya. ''What should I do? And I think I have to go to the principal’s office after school''…Most likely, his mind subconsciously forgot about his fear, and right now, he’s thinking about all these things. Banagher looked back and saw a street behind it. That was a familiar street that included Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, and the road just looked like it realy faded.

“You said that there won’t be any war, right?”

He turned to look at the girl’s back in front of him and said cautiously. Audrey immediately stopped.

“You said that you have to meet someone to prevent a war from happening. That’s…”

Suddenly, noise and tremors interrupted Banagher’s words. Banagher was shocked and ran beside Audrey before looking in front.

With the builder unit moving back, the colony started to extend. The ‘Wheel’ that covered the outer wall moved, and ‘Industrial 7’ slowly became longer. Inside it, Banagher and Audrey saw the airtight wall facing the moon backing off as the inner wall that’s sliced into a ring moved.

The cylinder that was 6.4km in diameter rumbled, and the airtight room and the gap between the inner wall of the ring gradually expanded. From between the expanding, through the first construction area that was under way and an area block that was only composed of frames, they could see the insider wall of the ‘Wheel’, and the ‘landscape’ of the colony that wasn’t completed was shown outside. The 6 colony units that were moving back through the cabled rails will enter the gap together to builder the outer wall of the colony, and then continue to move forward. It would continue to build the remaining area blocks in each construction area in order, creating new earth in the colony.

The earth rolled together with the ground, and the builder unit was trapped inside like a hill—this ‘creation of the earth’ seen was already a common sight to Banagher, but the majestic scene of this large movement would make anyone amazed no matter how many times he saw it. Audrey seemed to have the same feeling as she muttered, “Amazing…” she looked completely moved. The glow let out by the jade colored eyes seemed to show an expression a person of her age should have.

“Is this the first time you’re seeing this?”

Audrey nodded as she answered Banagher’s question, but her eyes couldn’t leave the scene in front of her. The clouds that were moving, the airtight wall that was moving further, the base of the artificial sun that got expanded, and the temporary storeroom that was floating beside like a spaceship—

“The world’s gradually becoming bigger…”

Audrey suddenly saud that. Her expression and thoughts weren’t like a girl who’s living in a path of Shura far beyond anyone’s imagination. It was a voice filled with similar thoughts and values. The anxiety and terror immediately disappeared as Banagher smiled. He stood beside Audrey, who wasn’t even aware of herself, and looked in front.

Unlike the faded streets behind, the brightness of the world in front of them obviously increased. Breathing the air of the ‘world’ that was just born, Banagher lifted his head and looked at the airtight wall with a metal bowl-shaped depression. At the base of it, the gate leading to the colony builder—the ‘Snail’ was covered in clouds, and they couldn’t see it.

===Part 10===

The expansion work on the space colony resonated with a side of the colony builder. It was 2.30pm, and the ‘Wheel’ finished moving. The ‘Magallanica’s retractable deck buzzed silently like how it was supposed to. However, this retractable deck of the ‘Magallanica’ could hold a battleship. As according to the nickname ‘Snail’, there’s a snail shell riding on its back. It’s more than 300m in diameter and 1km deep. This place was linked to the airtight wall facing the moon on Industrial 7, and was also the exit where building materials were moved. In that sense, it’s more accurate to describe it as a small scale port.

In one of the areas, Cardeas Vist was watching the silent buzzing—the packaging of the RX-0 ‘Unicorn’. The white machine had more than ten personnel preparing it, sealing the hatch or sticking warning labels all over it. That’s a common scene when exchanging goods, but the personnel realized that they weren’t doing an orthodox handing-over and kept silent. They weren’t using a normal mobile suit fixation unit but a special containment that’s highly confined, which is another reason why they were silent. The ‘Unicorn’, which was being packaged inside the box with spare parts and equipment, looked like a toy robot in a model shop. Or rather…a top secret machine in a box.

If there’s a need to mention something different, it’s that the manufacturer wouldn’t accept refunds or repairs, which was why they put in a large number of repair parts and waste materials. The limbs were tied together to prevent the person using it from spoiling it immediately. However, Cardeas himself suspected whether this would be effective or not. If the ‘Unicorn’ were to go full power, such a level of restrain could be destroyed. The unique frame, capabilities and limits of this machine wasn’t completely grasped too…

He thought about all these as he lifted his head to watch the beam rifle being dragged by a mini mobile suit. Gael wordlessly floated over to stand beside him. Seeing Gael move so fluidly under zero gravity and land on both feet, Cardeas wordlessly prompted him to state his intent.

“The second lift camera captured this footage just now.”

Gael handed over some photos of a girl’s face that was entering the cargo lift. Cardeas stared at the face that’s slightly above, and gasped.

[[Image:KSGU 217.jpg|thumb]]

“…Why is ‘she’…?”

“Not sure, but she’s coming here. There’s a report that said that there was an intruder that came in through the maintenance path of the artificial sun, but the identity and whereabouts were unknown. Maybe it’s ‘her’.”

She had brown short hair and a taunting expression as it looked like she was deliberately exposing her face and looking up at the camera. If it was a disguise, it would be too brilliantly done. For 10 years, she had never shown a photo of herself. However, 3 years ago, Cardeas saw a photo of hers that the Federation intelligence managed to capture successfully. He could only admit that she was here.

But why was she here? After shuffling through several photos, Cardeas saw the other person who rode the elevator with ‘her’, and couldn’t help but widen his eyes. A shock that was different from seeing ‘her’ face pierced through his heart, and he felt his own hand that’s holding the photo shaking.

“What about this boy?”

“Seemed like her companion. A little too young to be an escort…”

At this moment, Gael stopped, having definitely sensed his shock. Cardeas used his utmost will to control the trembling in his hand and finished looking through the remaining photos.

The dark brown eyes inherited from his mother, and the slightly round face. It couldn’t be a mistake. The ‘tumor’ in his life he kept till now actually appeared at such a moment, and with ‘her’—

“Do we have contact with the ‘Sleeves’?”

Cardeas spent 10 seconds just to let out a voice that didn’t tremble as he asked while ignoring Gael’s concernted look.

“No. But there’s a little commotion in the construction area. There may be a mutiny too.”

“So ‘she’s working on her own too…”

Considering the current situation with the sleeves, this isn’t impossible, but the reason as to why ‘she’ came over wouldn’t be enough to explain why the boy came with ‘her’. His life had no involvement with the ‘Sleeves’ in the first place. What happened? What caused him to come here? Cardeas didn’t want to talk about such ‘private affairs’ to the ‘corporate’ professional Gael as he continued to stare at the people in the photos.

“This may cause an obstruction to the transport of the ‘Box’. Must I send her back?”

Gael said. Cardeas looked at his upright stare, and then lowered his head as he looked back at the photos. At this point, the word dilemma came to his mind.

===Part 11===

Once they took the lift down and went through the defenceless gantry gate, they entered the closest elevator. Another 1,500m down to their destination and it was the residential area of the colony builder.

This was the inner area that was on the inside of the 'Snail'. This residential area that had only half the diameter of the space colony had only half the gravity. Banagher and Audrey floated out from the elevator and entered the plains with very little gravity. The outside was a complete green, and there weren't any people around, and neither were there the sounds of vehicle or mini mobile suits moving. The relaxed voices of the birds was the only thing accompanying the air. This shrill and peaceful silence that would hurt the ears made it feel like a completely different world from the noisy industrial space colony.

Under the flat artificial sun that was illuminating the ceiling, the green pasture looked like it filled the entire inner wall. To the people who would only think that there was only the sight of industrial resource facilities and worker dormitories, this scene would be too unexpected. As the gravity was weaker, the grasses and trees were taller than those in the space colonies, but looked like they were properly trimmed, which made them look odd. This place had tectonic plates that were of an even smaller scale, and if one didn't look around, it would appear to be flat ground. This place also had a luxurious looking villa, and the fountain in the garden was still flowing with water. One would feel that the name 'colony builder' was a lie as what anyone would see was similar to a garden commonly seen in old-century houses of the nobility and the fabled tycoon's private land.

“Just like what Micott said...”

The structure of the Vist Foundation villa itself was moved directly from Earth. Banagher stared at the villa in an engrossed manner that could only be described as 'luxurious'. This should be called a Tudor dynasty mansion, a stone structure that almost couldn't be seen at all in the space colonies. It was 100m wide and the corridor at the front had become all grey because of the erosion. The overwhelming feeling of a fortress would make any viewer feel fear. The wide blue sky and the clouds as a backdrop made it no different from Earth.

[[Image:KSGU 221.jpg|thumb]]

What should be an old-styled donut-shaped space colony was shown in the sky. The axis seemed to be like Industrial 7 itself, and the afternoon lighted the mansion tiredly. Banagher hid behind the shrub and looked at the situation at the villa. However, he was stunned by Audrey, who stood up out of a sudden. Even though they were able to walk in unguarded up till now, there wasn't any guarantee that they could pass through safely.

“Are you going?” On hearing these words, Audrey stopped and turned around with a look that seemed to say “What are you doing here?”

“I can go alone. You can head back.”

At this moment, she gave a tone that seemed to emphasize the end of the line. “Bu...” Banagher's voice was filled with doubt, and Audrey turned around.

“They found out that I'm here. They're ready to invite me in.”

“Do the Vist Foundation know you?”

Her eyebrows twitched, showing that she was wavering somewhat “So you really needed to meet someone of the Foundation...” without waiting for him to finish, Audrey turned around and walked off. Banagher snorted and moved off in larger strides than Audrey.

“Banagher-san...”

“There may be a terrifying big sister out there waiting for me. It's safer for me to go ahead.”

How could he turn around at this now that he came all the way here? “Also, call me Banagher.” After he said that, Banagher carried Haro, who couldn't move really well on the grass, and asked: “Right?” Haro energetically answered back “Haro!” as the voice echoed in his chest.

Banagher took this as a yes and started to walk to the villa. Forget about being served. If we're going to be captured, there's no need to lead us all the way here. He was thinking that since there was no danger, he might as well come to the inside of the 'Snail' since it was a rare chance itself. The colony builder was a mothership that was meant to develop the Jupiter Celestial area. Since he was a technical student who volunteered to go to Jupiter, he was interested in this technology.

In fact, through this viewpoint, moving the green pastures of the Earth to this residential areas was meaningful. To extract the radioactive fuel Helium-3, there was regular transport to Jupiter. However, the total journey of 1.6 billion km would take several years, and it's said that it's not uncommon to see cases where the crew members collapse mentally. Even the Earth would bd buried amidst the deep outer space with countless stars in them—maybe it's because the colony builder was supposed to head to a place that's too far for the human soul to work at alone that such a haven was needed. More than half the human population were in space colonies, and became space residents that didn't understand real nature. However, it need not be just a visual thing, as a 'nature' that could be touched, stepped on and snigged at could save the human soul.

“If we can't leave the ground, what Newtypes can we even talk about...”

She unwittingly muttered that. While Banagher answered back “Eh?”, Audrey gave a vague smile and moved her feet that stopped before. He didn't even know why he felt this way. He didn't have any interest in Zeon Deikun's Newtype theory. Was it because he just heard of the history lesson before?

After a short walk, the grassland that was as high as the knees became a flat green. They were already close enough to see the fine details of the villa. It seemed that there wasn't anyone around, and there wasn't any perimeter wall or gate surrounding the house. Maybe this entire land was private property, and that they entered the garden already.

In that case, they didn't need to think about intruding illegally. Banagher climbed up the stairs leading to the atrium and faced the two large doors. The doors were made of wood, and they were decorated with metal rings and lion heads. Banagher and Audrey nodded at each other and used the metal ring to knock on the door like how it was done in movies. They didn't know whether this could be used as a doorbell, but the sound of the metal knocking was deeper than what they imagined it to be as it seemed to ring through the entire silent area of the residential area. After seeing that the door didn't show any signs of opening, Banagher shrugged his shoulders, and Audrey went forward to grab the door handle. The unlocked door let out a creaking sound as it opened.

The ceiling that was at the second storey had a posh-looking chandelier on it. There was a wide set of stairs linking to the second level, and once they went up, it was a corridor in mid-air that felt like a deck was being repaired. The corridor looked like those in the movies when a posh-looking woman would be dressed up nicely and smiling as she invite them in. there was complete silence inside the dim place, and there wasn't any presence of any butlers coming out to serve them. There wasn't anyone else who questioned the duo who trespassed randomly other than the stares from the paintings on the wall, and the empty domestic presence surrounded Banagher.

It wasn't the emptiness of a house full of charms or the loneliness of an abandoned house. The number of furniture and house decorations made it feel like people once lived in here. However, the cold air didn't have any tinge of warmth too—feeling that his body was trembling, Banagher shouted: “Anybody home?” and didn't get any answer. He exchanged glances with Audrey and walked deeper into the first level.

It seemed that there was some regular maintenance as there wasn't any odour in the empty rooms or corridors. The sofas in the living room were covered with dustproof-cloth, and the glass windows with curtains drawn were wiped clean too. Unwilling to open the windows on his own, Banagher looked through the gap that showed a ray light looked around, and walked towards the balcony where he could look down into the atrium. The atrium was a Colosseum that was surrounded on all sides by the building itself, and amidst the different sizes, there were many sculptures beside the restroom area at the middle.

Each of these were things that Banagher saw in arts textbooks, so these shouldn't be the real thing themselves, but delicately crated duplicates. The sculptures remained inside the empty garden, and there was an empty and chilly sense of presence, making one feel that they may be moving before he was here.

A bird flew by and stopped on the face of a man's status that was deep in thought before flying off again. Banagher looked at the statue and felt that the statue was looking back at him. He swallowed his saliva, took a few steps back from the balcony and recollected his thoughts, saying 'there doesn't seem to be anyone around' and went back to the corridor.

“There should be a command area somewhere. Once there...”

Speaking halfway through, he stopped as Audrey wasn't aroudn. Haro was rolling around on the floor. He looked around and couldn't find anyone. He franticallywalked to the neighboring block, and found that there was a door opened downstairs. Banagher hurriedly ran to the exit, saw Audrey standing in the dim room and heaved a sigh of relief.

The side of her face was lit by the light that shone in through the curtains of the windows as she looked up at the wall. Banagher was about to say 'don't scare me like that', but he was stunned when he entered the room.

The ceiling was abnormally high, and on the wall of this room that was the largest he ever saw, there were six really large paintings on it. They were arranged together without leaving any space, and it seemed that the paintings themselves were the wall. No, those were paintings. They look like they were woven onto a piece of cloth. A large embroidery...it's called a tapestry, correct?

The six tapestries were all of different sizes, but the smallest one was 3m wide, and the height was about 5m. They should be related works as the base colors and structures of all these works were the same. They had a woman standing at the middle of a garden with flowers and animals woven in them. The imaginary world the woman was in would remind one of a small outer space. There were two beasts on both sides, and the completely different parties created 6 scenes. Amongst the two beasts, one of them was a lion, and the other one was one with the body of a horse and a long thin horn on its head—

“Unicorn...”

Audrey muttered to herself. Banagher heard his heart pulsate for a moment.

The memory of the white mobile suit he saw this morning in the subway train awoke in him, and the blood that moved inside his body started to rumble. He didn't know the reason, and he didn't have the strength to even think about it. The woman who was taking fruits from the tray the maidservant was holding; the woman playing the harp at the table; the woman making a crown of flowers...Banagher felt that something inside his mind was rumbling and about to break out from his skill as his eyes were enchanted by the tapestry.

The woman who let the unicorn rest on her knees and looked at the mirror; the woman holding a flag with a moon on it; and last of all, a woman standing in front of a small tent, putting her jewellery into a box a maidservant's holding. The unicorn and the lion were on both sides of the tent, and the woman who looked like she was putting her jewellery away was entering a tent. The tent had the words 'A Mon de Désir' written on it, and this was an ancient language that would only be understoof by only a few researchers. The meaning was...

“...My only wish.”

He subconsciously said it out, and immediately felt a chill. I couldn't possibly read it. I couldn't possibly understand it. Banagher shook off Audrey's anxious expression and asked, “Is this a famous painting?”

“I don't know...but since it was Vist Foundation who shifted this piece of art over to outer space, I think it's something valuable.”

Audrey frowned in surprise as she noted. I know, Banagher told himself this in his mind. It doesn't matter whether it was famous or not. I know this piece of art, and it's not that I saw this before on TV or textbooks. No, I never even touched it before. A long time ago, I couldn't even get to the bottom of this tapestry. Someone carried me up and told me the meaning. At that time, that room also had the sound of a piano playing—

He slowly turned around. The piano that was beside the window as basked under the sunlight that came in. Banagher walked over to it and touched the piano that was covered in cloth.

“Seems like nobody's staying here. I'll go find the control room. You...”

“I remember.”

Muttering unknowingly, Banagher turned to look at Audrey: “I remember. I saw these before.”

“These tapestries?”

Looking at the tapestries that were hung on the wall, Audrey gave a look of disbelief back at him. Banagher was forced to move by this irritation he couldn't explain and said: “No, it's not like this...” At this moment, a third person's voice could be heard: “Do you like it?” causing him to gasp.

He looked around. A man was standing at the door. He looked at Audrey, who was frozen, and again looked back at Banagher. The man slowly entered the oroom. The somewhat dim light lit his silver hair and sharp eyes, and Banagher felt that the pressure in this room got even more intense. He subconsciously took two steps back, knocked into the piano, and the photo frame on the piano dropped down.

He instinctively turned back to look, and saw the face of a ten-year-old, slightly plump and giving a poker face. The boy seemed to have a man and a woman on both sides, most probably his parents. The woman, who seemed to be the mother, had her hand on the boy's shoulders as she smiled. The energetic man standing on the other side was also like the boy, showing a poker face. Looking at the man's face as he had that Chinese-styled collared shirt on, Banagher again turned around to stared at those sharp eyes in the dim place.

His cheeks were slightly skinner, and his hair had faded in color, but the man in front of him was completely identical to the man in the photo. Most likely, he's the owner of this villa. The stakeholder of Anaheim Electronics, and the one rumored to be the actual owner of the 'Snail', the leader of Vist Foundation—

“The Lady and the Unicorn”, author unknown. Most people thought that it was a tapestry made during the Middle Ages in France. This wasn't a copy. It's said that the ex-leader spent a lot of effort trying to get it during the One Year War.”

As he casually looked at the two intruders, the man—Cardeas Vist continued to talk. “The New Moon's Flag this woman's holding was the crest of someone who represented an advisor to the French King in the past, Vist Foundation, my family. Most likely, an ancestor requested someone to make it, and it ended up in his hands.”

The voice sounded steady, but had impeccable strength in it. Banagher put the photo frame that fell down back to its position and looked at the faces of the people in the family.

There was Cardeas, who was about 20 years younger than before, a woman who seemed to be his wife, and the boy. These were all faces he could no recognize, faces of strangers. After seeing that, the sense of 'recognition' became ambiguous, and the tapestry and the piano suddenly became unknown foreign things.

“Right now, the common idea was that this series of tapestries represented the 5 senses of humanity. The woman holding the fruit represented taste; the woman holding the harp represented hearing; the woman creating the crown of flowers represented smell; the woman holding the mirror represented sigh; and the woman touching the horn of the unicorn represented touch...” Explaining in order, Cardeas looked at the last picture, and his eyes narrowed. “And the last one was called the 'tent' As for what this meant, there wasn't any decisive conclusion to this. The woman takes off the bracelet she was wearing and puts it into the box in the maidservant's hands. There was a tent behind it with the words 'My one desire' on it.the unicorn and the lion are leading her in. what does that tent mean? What does the 'box' represent?”

[[Image:KSGU 230.jpg|thumb]]

Audrey's eyes widened, and Banagher could feel her tension. Cardeas turned to look at her.

“Some said that the tent had her husband in it, and some said that the tent led to a mental world where one gives up everything. Right now, the commonly accepted explanation would be the latter. While giving up the bracelet, the lady wanted to give up the delight her five senses brought, and the desire that they bring before releasing herself to a zone only the sixth sense could feel...the free will ancient scholars talked about was 'release'. In other words, the 'my own desire' was a realm of realization, and the tent was a symbolization of it. The bracelet represented personal desire, and the 'box' was a symbol of an earthly seal. Of it could also be interpreted that as the 'box' was opened, the lady was able to give up on her personal desire and face the next world.”

“This unicorn's existence is also symbolic. This is a legendary beast that had many meanings to it, but our family interpret it as the beast of possibilities. It was a beast that was born out of everyone's belief and love. Humans use this possibility of existence to raise this beast, causing a situation where it didn't matter whether it existed or not...like what Riike's poem said. On one hand, it could be interpreted as the sign of the Virgin, but we shall use it as a more ordinary term. We symbolize it as the power of belief...the symbol of hope.”

Once Cardeas finished, Banagher saw that there was a crest sewn on his chest pocket, one that looked like a unicorn. Just when he was about to ask whether it was the crest of the Vist Foundation or something, Cardeas looked at Audrey and said: “Pardon me for my late introductions.”

“I'm the owner of this house. My name is Cardeas Vist.”

Though Audrey looked rather mild at the moment, her expression wasn't showing any smile at all. She inadvertently looked away and started to stammer. “I...” But she clenched her fists tight and again faced Cardeas' tall body.

“Sorry to intrude on you. I'm...”

Cardeas raised his hand gently to prevent her from continuing. “I know you. Please don't declare your name first.”

“But...”

“You don't want to get this boy involved, right?”

Saying till here, Cardeas looked over at Banagher, but as their eyes met, his eyes looked back at Audrey.

“If there's anything important, please hold on for a while. However, if you're the sort of person I think you are, I hope that you understand that we're meeting under dangerous circumstances. Your presence here would make your comrades feel betrayed.”

“Zinnerman's a cautious man, so he won't create any unnecessary trouble...”

“Unnecessary? Is the need to ensure your safety unnecessary?”

The fists that were tightly clenched trembled slightly as Audrey went silent. Unable to understand what they were saying, Banagher could only stare at them in a flabbergasted manner, and his eyes met Cardeas, who suddenly looked over at him.

“You risked yourself too much. She'll be under our protection. Head back then.”

No matter whether it was some bigshot in the monetary world or not, one shouldn't be giving such a condescending look at someone they just met for the first time. Banager stepped forward, but got taken aback by Cardeas' sharp expression as he continued to remain there. Cardeas' entire body gave a heavy presence as he closed the distance between himself and Banagher.

Cardeas' eyes scanned Banagher from head to toe and stopped at the haro at his feet. “Such an old toy.” There was a mysterious crying-like tone in the voice. On hearing these unexpected words, Banagher looked straight at Cardeas' cold expression.

“Do you know why she's being pursued, and what kind of people were pursuing her?”

“Well...I don't know, but they're really scary people.”

“Scary?”

“I just had this feeling.”

Gripping his trembling fingers hard, Banagher answered without wavering, and Cardeas' eyes suddenly became kiner: “Saying such things that a Newtype would say...” The somewhat wry voice entered Banagher's ears. Of course, one didn't need to look at the expression to see that he was laughing at Banagher for arrogantly saying that in a childish manner.”

“I was born in a place where such people kept going in and out, so I could tell.”

That was the last straw. Banagher was already expecting to be laughed at, but the wryness in Cardeas' eyes vanished. “...I see. So you say that you can recognize people?” Banagher could tell that this voice again sounded like crying.

“Then, let's not waste what you know. Head back. If you continue to stay here, your future will be wrecked. This is not what the person who sent you to Anaheim Electronics wanted.”

The unexpected words caused him to be shocked. Was his cover blown? No, Banagher suddenly thought. This Cardeas may be a friend of his father who he never met and requested him to transfer into the College.

From the few words his mother spoke and the history up till now, he knew that his father should be someone of status. Though it was a vague memory, the feel of the room and the tapestries didn't seem to be just a false impression...so strong that if he never saw the family photo, he would have thought that this was his family.

“You...knew?”

Immediately afterwards, Banagher forgot about all of these and started asking. Cardeas moved his eyes away slightly.

“I'm the chairman after all, and I can check any student's particulars and expel them accordingly.”

The last words went through Banagher with a straight gaze. Since he was being watched the moment he and Audrey, who was being 'hosted', entered the 'Snail', it's easy to investigate their history. The cold reality of understanding this caused Banagher to lower his head dejectedly. The passion shown just now cooled off as he felt his knees lose strength.

“I'll give recognition to a young man's impulse. It's alright to believe in instincts. However, if your knowledge and ability isn't enough, your response would be the wrong one. Go back. Don't get involved in this.”

After this one-sided aggression, Cardeas left Banagher. Banagher couldn't say anything, didn't even have the strength to stare at his back, and lowered his head. He succumbed again. This time, he succumbed under the violence called authority, and was about to collapse again. But even though he had this feeling, his wilted nerves didn't feel like getting back up in a motivated manner. Banagher turned to look at Audrey.

Audrey looked back at him too. After their eyes met, she immediately looked away, which made Banagher feel despair as he already knew what Audrey was about to say next.

“That's enough, Banagher. Go back.”

Her eyes were looking at him again, and the words were what he imagined it to be as they pierced through his heart. “But...!” Banagher's tone was full of panic.

“It's enough that you brought me here. I'll handle the rest.”

After giving a stiff smile, Audrey looked over at Cardeas. On seeing those eyes that were filled with intense will, Cardeas wordlessly walked away. Banagher felt that Audrey was about to follow Cardeas, and before he could think, his feet stepped on the floor first.

Though his posture was tilting somewhat because of the lower gravity, Banagher blocked Audrey as she was about to walk to the door. “Audrey.” Banagher called her name, and her jade-green eyes were looking back at him.

“Before I met you this morning, I saw a white mobile suit in the subway train.”

After blinking a bit, Audrey lifted her head slightly. Banagher ignored Cardeas, who was eavesdropping on them, and continued to look at her face.

“After that, I wanted to go to work, but ther was no work for the day. I went to the cafeteria with Takuya, and saw you floating near the sun. I don't know much after that, but I was really excited. It's like another world appeared right in front of me, or that something I couldn't see in the past appeared right in front of me...this was the first time I felt that. It's like I felt my comfort zone for the first time.”

Banagher himself knew how foolish these words were, but his mouth just couldn't stop. On hearing that Audrey was looking a little moody and becoming more so, Baangher himself continued.

“I don't care who you are. Just say that you need me, say that it's better for me to be here. Then I...”

“No.”

Audrey answered before he could finish. Shocked by the stiff expression and the impact of the voice, Banagher felt his body waver.

“The world you saw today was nothing. It's just a dark and cold world. You shouldn't be here.”

“Audrey...”

“Forget about it. Don't get involved with me. It's better for you.”

This time, it was really a tone to clear the divide. Audrey turned around, and Banagher was rooted there. All around the delicate yet obstinate profile, the dark red base of the tapestries appeared in the dim place.

Perhaps seeing that the little drama between both of them was over, Cardeas nodded his head slightly, and men in suits appeared at the door of the room, ushering Audrey in with a courteous demeanor. Audrey lifted her head and followed them out. Banagher instinctively tried to catch up, but he was stopped by the presence that suddenly appeared behind him. Unknowingly, two men appeared from a room and were standing behind Banagher.

“We'll send you back to you hostel.”

One of the men. The man who would remind one of the ferocity and viciousness of a hunter had the crest of a unicorn on the chest. Knowing that he would be suppressed if he tried to resist, Banagher looked at Cardeas, who turned around and said just when he was about to lead Audrey out of the room: “This would be better.”

“The people chasing her may view you as a target.”

It was logical. Though Banagher himself felt that this was just an excuse, he couldn't say anything. Banagher clenched his fists and lowered his head. The embarrassment and regret left a stinging feeling in his nose, and the unicorn on the tapestries became blurred.

Audrey went through the door of the room without turning back, and Cardeas followed her from behind. As he left, he looked back, and seemed to stop for a moment as he probably looked at Banagher. However, once Banagher lifted his head, the profile vanished, and the light that came in through the door remained in the room, causing Banagher to see remains of the world he lost.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[KSGU:Volume_1_Chapter_1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Gundam Unicorn|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[KSGU:Volume_2_Illustrations|Volume 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-05-02T04:06:22Z

115.77.135.185: /* Part 9 */

==Chapter 1==

===Part 1===

The alarm inside the ship sounded. That wailing sound gave goosebumps but caused the mind to calm down gradually. The girl went near the ship window on the wall.

Looking out from the plastic board window, it was an outer space of vacuum. Right now, neither the Earth nor the moon could be seen as only the starry spots that filled the sky lit up the silent darkness. This ship should be moving forward at a very fast speed, but the stars outside the window weren't moving at all. It was like being locked in a still darkness.

The girl recalled how she would ask the maidservant the reason behind this phenomenon as she didn't understand them. The extremely patient Lamias would give a beaming smile and say: Princess, that's because the stars are too far away, so they didn't discover us moving...

That was the excuse the adults gave, but it wasn't without sincerity. The 17-year-old girl already knew all this. Lamias was a good maidservant, but she was already dead for almost 10 years. The girl's youth was shrouded in mystery, and the certain person who was called a princess remained in her memories—the past she bore had to be erased for a while from now on.

Thus, she didn't need a name right now. She was just a nameless person who was going to where she should be going to, to meet the person she should be meeting as she got herself stowed aboard this ship. That was all.

“Hurry up and scatter the Minovsky Particles. Get to combat levels!”

“One enemy ship. Most like a Clop-class battleship.”

“That's not an ordinary patrol. It had already planned on an ambush in this space area. There will be an enemy mobile suit attacking. Don't let your guard down.”

Through the broadcast inside the ship, the wireless communication started to reach the ears. They had already scattered Minovsky Particles that could disrupt electromagnetic waves and jam electronics like radar, but it was possible to communicate inside the ship. As the deep operating sounds of the machine rang with the people's voices, the girl heard the low grunt of the ship captain, Suberoa Zinnerman and looked out at the darkness outside the window.

Just now, she saw the pink light fly outside the window. It was the glow of the mega-particle cannon. Due to the development of Minovsky Physics, the high energy beam weapons glowed. The Earth Federation was shooting at this ship to capture it. This ship ignored the command to stop and continued to spray Minovsky particles as it accelerated. The next shot wouldn't be a warning shot. The enemy should have realized that a civilian ship couldn't be this fast.

The concentrated mega-particles that came over at lightspeed would immediately pierce through the armor n this ship if it was a direct hit. Even if it only grazed by, the high temperature of the particles that flew by may open a hole on the wall. The girl kicked herself off the wall of this dim cabin and moved her body to the cupboard in the corner of the room. In the cupboard that designated as a storage and fastened due to the zero gravity environment, there was 3 days worth of food and water she smuggled in, and also a spacesuit.

The girl then pulled the things out, and used the inertia to push her body about, using zero gravity to quickly put on the spacesuit. This cabin was hardly used, so it was used as a storeroom to put stuff inside. Once the ship gets damaged, the life support system would be cut off first. In this case, the likely situation of a vacuum occur, or the supplies that was fastened to the wall or the floor would be frozen. The girl didn't want to think of the worst case scenario where she could be sent flying out of the ship and put on the large worker spacesuit helment.

(Enemy ship's shooting high energy. 2 of them, approaching fast.)

(Its a mobile suit.)

(It seemed to have went past the 'Getas'. Estimated time of contact, T-minus 320.)

(We'll be caught up before we enter the dark wasteland space...alright, hurry up and send Marida out. Let her go chase the flies away.)

Though they looked like shipping crew members, the bridge members all had combat experience and sounded very calm. Right now, they would definitely be in spacesuits and moving to the bridge where the red light is flashing. The girl remembered the bridge that was as cramped as the cockpit in a plane, remembered the thoroughly moustached face of Zinnerman as he sat on the captain's seat, and she wondered whether she should tell them that she was here. If a battle began, it would be best for her to be in the safe protected zone. If she was revealed as a stowaway, she would definitely be sent over there. If she died here without being discovered, it would really be a futile death.

No—she couldn't. If they knew that she was on board as a stowaway, Zinnerman may change the projected course and turn back to the 'Palau'. Even if he didn't, she would be locked up and watched tightly. She wouldn't be able to achieve her aim, she wouldn't be able to got out, and she wouldn't be able to meet the person she had to meet. And this outcome would cause the deaths of even more people.

This was the only chance. The girl told this to herself. She knew that this was a reckless act, but there was no other way. This was to prevent Earth from being covered in battle and causing many housands of people to die. She could only do that...

(The ‘Kshatriya’s ready for launch.)

(Target the enemy Mobile Suits. Ignore the mothership. This Garencieres’ speed is enough to shake them off.”

Once Zinnerman said with the deep coarse voice, a clear female voice (understood) could be heard. The girl remembered the face of the solidary woman, Marida Cruz, who should be of the same age as she was, and looked outside the window. The silver form of the field entered her eyes, and the numerous scale powder-like glitter entered her eyes. The shutter suddenly appeared covered the windows as the ship—the ‘Garencieres’ was entering battle mode, and all the windows had the protective shutter on.

The only image screen was on the inside part of the bridge window, and the protective shutter on the inside of the cabins didn’t have such a convenient function. The girl left the wall and hid her body in the gap between the boxes. Under the light of a weak standing lamp, she used the tape amongst her supplies to tie her hands together and gathered her consciousness onto the wireless communicator inside the helmet.

She will die when the time was right anyway. Instead of looking outside to scare herself, she might as well gather as much information as possible to deal with the current situation. She was calmly and clearly telling herself this as she tucked her knees in and hugged herself in the spacesuit.

Suddenly, she felt a chill. It was a chill that the life support of the spacesuit couldn’t adjust, a chill that entered deep inside her heart. As she often got involved with the battlefield when she was young, her body was already numb to the fear of it, and this chill seemed to be the price. The girl let herself be the instrument of silence as she closed her eyes and waited for the chill to fade.

===Part 2===

The transport ship ‘Garencieres’ was 112m in full length, and it was cone-shaped. The maximum capacity it could bear was over 500 ton. The front end had a bridge that was shaped like the front end of a plane. The shape of the ship made it look like the designer factored in air resistance, and one could tell that it could fly in the atmosphere, and could be used as a transport vehicle between space and Earth. It was an old model that was commonly used by all the shipping companies in the past, but was hardly seen today.

As indicated by the word ‘Ribakoona Trading’ on the side, the ‘Garencieres’ was registered as a civilian transport ship, but in reality, that wasn’t the case. Right now, the shutter on the back of the ship was slowly opening, and the sliding suspension of cargo was slowly opening. What opened from the bottom of the cone was a crane that was suspended by the cone—the place that was supposed to be carrying cargo had a human-shaped giant robot fastened there.

It had 4 limbs that were somewhat thick at the end, and the bulge at the front of the waist had a mouth-shaped armor. The head looked like a rooster’s crown and also like something that was poking out, and then there was a one-eyed laser sensor. The almost 20m humanoid frame had 4 wing-like pods that was about as large as the main body on its shoulders. This dark green machine should be called a giant, and the shape was way too mysterious. However, its humanoid appearance was way too defined to be called something else. In this age, amongst mobile suits—human-shaped mobile weapons that had the power of a main weapon, this machine’s profile was somewhat strange. However, its abdomen had a cockpit like many mobile suits, and it was covered in many layers of a ball-shaped cockpit, and the pilot in the spacesuit was already over there operating it.

“Target captured. Abandoning the ‘Geta’. There’s a ‘Jegan’ that’s somewhat fast, possibly a commander type.”

Marida Cruz looked through the full screen that’s displayed on the inside wall of the cockpit, and a small window showed the specs. She said without emotion, (This means it’s not a coincidence that we met?), and Captain Zinnerman responded through the wireless communicator.

(We’ll be entering the dark wasteland space. Hurry up and finish it off before coming back.)

“Understood, master.”

''Don’t call me master.'' Before these usual words came, Marida heard Zinnerman breathe in a more tense manner than before. The reason they would meet the Federation ship here was that it was rare of them to patrol around here. However, it was really abnormal for a trading ship that was on its designated course and even check for inspection. They even sent out specially equipped mobile suits. ''This may be because the Federation Army already knew our side’s true identity and objective and set an ambush in the space field.'' To Zimmerman, he had to deduce who leaked the information and wonder what to do next.

''That’s right, the next step…Master, he didn’t need to bother about this. I exist for this.'' Ignoring all other thoughts, Marida put the hand on both left and right control sticks—the hemisphere Arm Raker that could allow all 5 fingers to be gripped together.

“Marida Cruz, ‘Kshatriya’, launching.”

As the restraints on the machine were released, the abnormally shaped mobile suit—'Kshatriya' slowly descended down the hangar. It wasn't really accurate to call it 'descending' when there's no concept of up or down in outter space, but the machine that was being dangled had this feeling as it was released from the hangar of the ship at the bottom. Marida released the activation control thrusters and moved under the 'Garencieres' until she was more than 100m away from the ship, and stepped on the pedal. The four main thrusters on the pods let out white light at one go. The 'Kshatriya' got away from the inertial motion of the of the 'Garencieres', spun and soon got behind and approached its target.

In the planet-shaped cockpit that was 1.5m in diameter, there was the screen of a full 360 degrees scnery. The intense rays of the stars entered Marida's eyes, and a bystander would feel that it looked like Marida's cockpit was suddenly in the midst of stars, and that she was flying in the stars. However, the image of outer space that was depicted all around wasn't a real scene, but a computer-depicted outer space that used special effects of constellations as locators.

In one area, there were 3 of these targets after the visual was enlarged. Right now, the optical sensor merely managed to capture the distance, so it was a rough CG. But in contrast, the model number of the data RGM-89 was rather clear itself. It was the mainstream mobile suits of the Earth Federation, the 'Jegan'. Amongst the trio, the one leading the attack was a special type that had an S behind, and they continued to abandon the Geta as they scattered and closed in. 'Geta' was the common name for mobile suits' flight packs when they attack from long range, and the use was to act as a flat bed that transport the mobile suits from below and send them into space battle. It could be said to be a miniature boat that replace the mobile suits legs, but Marida didn't know the origin of the name 'Geta'.

The three mobile suits were each wielding the main weapon, the beam rifle as they closed in—Marida sensed that the enemies wanted to surround her from outside beam weaponry range and surround from 3 directions, and made the first judgment that 'the battle was difficult'. It wasn't difficult to take down 3 'Jegar', but missing one would cause the defenses of the 'Garencieres' to be unstable. Marida wasn't being confident or bold as she merely used her head to think of how to handle the situation right now, and let her mobile suit decelerate suddenly.

The 4 pods swung forward, and the main thrusters spurt flames in the opposite direction, causing the Kshatirya's speed to immediately go from meters per second to meter per minute and finally, terminal velocity. As the back bore the sudden force of slowing down, Marida endured the discomfort of the eyeballs feeling like it was going to fly out and the fingers swelling as the blood flowed back, and muttered, 'Funnel'.

The numerous exhaust lights on the inside of the pods shot out as 2 small objects came from each of the 4 pods, 8 of these 2m things altogether. They moved as per normal, and as they stopped around the 'Kshatriya', they activated their thrusters and rushed to their targets like a bullet.

[[Image:KSGU 084.jpg|thumb]]

The sensor cannons were like its name, funnel, as the conical shaped objects gathered together and then dispersed, striking the 'Jegars' that were still outside shooting range. This wasn't automatic control, and neither was it mechanical long-range control. In a battlefield that was full of Minovsky particles, it was impossible to use electromagnetic waves to control it, and it was impossible to use a computer to launch an attack on one spot. This weapon, the funnel, is controlled by the pilot's brainwaves.

The Psycho communicator—commonly know as psycommu, the brainwave guiding system would use the brain signals of the pilot, magnify it and send the instructions to the unit sensor cannons. The brainwaves are also called psycho waves, and it could cause the Minovsky particles to react. Thus, it didn't have the risk of being interfered with like normal electronic waves. As long as the pilot had ability, the funnels could be said to be completely invincible in the current battlefield. As the Minovsky particles would prevent all electronic devices from working, and as it was required to use a large golem like this kind of mobile suit to protect the body and engage in close range combat on the battlefield, the funnels truly became a flight equipment.

Of course, not everyone could use it. Even though it went through many improvements, the psycommu system would still bring a lot of physical and mental stress to the pilot. However, Marida could operate it better than anyone. More accurately, she was 'created' to be able to operate the funnels.

The funnels that split up continued to spin as they attacked the two 'Jegar' behind. Due to the size, the funnels could be easily mistaken for space dust, and even with optical sensors, it would be hard to capture them visually. The funnels shot out the thrusters that were acting as its controls in a short time and gradually bound the 'Jegars' down before shooting out lasers. The Mega-particles energy beams let out pink glows and shot through the Jegars that didn't detect the enemy approaching at all. The psycommu was only equipped with a small rechargeable battery, and so the intensity of the light was really small and didn't have much energy. However, they do have the power to shoot through a mobile suit's armor. The pilots who were suddenly attacked panicked and started shooting beam shots all around messily. However, the funnels continued to destroy the Jegars' machine frames bit by bit. The transfer fluids continued to shoot out from the critical areas like blood, and the Jegars that were smaller than the green Kshatriya were painfully struggling. At this moment, the funnels were like a flock of killer sharks that hunted down a whale as they lunged forward to attack—

1, 2. Without checking for the lights of explosions, Marida sensed that the two Jegars were already blown to bits and concentrated on the remaining special unit. Though the backups were already destroyed, the unit didn't slow down at all as it continued to close it. Marida decided that there was no need to let out new funnels and again pushed the Kshatriya forward.

The psycommu captured the exterior of that specially equipped unit that was more like a human and had added armor and thrusters. Before it entered the Kshatriay's range, the recoilless rocket launcher the Jegar was wielding let out a flash, and a physical bullet that was 380mm in diameter was shot at the Kshatriya. This hi-firepowered shot was about the size of a normal recoilless rifle on a mobile suit, and though it had the disadvantage of being small, the destructive power it had when it attacked would be larger than a beam weapon. Right now, it was in shotgun mode, and as it explode, the hundreds of metallic balls that scatter would attack the Kshatriya. However, Marida expected it beforehand and dodged with the minimal of movements. The pilot of the special equipped mobile suit seemed to have also expected it to be dodged and used the scattered pellets as a smokescreen, shooting the thrusters out and getting above the Kshatriya.

Then, as if to prove the reason why humanoid weapons were so valued, the battle became a typical mobile suit battle that would be commonly seen in this era. The specially equipped Jegar's missile launcher again shot out another shotgun and let out the missiles that were equipped on the shoulders. The Khastriya activated its main thruster to move up and grazed past the missiles that attacked. She then deployed the 4 pods horizontally, spun the mobile suit and changed 90 degrees and moved forward. The Kshatriay saw through the Jegar's trajectory, and the short and fat body slipped into the dark outer space to get the initiative.

Normally, only the exhaust from the thrusters is needed to change directions in the vacuum of outer space. However, mobile suits had another system commonly known as AMBAC. Though there's no gravity in outer space, the mass of objects themselves weren't gone, and a Newton's worth of push would require a Newton's worth of force, and the force required would be equivalent to the force exerted. The principal behind the AMBAC system is that it uses the law of having equal and opposite reactions when there's an action to control the movement of the machine—the means to control any mobile suits' limbs, and using the recoil to change directions. This was the biggest reasons why the mobile suits were the strongest weapons that stood far above the rest in the same era.

The Kshatriya skilfully used its 4 thick and large limbs and 4 pods to manoeuvre as it closed in on the Jegan in a complicated trajectory. The two machines' thrusters were glowing, and these two humanoid robots seemed to be dancing in outer space. The explosions of the bullets flashed on both sides' visuals. As the explosions occurred, Marida immediately closed in on the enemy. The Kshatriya's pods opened out like a blooming flower, and with the petals at the metal, the one eye on the head was shining. Looking from away, it looked like a flower with the humanoid shape as a human. The metallic flower was covered with beams, and it used the explosive impact to release what's the most savage and beautiful flower in outer space.

This scene was depicted on the optical sensor on the Jegan's visor, and both machines were within several meters of each other where they could use the optical sensor to look at each other—in outer space, this would be an extremely close distance. The battlefield that's affected by Minovsky particles had to be done from close range, and thus it was common to see machines go at each other close. And at this moment, there was a need for a primitive showdown, which was why mobile suits were designed as humanoids.

The moment she was about to cross the Jegar, Marida switched from the firearms to the beam saber and aimed the crosshairs at the abdomen of the Jegar. The Ksatriya grabbed the handle of the beam saber, drew it out from the wrist and used the mechanical five fingers to grab it. The particles of light that shot out from the handle that was more than 10m hacked into the Jegar's abdomen.

The Jegar seemed like it wanted to draw the beam saber, but it reacted too slowly. The beam saber that could cut through 30cm thick metal in a second melted through the Jegar's abdomen, and the sound that sounded similar to metal metally struck Marida from through the suit.

(Damn you, 'Sleeves'...!)

At the same time, she heard the voice of the pilot, even though she did not know whether it was wireless interference or a sense other than her hearing. No matter what, things ended here. The beam saber slashed through the armor of the Jegar, going straight through the cockpit, immediately vaporizing the pilot and hacking the entire machine in half. The nuclear reactor inside the Jegar couldn't explode as the machine was hacked in half at the waist and floated away. The burnt remains were still giving off sparks, and the machine body floated beside this enemy called the 'Sleeve' and silently went away.

Marida silently watched the remains of the enemy move away as she kept her beam saber. The wrist of the Kshatriya had a place to keep a beam saber and also had a crest that looked like a wing, something that looked like a sleeved decoration. The mobile suits of the organization Marida belonged to had such a design, which was why the Federation called them 'Sleeves', but that wasn't important to Marida at all.

No, not just the nickname, even the ideal of being an Anti-Earth Federation organization and the content of this mission wasn't important. Humans were animals that would think and had curiosity, but Marida felt that this definition wasn't suited for her.

Just like how a man was a man and a woman was a woman, Marida Cruz was born to be a pilot, and to live as a pilot. To follow her master's orders and destroy the enemy mobile suits. Perhaps the Garencieres should have entered the dark wasteland space region before the mothership chased over. Right now, she had to return back to the ship as soon as possible, do damage inspection on the Kshatriya, readjust and resupply. Once she's done, she would prepare for the next launch and get as much rest as possible. She wouldn't do anything else, and wouldn't think of anything else. Marida didn't feel that she was unnatural like this, and she didn't feel sad about this.

However—once the battle end, as she release her tense state after having concentrated for so long, the empty soul would feel some pain. The emotions she suppressed in the battlefield would awaken, and her mind would complain about the unhappiness. As the fire of the funnels pierced through the machines, it felt that the psycommu installation went in reverse as she felt really complicated, uneasy about the cries of the pilots before they died that entered her mind. When she sliced the special equipped mobile suit, it felt like she personally sliced a pilot to death, and the muscle cringe before he died would cause an uneasiness in both her mind and soul...after recalling the funnels, Marida switched back to full screen view to let the surroundings show the actual outer space.

Marida reached up to take off the helmet of her spacesuit and loosened the hair that was tied behind her head. The waist-length straight hair was scattered aside, and the healthy hair an 18-year-old should have appeared right in front. But Marida's eyes were staring at the entire starry sky that filled her eyes.

If there wasn't any special reasons, the cockpit of the mobile suit wouldn't show the real outer space. It's not just because it was hard to capture, but also the risk that the pilot may panic. The real outer space was so dark, grim and filled with emptiness that look like it would swallow all existence. However, Marida liked it this way.

During the short time before she returned back to the ship, she took off her helmet and relaxed her entire body as she remained in the vacuum of vast emptiness. This would let her feel that the uneasiness inside her would be washed away, and each star would perform a music that she never heard before, bringing her to another place. That's an outer space that didn't have war, didn't have unhappiness, and that people didn't need space suits.

Of course, such a place didn't exist. Outside this cockpit was a space of vacuum that humans couldn't survive in and a reality that had lots of problems—the human social circle called the Earth's boundary. Marida adjusted the main camera of the Kshatriya and looked at Earth that looked only the size of a tennis ball from here.

Like many space migrants, she had never stepped onto Earth once. Marida knew from the black object that was floating in front of the blue body that the target was near. Floating on the Lagrange point between the Earth and the Moon was the rubble of the past war, as numerous destroyed space colonies and spaceships were located at this dark wasteland space.

Humanity created space colony settlements on five Lagrange points known as Sides, and most of humanity had been living in outer space for almost 100 years. The wounds of this grand-scale war was so deep, and the dark wasteland space was one of them. The place people used to call Side 5 was no longer there as what remained was a space graveyard of countless frozen remains—and Marida and the rest's destination, the 'Industrial 7' should be located deep inside this graveyard.

Right now, it was impossible to find it through the large amount of rubble, but she did find the Garencieres who made a move first. Marida again checked to see if there were any pursuers behind her before pushing the Kshatriya on. The nuclear rocket engine sounded through the machine as it jerked, and the force of acceleration remained on her uneasy body. The helmet that was dragged behind hit the screen and let out a light thud.

===Part 3===

Ah, I’m so out of it today-Banagher Links thought that moment he woke up, and then stopped the alarm clock that was set to vibration mode.

As he carried it to sleep, the alarm clock that became rather warm showed 4.20am. After checking the time, he stealthily got off the bed. It was still pitch black outside. Inside the two-man hostel room, the two beds, desks and dressing tables were still covered in darkness. It was so quiet that only the sound of the clock ticking away by seconds, and his roommate Takuya Irei snoring away on the other bed could be heard.

Of course, it’s impossible for a room with 2 stinky guys inside to be clean as there’s things like clothing that were taken off and empty cans. However, there’s still some orderliness in the mess as Banagher grabbed his shirt and jeans, got off the bed without turning on the lights, and tiptoed his way to the bathroom. He quickly finished combing and washing himself, and then looked at the mirror at the sink.

He had dark brown colored eyes and a skin color of an old Middle Eastern Blood. The long hair of his was of the same color as his eyes, and it was rather smooth even if he didn’t take care of him. On seeing that 16-year-old boyish face of his that was so ordinary and nothing special, that disjointed feeling rose up in him. However, this feeling only continued until he put on that only coat he had.

The blue-based fireproof fibers had the logo ‘AE’ sewn on it. It was the jumper of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, and the logo of the main company Anaheim Electronics was sewn on the left side of the chest. This jumper wasn’t really so good looking that it could be worn outside practical lesson, but Banagher modified the extra jumper he bought and used it as plainclothes. The main modification was at the pocket on the collar. The crest of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, AEIC looked like it was removed. Of course, he wasn’t the one who removed it, but that he found a second-hand shop he was familiar with to do the job.

After putting on his clothing to suppress that ‘disjointed’ feeling, what replaced it was the realism of him being part of the large enterprise Anaheim Electronics. After slapping his face to keep himself awake, Banagher left the bathroom, checked that his roommate was still in dreamland, and intended to silently move towards the exit. However, he accidentally kicked into an object the size of a basketball on the floor.

(Hello, Banagher. Hello, Banagher.)

The two circle disks on the ball-shaped body flapped out like ears, and the impact from the kick caused Haro to be activated as it spoke in a monotone voice. Banagher frantically tried to hold down the Haro that was moving on its own and growled softly, “Quiet, Haro!” But it was too late. Takuya, who had the pillow covering his head, sniggled about, and the moment his eyes met Banagher’s, who was about to leave, he got off the quilt and sat up.

“Damn it, Banagher! You don’t care about the agreement that we’re not supposed to run away?”

Takuya roared out. His tea-colored hair was all messy, and he even forgot to wipe away the drool on his head. Though the impression his roommate give was like a big brother who was very affectionate, his popularity would likely decrease when girls see him like this. However, Banagher didn’t have time to think about this and answered back, “Didn’t you adjust the clock faster by 5 minutes, Takuya?” and carried Haro out of the apartment. Banagher put Haro on the door of the hostel and ate the sandwich he bought yesterday. Haro was jumping energetically like a ball out through the automatic door that led to the corridor.

He ran through the school campus that was linked to the hostel, ran through the stairs that linked the school atrium and the road, and arrived at an electronic carpark. The carparks that were managed by the computers automatically send the vehicles over to the locations where the highest frequency of use was. With an ID card, anyone can use it. Banagher bit onto the sandwich and sat inside the open two-seater electronic car, used his ID card to insert into the slot and pressed the start button, grabbed the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

(Very improper, Banagher.)

Perhaps realizing that Banagher was holding the sandwich with one hand and the steering wheel with the engine, Haro’s two optical sensors flickered as it said. Haro, which had a first-level artificial intelligence in its’ ball-shaped body, was supposed to be a toy robot that’s marketed at kids, and would thus say it like this. This shouldn’t be a toy that should belong to a vocational student that’s of the equivalent of high school, but Banagher modified it and carried it around like a pet.

The streets before daylight were rather quiet. Banagher swallowed the sandwich and looked through the windshield glass of this electric and looked up at the sky. Through the clouds that were scattered in the night sky, there were numerous lights flickering through. They look like shines from the stars, but they’re not. Those were the night lights that came from the windows of shops, factories and skyscraper windows that were opened through the night. It’s the city lights that just so happened to be in the opposite direction from here. The carpet of lights that was about 6000m above in the sky covered the entire sky with a gradual arc. On the gap that linked to the skyscrapers, one could see the lights go all the way to the sky right in front. If any residents that were in the opposite direction were to see the sky, the headlamps of this electric car and the surrounding street lights would look like stars too.

The artificial ground that was built within the large cylinder had houses, office buildings, parks and other important things that made up the streets built on it. The internal structure of space colonies were almost all like this. The cylinder that’s 6.4km in diameter would spin in a definite speed, creating a centrifuge force inside the walls, creating 1G’s worth of gravity that’s similar to Earth. The artificial Earth that’s stuck on the inside of the earth, plate areas that’s 3.2km in size and 1.6km deep. Thus, the inside wouldn’t look like it would follow the inside of the ground. At the most, the joints of the plates would look a little slanted.

Day and night inside the space colony was created through the mirrors outside or through the artificial sun at the core, which also had the function of the of adjusting the temperature and creating the four seasons. The time setting was set as Greenwich Time, and the temperature itself was set to the Northern Hemisphere. Unless there’s special uses for sightseeing, this basic setting was used for all the space colonies. Thus, right now, on the 7th of April, 4.330am now, the residential area itself wasn’t too hot or too cold, and most of them were still in middle of night. Also, just like this ‘Industrial 7’, the numerous space colonies were also waiting for spring at night—of course, this include the billions of residents in the space colonies.

And as one of these billion of people, Banagher had been getting up before daylight to get to the dock to work. The work involved clearing ‘rubbish’ outside the space colonies. It was tough getting up early in the morning, but it was all okay since the general education periods could be used for sleep. It was more worth it to work 3 hours before lessons when the morning duty included extra day for night duty, more than working for 5 hours after school.

Takuya worked at the same place, but he got a mini mobile suit that had better work function, and the salary would increase with the work performance. Thus, they would race to see who would get out early. Though there’s a little gentlemanly conduct of not using underhanded means, it was all right if it was everything else, so Banagher and Takuya would think of ways to sneak out. Right now, the winning chances were about 50-50.

However, the two of them weren’t extremely poor students. They were studying in a vocational school where it’s compulsory for them to stay in the hostel, and they got their clothing and food secured. The most they only needed was some spare money. ''This is just a game,'' Banagher thought.

A game to shake my roommate off, getting a high capability mini mobile suit. A game to shake off studies, using work to get rid of boredom. Everyone’s the same too. Enjoying the game of student’s relaxation and not facing that ‘disjuncture’…

(Working all the time. At least study some more.)

It’s unknown how Haro realized this as it spoke these words that struck through him. Feeling that he was read through, Banagher answered back, “This is just outside studying!”

“The vocational students here will become future employees of Anaheim. It’s not a bad thing to test out this mini mobile suit first.”

On one hand, he wondered how he ended up making this kind of excuse, but on the other hand, he could be said to be really satisfied by this. Banagher again felt that ‘disjointed’ feeling. This was a future that he wouldn’t even dare to dream of a year ago, and as he look forward to the 12 years of wonderful future, he felt that he was just drifting with the flow like this, and yet feeling a little cold to himself for walking on the path others set in stone. However, he didn’t have anything else he really wanted to do. He would maintain his grades in the middle high tier, party around with others, and feel extremely out of place. The psychological state behind this trouble started when Banagher was small, and now it became his bad habit.

The electronic head moved through the residential area, entered the industrial area between the light industrial areas. Banagher parked the electric car at the carpark near a convenience store and walked down to the subway like usual. On thinking that he may be caught up by Takuya for being so slack, he kept his stupid bothers behind as his feet naturally quickened through the silent street.

Industrial 7 was one of the industrial space colonies Anaheim Electronics operate. Under the control of the space colonies association, the management of facilities were all controlled by Anaheim Electronics. Amongst the population of 2 million, more than half of them were workers or family members of Anaheim Electronics. Of the remaining, half of them, were of related enterprises or underground companies, and those who were unrelated to Anaheim were mostly civil servants working with government administration, policemen or firemen. They didn’t belong to any Side, and they didn’t have any self-government activity, so the Federation Army didn’t keep their army there. This space colony was basically Anaheim Electronics’ personal island.

After the war, Anaheim Electronics started to recover and absorb, becoming a large corporation called the ‘Spoon of the entire Space Army’. Thus, supermarkets, fast food chains and others in the commercial district would all have the logo of Anaheim Electronics. There would be movies sponsored by Anaheim Electronics, teams sponsored by Anaheim in away baseball games, and residents using AE credit cards to pay. Money would flow within the corporation, forming a structure where the money’s paid out and taken back. However, it was never forced, and done in a way residents would notice at all. This was the reason why Anaheim Electronics could become the largest corporation. Banagher glanced aside at the posters, where 80% of them were related to the corporation, got into the subway, and onto the platform.

The whole of the space colony Industrial 7 was just like a factory. At all times, there would be people working. However, there’s no real switch of shifts like morning peak hours. Thus, on the subway train, there’s only a collapsed drunk middle-aged man who was in his work clothes and a woman who looked like she was working in a night club and whose thick make-up was coming off. She didn’t notice Banagher as she looked emotionlessly outside the window. The expired smell of perfume inside the train would remind one of the smell of a hometown one gave up on. Banagher got onto a double seater and sat down.

The 3 layers of doors closed, and the subway train jerked slightly before moving from the platform to the tunnels leading to the outside of the space colony. It’s called the subway, but the subway in the space colonies weren’t underground, but rail tracks exposed on the outer walls of the space colony. In other words, it’s hanging on the tracks and transported outside the space colony—in outer space.

Soon after leaving the station, the air lock that was located at the ramp was locked from behind. Then, the air lock was opened from the front, and the train entered the outer space that’s full of vacuum. The sound of transport and air disappeared together through the subway, and in this silence that felt like the ears were stuffed, the monorail that went through the air lock slightly glide through the outer wall of the space colony.

As there was no air resistance, only a minimal amount of force would be required to move the subway train under high speed. In a space colony, this is an essential mode of transport efficiency, whether it’s to get to the dock or to take a cable car from the bottom of the ‘hill’, or even to ride the elevator up with an electric car. However, Banagher preferred to look at outer space from the subway train’s window as this place had a sense of release other places couldn’t provide.

There were also people who wouldn’t want to take the ride for fear of motion sickness. To create the centrifuge force of 1G, the space colony had to make one rotation about once every two minutes, and the speed would be a rotation speed of more than 600km per hour. If it were to follow the movement of the rotation, the subway train would find that outer space would continue to move, and to a passenger, it’s like shaking the bottom of a toilet bowl at high speeds. Of course, as it’s merely a really long rotation of more than 20km, it would merely look like the stars are moving. However, if one’s not caring, the mind would continue to feel dizzy after returning back to the space colony, and in worse cases, it would cause a severe psychological problem. That’s called the Coriolis Syndrome, a common environment illness amongst first generation space migrants.

However, to Banagher who was born in outer space and brought up in space colonies, looking out from the subway train to outer space was like looking through at an exhibition, something that’s merely a little different from daily life. Once he exit the space colony, he could clearly see the construction of Industrial 7 under way. Industrial 7 was between the Moon and Earth, a sealed space colony that orbited in L1 through the dark space region. It was shaped like a large oxygen cylinder, and the point that had a dock and a construction area was facing the Earth. On the other side that’s facing the Moon, there’s a population settlement building tool commonly called ‘Wheels’ that was covered up. After construction, it’s said that the cylinder would be 30km long. Right now, 18km was completed. Banagher suddenly remembered that there’s a new plate coming today.

The notice board at the hostel had the poster with the words ‘On 7th April, 1pm, there will be a new extension on a new plate which will cause inconvenience…’ and so on. This mean that there would be new artificial land added. The cylinder of Industrial 7 would be extended by another 6km, and the space colonies were floating amongst the large amount of rubbish in the last war. No matter how much it expanded, the world Banagher live in would be of such a size…

Just when Banagher was suddenly thinking about this as his mind thought of that ‘disjointment’, he saw a white object crossing through outside the window.

It wasn’t a star. It let out several exhaust of blueish-white lights, going underground through in a diagonal manner and flying over at a speed faster than the rotation of the space colony. It was only for a moment, and it looked only about the size of a small fingertip, but Banagher felt that the white afterimage that flew away looked human.

“Mobile suit…?”

That’s right, it was completely different from a mini mobile suit used for working. It was a real mobile suit. It wasn’t just a complete duplicate of a human’s dimensions as Banagher even saw the lone horn that was extended out. Industrial 7 didn’t have a factory to create mobile suits, so it couldn’t be a testing of new mobile suits here. Was the army nearby?

His pulse started to race for some reason, and his palms started to sweat. The uncanny resemblance to a white horse—no, the lone horn that gave the biggest impression made it not look like a mere white horse, but a mystical beast that appeared in legend. What was that name…

At this moment, the ‘disjointed’ world came, and it seemed that something that couldn’t be seen before appeared right in front of the eyes. However, he couldn’t find a way to describe this. Banagher put his face onto the window, wholeheartedly looking for the location of the white machine. The nightclub-styled woman who was sitting behind wasn’t moving, and the man in worker’s clothing was still sleeping and snoring loudly.

The train reached one end of the space colony cylinder and turned down the corner. The front end of the space colony looked like a round pressure tube that was sealed. The train moved onto the seal, and moved to the dock at the center—the docking bay. Banagher couldn’t find the white object and sat back. Above the windshield, one could see the docking bay linking to several large buildings near the commercial area, and the intense weight would make anyone gasp for breath. However, Banagher now didn’t care about it. he merely felt that the intense white remains in his eyes start to fade away, and that his heart started to beat wildly for some reason.

Everything began like this.

===Part 4===

The white machine moved through the space colony that was rotating in the vacuum and head off in the opposite direction of the docking bay, the side facing the Moon.

Similar to the other space colonies, the outer walls of Industrial 7 were of a blueish-silver color. However, it would change at the 18km point on the moon's side, becoming a tea-brown color. That's because the space colony building tool 'Wheel' was set on the front end of the Moon's side.

The wheel, that's 10km long and 6.4km in diameter like a normal space colony, looked like an Eastern teacup from afar, and what covered the space colony looked like a pencil case cover. Its work was to build the outer wall of the space colony and the plate block on the inside of the wall. Like the name 'Wheels' indicate, the space colony was 'created' out from the large cover. Once the outer wall that was built was aligned properly, the 'Wheels' would slide back until the estimated length before separating. The front end of the cover head an outlet to move the equipment and a workers' quarters, thus, even with the expansion work, the space colonies could continue to operate without being affected in any way.

And right now, Industrial 7 had the equipment of the 'Wheels' moved to the entrance—the bottom of the cup. Then, other machinery and equipment were moved in through that large machine. The white mass went by the outer wall of the 'Wheels', and in a short time, got to the Moon's side to the large machine called 'Magallanica'.

The 'Magallanica' was about 6,500m in length, and the long and thin center exposed the rotation residential area that's 1.6km in length. That unique shape earned it the moniker 'Snail'. On the two sides of the of the rotating residential areas, there were factories shown out, and they looked like little asteroids that were absorbing resources. The biological-like appearnance really fit its moniker. On the back of its main body, there's a nuclear pulse engine. Based on the fact that it could navigate on itself own, it could be said to be a giant spacesuit. However, it would be more appropriate to call it a mobile factory that had an engine due to its production ability to create, refine and even build space colonies. In fact, the Magallanica was classified as a builder of space colonies, and its dimensions were different from a spaceship.

And at an area of the Magallanica, at the place that's the equivalent to the head of s snail, there was an oval-shaped command center. The white machine slowed down right in front of it, used the AMBAC system to make a flip, grazed through the arc of windows in a bow shape and went up. There were many unmanned cameras following it, taking shots of several of the machine's parts. The main thruster on the back of the machine, the overall image of straight and curved contours and the complicated antenna that extended out from the forehead. These images were immediately analysed and shown on the multiple screens in the command room, shown into Cardeas Vist's eyes.

The dome-shaped command room that was more than 70m in diameter had a fan-shaped multi command system that gave a mixed impression between a command room of a ship that's parked and a control room of a base. On the inside of the walls of the dome-shaped space, it seemed to be filled with screens and only windows. What appeared at the middle fan-shaped metal board was a control scheme full of messages and controls. The Magallanica was a space colony builder that was meant to develop the area around Jupiter, and the command room that bore the responsibility of a central brain was large and magnificent. However, as it was now at Earth's vicinity, most of the control functions couldn't be used. Thus, only 1 quarter of the control seats were taken, and it looked somewhat relaxed.

However, every single person amongst these 20 control personnel looked rather serious,. They were staring at the multiple screens on the inside of the wall and recording the data they took down into the computers in their hands. The command room was filled with intensity, and it wasn't just because the overnight operation experiment was about to end, but that they knew that the 'UC project' itself was about to end. Cardeas, who was sitting on the command seat in this fan-shaped central command room, was also feeling this excitement.

Anaheim Electronics was requested by the Earth Federation to secretly carry out the 'UC project', and it would immediately end with the completion of this white mobile suit. However, that would be the start of the development of the plan.

The RX-0 'Unicorn', the product of this 'UC plan', would be born out of the darkness, where even the army and Anaheim wouldn't know, becoming the key onto a journey that would break a 100 year old curse. The machine that had the name of the beast of possibilities would bring release to the world or—

“RX-0, you're too close to the space colonies! The subway train's moving! What'll happen if a passenger sees it!”

An operator who also bore the secrecy of this job roared at the microphone. Cardeas was also sweating it when he saw the Unicorn close in on the outer walls of the space colony, but a daring pilot was a more reliable one. Cardeas gave a wry smile and said,

“Today's his last time piloting the 'Unicorn'. Forgive him.”

“Yes...” Even though he kept back his attitude, the operator still couldn't hide his emotions on his face as he looked at the screen. Even though he was a little overly serious, he was a rather good worker too, and Cardeas' wry smile made it even more obvious. Including the test pilots, all the workers here were Anaheim Electronics employees who were involved in the 'UC Project'. The Vist Foudation gave them a high salary in return of them to keep the company's secret and help Cardeas in his plan. Of course, every single one of them weren't people who could be bought over with money, and every one that helped out were outstanding technicians who hoped for the 'Unicorn' to be completed successfully.

Right now, the only one who wasn't a member of Anaheim Electronics was most likely Gael Chan, who was standing beside Cardeas. He was also the secretary and bodyguard. Gael, who was also of the military in the past like Cardeas, joked “As expected of what an ex-pilot would say.” He was in charge of maintaining the secrecy behind this project, and now, he should be undergoing foolproof security at the secret stronghold in Magallanica.

This man was once involved in the underground society, so he was clear with the dealings within the army and the police. If there was a need, he would do a dirty job without hesitation. Gael had a bitter look on his face, which made Cardeas feel that he had something to say. He whispered, “What's the matter.”

“We just made contact with our allies on Lunar II. A Londo Bell ship fought with the 'Sleeves', lost 3 mobile suits and let them get away.”

Gael whispered back. Londo Bell was an independent mobile squadron of the Earth Federation, and didn't have a designated control area. It was a brigade that would deal with things once there was something. The command system would obviously be different from usual, so it would be more like an external organization of the army.

And Londo Bell set an ambush around the dark space region and fought with the 'Sleeves'. To Cardeas, who had something really important to do, he couldn't leave it alone.

“So news were leaked. Did Londo Bell take any other action yet?”

“We've tried looking into news on the 'Londonio's side, but there's no information yet. The commander's really an upright person.”

“He's called Bright Noa, right? I saw him before on a television interview or something like that. Such a man...”

“RX-0 passed its final phase. All objectives complete.” The voice of the operator rang, and Cardeas looked back at the front. “Good work. The mental response to the G-force is within expectations.” “Pilot's lifesigns all all normal.” Voices of reports continued to echo, and Gael shut up behind and seemed to back away. ''Has it arrived?'' Cardeas rubbed his eyes, looked through the screen to see that the white machine had already entered back onto the trajectory and took the microphone off the control panel.

“Everyone, please swear this together with me. The activation experiment of the RX-0 has completely ended. Once it comes back, we're going to remove the test OS, seal the NT-D and activate the Laplace system.”

The air rumbled a little, and soon, the command room was covered in an urgent silence. As the workers floated under zero gravity right in front of the screen, they were grabbing their things nearby and looking at the chairman with nervous expressions.

“I'm grateful to everyone for taking part in this. The 'UC project' will never see the light of day, and everyone's accomplishment will not be passed through generations. However, I'll like to guarantee everyone that at this moment, where history will be changed, the Unicorn would play an important role. Before that day, I hope for everyone to remain silent about this and forget everything you heard here. The Vist Foundation will use its name to ensure everyone's safety. That's all.”

The 'safety' over here would mean that all the workers here would be watched by the Foundation. All their relationships and communication records would be thoroughly exposed—it's unknown how much the workers knew. Gael used his eyes to indicate to everyone to applaud, and after everyone clapped to scatter away this troubling atmosphere, Cardeas put down the microphone.

Now, all preparations were complete. The Unicorn would be sealed and handed to the recipient. If the recipient had that element within, the Unicorn would approach this recipient, carry him and lead him to 'Laplace Box'.

After that...it's impossible to predict. If the recipient didn't have that element, the seal of the Unicorn will not be broken—no, there's a bigger problem. There's no proof to indicate that such a person existed. No matter how much he thought, there wouldn't be such a beginning. Cardeas' conclusion was not to think about it. He told Gael behind him, “Proceed as according to plan.”

“Continue to track Londo Bell's movements. If we can't track the commander, we can still know of the fleet's movements if we follow their reinforcements.”

“Understood...but, aren't you going to reconsider?”

Grabbing onto the handle of the chair, Gael lowered his upper body and said to Cardeas. Cardeas looked at Gael's face.

“They not related to the Federation, but the 'Sleeves' is still a dangerous organization. There's no need for the head of the Vist Foundation to personally head out.”

On seeing Gael's expression that practically said “Think about your own age”, Cardeas couldn't help but grimace unknowingly. Even if this wasn't something really related to the Foundation, Cardeas didn't want to hand it over to other people. The reason was that if there was really someone who had such a nature, he wanted to see what kind of person that was.

“If you think of it that way, just do your work properly and safely and prevent causing trouble in this Industrial 7. Besides, there's a school I'm running here as the chairman.”

Cardeas said in a half-joking manner as he used the computer beside him to open the introductory page to Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. Gael didn't smile as he used his eyes to say 'is this really alright?' before leaving the command room. On seeing Gael's tall and huge body grab onto the handle on the corridor as he floated out, Cardeas looked back at the screen that had the logo of Anaheim Electronics and the school photo.

After keying in the special password for the chairman, Cardeas looked through the students' namelist that wasn't to be released. As Cardeas scrolled through the 5,000 students that were arranged in alphabetical order, he showed a designated person's photo on the screen, and sighed in a habitual manner.

Now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't use this place as one for dealing. However, there's no better place to hide from the eyes of the client and the developer, and there's no better place to install the Laplace system into the Unicorn. The industrial space colony Magallanica that belonged to Vist Foundation and Anaheim Electronics symbolized a good inseparable location that could fool the army and Anaheim, a secret garden to readjust the Unicorn. Cardeas silently watched the screen at the enlarged profile of the student.

Banagher Links. Currently of the Technical Resource development branch. 16 years old. As he looked at his birthday and the personal particulars, Cardeas again sighed as he looked back at the boyish face that seemed to represent his youth.

===Part 5===

The dock of the space colony would normally be called a docking bay, and it was a habit that remained from a long time ago when space development was under way. In that age when humanity finally found a way to send space stations into low orbit above Earth, the ships that went to and fro were just 'docking' with the space station. The scale of which the stopping point was used wasn't large enough to be called a 'bay'. There were also quite a few cases of space stations being linked to each other. Either way, the early space constructs were just relay platforms.

And right now, the docking bay that was located on the front end of the space colony had 7 space cabins of different sizes inside its cylinder-shaped construct, and the spaceship that entered the dock was merely stopped in zero gravity at the dock in space, waiting for the immigration check and other procedures. And the zero gravity industrial area of Industrial 7 was linked to the docking bay, so the construct that reached out from the space colony was larger than the other space colonies by a ring. Including the cylindrical docking bay, the entire length should be over 3.5km. The cylinder shaped factory in the industrial area, and each factory had a dock for transport ships to dock, so there weren't just 10, 20 ships that came in and went out of space. There were so many of them it was like fireflies surrounding a high pressure bottle.

4.15am. The Garencieres became one of the fireflies as it gradually approached the brand new docking bay of Industrial 7. The space colony that was half complete was still new, and the platform showed a dim glow as what was even more eye-catching was the solar panel. The 4 rows of rectangular solar panels that were 5km long were lined beside the space colony, and the surface was always facing the sun. The electricity obtained from the sun would be sent to the space colony via microwaves. To the space colony of Industrial 7 that is sealed off, this was a must.

Of course, it’s easy to get interference from electromagnetism when the electricity’s being transferred, so the energy panel wouldn’t be on the path where the ships were docked. However, the Garencieres grazed by the solar panels at a close distance and reduced its relative velocity with Industrial 7. Just when the sunlight that was reflected on a solar panel in a white panel was right near it, the hatch of the ship opened, releasing a mobile suit from the hangar.

There was a dark green body, pink glowing mono-eyed golem. This was the ‘Geara Zulu’, the supposedly main fighting force of the ‘Sleeves’ mobile suits. It looked like a middle-ages knight armor and also a soldier with a helmet and a gas mask. As it went past the solar panel, it was dropped off the Garencieres, using the shield on the right shoulder to reflect sunlight, and soon after, continued to let out bursts of thrust. Compared to the large solar panel, the human-shaped machine that was 20m in height was just like dust. Once it slipped through the gap behind the construct of the solar panel, it couldn’t be seen.

Less than 10 seconds passed. Even though the trajectory was cleared, the space region still had lots of space dust around, and the space control management couldn’t possible notice a ship’s mysterious actions. Even if there may be someone who was serious enough to take out a pair of binoculars to look, the light that’s reflected off the solar panel could cover it. Marida Cruz was looked behind at the solar panel, and again looked back at the bridge.

Located on both left and right sides were the steering seat and the navigation seat, and at the back where it was slightly higher, it was the captain’s seat. The bridge of the Garencieres was full just like that, and to those who didn’t have a seat, this wasn’t a place they could stay for long. However, the ceiling still had a definite height, so there wasn’t much problems under zero gravity. Under zero gravity, every could squeeze into this three dimension space.

“This will be long, but it’ll be over before the change. Just endure this.”

Sitting on the captain’s seat, Suberoa Zinnerman bellowed to the microphone. The old captain’s hat, brown leather coat and rough stubble of moustache made him look like the captain of an old trading ship. However, his eyes were sharp. The voice that came through the wireless communicator “Yes, captain.” Couldn’t hide its anxiety.

The one who spoke was the pilot of the Geara Zulu, Savoir. He will be hidden under the solar panel for one whole day and watch the outside of Industrial 7. They didn’t let the enemy know about the deal, but since they were ambushed by the Federation, they couldn’t believe the kind intentions of the other party completely. If they were thoroughly checked through once they entered the dock, Savoir’s Geara Zulu would wreck havoc.

In that case, not only will Marida’s Kshatriya sortie, but even the other Geara Zulu would launch too. And the pilot was Gilboa Sant. Right now, he was sitting on the navigation seat, busy explaining to the control officer why they were slightly off course. Gilboa’s 30 years old and had a friendly and approachable face. He had pure black skin that was rare to see nowadays, and also the father of 3 children. And on the steering seat on the other side was the 27 year old Flaste Schole. As compared to Gilboa, he gave off a cold and aloof vibe. Though his appearance looked rather unapproachable, he was really a good big brother who would take care of others, and the other members all trusted him. He was an acquaintance of Zinnerman for a long time, and the number 2 man supporting the captain from behind.

The entire look of the Garencieres squadron was of 33 members, including the sortie team of mobile suits and the crew of the ship. Amongst the ‘Sleeves’ that the Earth Federation declared to be ‘Terrorists that appear and disappear out of nowhere’, they could be said to be a specialized unit. With Captain Zinnerman leading the front, all the crew members were disguised as members of a trading ship, so they weren’t as rigid as a military organization. The main forces of the ‘Sleeves’ seemed to view them as radicals too; so it was like Zinnerman leading an independent group or an underground organization carrying out a mission. In fact, they received this mission precisely because of such a nature. Including the ambush from the Federation Army just now, the ship had an atmosphere of not knowing how to deal with this mission.

They were headed to Industrial 7 to collect the Laplace Box the Vist Foundation would provide. On first glance, it was a mission that anyone could do, a mission that even a delivery company could do. The only thing abnormal was that no one knew of the true identity of Laplace Box—

“We’ve passed the request completely. It seemed that the Harbor Authority was notified too, so we can dock without an investigation…I don’t understand.”

After ending the conversation with the Control Officer, Gilboa said worriedly. Marida looked over at him, and she could see a space gate that was the size of a thumb outside and the guiding lights.

“The thing we want is on the port on the other side, right? Why won’t they let us go there directly…since it’s connected to the builder of space colonies, wouldn’t it be easier to carry out the deal if we’re not allowed to go out normally?”

“That space colony was said to be Vist Foundation’s personal belonging. Most likely, they don’t want us from getting too close.”

Flaste interrupted. Industrial 7 only opened its port that’s facing Earth, and the port facing the Moon was covered by the Colony Builder. That’s a large installation that could use and purify the space dust in the dark wasteland space and form them as materials for new space colonies. Let alone the personnel there, even the people living inside the space colonies were said to be restricted in their movements. While it was still unknown whether the Laplace Box they heard from the information was real, it was still a good place to carry out a secret deal. However, the Vist Foundation didn’t let them head towards the Colony Builder directly.

“They’re still more or less wary of us. We’re the illegal ‘Sleeves’ after all.”

As he drank from the canned coffee, Zinnerman said in a self-mocking manner. This voice washed away the doubts of his subordinates and made everyone remember that they were in danger. However, Flaste continued on, a rare feat for him,

“So, what’s that Laplace Box anyway? You should more or less tell us, right?”

That’s the question that went straight to the core. Gilboa looked back at Zinnerman on the Captain’s seat too. Zinnerman shrugged and said,

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s some huge treasure that we’ll be shocked by.”

“It doesn’t appear on the surface, but the Vist Foundation one huge tycoon organization, and it’s deeply ingrained in the government and Anaheim Electronics. The Foundation’s their main base, right? Those guys who would deal with the Federation government would actually offer us a treasure. I really don’t understand.

What Gilboa said was precisely what everyone on the Garencieres couldn’t understand, but Zinnerman continued to look rather aloof. He answered “This is news we got from Full Frontal, so we can trust him on that.” And looked at Marida, who just so happened to look back, and the control onto the trajectory became stronger.

''Including the ambush just now, there was definitely something wrong with the situation. Don’t let your guard down.'' Zinnerman warned everyone else with his eyes—Marida nodded and looked out of the window. Luckily, the port official’s boat was closing in, and Flaste and Gilboa started to talk into the wireless communicator, and the conversation ended like that. Marida looked at the numerous fires and exhaust, checking that everyone was normal.

Right now, there were three things they know. First, they will be provided with the item for free provided that they followed the instructions of Vist Foundation. Second, the item that’s the be dealt was large, so it had to be transported through a cargo ship. Because of this, they had only 2 frames of Geara Zulu even though they could normally dock three of them in the hangar to allow space for a mobile suit. On the other hand, the fact that they merely put only one less mobile suit showed that Zinnerman was somewhat hesitant on this mission.

However, the most important point was the third one. This thing called the Laplace Box had the ability to overturn the world—shake the Earth Federation and change the area around the Earth—it could be some scandal on the current administration or the ultimate weapon that could bring about a change in military forces. However, there had to be some basis for this for the headquarters to agree to the Vist Foundation’s invitation. And right now, the situation with the ‘Sleeves’ was such that even if it was only a trace of hope, they had to grab it.

''But no matter what, it didn’t matter to me.''Marida thought that no matter what’s inside Laplace Box, her mission to protect her master and work for him would never change. If the box really existed, they will bring it back, and if it was a trap, she would break through. Thus, no matter how much of a sacrifice she had to make, she wouldn’t hesitate at all. Marida again looked over at Industrial 7 in front of her.

Amidst the numerous remains of steel and stone, the isolated space colony that was floating away slowly was itself like a box with a secret inside. The Garancieres followed the two rows of guiding lights and entered the docking bay, and just when they were about to be allocated into a space gate, there were numerous objects flying into outer space. Marida consciously checked the appearance and number of objects.

The cylinder shaped objects grew out short legs and arms for work, and they had bubble-shaped wind-proof installations. These human shaped machines that were the size of two humans were mobile suits used for port work.

8 mobile suits flew by, perhaps here to clean the runaway, and then, another dozen of mini mobile suits went past the Garancieres . As he looked at the squad of small mobile suits that were 3m tall, Gilboa said, “It’s Bubbo’s Company machines.”

“Junk Collection?”

“Yeah. Lots of space colonies opened chain shops. Most likely, they came here because of Anaheim’s outsourcing project. It looked good, and because of the junk caused by the One Year War, it wouldn’t be complete even if it took 100 years…”

Perhaps feeling that he was in the middle of creating junk, Gilboa sounded somewhat heavy-hearted. Flaste didn’t answer back, and Marida looked at the mini mobile suits that were floating in vacuum.

As they let out the thruster boost, the mini mobile suits started to move into the space dust on orbit, and they would fire at those things that were so big they couldn’t collect back. To them, junk’s just dunk, just a economical value to reclaim to decide who get more back. There’s such a life, Marida thought; a life where she won’t take other people’s lives or have her life taken. After thinking about her future 1 year, 10 years , a life to fight for tomorrow…

''The enemies I took down today may one day be reclaimed back, right?'' Marida looked at the lights that didn’t involve her and thought.

===Part 6===

She moved inside the boat that brought her here, went through three compartments, and arrived at the central bay.

The docking job started, and the variable-sized communicator that looked like a harmonica was connected to the air bridge and the air lock of the Garencieres. As she looked through the window and that the workers inside the ship were starting to get busy, the girl cautiously left the room.

The helmet that had the spacesuit on closed the visor. This wasn’t equipment that wasn’t important when there was air was only important so that the face wasn’t seen. Most of the port workers would be wearing spacesuits, and if she was successful, she could sneak it through. The girl held the handle and move through the narrow corridor, reaching the air lock at the hatch of the ship, and decisively opened grabbed the handle.

Due to the air flow caused by the difference in air pressure, the sound of metal colliding, the sound of the exhaust of the motion control and the audio broadcast of the professional contact enter. The center dock was a large space that was 500m wide, and the floor and the ceiling—though it’s meaningless to call them this under zero gravity—both sides had 4 canes each, and each of them were docked on trading ships similar to the Garencieres. The girl went through the air lock, let her body float towards the floor 20m away. Before the magnetic boots touched the ground, the girl took out some cable from her waist and fired the trigger at the wall of a crane.

The magnet that was shot out stuck onto the wall of the crane. She squeezed the trigger again, and the cable gun that looked like a handgun coiled up automatically, bringing the girl over to the magnet. This was something that was really important when working under zero gravity.

After the coiling was done, the magnetism vanished, and she would have to aim at another point next. Just like this, the girl continued to repeat this motion and move towards the exit of the industrial area. While moving, she went by the crew members of the Garencieres, but as everyone was busy dealing with the docking, and that she had her spacesuit and the visor on, no one could recognize her. The girl reached the exit without anyone noticing, and then used the handle to move on. The mobile handle that was installed on the wall and handrail increased its speed together with the strength of the grip, and sent the girl towards the industrial area.

The ships that were already checked through were docked at this port, thus, it wasn’t hard to leave this port, and there should be no problems if the industrial port wasn’t into operation mode. The problem was about how to reach the colony builder that was on the other side of the space colony. As she continued to remember the map of Industrial 7 in her mind, the girl slipped into a group of workers and entered the Terminal Body.

The girl had a plan. There was an artificial sun inside Industrial 7, at the center core in the cylinder of the space colony. The illuminating installation that reached out on both sides was the thing that create night and day. In the old century’s manner of speech, it was like a large play.

The artificial sun had a walkway for inspection that reach out to both ends of the space colony. Of course, this wasn’t a place anyone would go, and the artificial sun would give off lots of heat, so the pathway couldn’t be used in the day. However, if she entered there, she wouldn’t have to enter the space colony and could reach the region on the other side. There’s a chance that she could get near the colony builder that people were rarely allowed to enter, and find a chance to sneak in.

5.50am. The girl checked the watch to see that there’s still time till daylight and took off her spacesuit helmet. She pulled her short brown hair off and floated into the toilet nearby.

Now, it would be too obvious to wear a spacesuit here. She entered the toilet that had a toilet bowl for zero gravity use, took off her spacesuit and put on dark blue jeans and a white jean as she got out of the bathroom. She ignored the worker who passed by while whistling on put on a jacket that was as fluffy as a shawl before grabbing the mobile handle and moving to the exit of the tower. As it wass most likely not a change of shift yet, there weren’t many people in front of the exit.

''I have to get to the colony builder before Zinnerman and Marida take action and meet the person I should meet.'' The girl thought as she moved out of the Terminal Building.

===Part 7===

A while back, Banagher was in the same Terminal Building, at the office of Bubbo’s Company, facing the Chief of the Management Section.

“So I can’t sortie today?”

“That’s the instructions of the superiors. A trading ship’s about to enter at the last minute, so I had to send a crane out first…I asked the previous shift to handle the rest, and they went off.”

While the superiors ask for increase in efficiency, the subordinates ask for improvement in working environment, and the Chief of Management had to explain that the blame wasn’t on him. Right now, the large amount of space dust caused lots of social problems, and the Bubbo Company showed marked improvement in growth. However, most people viewed them as merely junk collectors who overturned things, and there’s a rather bleak feeling about this. Even if they changed their title for ‘Junk Collector’ to ‘Resource Collector’, the understanding of society would not change. At this operation base of Industrial 7 and everyone inside, including the Chief had a rather lonely feeling.

It was really no surprise that Bubbo Company would lend out cranes to a ship that just arrived, but to Banagher who came here to work part-time, it wasn’t worth being so happy about. The morning shift squad had already left, so those who were working today flew off. There was no latest mini mobile suits to use, and everything was just a waste of time. Banagher really wanted to grumble ‘I finally became the first one here…’ or something like that.

“Sorry, I’ll add some extra money for your overtime fee next time.”

The bespectacled Chief smiled and seemed to be busy managing the delayed trip. He wasn’t hiding the fact that he didn’t have the time to deal with part-time workers as he went into the office to get the call. The two workers who were working night shift were also lowering their heads and staring at their screens. Seeing them like this, Banagher didn’t have the energy to talk more as he left the office that had the smell of plastic. The word ‘Disjointed’ went through his mind again.

Banagher let Haro exit onto the corridor first, kicked against the wall that had footprints all over it, and let his body float towards the corridor window that could look at the central port. The number 4 crane Bubbo Company used was parked at a ship he had no impression on. It was an old-styled Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Craft. The ship that was obviously stained had the logo ‘RIbakoona Trading’ on it and the ship’s name ‘Garencieres’.

“The name’s rather delicate…”

As he muttered this a little grudgingly, he found that Takuya was coming in from the other end of the corridor. Takuya let go of the handle that was moving at the fastest speed possible before his body landed on the cushion on the wall due to inertia. The first thing he spoke was: “Banagher, you bastard…!” And Banagher silently pointed to the office’s entrance.

Takuya was also stunned as he then walked into the office, and soon appeared on the corridor after 1 minute. He looked like he didn’t know what was going on, but he chuckled on seeing Banagher, and even said (That’s karma, karma.) Even Haro was flapping its ear disks and crying ‘Retribution, retribution’. Banagher carried Haro and left the corridor.

There was still three hours until vocational lessons began, and Banagher and Takuya didn’t want to head back to the hostel to sleep. Thus, they went to the cafeteria in the industrial area. The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony was also a rest area that functioned as an observatory post, so they could still take a little nap at this time.

In this Industrial 7 space colony that was almost completely covered with factories, the zero gravity industrial area that was linked to the docking bay was the largest production base. There were all sorts of production lines, from metal, refining, heating to assembly, and it included a production work that made use of the zero gravity environment. This place produces everything related to industrial needs, from the screws used on a train to the gundanrium alloy.

To the industrial area that works for 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, no matter whether it was midnight or morning, it was just a unit of time. Once they entered the unloading area that was full of air, tey could hear the sounds of mini mobile suits moving about, hoots and controllers shouting, and also the sounds of metal colliding with each other. Soon, they heard the voices of the operator shouting :”DAMN BRATS! WEAR A HELMET HERE!” Banagher and Takuya shouted, “Sorry!” but didn’t slow down as they grabbed hard onto the mobile handle and continued to head to the unloading area that would lead to the cafeteria.

On the way, Banagher mentioned to Takuya about how he saw a white mobile suit in the subway train. Takuya, who was studying mobile suits and aimed to be a test pilot, was already familiar with military affairs such that he could be said to be a fanatic of it. Banagher thought that his facial expression would change on hearing a new mobile suit, but Takuya’s reaction was unexpectedly cold.

“The war with Zeon is over. The Federation finally started with reprogramming. Even if a new mobile suit is developed, it would just be a minor modification to a GM.”

“But that machine was completely white and had a single horn on it. It really looked special. Since it’s a reprogrammed one, it’s not weird to see a new mobile suit developed, right?”

“Fool, that’s something that can only happen during war. Why would they allocate some of the budget to develop a new mobile suit if there’s no imaginary enemy.”

That sounded logical. “Is that so…” “You really don’t know anything.” On hearing such a response, Banagher felt like he may want to find a hole to hide in.

No matter what aspect it is, someone who works hard on one thing would have the keen eyesight of observing the world from that perspective, and Banagher felt a little short and behind others for not being able to have it. It wasn’t too bad if it was an ordinary high school student, but someone studying this ‘one-way trip’ at Anaheim Electronics would feel really guilty.

“It’s great that you had a goal.”

Thus, Banagher suddenly raised this issue. Takuya looked somewhat surprised and gave a wry look “What are you saying?”

“Aren’t you planning to go develop the Jupiter zone?”

“That’s true…”

However, Banagher was different from Takuya. He merely chose one subject out of many when he transferred into Anaheim Electronics Institute College, and didn’t really have a particular insistence. Banagher merely wanted to see Jupiter and was moved by the term trail blazer, but he lost all enthusiasm when he thought of how he had to study engineering and mathematics. No, it’s not that he found studying hard, but that he found himself ‘disjointed’ when he was mixed together with a group a really passionate volunteers.

Thinking about this, the doubts Banagher often had would appear in his mind, whether he should be here? He searched through the layers of his memories as to why he was here. His mother died, and on the night of the funeral, a group of men in suits appeared and said, “We’re hired by your father.” And told him that his life will be assured in the future. After that, what he got was a transfer application to Anaheim Electronics Institute College—

They never explained what kind of person his father was, and only said that one day, he would meet him personally. Banagher himself didn’t want to ask too much. It wasn’t really much of an interest to him, but as both mother and son relied on each other for more than 10 years, anyone would be troubled about a father who suddenly appeared, and no matter what the reason was, Banagher didn’t want to recognize a man who wouldn’t even come to his mother’s funeral. At the same time, he felt that if he opened himself too much, he would be betraying his mother.

His mother was a kind and strong-willed person who raised Banagher alone and made Banagher forget that he needed a father. Though the ever-changing jobs and residences caused Banagher to end up transferring schools without having time to make friends, it wasn’t his mother’s fault. Banagher would always remember how on Christmas night at the age of 5, that this Haro was sent over without warning.

His mother said that it was a present from Santa Claus, but Banagher knew that it was a present sent over by his father. After that, his mother would keep moving houses like she was running away from disaster, perhaps to get away from his father. And his mother would be unhappy if he asked. Thus, Banagher knew before the age of ten that this was a question he couldn’t ask.

“He’s really a strong-willed person. You can be proud to be his son. But I know that his strength won’t bring happiness to us mother and son, so mom can only bring you away from that person…”

His mother would only talk about this when his father was mentioned. Whenever his mother asked “Do you understand?” Banagher could only pretend to understand and nod his head. Both mother and son stayed in an old space colony at Side 1, an old residential area near the slums. Banagher grew up watching his mother who shouldn’t be living in such a place, felt that he shouldn’t cause too much trouble for his mother, and started to feel troubled by the ‘disjointed’ feeling in him.

It’s especially because of that unknown reason that he started to feel ‘disjointed’ ever since he first had his memories. It was different from feeling out of place. It felt like there was a place he should really be at, but that his mind and body was being separated from that place. This baseless feeling still didn’t disappear even after he accepted the invitation of this father of his that he never met before and stayed in Industrial 7. The naïve expectation that this ‘disjointed’ feeling would disappear the moment he came here was just a rhapsody of his own youth. Banagher could calmly analyze this aspect of himself in hindsight.

He thought that if he put on the uniform of Anaheim Electronics and thought of becoming a member of this large corporation, he could forget all about this. However, after 8 months of hostel life, what he got was only an ordinary license and a mini mobile suit license. In the days that never changed, where things never really happened, the ‘disjointed’ feeling started to grow. Right now, he still didn’t know his father’s true identity, and neither did he try to know as he was already having a hard time handling the future that was becoming smaller.

''Why did I come here? Why do I feel that I am looking forward to this ‘Disjointed’ feeling being filled up?'' As he carried the Haro that he took care of all this time, Banagher pondered. ''Was it that I want to meet my father? To see where I come from? But even if we meet, nothing will change. Even if I know my origins, I can’t be assured that there will be where I will go…''

His thoughts just continued to beat around like this as they went from the unloading bay to the cargo area. Takuya, who was walking in front, shouted excitedly, “Wow, that’s a huge find!” and Banagher lifted his head up.

At a corner of the large cargo area, there were the remains of a mobile suit. It’s unknown whether it was the Bubbo Company or other ‘Junk Collector’ company who took it in. The parts below the knees were severed, and those parts under the right shoulder were gone. However, the dark green body and the head with the one eye were still intact, and it was still easy to identify what the damaged thing was. This was really a great find, and even Banagher felt this way. Almost all the remains of space colonies or mobile suits were taken back, and as mainstream mobile suits became mini ones that were only able to pull scraps, it’s really rare to see such a relatively intact scrap. It’s unknown who found it, but the person who found it can earn half a year’s worth of salary with this. Banagher and Takuya let go of the hand and floated towards the remains.

[[Image:KSGU 131.jpg|thumb]]
“Is that a Zaku?”

As he reached the deck where he could look down at the remains, Banagher grabbed onto the handrail and asked Takuya. That used to be the main fighting force of the Republic of Zeon, the name of the line of machines and also the mother of all mobile suits. No matter whether it was the green frame that had lots of spikes on the left shoulder armor, Banagher really couldn’t think of any other machine that had these characteristics. However, Takuya answered: “Idiot, that’s not it.”

“That’s the ‘Geara Doga’, a machine used during ‘Char’s Counterattack’.”

“Never heard of it. I’m not that crazy about machines.”

“This is created by Anaheim! Remember that.”

Takuya used his finger to point at the temple, and Banagher just stared at the remains of the mobile suit. The machine that obviously had burned scars had workers all around using their handheld notebooks to enter data into. It’s unknown whether they were trying to diagnose the selling price of the machine or how to distribute this once they decide to split this out. The one eye and the visor glass were broken, but the power source that was severed off was leaking oil, making one wonder if the reactor could still work. The still-human appearance that remained made one wonder that it may be a remain that could move once someone adjust it.

''Maybe the pilot was able to get out in time?'' Banagher had this idea as he turned his eyes to the cockpit at the abdomen, but gasped as he found that he was wrong. The armor plate that was protecting the cockpit was twisted by the heat, opening a hole that was 1m long. It looked like a beam weapon shot through it, burning through the cocking, leaving a laser bullet hole and vaporizing the pilot. It looked just like a black hole that led to an endless darkness. That was the action of humans who made the hole, one that was unrelated to them, called war. It was deep and black, looking like it was about to absorb someone into it—

“…The war’s over. There won’t be any new frames now.”

Takuya swallowed his saliva and mentioned what they were talking about just now. The side of his face seemed to be a little white.

“There aren’t any news on terrorism recently.”

“There’s still some remnants of Zeon, but the scale’s not large enough to form an army. The Defense Ministry wrote in black and white that ‘We’re cleaning up after the war on Zeon’.”

“The space colony I was staying on once had a freelance transporter, but he said something about space residents living independently, and I didn’t feel anything much after hearing it.”

Side 3, which was on the back of the Moon, was self-proclaimed the Republic of Zeon that declared its independence from the Earth Federation and triggered what’s called the One Year War. Banagher understood this as well. The dark wasteland region where Industrial 7 was where the remains of the initial battle both sides had, the ‘Battle of Loum’. Banagher himself was born under this offensive age where half the population was wiped out—what sociologists call babies born after the war. During the 16 years of war, the so-called remnants of Zeon continued to launch conflicts one after another, creating terrorist attacks on a grand scale. However, these were another thing entirely to Banagher and the rest, just information taught through televised news and textbooks. No matter whether it was the war or the independent movements of the space residents, it was nothing different from fiction to them.

However, the dark bullet hole in front of them showed them that all these were real. It caused them to realize that people really died from this and reprimanded them of their lazy lifestyles. They talked to each other in perfect unison and left this place. The image of war that suddenly appeared in front of them wasn’t so easily erased, and that deep and dark hole that led to emptiness shot through Banagher’s heart.

The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony had one wall that was completely made of glass, and they could see the streets on the inside of the wall from the center of the cylinder. It was 5.20am, and the artificial sun that goes through the entire inside of the colony wasn’t activated as there seemed to be a thin carpet of light seen inside the wall of the colony from 3,000m height.

In another 10 minutes, the artificial sun would declare the start of the day, and the vast amount of light and heat would bring about morning to Industrial 7. At that moment, the windows of the cafeteria would have a light filter on to reduce the shine the artificial sun would release at close range. However, there was no need to cover it for now. The artificial sun outside the window that lead to the other side of the space colony was still in darkness. There were few people who were in the cafeteria at this point, and Banagher and Takuya were holding onto their own trays as they sat beside the window.

They were discussing about what to do with the report they have to hand in a month later, just before summer vacation began, how the old hag in physics lesson would mess them up, and talked around before Takuya started yawning. After putting the empty soup pipe onto the tray, he said “I’m going to sleep” and used the zero gravity environment to put his legs about. Banagher was trained by his mother strictly and couldn’t be as rash as he was. However, he did feel that he was trying his best to get along with his surroundings and let himself loose already.

“Get some sleep, man. Micott’s going to have a party at her house tonight.”

Takuya closed his eyes as he said that. Banagher answered back: “Really?” But didn’t sound very interested.

“Our technical school has too many people with no charm, but her school has quite a lot of good girls there. This is a good chance to get to know them. Better save our energy here, or else it’ll be sad if we’re still single once it’s summer.”

“Aren’t you going back to your old home? Even if you have a girlfriend here…”

“Don’t say that. I do go to the Francesca Colony with my family to do manual labor. Bringing my younger siblings out to fish in the day, barbequing at night with relatives; I can be so happy that I could cry. How can I hang on without a girlfriend waiting for me?”

“Don’t go then.”

“I can’t do that. That’s the bond of family…”

Takuya suddenly shut up and opened an eye before asking: “What are you going to do during summer vacation?” Banagher could only shrug at this concern that bothered him “Who knows.”

“I don’t have any relatives when I go back home, and I shifted. I guess the most I can do is to stay here and continue to work and earn money, and that I can earn my school fees before my sponsor changes his mind.”

“Haven’t you heard anything from your dad?”

“Un. Well, I don’t know what I should do if there really was news.”

“Fu-n…that’s really hard to understand. Calling you here and not coming to see you.”

Takuya felt that this was the only way he could show concern as an outsider and didn’t mention this again. He diverted the topic and said “Then you should take advantage of tonight. There’s only one summer when you’re 16 years old.”

“Un…”, Banagher merely answered methodically as he continued to look outside the dark window.

However, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. Like others, Banagher went through romantic relationships and breakups, and he did have a few girlfriends at his hometown. However, what seemed to be a happy thing to them wasn’t a happy thing to Banagher himself. Also, he never actually got on well with them, and was always seen through. Thus, the relationship would never last long. Girls in their youth really can’t stand creatures like insincere men, and anything more didn’t exist.

No. it was just because he never really had a real romantic relationship. Maybe things would change if he found a good partner. Maybe tonight’s party may solve this. Banagher forced himself to think this way. This may be an encounter that could clear all the ‘disjointed’ feeling he had with the world and enchant him; an encounter that would make this Industrial space colony look rose colored; an encounter that could land him at where he lived. He would become a member who would walk in and out of a factory, covered with sweat and oil, and have a drink on the way home from work as an occasional luxury—an encounter that could allow him to accept this life.

Right outside the windows, the streets lights before dawn broke. The lights on the highway were showing a spiral shape, and what looked like lights from night delivery lorries were gliding silently. In another 2 hours, most of the people would get up and rush to their respective workplaces. The people who were waiting at the bus stops for buses will form crowds, and the subway trains that were filled with workers changing shifts will move between the streets inside the wall and the industrial area. Today, that’s just like yesterday and may be like tomorrow, continued to operate like a conveyor belt.

“Will we become part of this once we graduate…”

Feeling that intense ‘disjointed’ feeling again, Banagher muttered. Takuya didn’t answer back, and as Banagher looked at him, he found that the body that was almost asleep was floating up from the table. As he grabbed Takuya’s shoulders and pressed him back onto the chair like magic tape, Banagher saw ‘that thing’ outside the window.

At the base that’s 100m above the cafeteria, at the pillar of the artificial sun that was reached out to the opposite side of the space colony—there was a warning light flashing. There was something floating as it crossed near the large pillar in the darkness. He first thought that it was junk. It’s obvious for junk to be stuck near the sun after being taken away by an artificial convection when the space colony’s being built in the opposite direction. However, the ‘object’ that was so small that it would disappear into the darkness, and that it was moving on its own. It seemed to be frantically flailing its limbs and moving its body to control its body as it flew with the wind.

He consciously let his body float near the window and grabbed Haro’s fluttering ears in the air from underneath the table. Banagher looked at that ‘object’ that was lit up by the weak warning light. That’s right, there was someone. Someone was floating near the artificial sun. it was 1km away, but Banagher could see—or rather, feel that the person who was floating had a cape-shaped coat on.

It was soon going to be daybreak, and there couldn’t possibly be testing on the artificial sun. Banagher looked at the person who wasn’t even wearing a spacesuit. The figure left the artificial sun and floated towards the wall. It’s obvious that the person was in trouble, and it would be easy to spot in daylight. However, at that moment, the artificial sun would be activated, and the surrounding air would be really hot. The cylinder that was 6km in diameter was a large source of light to the entire space colony, and would burn up anything nearby.

“…Not good.”

Banagher looked at the watch. It was 5.26am. There’s still less than 5 minutes to daylight. “Eh? What’s wrong?” Banagher left behind Takuya as Takuya rubbed his eyes, kicked the table, and rushed through the empty cafeteria, using the pillar near the entrance as the support point and rushed to the corridor. At this moment where not even a second was to be wasted, he didn’t even think of explaining this to anyone else, and the body that was pushed by impulse continued to rush to the worksite.

===Part 8===

She really couldn’t understand what happened for the time being. In her eyes, what she could only see was the artificial sun pillar that was leaving her and the street lights and clouds on the inside of the wall appearing and disappearing at the same time as the winds blew past her ears.

As she kicked her legs about forward, the girl tried to stop the spinning on her body. However, against this artificial wind, such an action was futile. There was an endless steady supply of wind inside the colony to allow for convection of the sun’s heat. The artificial convection installation that was installed in the zero gravity area was moving the air, creating a complicated flow of wind near the sun.

The girl held back the fear that was rising up her throat, telling herself to calm down. She had managed to slip into the artificial solar inspection area and arrived on the passageway that was parallel to the illuminating installation. She just needed to grab the mobile handle and move forward for about 20m, and she should be able to reach the other side of the space colony in less than 30 minutes—where her target, the colony builder.

However, she didn’t expect that pathway to have a section cut off because of repairs. It was too late once she moved in for about 1km, felt that the tunnel was blocked and let go of the handle. The girl’s body flew out in motion, breaking the plastic seal that blocked the passage, and dropped outside the passage.

At the same time, she knocked into the fire extinguisher that was placed on the platform, and got the gas squirted at her, causing the situation to become complicated. The girl was pushed away from the artificial sun pillar because of the gas pressure. And under the vacuum of zero gravity, there’s nothing she could grab onto. The girl became a speck of space dust that was floating in the core of the space colony. She was forced away by the gas pressure and the airflow convection, and was pushed down to the wall 3000m away—

[[Image:KSGU 140.jpg|thumb]]

The artificial sun was gradually getting further and further away. The layers of moving clouds and the street lights that were inside the wall were closing in. The centrifuge force of the space colony wouldn’t work without direct contact. It looked like she could land safely, but the problem was the rotation speed that create the 1G worth of gravity. It looked slow from here, but in fact, the inside wall of the space colony was rotating about 600km per hour. The girl’s body was out of the rotation speed, and if she got close to the inner wall and hit the wall that’s rotating at high speeds, she would be pancaked.

However, she couldn’t just wait for help in zero gravity as a premonition started. BAM BAM, continuous tremors could be heard through the air of the space colony. This was the voice of the artificial sun getting powered up. It was the awakening of a laminating device, the sound of it letting off light as it burned the air around it.

I don’t want to die. No, I can’t die. The girl didn’t give up as she moved her limbs and tried to get close to the artificial sun’s passageway. She was already prepared to die, but she wouldn’t allow herself to die like this. For the sake of the warriors who fought to protect her, her parents who died early, and she wouldn’t forgive herself if she were to die in such an ugly manner.

This thought was more frightening than death itself. However, the artificial sun that seemed to mock the struggling girl got louder and louder, and the laminating installation started to brighten.

===Part 9===

Luckily, there was a mini mobile suit parked at the carpark beside the cafeteria. It was the latest model from the Toruro company, Type-800, commonly known as the ‘Torohachi’. There wasn’t anyone on the machine, which, to Banagher, was a pleasant surprise.

Perhaps the operator went to the toilet as the key was still in the machine. Banagher sat inside the cockpit of the 'Torohachi' to check whether it still had power. While the worker shouted: “HEY, YOU…!”, Banagher shouted back: “Danger!” as he undid the feet clamp on the floor. As he ignored the middle-aged worker “WHO ARE YOU! DON’T MOVE!” and let the 'Torohachi' move forward, a green ball-shaped object slammed into the helmet of the worker and jumped into the cockpit. “Haro…!?” Banagher couldn’t help but exclaim before tucking Haro between his thighs before covering the hemisphere windshield visor.

Once Banagher did the basic minimum safety checks, he undid the magnetic locks on the legs. The short legs of the 'Torohachi' kicked the ground and floated up. Banagher stepped on the gas, and the thruster at the back lit up. The 'Torohachi' head off towards the cargo exit of the space colony and accelerated.

At the front end of the space colony, the sudden slope of the zero gravity industrial area under the wall was called the ‘mountain’. Like its name implied, it was a bare layer of rock and trees and plants covered the mortar-type airtight wall. If one looked up from the inside, what would be seen would be like a famous 3,000m high mountain—Mount Fuji. The mountaintop that was hidden amongst the clouds had many cable cars stations and the exits for cargo ships as they move through the zero gravity belt. The 'Torohachi' went through one entrance and moved towards the artificial sun. The artificial upflow that struck caused the machine to shake, but Banagher continued to look around for the figure floating in the darkness.

Without relying on night vision goggles, Banagher found the floating figure. He didn’t spend the effort to feel how strange it was. Banagher again activated the thruster boost of the 'Torohachi'. This was different from driving in vacuum as the machine was heavy. The air that filled the entire space colony formed a wall, and the shaking of the machine was felt through the control rod. For a moment, he felt that he was really reckless, but this rash of sanity immediately disappeared.

The artificial sun started to glow, and there wasn’t much time left before it was completely activated and burns the surrounding air. Banagher activated the motion sensor and let the relative distance between his machine and the target and the speeds show on the control screen. Though it was the same as collecting space junk, the target this time was a living human. If his methods were too rough, the person may be killed.

The distance from the figure got closer and closer, and he could already see the cape-like jacket fluttering from behind the windshield and the long and narrow limbs of a person. It was a girl—as his instincts told her this, a large amount of shaking happened to the machine, and Banagher hurriedly adjusted the power of the thruster boost. Haro floated up because of the impact as its eyes flashed, calling: “Do your best, do your best!”

The 'Torohachi' again shot out the thrusters and closed in on the target. It seemed that the target seemed to notice the machine’s sound and light as the figure that was floating in the vacuum turned to look at the machine. The jade green eyes had light in them even in the midst of the darkness as they looked like polished gems.

At that moment, the existence of a living being went through Banagher’s body, and he immediately opened the windshield. This wasn’t out of thought, but that his instincts were telling him that this body in front of him was too fragile to be held by the hard mechanical hand of the mini mobile suit.

[[Image:KSGU 145.jpg|thumb]]

The wind that struck hard covered his eyes and mouth. The windshield that was opened let in lots of wind, causing the body of the 'Torohachi' to silt a lot. He used a hand to grab the controls to barely maintain the state of the machine, and used the other hand to reach for the control panel. The girl that was floating with the winds widened her eyes and reached over here too. Once their eyes met, the 'Torohachi' and the human figure grazed past each other for a moment, and Banagher held that person’s hand and pulled her into the cockpit.

After that, the artificial sun glowed, bathing the body of the 'Torohachi' in white light. Banagher continued to hold onto the human’s slender and thin body as he closed the windshield visor and stepped on the gas. He didn’t see the horrifying image of the air heating up and immediately expanding and twisting over. An explosive-like light suppressed them and sent the 'Torohachi' descending to the inner wall.

The wind blew in through the windshield visor that wasn’t completely closed, causing the purple jacket to be draped on Banagher. Banagher lost his bearings and stepped too hard onto the gas pedal. Even though he immediately pulled the jacket away and maintained eye contact, the large pillar supporting the artificial sun inside the wall was already right in front of him. The metal pillar came crashing over at the rotation speed of the space colony—about the same as a passenger jet, and grazed past the 'Torohachi’s frame.

The impact rang through the cockpit, and the numbness in Banagher’s brain caused him to lose consciousness for a while. The streets that were flowing below the feet were spinning wildly and fast approaching. The figure on the knees shouted: “We’ll fall…!” Feeling her breasts crushing his shoulders, Banagher finally managed to get himself out of confusion and responded: “I’ll think of something.” before looking at the current state of the inner wall after the high speed rotation. The 'Torohachi' didn’t have the inertia to go back up again, and its strength wasn’t going to match the relative speed of the inner wall—having made such a conclusion within a second, Banagher again grabbed the control stick.

He used the maximum amount of thrust to make the 'Torohachi' move forward, trying his body to control the machine at a constant height while it descended. It moved onto the road that was located between the light industrial area and the residential area. Even though the speed was estimated to be more than 200km per hour, and that it would continue to accelerate with the wind flow, but there was a difference of 400km per hour in terms of relative speed. Once he checked to see that there were no vehicles or humans, Banagher muttered deep inside his heart “I can do this.” and deliberately lowered the height of the 'Torohachi' and flew into a group of buildings.

The 'Torohachi' looked like it was trying its best to keep its thruster boost working as it continued to move towards the road with the space colony still rotating. It descended till 5m tall, went through the crane while under the high speeds of the wind, and struck from behind by the air. The height continued to descend. On seeing the rear view mirror, Banagher evaded the street lights and the electronic cars that were moving, and just when the height meter was about to reach zero, he shouted: “Brace for impact!”

The feet of the ‘Torohachi’ hit the road, and suddenly, the machine that was gripped by the centrifuge force was tilted backwards like it was knocked away, causing an impact where one could imagine bones scattered all over the place. The impact and echoes rang in the brain, and the safety gasbags shot out from the control panel. While feeling intense pain from the safety belt and the tense shoulders and the touch as he held that slender waist with his alms, Banagher’s consciousness was lost in the turmoil. The loud sounds that surrounded him and the jerks on the machine that was lying face up on the road were gradually moving further away, and the fragments of the asphalt road that was smashed covered his darkened vision. Then, his vision seemed to have what looked like cables used for a cable car, and finally, a large impact struck, and he was then surrounded in darkness.

The dirt that was raised up by the windshield fell through the cracks and landed on face. (Kinkyuu, Kinkyuu), Haro continued to make noises and caused Banagher to wake up. He felt the pain on his neck and shoulders, frowned and looked up at the sky through the thoroughly broken windshield. The bright and familiar sky was right in front of him. The streets on the inner wall at the respective positions were also basked in light such that it’s hard to even tell that it was an artificial sun giving off light. This was a sealed off space colony’s vague sky.

On his chest, there was a face that was unconscious as it was lit by the light—Banagher wasn’t completely awake as he saw the stranger’s face as she was lying on his chest. What couldn’t be called a figure but a real human was a girl of about the same age as she was. The hair that was blown wildly had a beautiful beige color to it, and the delicate skin that was thoroughly white had some red in it. The eyes he saw at that moment—the bright jade-colored eyes that had such a deep impression on him were hidden under the long eyebrows.

There was a soft human smell and the smell of perfume coming out from her hair, floating into Banagher’s nose that was used to gasoline. His heartbeat started to accelerate at this moment. Banagher gently put the girl’s body away from him, checked that she was still breathing, and left her on the seat before climbing out of the cockpit.

It seemed that the ‘Torohachi’ seemed to have broken through the railing of the green park, dug some lawn and crashed into the hill. The short body was half buried in dirt. Even though it couldn’t be seen from here, the surface of the track should be rather defaced like the devastation caused by a landing of a meteor.

There wasn’t anyone around, and the morning brought some light amounts of mist in the park. It was so quiet that only the voices of sparrows could be heard. If it was on a bright day where many people were walking around…thinking about this, Banagher finally realized that he was in big trouble as his knees started to tremble. The police and the fire department would be here immediately, creating lots of commotion in this entire space colony, and he may be arrested. He wanted to save someone, but he drove a mini mobile suit around recklessly and destroyed the streets. Things weren’t going to be dealt with so easily, and he may even be expelled—

Suddenly, his ankle was grabbed and tugged at hard. Banagher, who was standing on the Torohachi, unexpectedly lost his footing, and fell before he could even shout out.

His face and stomach hit the bare ground, and the pain could be felt through his nostrils. He couldn’t breathe for a moment, but Banagher still used both hands to try and get up. However, someone pressed down on him, and Banagher’s face was buried in dirt again.

“How are you!?”

Banagher was held down on the floor by the person who let out this voice, had his head pressed down on the floor and his arms twisted behind his back. Unable to move, Banagher tried to turn around to see who was the one speaking, and shown in one corner of his eyes was those pair of jade-colored eyes.

The refined jade-colored eyes were giving off a cold stare as they looked down at him. Banagher moved his sandy mouth that was filled with dirt and murmured: “And you even ask how I am…”

“I saw you floating near the sun, so I…”

Banagher still couldn’t understand why this slender looking girl was using a hard militaristic tone to talk and hold him down. The girl still did not let her guard down. At this moment, Haro didn’t seem to understand what was going on as it spoke “Banagher, Banagher, are you alright?” and went about the head. The girl seemed to turn her head around, see the Haro that was bouncing around inside the ‘Torohachi’, and slightly removed the grip of her right hand on Banagher. “You’re a citizen of this colony?” Once Banagher nodded his head, she finally released Banagher on the neck before getting up.

Before Banagher could even regain his freedom and stand up, the girl had climbed into the ‘Torohachi’s cockpit, seemingly checking the control panel to see whether it was still powered. The girl didn’t apologize nor thank him as she merely said ‘this can still move’, causing Banagher to blink in a bewildered manner.

“I’m in a rush here. Can you send me to the entrance of the colony builder?”

The girl poked her upper body from the control panel and said that nonchalantly. “Space builder…you mean the ‘Snail’?” Banagher asked back, and the girl confirmed this with her determined expression.

“No way. That’s not allowed. And you have to get to the hospital first.”

“You caught me well, so I wasn’t hurt. Please, it’s urgent.”

“I told you I can’t! I’m already going to get punished for operating this. I may even get my license revoked!”

While Banagher tried to explain himself, the girl listened as she gave a doubting ‘Why must you resist me’ look, and it seemed that both of them lost it and in another world altogether. However, the girl still remained calm. She jumped off the cockpit and muttered: “There’s no time.” with her words obviously sounding a little anxious.

“I have to find someone and talk to him. The situation can’t be saved if we don’t go faster.”

“What? Is something going to happen?”

“A war. There’ll be a large-scale war again. We can still stop it if we move now.”

Banagher’s heart pounded as he looked at the girl’s eyes. The deep jade-colored eyes didn’t look like they lost their sanity, and neither did they look like they were hoping for any agreement. It’s just a strong will that showed that she had to do it. Banagher felt attracted to that strength of hers. He would have nodded his head immediately if not for the sirens of the patrol cars.

The sirens of the patrol cars weren’t coming from one direction, but from many. The girl turned around to look back before looking straight at Banagher in the eyes for him to quickly decide. He held back the throbbing in his heart and looked away from the girl, saying: “Sorry, I can’t do this.” The girl lowered her jaw and looked grim immediately, using this chance to give Banagher a cold stare.

“How spineless…!”

She muttered and ran off without looking back. That voice stabbed deep inside Banagher’s heart, and a pain that was even sharper and pronounced than his own injuries permeated throughout his entire body as he watched the girl go.

“What’s with her…”

As he casually left these words, Banagher remembered that he didn’t have time to ask for her name. As the girl’s profile vanished in the morning fog, what replaced them was the large number of patrol cars giving off blurry red lights through the fog as they entered Banagher’s eyes.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[KSGU:Volume_1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Gundam Unicorn|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[KSGU:Volume_1_Chapter_2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-05-02T04:04:23Z

115.77.135.185: /* Part 9 */

==Chapter 1==

===Part 1===

The alarm inside the ship sounded. That wailing sound gave goosebumps but caused the mind to calm down gradually. The girl went near the ship window on the wall.

Looking out from the plastic board window, it was an outer space of vacuum. Right now, neither the Earth nor the moon could be seen as only the starry spots that filled the sky lit up the silent darkness. This ship should be moving forward at a very fast speed, but the stars outside the window weren't moving at all. It was like being locked in a still darkness.

The girl recalled how she would ask the maidservant the reason behind this phenomenon as she didn't understand them. The extremely patient Lamias would give a beaming smile and say: Princess, that's because the stars are too far away, so they didn't discover us moving...

That was the excuse the adults gave, but it wasn't without sincerity. The 17-year-old girl already knew all this. Lamias was a good maidservant, but she was already dead for almost 10 years. The girl's youth was shrouded in mystery, and the certain person who was called a princess remained in her memories—the past she bore had to be erased for a while from now on.

Thus, she didn't need a name right now. She was just a nameless person who was going to where she should be going to, to meet the person she should be meeting as she got herself stowed aboard this ship. That was all.

“Hurry up and scatter the Minovsky Particles. Get to combat levels!”

“One enemy ship. Most like a Clop-class battleship.”

“That's not an ordinary patrol. It had already planned on an ambush in this space area. There will be an enemy mobile suit attacking. Don't let your guard down.”

Through the broadcast inside the ship, the wireless communication started to reach the ears. They had already scattered Minovsky Particles that could disrupt electromagnetic waves and jam electronics like radar, but it was possible to communicate inside the ship. As the deep operating sounds of the machine rang with the people's voices, the girl heard the low grunt of the ship captain, Suberoa Zinnerman and looked out at the darkness outside the window.

Just now, she saw the pink light fly outside the window. It was the glow of the mega-particle cannon. Due to the development of Minovsky Physics, the high energy beam weapons glowed. The Earth Federation was shooting at this ship to capture it. This ship ignored the command to stop and continued to spray Minovsky particles as it accelerated. The next shot wouldn't be a warning shot. The enemy should have realized that a civilian ship couldn't be this fast.

The concentrated mega-particles that came over at lightspeed would immediately pierce through the armor n this ship if it was a direct hit. Even if it only grazed by, the high temperature of the particles that flew by may open a hole on the wall. The girl kicked herself off the wall of this dim cabin and moved her body to the cupboard in the corner of the room. In the cupboard that designated as a storage and fastened due to the zero gravity environment, there was 3 days worth of food and water she smuggled in, and also a spacesuit.

The girl then pulled the things out, and used the inertia to push her body about, using zero gravity to quickly put on the spacesuit. This cabin was hardly used, so it was used as a storeroom to put stuff inside. Once the ship gets damaged, the life support system would be cut off first. In this case, the likely situation of a vacuum occur, or the supplies that was fastened to the wall or the floor would be frozen. The girl didn't want to think of the worst case scenario where she could be sent flying out of the ship and put on the large worker spacesuit helment.

(Enemy ship's shooting high energy. 2 of them, approaching fast.)

(Its a mobile suit.)

(It seemed to have went past the 'Getas'. Estimated time of contact, T-minus 320.)

(We'll be caught up before we enter the dark wasteland space...alright, hurry up and send Marida out. Let her go chase the flies away.)

Though they looked like shipping crew members, the bridge members all had combat experience and sounded very calm. Right now, they would definitely be in spacesuits and moving to the bridge where the red light is flashing. The girl remembered the bridge that was as cramped as the cockpit in a plane, remembered the thoroughly moustached face of Zinnerman as he sat on the captain's seat, and she wondered whether she should tell them that she was here. If a battle began, it would be best for her to be in the safe protected zone. If she was revealed as a stowaway, she would definitely be sent over there. If she died here without being discovered, it would really be a futile death.

No—she couldn't. If they knew that she was on board as a stowaway, Zinnerman may change the projected course and turn back to the 'Palau'. Even if he didn't, she would be locked up and watched tightly. She wouldn't be able to achieve her aim, she wouldn't be able to got out, and she wouldn't be able to meet the person she had to meet. And this outcome would cause the deaths of even more people.

This was the only chance. The girl told this to herself. She knew that this was a reckless act, but there was no other way. This was to prevent Earth from being covered in battle and causing many housands of people to die. She could only do that...

(The ‘Kshatriya’s ready for launch.)

(Target the enemy Mobile Suits. Ignore the mothership. This Garencieres’ speed is enough to shake them off.”

Once Zinnerman said with the deep coarse voice, a clear female voice (understood) could be heard. The girl remembered the face of the solidary woman, Marida Cruz, who should be of the same age as she was, and looked outside the window. The silver form of the field entered her eyes, and the numerous scale powder-like glitter entered her eyes. The shutter suddenly appeared covered the windows as the ship—the ‘Garencieres’ was entering battle mode, and all the windows had the protective shutter on.

The only image screen was on the inside part of the bridge window, and the protective shutter on the inside of the cabins didn’t have such a convenient function. The girl left the wall and hid her body in the gap between the boxes. Under the light of a weak standing lamp, she used the tape amongst her supplies to tie her hands together and gathered her consciousness onto the wireless communicator inside the helmet.

She will die when the time was right anyway. Instead of looking outside to scare herself, she might as well gather as much information as possible to deal with the current situation. She was calmly and clearly telling herself this as she tucked her knees in and hugged herself in the spacesuit.

Suddenly, she felt a chill. It was a chill that the life support of the spacesuit couldn’t adjust, a chill that entered deep inside her heart. As she often got involved with the battlefield when she was young, her body was already numb to the fear of it, and this chill seemed to be the price. The girl let herself be the instrument of silence as she closed her eyes and waited for the chill to fade.

===Part 2===

The transport ship ‘Garencieres’ was 112m in full length, and it was cone-shaped. The maximum capacity it could bear was over 500 ton. The front end had a bridge that was shaped like the front end of a plane. The shape of the ship made it look like the designer factored in air resistance, and one could tell that it could fly in the atmosphere, and could be used as a transport vehicle between space and Earth. It was an old model that was commonly used by all the shipping companies in the past, but was hardly seen today.

As indicated by the word ‘Ribakoona Trading’ on the side, the ‘Garencieres’ was registered as a civilian transport ship, but in reality, that wasn’t the case. Right now, the shutter on the back of the ship was slowly opening, and the sliding suspension of cargo was slowly opening. What opened from the bottom of the cone was a crane that was suspended by the cone—the place that was supposed to be carrying cargo had a human-shaped giant robot fastened there.

It had 4 limbs that were somewhat thick at the end, and the bulge at the front of the waist had a mouth-shaped armor. The head looked like a rooster’s crown and also like something that was poking out, and then there was a one-eyed laser sensor. The almost 20m humanoid frame had 4 wing-like pods that was about as large as the main body on its shoulders. This dark green machine should be called a giant, and the shape was way too mysterious. However, its humanoid appearance was way too defined to be called something else. In this age, amongst mobile suits—human-shaped mobile weapons that had the power of a main weapon, this machine’s profile was somewhat strange. However, its abdomen had a cockpit like many mobile suits, and it was covered in many layers of a ball-shaped cockpit, and the pilot in the spacesuit was already over there operating it.

“Target captured. Abandoning the ‘Geta’. There’s a ‘Jegan’ that’s somewhat fast, possibly a commander type.”

Marida Cruz looked through the full screen that’s displayed on the inside wall of the cockpit, and a small window showed the specs. She said without emotion, (This means it’s not a coincidence that we met?), and Captain Zinnerman responded through the wireless communicator.

(We’ll be entering the dark wasteland space. Hurry up and finish it off before coming back.)

“Understood, master.”

''Don’t call me master.'' Before these usual words came, Marida heard Zinnerman breathe in a more tense manner than before. The reason they would meet the Federation ship here was that it was rare of them to patrol around here. However, it was really abnormal for a trading ship that was on its designated course and even check for inspection. They even sent out specially equipped mobile suits. ''This may be because the Federation Army already knew our side’s true identity and objective and set an ambush in the space field.'' To Zimmerman, he had to deduce who leaked the information and wonder what to do next.

''That’s right, the next step…Master, he didn’t need to bother about this. I exist for this.'' Ignoring all other thoughts, Marida put the hand on both left and right control sticks—the hemisphere Arm Raker that could allow all 5 fingers to be gripped together.

“Marida Cruz, ‘Kshatriya’, launching.”

As the restraints on the machine were released, the abnormally shaped mobile suit—'Kshatriya' slowly descended down the hangar. It wasn't really accurate to call it 'descending' when there's no concept of up or down in outter space, but the machine that was being dangled had this feeling as it was released from the hangar of the ship at the bottom. Marida released the activation control thrusters and moved under the 'Garencieres' until she was more than 100m away from the ship, and stepped on the pedal. The four main thrusters on the pods let out white light at one go. The 'Kshatriya' got away from the inertial motion of the of the 'Garencieres', spun and soon got behind and approached its target.

In the planet-shaped cockpit that was 1.5m in diameter, there was the screen of a full 360 degrees scnery. The intense rays of the stars entered Marida's eyes, and a bystander would feel that it looked like Marida's cockpit was suddenly in the midst of stars, and that she was flying in the stars. However, the image of outer space that was depicted all around wasn't a real scene, but a computer-depicted outer space that used special effects of constellations as locators.

In one area, there were 3 of these targets after the visual was enlarged. Right now, the optical sensor merely managed to capture the distance, so it was a rough CG. But in contrast, the model number of the data RGM-89 was rather clear itself. It was the mainstream mobile suits of the Earth Federation, the 'Jegan'. Amongst the trio, the one leading the attack was a special type that had an S behind, and they continued to abandon the Geta as they scattered and closed in. 'Geta' was the common name for mobile suits' flight packs when they attack from long range, and the use was to act as a flat bed that transport the mobile suits from below and send them into space battle. It could be said to be a miniature boat that replace the mobile suits legs, but Marida didn't know the origin of the name 'Geta'.

The three mobile suits were each wielding the main weapon, the beam rifle as they closed in—Marida sensed that the enemies wanted to surround her from outside beam weaponry range and surround from 3 directions, and made the first judgment that 'the battle was difficult'. It wasn't difficult to take down 3 'Jegar', but missing one would cause the defenses of the 'Garencieres' to be unstable. Marida wasn't being confident or bold as she merely used her head to think of how to handle the situation right now, and let her mobile suit decelerate suddenly.

The 4 pods swung forward, and the main thrusters spurt flames in the opposite direction, causing the Kshatirya's speed to immediately go from meters per second to meter per minute and finally, terminal velocity. As the back bore the sudden force of slowing down, Marida endured the discomfort of the eyeballs feeling like it was going to fly out and the fingers swelling as the blood flowed back, and muttered, 'Funnel'.

The numerous exhaust lights on the inside of the pods shot out as 2 small objects came from each of the 4 pods, 8 of these 2m things altogether. They moved as per normal, and as they stopped around the 'Kshatriya', they activated their thrusters and rushed to their targets like a bullet.

[[Image:KSGU 084.jpg|thumb]]

The sensor cannons were like its name, funnel, as the conical shaped objects gathered together and then dispersed, striking the 'Jegars' that were still outside shooting range. This wasn't automatic control, and neither was it mechanical long-range control. In a battlefield that was full of Minovsky particles, it was impossible to use electromagnetic waves to control it, and it was impossible to use a computer to launch an attack on one spot. This weapon, the funnel, is controlled by the pilot's brainwaves.

The Psycho communicator—commonly know as psycommu, the brainwave guiding system would use the brain signals of the pilot, magnify it and send the instructions to the unit sensor cannons. The brainwaves are also called psycho waves, and it could cause the Minovsky particles to react. Thus, it didn't have the risk of being interfered with like normal electronic waves. As long as the pilot had ability, the funnels could be said to be completely invincible in the current battlefield. As the Minovsky particles would prevent all electronic devices from working, and as it was required to use a large golem like this kind of mobile suit to protect the body and engage in close range combat on the battlefield, the funnels truly became a flight equipment.

Of course, not everyone could use it. Even though it went through many improvements, the psycommu system would still bring a lot of physical and mental stress to the pilot. However, Marida could operate it better than anyone. More accurately, she was 'created' to be able to operate the funnels.

The funnels that split up continued to spin as they attacked the two 'Jegar' behind. Due to the size, the funnels could be easily mistaken for space dust, and even with optical sensors, it would be hard to capture them visually. The funnels shot out the thrusters that were acting as its controls in a short time and gradually bound the 'Jegars' down before shooting out lasers. The Mega-particles energy beams let out pink glows and shot through the Jegars that didn't detect the enemy approaching at all. The psycommu was only equipped with a small rechargeable battery, and so the intensity of the light was really small and didn't have much energy. However, they do have the power to shoot through a mobile suit's armor. The pilots who were suddenly attacked panicked and started shooting beam shots all around messily. However, the funnels continued to destroy the Jegars' machine frames bit by bit. The transfer fluids continued to shoot out from the critical areas like blood, and the Jegars that were smaller than the green Kshatriya were painfully struggling. At this moment, the funnels were like a flock of killer sharks that hunted down a whale as they lunged forward to attack—

1, 2. Without checking for the lights of explosions, Marida sensed that the two Jegars were already blown to bits and concentrated on the remaining special unit. Though the backups were already destroyed, the unit didn't slow down at all as it continued to close it. Marida decided that there was no need to let out new funnels and again pushed the Kshatriya forward.

The psycommu captured the exterior of that specially equipped unit that was more like a human and had added armor and thrusters. Before it entered the Kshatriay's range, the recoilless rocket launcher the Jegar was wielding let out a flash, and a physical bullet that was 380mm in diameter was shot at the Kshatriya. This hi-firepowered shot was about the size of a normal recoilless rifle on a mobile suit, and though it had the disadvantage of being small, the destructive power it had when it attacked would be larger than a beam weapon. Right now, it was in shotgun mode, and as it explode, the hundreds of metallic balls that scatter would attack the Kshatriya. However, Marida expected it beforehand and dodged with the minimal of movements. The pilot of the special equipped mobile suit seemed to have also expected it to be dodged and used the scattered pellets as a smokescreen, shooting the thrusters out and getting above the Kshatriya.

Then, as if to prove the reason why humanoid weapons were so valued, the battle became a typical mobile suit battle that would be commonly seen in this era. The specially equipped Jegar's missile launcher again shot out another shotgun and let out the missiles that were equipped on the shoulders. The Khastriya activated its main thruster to move up and grazed past the missiles that attacked. She then deployed the 4 pods horizontally, spun the mobile suit and changed 90 degrees and moved forward. The Kshatriay saw through the Jegar's trajectory, and the short and fat body slipped into the dark outer space to get the initiative.

Normally, only the exhaust from the thrusters is needed to change directions in the vacuum of outer space. However, mobile suits had another system commonly known as AMBAC. Though there's no gravity in outer space, the mass of objects themselves weren't gone, and a Newton's worth of push would require a Newton's worth of force, and the force required would be equivalent to the force exerted. The principal behind the AMBAC system is that it uses the law of having equal and opposite reactions when there's an action to control the movement of the machine—the means to control any mobile suits' limbs, and using the recoil to change directions. This was the biggest reasons why the mobile suits were the strongest weapons that stood far above the rest in the same era.

The Kshatriya skilfully used its 4 thick and large limbs and 4 pods to manoeuvre as it closed in on the Jegan in a complicated trajectory. The two machines' thrusters were glowing, and these two humanoid robots seemed to be dancing in outer space. The explosions of the bullets flashed on both sides' visuals. As the explosions occurred, Marida immediately closed in on the enemy. The Kshatriya's pods opened out like a blooming flower, and with the petals at the metal, the one eye on the head was shining. Looking from away, it looked like a flower with the humanoid shape as a human. The metallic flower was covered with beams, and it used the explosive impact to release what's the most savage and beautiful flower in outer space.

This scene was depicted on the optical sensor on the Jegan's visor, and both machines were within several meters of each other where they could use the optical sensor to look at each other—in outer space, this would be an extremely close distance. The battlefield that's affected by Minovsky particles had to be done from close range, and thus it was common to see machines go at each other close. And at this moment, there was a need for a primitive showdown, which was why mobile suits were designed as humanoids.

The moment she was about to cross the Jegar, Marida switched from the firearms to the beam saber and aimed the crosshairs at the abdomen of the Jegar. The Ksatriya grabbed the handle of the beam saber, drew it out from the wrist and used the mechanical five fingers to grab it. The particles of light that shot out from the handle that was more than 10m hacked into the Jegar's abdomen.

The Jegar seemed like it wanted to draw the beam saber, but it reacted too slowly. The beam saber that could cut through 30cm thick metal in a second melted through the Jegar's abdomen, and the sound that sounded similar to metal metally struck Marida from through the suit.

(Damn you, 'Sleeves'...!)

At the same time, she heard the voice of the pilot, even though she did not know whether it was wireless interference or a sense other than her hearing. No matter what, things ended here. The beam saber slashed through the armor of the Jegar, going straight through the cockpit, immediately vaporizing the pilot and hacking the entire machine in half. The nuclear reactor inside the Jegar couldn't explode as the machine was hacked in half at the waist and floated away. The burnt remains were still giving off sparks, and the machine body floated beside this enemy called the 'Sleeve' and silently went away.

Marida silently watched the remains of the enemy move away as she kept her beam saber. The wrist of the Kshatriya had a place to keep a beam saber and also had a crest that looked like a wing, something that looked like a sleeved decoration. The mobile suits of the organization Marida belonged to had such a design, which was why the Federation called them 'Sleeves', but that wasn't important to Marida at all.

No, not just the nickname, even the ideal of being an Anti-Earth Federation organization and the content of this mission wasn't important. Humans were animals that would think and had curiosity, but Marida felt that this definition wasn't suited for her.

Just like how a man was a man and a woman was a woman, Marida Cruz was born to be a pilot, and to live as a pilot. To follow her master's orders and destroy the enemy mobile suits. Perhaps the Garencieres should have entered the dark wasteland space region before the mothership chased over. Right now, she had to return back to the ship as soon as possible, do damage inspection on the Kshatriya, readjust and resupply. Once she's done, she would prepare for the next launch and get as much rest as possible. She wouldn't do anything else, and wouldn't think of anything else. Marida didn't feel that she was unnatural like this, and she didn't feel sad about this.

However—once the battle end, as she release her tense state after having concentrated for so long, the empty soul would feel some pain. The emotions she suppressed in the battlefield would awaken, and her mind would complain about the unhappiness. As the fire of the funnels pierced through the machines, it felt that the psycommu installation went in reverse as she felt really complicated, uneasy about the cries of the pilots before they died that entered her mind. When she sliced the special equipped mobile suit, it felt like she personally sliced a pilot to death, and the muscle cringe before he died would cause an uneasiness in both her mind and soul...after recalling the funnels, Marida switched back to full screen view to let the surroundings show the actual outer space.

Marida reached up to take off the helmet of her spacesuit and loosened the hair that was tied behind her head. The waist-length straight hair was scattered aside, and the healthy hair an 18-year-old should have appeared right in front. But Marida's eyes were staring at the entire starry sky that filled her eyes.

If there wasn't any special reasons, the cockpit of the mobile suit wouldn't show the real outer space. It's not just because it was hard to capture, but also the risk that the pilot may panic. The real outer space was so dark, grim and filled with emptiness that look like it would swallow all existence. However, Marida liked it this way.

During the short time before she returned back to the ship, she took off her helmet and relaxed her entire body as she remained in the vacuum of vast emptiness. This would let her feel that the uneasiness inside her would be washed away, and each star would perform a music that she never heard before, bringing her to another place. That's an outer space that didn't have war, didn't have unhappiness, and that people didn't need space suits.

Of course, such a place didn't exist. Outside this cockpit was a space of vacuum that humans couldn't survive in and a reality that had lots of problems—the human social circle called the Earth's boundary. Marida adjusted the main camera of the Kshatriya and looked at Earth that looked only the size of a tennis ball from here.

Like many space migrants, she had never stepped onto Earth once. Marida knew from the black object that was floating in front of the blue body that the target was near. Floating on the Lagrange point between the Earth and the Moon was the rubble of the past war, as numerous destroyed space colonies and spaceships were located at this dark wasteland space.

Humanity created space colony settlements on five Lagrange points known as Sides, and most of humanity had been living in outer space for almost 100 years. The wounds of this grand-scale war was so deep, and the dark wasteland space was one of them. The place people used to call Side 5 was no longer there as what remained was a space graveyard of countless frozen remains—and Marida and the rest's destination, the 'Industrial 7' should be located deep inside this graveyard.

Right now, it was impossible to find it through the large amount of rubble, but she did find the Garencieres who made a move first. Marida again checked to see if there were any pursuers behind her before pushing the Kshatriya on. The nuclear rocket engine sounded through the machine as it jerked, and the force of acceleration remained on her uneasy body. The helmet that was dragged behind hit the screen and let out a light thud.

===Part 3===

Ah, I’m so out of it today-Banagher Links thought that moment he woke up, and then stopped the alarm clock that was set to vibration mode.

As he carried it to sleep, the alarm clock that became rather warm showed 4.20am. After checking the time, he stealthily got off the bed. It was still pitch black outside. Inside the two-man hostel room, the two beds, desks and dressing tables were still covered in darkness. It was so quiet that only the sound of the clock ticking away by seconds, and his roommate Takuya Irei snoring away on the other bed could be heard.

Of course, it’s impossible for a room with 2 stinky guys inside to be clean as there’s things like clothing that were taken off and empty cans. However, there’s still some orderliness in the mess as Banagher grabbed his shirt and jeans, got off the bed without turning on the lights, and tiptoed his way to the bathroom. He quickly finished combing and washing himself, and then looked at the mirror at the sink.

He had dark brown colored eyes and a skin color of an old Middle Eastern Blood. The long hair of his was of the same color as his eyes, and it was rather smooth even if he didn’t take care of him. On seeing that 16-year-old boyish face of his that was so ordinary and nothing special, that disjointed feeling rose up in him. However, this feeling only continued until he put on that only coat he had.

The blue-based fireproof fibers had the logo ‘AE’ sewn on it. It was the jumper of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, and the logo of the main company Anaheim Electronics was sewn on the left side of the chest. This jumper wasn’t really so good looking that it could be worn outside practical lesson, but Banagher modified the extra jumper he bought and used it as plainclothes. The main modification was at the pocket on the collar. The crest of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, AEIC looked like it was removed. Of course, he wasn’t the one who removed it, but that he found a second-hand shop he was familiar with to do the job.

After putting on his clothing to suppress that ‘disjointed’ feeling, what replaced it was the realism of him being part of the large enterprise Anaheim Electronics. After slapping his face to keep himself awake, Banagher left the bathroom, checked that his roommate was still in dreamland, and intended to silently move towards the exit. However, he accidentally kicked into an object the size of a basketball on the floor.

(Hello, Banagher. Hello, Banagher.)

The two circle disks on the ball-shaped body flapped out like ears, and the impact from the kick caused Haro to be activated as it spoke in a monotone voice. Banagher frantically tried to hold down the Haro that was moving on its own and growled softly, “Quiet, Haro!” But it was too late. Takuya, who had the pillow covering his head, sniggled about, and the moment his eyes met Banagher’s, who was about to leave, he got off the quilt and sat up.

“Damn it, Banagher! You don’t care about the agreement that we’re not supposed to run away?”

Takuya roared out. His tea-colored hair was all messy, and he even forgot to wipe away the drool on his head. Though the impression his roommate give was like a big brother who was very affectionate, his popularity would likely decrease when girls see him like this. However, Banagher didn’t have time to think about this and answered back, “Didn’t you adjust the clock faster by 5 minutes, Takuya?” and carried Haro out of the apartment. Banagher put Haro on the door of the hostel and ate the sandwich he bought yesterday. Haro was jumping energetically like a ball out through the automatic door that led to the corridor.

He ran through the school campus that was linked to the hostel, ran through the stairs that linked the school atrium and the road, and arrived at an electronic carpark. The carparks that were managed by the computers automatically send the vehicles over to the locations where the highest frequency of use was. With an ID card, anyone can use it. Banagher bit onto the sandwich and sat inside the open two-seater electronic car, used his ID card to insert into the slot and pressed the start button, grabbed the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

(Very improper, Banagher.)

Perhaps realizing that Banagher was holding the sandwich with one hand and the steering wheel with the engine, Haro’s two optical sensors flickered as it said. Haro, which had a first-level artificial intelligence in its’ ball-shaped body, was supposed to be a toy robot that’s marketed at kids, and would thus say it like this. This shouldn’t be a toy that should belong to a vocational student that’s of the equivalent of high school, but Banagher modified it and carried it around like a pet.

The streets before daylight were rather quiet. Banagher swallowed the sandwich and looked through the windshield glass of this electric and looked up at the sky. Through the clouds that were scattered in the night sky, there were numerous lights flickering through. They look like shines from the stars, but they’re not. Those were the night lights that came from the windows of shops, factories and skyscraper windows that were opened through the night. It’s the city lights that just so happened to be in the opposite direction from here. The carpet of lights that was about 6000m above in the sky covered the entire sky with a gradual arc. On the gap that linked to the skyscrapers, one could see the lights go all the way to the sky right in front. If any residents that were in the opposite direction were to see the sky, the headlamps of this electric car and the surrounding street lights would look like stars too.

The artificial ground that was built within the large cylinder had houses, office buildings, parks and other important things that made up the streets built on it. The internal structure of space colonies were almost all like this. The cylinder that’s 6.4km in diameter would spin in a definite speed, creating a centrifuge force inside the walls, creating 1G’s worth of gravity that’s similar to Earth. The artificial Earth that’s stuck on the inside of the earth, plate areas that’s 3.2km in size and 1.6km deep. Thus, the inside wouldn’t look like it would follow the inside of the ground. At the most, the joints of the plates would look a little slanted.

Day and night inside the space colony was created through the mirrors outside or through the artificial sun at the core, which also had the function of the of adjusting the temperature and creating the four seasons. The time setting was set as Greenwich Time, and the temperature itself was set to the Northern Hemisphere. Unless there’s special uses for sightseeing, this basic setting was used for all the space colonies. Thus, right now, on the 7th of April, 4.330am now, the residential area itself wasn’t too hot or too cold, and most of them were still in middle of night. Also, just like this ‘Industrial 7’, the numerous space colonies were also waiting for spring at night—of course, this include the billions of residents in the space colonies.

And as one of these billion of people, Banagher had been getting up before daylight to get to the dock to work. The work involved clearing ‘rubbish’ outside the space colonies. It was tough getting up early in the morning, but it was all okay since the general education periods could be used for sleep. It was more worth it to work 3 hours before lessons when the morning duty included extra day for night duty, more than working for 5 hours after school.

Takuya worked at the same place, but he got a mini mobile suit that had better work function, and the salary would increase with the work performance. Thus, they would race to see who would get out early. Though there’s a little gentlemanly conduct of not using underhanded means, it was all right if it was everything else, so Banagher and Takuya would think of ways to sneak out. Right now, the winning chances were about 50-50.

However, the two of them weren’t extremely poor students. They were studying in a vocational school where it’s compulsory for them to stay in the hostel, and they got their clothing and food secured. The most they only needed was some spare money. ''This is just a game,'' Banagher thought.

A game to shake my roommate off, getting a high capability mini mobile suit. A game to shake off studies, using work to get rid of boredom. Everyone’s the same too. Enjoying the game of student’s relaxation and not facing that ‘disjuncture’…

(Working all the time. At least study some more.)

It’s unknown how Haro realized this as it spoke these words that struck through him. Feeling that he was read through, Banagher answered back, “This is just outside studying!”

“The vocational students here will become future employees of Anaheim. It’s not a bad thing to test out this mini mobile suit first.”

On one hand, he wondered how he ended up making this kind of excuse, but on the other hand, he could be said to be really satisfied by this. Banagher again felt that ‘disjointed’ feeling. This was a future that he wouldn’t even dare to dream of a year ago, and as he look forward to the 12 years of wonderful future, he felt that he was just drifting with the flow like this, and yet feeling a little cold to himself for walking on the path others set in stone. However, he didn’t have anything else he really wanted to do. He would maintain his grades in the middle high tier, party around with others, and feel extremely out of place. The psychological state behind this trouble started when Banagher was small, and now it became his bad habit.

The electronic head moved through the residential area, entered the industrial area between the light industrial areas. Banagher parked the electric car at the carpark near a convenience store and walked down to the subway like usual. On thinking that he may be caught up by Takuya for being so slack, he kept his stupid bothers behind as his feet naturally quickened through the silent street.

Industrial 7 was one of the industrial space colonies Anaheim Electronics operate. Under the control of the space colonies association, the management of facilities were all controlled by Anaheim Electronics. Amongst the population of 2 million, more than half of them were workers or family members of Anaheim Electronics. Of the remaining, half of them, were of related enterprises or underground companies, and those who were unrelated to Anaheim were mostly civil servants working with government administration, policemen or firemen. They didn’t belong to any Side, and they didn’t have any self-government activity, so the Federation Army didn’t keep their army there. This space colony was basically Anaheim Electronics’ personal island.

After the war, Anaheim Electronics started to recover and absorb, becoming a large corporation called the ‘Spoon of the entire Space Army’. Thus, supermarkets, fast food chains and others in the commercial district would all have the logo of Anaheim Electronics. There would be movies sponsored by Anaheim Electronics, teams sponsored by Anaheim in away baseball games, and residents using AE credit cards to pay. Money would flow within the corporation, forming a structure where the money’s paid out and taken back. However, it was never forced, and done in a way residents would notice at all. This was the reason why Anaheim Electronics could become the largest corporation. Banagher glanced aside at the posters, where 80% of them were related to the corporation, got into the subway, and onto the platform.

The whole of the space colony Industrial 7 was just like a factory. At all times, there would be people working. However, there’s no real switch of shifts like morning peak hours. Thus, on the subway train, there’s only a collapsed drunk middle-aged man who was in his work clothes and a woman who looked like she was working in a night club and whose thick make-up was coming off. She didn’t notice Banagher as she looked emotionlessly outside the window. The expired smell of perfume inside the train would remind one of the smell of a hometown one gave up on. Banagher got onto a double seater and sat down.

The 3 layers of doors closed, and the subway train jerked slightly before moving from the platform to the tunnels leading to the outside of the space colony. It’s called the subway, but the subway in the space colonies weren’t underground, but rail tracks exposed on the outer walls of the space colony. In other words, it’s hanging on the tracks and transported outside the space colony—in outer space.

Soon after leaving the station, the air lock that was located at the ramp was locked from behind. Then, the air lock was opened from the front, and the train entered the outer space that’s full of vacuum. The sound of transport and air disappeared together through the subway, and in this silence that felt like the ears were stuffed, the monorail that went through the air lock slightly glide through the outer wall of the space colony.

As there was no air resistance, only a minimal amount of force would be required to move the subway train under high speed. In a space colony, this is an essential mode of transport efficiency, whether it’s to get to the dock or to take a cable car from the bottom of the ‘hill’, or even to ride the elevator up with an electric car. However, Banagher preferred to look at outer space from the subway train’s window as this place had a sense of release other places couldn’t provide.

There were also people who wouldn’t want to take the ride for fear of motion sickness. To create the centrifuge force of 1G, the space colony had to make one rotation about once every two minutes, and the speed would be a rotation speed of more than 600km per hour. If it were to follow the movement of the rotation, the subway train would find that outer space would continue to move, and to a passenger, it’s like shaking the bottom of a toilet bowl at high speeds. Of course, as it’s merely a really long rotation of more than 20km, it would merely look like the stars are moving. However, if one’s not caring, the mind would continue to feel dizzy after returning back to the space colony, and in worse cases, it would cause a severe psychological problem. That’s called the Coriolis Syndrome, a common environment illness amongst first generation space migrants.

However, to Banagher who was born in outer space and brought up in space colonies, looking out from the subway train to outer space was like looking through at an exhibition, something that’s merely a little different from daily life. Once he exit the space colony, he could clearly see the construction of Industrial 7 under way. Industrial 7 was between the Moon and Earth, a sealed space colony that orbited in L1 through the dark space region. It was shaped like a large oxygen cylinder, and the point that had a dock and a construction area was facing the Earth. On the other side that’s facing the Moon, there’s a population settlement building tool commonly called ‘Wheels’ that was covered up. After construction, it’s said that the cylinder would be 30km long. Right now, 18km was completed. Banagher suddenly remembered that there’s a new plate coming today.

The notice board at the hostel had the poster with the words ‘On 7th April, 1pm, there will be a new extension on a new plate which will cause inconvenience…’ and so on. This mean that there would be new artificial land added. The cylinder of Industrial 7 would be extended by another 6km, and the space colonies were floating amongst the large amount of rubbish in the last war. No matter how much it expanded, the world Banagher live in would be of such a size…

Just when Banagher was suddenly thinking about this as his mind thought of that ‘disjointment’, he saw a white object crossing through outside the window.

It wasn’t a star. It let out several exhaust of blueish-white lights, going underground through in a diagonal manner and flying over at a speed faster than the rotation of the space colony. It was only for a moment, and it looked only about the size of a small fingertip, but Banagher felt that the white afterimage that flew away looked human.

“Mobile suit…?”

That’s right, it was completely different from a mini mobile suit used for working. It was a real mobile suit. It wasn’t just a complete duplicate of a human’s dimensions as Banagher even saw the lone horn that was extended out. Industrial 7 didn’t have a factory to create mobile suits, so it couldn’t be a testing of new mobile suits here. Was the army nearby?

His pulse started to race for some reason, and his palms started to sweat. The uncanny resemblance to a white horse—no, the lone horn that gave the biggest impression made it not look like a mere white horse, but a mystical beast that appeared in legend. What was that name…

At this moment, the ‘disjointed’ world came, and it seemed that something that couldn’t be seen before appeared right in front of the eyes. However, he couldn’t find a way to describe this. Banagher put his face onto the window, wholeheartedly looking for the location of the white machine. The nightclub-styled woman who was sitting behind wasn’t moving, and the man in worker’s clothing was still sleeping and snoring loudly.

The train reached one end of the space colony cylinder and turned down the corner. The front end of the space colony looked like a round pressure tube that was sealed. The train moved onto the seal, and moved to the dock at the center—the docking bay. Banagher couldn’t find the white object and sat back. Above the windshield, one could see the docking bay linking to several large buildings near the commercial area, and the intense weight would make anyone gasp for breath. However, Banagher now didn’t care about it. he merely felt that the intense white remains in his eyes start to fade away, and that his heart started to beat wildly for some reason.

Everything began like this.

===Part 4===

The white machine moved through the space colony that was rotating in the vacuum and head off in the opposite direction of the docking bay, the side facing the Moon.

Similar to the other space colonies, the outer walls of Industrial 7 were of a blueish-silver color. However, it would change at the 18km point on the moon's side, becoming a tea-brown color. That's because the space colony building tool 'Wheel' was set on the front end of the Moon's side.

The wheel, that's 10km long and 6.4km in diameter like a normal space colony, looked like an Eastern teacup from afar, and what covered the space colony looked like a pencil case cover. Its work was to build the outer wall of the space colony and the plate block on the inside of the wall. Like the name 'Wheels' indicate, the space colony was 'created' out from the large cover. Once the outer wall that was built was aligned properly, the 'Wheels' would slide back until the estimated length before separating. The front end of the cover head an outlet to move the equipment and a workers' quarters, thus, even with the expansion work, the space colonies could continue to operate without being affected in any way.

And right now, Industrial 7 had the equipment of the 'Wheels' moved to the entrance—the bottom of the cup. Then, other machinery and equipment were moved in through that large machine. The white mass went by the outer wall of the 'Wheels', and in a short time, got to the Moon's side to the large machine called 'Magallanica'.

The 'Magallanica' was about 6,500m in length, and the long and thin center exposed the rotation residential area that's 1.6km in length. That unique shape earned it the moniker 'Snail'. On the two sides of the of the rotating residential areas, there were factories shown out, and they looked like little asteroids that were absorbing resources. The biological-like appearnance really fit its moniker. On the back of its main body, there's a nuclear pulse engine. Based on the fact that it could navigate on itself own, it could be said to be a giant spacesuit. However, it would be more appropriate to call it a mobile factory that had an engine due to its production ability to create, refine and even build space colonies. In fact, the Magallanica was classified as a builder of space colonies, and its dimensions were different from a spaceship.

And at an area of the Magallanica, at the place that's the equivalent to the head of s snail, there was an oval-shaped command center. The white machine slowed down right in front of it, used the AMBAC system to make a flip, grazed through the arc of windows in a bow shape and went up. There were many unmanned cameras following it, taking shots of several of the machine's parts. The main thruster on the back of the machine, the overall image of straight and curved contours and the complicated antenna that extended out from the forehead. These images were immediately analysed and shown on the multiple screens in the command room, shown into Cardeas Vist's eyes.

The dome-shaped command room that was more than 70m in diameter had a fan-shaped multi command system that gave a mixed impression between a command room of a ship that's parked and a control room of a base. On the inside of the walls of the dome-shaped space, it seemed to be filled with screens and only windows. What appeared at the middle fan-shaped metal board was a control scheme full of messages and controls. The Magallanica was a space colony builder that was meant to develop the area around Jupiter, and the command room that bore the responsibility of a central brain was large and magnificent. However, as it was now at Earth's vicinity, most of the control functions couldn't be used. Thus, only 1 quarter of the control seats were taken, and it looked somewhat relaxed.

However, every single person amongst these 20 control personnel looked rather serious,. They were staring at the multiple screens on the inside of the wall and recording the data they took down into the computers in their hands. The command room was filled with intensity, and it wasn't just because the overnight operation experiment was about to end, but that they knew that the 'UC project' itself was about to end. Cardeas, who was sitting on the command seat in this fan-shaped central command room, was also feeling this excitement.

Anaheim Electronics was requested by the Earth Federation to secretly carry out the 'UC project', and it would immediately end with the completion of this white mobile suit. However, that would be the start of the development of the plan.

The RX-0 'Unicorn', the product of this 'UC plan', would be born out of the darkness, where even the army and Anaheim wouldn't know, becoming the key onto a journey that would break a 100 year old curse. The machine that had the name of the beast of possibilities would bring release to the world or—

“RX-0, you're too close to the space colonies! The subway train's moving! What'll happen if a passenger sees it!”

An operator who also bore the secrecy of this job roared at the microphone. Cardeas was also sweating it when he saw the Unicorn close in on the outer walls of the space colony, but a daring pilot was a more reliable one. Cardeas gave a wry smile and said,

“Today's his last time piloting the 'Unicorn'. Forgive him.”

“Yes...” Even though he kept back his attitude, the operator still couldn't hide his emotions on his face as he looked at the screen. Even though he was a little overly serious, he was a rather good worker too, and Cardeas' wry smile made it even more obvious. Including the test pilots, all the workers here were Anaheim Electronics employees who were involved in the 'UC Project'. The Vist Foudation gave them a high salary in return of them to keep the company's secret and help Cardeas in his plan. Of course, every single one of them weren't people who could be bought over with money, and every one that helped out were outstanding technicians who hoped for the 'Unicorn' to be completed successfully.

Right now, the only one who wasn't a member of Anaheim Electronics was most likely Gael Chan, who was standing beside Cardeas. He was also the secretary and bodyguard. Gael, who was also of the military in the past like Cardeas, joked “As expected of what an ex-pilot would say.” He was in charge of maintaining the secrecy behind this project, and now, he should be undergoing foolproof security at the secret stronghold in Magallanica.

This man was once involved in the underground society, so he was clear with the dealings within the army and the police. If there was a need, he would do a dirty job without hesitation. Gael had a bitter look on his face, which made Cardeas feel that he had something to say. He whispered, “What's the matter.”

“We just made contact with our allies on Lunar II. A Londo Bell ship fought with the 'Sleeves', lost 3 mobile suits and let them get away.”

Gael whispered back. Londo Bell was an independent mobile squadron of the Earth Federation, and didn't have a designated control area. It was a brigade that would deal with things once there was something. The command system would obviously be different from usual, so it would be more like an external organization of the army.

And Londo Bell set an ambush around the dark space region and fought with the 'Sleeves'. To Cardeas, who had something really important to do, he couldn't leave it alone.

“So news were leaked. Did Londo Bell take any other action yet?”

“We've tried looking into news on the 'Londonio's side, but there's no information yet. The commander's really an upright person.”

“He's called Bright Noa, right? I saw him before on a television interview or something like that. Such a man...”

“RX-0 passed its final phase. All objectives complete.” The voice of the operator rang, and Cardeas looked back at the front. “Good work. The mental response to the G-force is within expectations.” “Pilot's lifesigns all all normal.” Voices of reports continued to echo, and Gael shut up behind and seemed to back away. ''Has it arrived?'' Cardeas rubbed his eyes, looked through the screen to see that the white machine had already entered back onto the trajectory and took the microphone off the control panel.

“Everyone, please swear this together with me. The activation experiment of the RX-0 has completely ended. Once it comes back, we're going to remove the test OS, seal the NT-D and activate the Laplace system.”

The air rumbled a little, and soon, the command room was covered in an urgent silence. As the workers floated under zero gravity right in front of the screen, they were grabbing their things nearby and looking at the chairman with nervous expressions.

“I'm grateful to everyone for taking part in this. The 'UC project' will never see the light of day, and everyone's accomplishment will not be passed through generations. However, I'll like to guarantee everyone that at this moment, where history will be changed, the Unicorn would play an important role. Before that day, I hope for everyone to remain silent about this and forget everything you heard here. The Vist Foundation will use its name to ensure everyone's safety. That's all.”

The 'safety' over here would mean that all the workers here would be watched by the Foundation. All their relationships and communication records would be thoroughly exposed—it's unknown how much the workers knew. Gael used his eyes to indicate to everyone to applaud, and after everyone clapped to scatter away this troubling atmosphere, Cardeas put down the microphone.

Now, all preparations were complete. The Unicorn would be sealed and handed to the recipient. If the recipient had that element within, the Unicorn would approach this recipient, carry him and lead him to 'Laplace Box'.

After that...it's impossible to predict. If the recipient didn't have that element, the seal of the Unicorn will not be broken—no, there's a bigger problem. There's no proof to indicate that such a person existed. No matter how much he thought, there wouldn't be such a beginning. Cardeas' conclusion was not to think about it. He told Gael behind him, “Proceed as according to plan.”

“Continue to track Londo Bell's movements. If we can't track the commander, we can still know of the fleet's movements if we follow their reinforcements.”

“Understood...but, aren't you going to reconsider?”

Grabbing onto the handle of the chair, Gael lowered his upper body and said to Cardeas. Cardeas looked at Gael's face.

“They not related to the Federation, but the 'Sleeves' is still a dangerous organization. There's no need for the head of the Vist Foundation to personally head out.”

On seeing Gael's expression that practically said “Think about your own age”, Cardeas couldn't help but grimace unknowingly. Even if this wasn't something really related to the Foundation, Cardeas didn't want to hand it over to other people. The reason was that if there was really someone who had such a nature, he wanted to see what kind of person that was.

“If you think of it that way, just do your work properly and safely and prevent causing trouble in this Industrial 7. Besides, there's a school I'm running here as the chairman.”

Cardeas said in a half-joking manner as he used the computer beside him to open the introductory page to Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. Gael didn't smile as he used his eyes to say 'is this really alright?' before leaving the command room. On seeing Gael's tall and huge body grab onto the handle on the corridor as he floated out, Cardeas looked back at the screen that had the logo of Anaheim Electronics and the school photo.

After keying in the special password for the chairman, Cardeas looked through the students' namelist that wasn't to be released. As Cardeas scrolled through the 5,000 students that were arranged in alphabetical order, he showed a designated person's photo on the screen, and sighed in a habitual manner.

Now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't use this place as one for dealing. However, there's no better place to hide from the eyes of the client and the developer, and there's no better place to install the Laplace system into the Unicorn. The industrial space colony Magallanica that belonged to Vist Foundation and Anaheim Electronics symbolized a good inseparable location that could fool the army and Anaheim, a secret garden to readjust the Unicorn. Cardeas silently watched the screen at the enlarged profile of the student.

Banagher Links. Currently of the Technical Resource development branch. 16 years old. As he looked at his birthday and the personal particulars, Cardeas again sighed as he looked back at the boyish face that seemed to represent his youth.

===Part 5===

The dock of the space colony would normally be called a docking bay, and it was a habit that remained from a long time ago when space development was under way. In that age when humanity finally found a way to send space stations into low orbit above Earth, the ships that went to and fro were just 'docking' with the space station. The scale of which the stopping point was used wasn't large enough to be called a 'bay'. There were also quite a few cases of space stations being linked to each other. Either way, the early space constructs were just relay platforms.

And right now, the docking bay that was located on the front end of the space colony had 7 space cabins of different sizes inside its cylinder-shaped construct, and the spaceship that entered the dock was merely stopped in zero gravity at the dock in space, waiting for the immigration check and other procedures. And the zero gravity industrial area of Industrial 7 was linked to the docking bay, so the construct that reached out from the space colony was larger than the other space colonies by a ring. Including the cylindrical docking bay, the entire length should be over 3.5km. The cylinder shaped factory in the industrial area, and each factory had a dock for transport ships to dock, so there weren't just 10, 20 ships that came in and went out of space. There were so many of them it was like fireflies surrounding a high pressure bottle.

4.15am. The Garencieres became one of the fireflies as it gradually approached the brand new docking bay of Industrial 7. The space colony that was half complete was still new, and the platform showed a dim glow as what was even more eye-catching was the solar panel. The 4 rows of rectangular solar panels that were 5km long were lined beside the space colony, and the surface was always facing the sun. The electricity obtained from the sun would be sent to the space colony via microwaves. To the space colony of Industrial 7 that is sealed off, this was a must.

Of course, it’s easy to get interference from electromagnetism when the electricity’s being transferred, so the energy panel wouldn’t be on the path where the ships were docked. However, the Garencieres grazed by the solar panels at a close distance and reduced its relative velocity with Industrial 7. Just when the sunlight that was reflected on a solar panel in a white panel was right near it, the hatch of the ship opened, releasing a mobile suit from the hangar.

There was a dark green body, pink glowing mono-eyed golem. This was the ‘Geara Zulu’, the supposedly main fighting force of the ‘Sleeves’ mobile suits. It looked like a middle-ages knight armor and also a soldier with a helmet and a gas mask. As it went past the solar panel, it was dropped off the Garencieres, using the shield on the right shoulder to reflect sunlight, and soon after, continued to let out bursts of thrust. Compared to the large solar panel, the human-shaped machine that was 20m in height was just like dust. Once it slipped through the gap behind the construct of the solar panel, it couldn’t be seen.

Less than 10 seconds passed. Even though the trajectory was cleared, the space region still had lots of space dust around, and the space control management couldn’t possible notice a ship’s mysterious actions. Even if there may be someone who was serious enough to take out a pair of binoculars to look, the light that’s reflected off the solar panel could cover it. Marida Cruz was looked behind at the solar panel, and again looked back at the bridge.

Located on both left and right sides were the steering seat and the navigation seat, and at the back where it was slightly higher, it was the captain’s seat. The bridge of the Garencieres was full just like that, and to those who didn’t have a seat, this wasn’t a place they could stay for long. However, the ceiling still had a definite height, so there wasn’t much problems under zero gravity. Under zero gravity, every could squeeze into this three dimension space.

“This will be long, but it’ll be over before the change. Just endure this.”

Sitting on the captain’s seat, Suberoa Zinnerman bellowed to the microphone. The old captain’s hat, brown leather coat and rough stubble of moustache made him look like the captain of an old trading ship. However, his eyes were sharp. The voice that came through the wireless communicator “Yes, captain.” Couldn’t hide its anxiety.

The one who spoke was the pilot of the Geara Zulu, Savoir. He will be hidden under the solar panel for one whole day and watch the outside of Industrial 7. They didn’t let the enemy know about the deal, but since they were ambushed by the Federation, they couldn’t believe the kind intentions of the other party completely. If they were thoroughly checked through once they entered the dock, Savoir’s Geara Zulu would wreck havoc.

In that case, not only will Marida’s Kshatriya sortie, but even the other Geara Zulu would launch too. And the pilot was Gilboa Sant. Right now, he was sitting on the navigation seat, busy explaining to the control officer why they were slightly off course. Gilboa’s 30 years old and had a friendly and approachable face. He had pure black skin that was rare to see nowadays, and also the father of 3 children. And on the steering seat on the other side was the 27 year old Flaste Schole. As compared to Gilboa, he gave off a cold and aloof vibe. Though his appearance looked rather unapproachable, he was really a good big brother who would take care of others, and the other members all trusted him. He was an acquaintance of Zinnerman for a long time, and the number 2 man supporting the captain from behind.

The entire look of the Garencieres squadron was of 33 members, including the sortie team of mobile suits and the crew of the ship. Amongst the ‘Sleeves’ that the Earth Federation declared to be ‘Terrorists that appear and disappear out of nowhere’, they could be said to be a specialized unit. With Captain Zinnerman leading the front, all the crew members were disguised as members of a trading ship, so they weren’t as rigid as a military organization. The main forces of the ‘Sleeves’ seemed to view them as radicals too; so it was like Zinnerman leading an independent group or an underground organization carrying out a mission. In fact, they received this mission precisely because of such a nature. Including the ambush from the Federation Army just now, the ship had an atmosphere of not knowing how to deal with this mission.

They were headed to Industrial 7 to collect the Laplace Box the Vist Foundation would provide. On first glance, it was a mission that anyone could do, a mission that even a delivery company could do. The only thing abnormal was that no one knew of the true identity of Laplace Box—

“We’ve passed the request completely. It seemed that the Harbor Authority was notified too, so we can dock without an investigation…I don’t understand.”

After ending the conversation with the Control Officer, Gilboa said worriedly. Marida looked over at him, and she could see a space gate that was the size of a thumb outside and the guiding lights.

“The thing we want is on the port on the other side, right? Why won’t they let us go there directly…since it’s connected to the builder of space colonies, wouldn’t it be easier to carry out the deal if we’re not allowed to go out normally?”

“That space colony was said to be Vist Foundation’s personal belonging. Most likely, they don’t want us from getting too close.”

Flaste interrupted. Industrial 7 only opened its port that’s facing Earth, and the port facing the Moon was covered by the Colony Builder. That’s a large installation that could use and purify the space dust in the dark wasteland space and form them as materials for new space colonies. Let alone the personnel there, even the people living inside the space colonies were said to be restricted in their movements. While it was still unknown whether the Laplace Box they heard from the information was real, it was still a good place to carry out a secret deal. However, the Vist Foundation didn’t let them head towards the Colony Builder directly.

“They’re still more or less wary of us. We’re the illegal ‘Sleeves’ after all.”

As he drank from the canned coffee, Zinnerman said in a self-mocking manner. This voice washed away the doubts of his subordinates and made everyone remember that they were in danger. However, Flaste continued on, a rare feat for him,

“So, what’s that Laplace Box anyway? You should more or less tell us, right?”

That’s the question that went straight to the core. Gilboa looked back at Zinnerman on the Captain’s seat too. Zinnerman shrugged and said,

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s some huge treasure that we’ll be shocked by.”

“It doesn’t appear on the surface, but the Vist Foundation one huge tycoon organization, and it’s deeply ingrained in the government and Anaheim Electronics. The Foundation’s their main base, right? Those guys who would deal with the Federation government would actually offer us a treasure. I really don’t understand.

What Gilboa said was precisely what everyone on the Garencieres couldn’t understand, but Zinnerman continued to look rather aloof. He answered “This is news we got from Full Frontal, so we can trust him on that.” And looked at Marida, who just so happened to look back, and the control onto the trajectory became stronger.

''Including the ambush just now, there was definitely something wrong with the situation. Don’t let your guard down.'' Zinnerman warned everyone else with his eyes—Marida nodded and looked out of the window. Luckily, the port official’s boat was closing in, and Flaste and Gilboa started to talk into the wireless communicator, and the conversation ended like that. Marida looked at the numerous fires and exhaust, checking that everyone was normal.

Right now, there were three things they know. First, they will be provided with the item for free provided that they followed the instructions of Vist Foundation. Second, the item that’s the be dealt was large, so it had to be transported through a cargo ship. Because of this, they had only 2 frames of Geara Zulu even though they could normally dock three of them in the hangar to allow space for a mobile suit. On the other hand, the fact that they merely put only one less mobile suit showed that Zinnerman was somewhat hesitant on this mission.

However, the most important point was the third one. This thing called the Laplace Box had the ability to overturn the world—shake the Earth Federation and change the area around the Earth—it could be some scandal on the current administration or the ultimate weapon that could bring about a change in military forces. However, there had to be some basis for this for the headquarters to agree to the Vist Foundation’s invitation. And right now, the situation with the ‘Sleeves’ was such that even if it was only a trace of hope, they had to grab it.

''But no matter what, it didn’t matter to me.''Marida thought that no matter what’s inside Laplace Box, her mission to protect her master and work for him would never change. If the box really existed, they will bring it back, and if it was a trap, she would break through. Thus, no matter how much of a sacrifice she had to make, she wouldn’t hesitate at all. Marida again looked over at Industrial 7 in front of her.

Amidst the numerous remains of steel and stone, the isolated space colony that was floating away slowly was itself like a box with a secret inside. The Garancieres followed the two rows of guiding lights and entered the docking bay, and just when they were about to be allocated into a space gate, there were numerous objects flying into outer space. Marida consciously checked the appearance and number of objects.

The cylinder shaped objects grew out short legs and arms for work, and they had bubble-shaped wind-proof installations. These human shaped machines that were the size of two humans were mobile suits used for port work.

8 mobile suits flew by, perhaps here to clean the runaway, and then, another dozen of mini mobile suits went past the Garancieres . As he looked at the squad of small mobile suits that were 3m tall, Gilboa said, “It’s Bubbo’s Company machines.”

“Junk Collection?”

“Yeah. Lots of space colonies opened chain shops. Most likely, they came here because of Anaheim’s outsourcing project. It looked good, and because of the junk caused by the One Year War, it wouldn’t be complete even if it took 100 years…”

Perhaps feeling that he was in the middle of creating junk, Gilboa sounded somewhat heavy-hearted. Flaste didn’t answer back, and Marida looked at the mini mobile suits that were floating in vacuum.

As they let out the thruster boost, the mini mobile suits started to move into the space dust on orbit, and they would fire at those things that were so big they couldn’t collect back. To them, junk’s just dunk, just a economical value to reclaim to decide who get more back. There’s such a life, Marida thought; a life where she won’t take other people’s lives or have her life taken. After thinking about her future 1 year, 10 years , a life to fight for tomorrow…

''The enemies I took down today may one day be reclaimed back, right?'' Marida looked at the lights that didn’t involve her and thought.

===Part 6===

She moved inside the boat that brought her here, went through three compartments, and arrived at the central bay.

The docking job started, and the variable-sized communicator that looked like a harmonica was connected to the air bridge and the air lock of the Garencieres. As she looked through the window and that the workers inside the ship were starting to get busy, the girl cautiously left the room.

The helmet that had the spacesuit on closed the visor. This wasn’t equipment that wasn’t important when there was air was only important so that the face wasn’t seen. Most of the port workers would be wearing spacesuits, and if she was successful, she could sneak it through. The girl held the handle and move through the narrow corridor, reaching the air lock at the hatch of the ship, and decisively opened grabbed the handle.

Due to the air flow caused by the difference in air pressure, the sound of metal colliding, the sound of the exhaust of the motion control and the audio broadcast of the professional contact enter. The center dock was a large space that was 500m wide, and the floor and the ceiling—though it’s meaningless to call them this under zero gravity—both sides had 4 canes each, and each of them were docked on trading ships similar to the Garencieres. The girl went through the air lock, let her body float towards the floor 20m away. Before the magnetic boots touched the ground, the girl took out some cable from her waist and fired the trigger at the wall of a crane.

The magnet that was shot out stuck onto the wall of the crane. She squeezed the trigger again, and the cable gun that looked like a handgun coiled up automatically, bringing the girl over to the magnet. This was something that was really important when working under zero gravity.

After the coiling was done, the magnetism vanished, and she would have to aim at another point next. Just like this, the girl continued to repeat this motion and move towards the exit of the industrial area. While moving, she went by the crew members of the Garencieres, but as everyone was busy dealing with the docking, and that she had her spacesuit and the visor on, no one could recognize her. The girl reached the exit without anyone noticing, and then used the handle to move on. The mobile handle that was installed on the wall and handrail increased its speed together with the strength of the grip, and sent the girl towards the industrial area.

The ships that were already checked through were docked at this port, thus, it wasn’t hard to leave this port, and there should be no problems if the industrial port wasn’t into operation mode. The problem was about how to reach the colony builder that was on the other side of the space colony. As she continued to remember the map of Industrial 7 in her mind, the girl slipped into a group of workers and entered the Terminal Body.

The girl had a plan. There was an artificial sun inside Industrial 7, at the center core in the cylinder of the space colony. The illuminating installation that reached out on both sides was the thing that create night and day. In the old century’s manner of speech, it was like a large play.

The artificial sun had a walkway for inspection that reach out to both ends of the space colony. Of course, this wasn’t a place anyone would go, and the artificial sun would give off lots of heat, so the pathway couldn’t be used in the day. However, if she entered there, she wouldn’t have to enter the space colony and could reach the region on the other side. There’s a chance that she could get near the colony builder that people were rarely allowed to enter, and find a chance to sneak in.

5.50am. The girl checked the watch to see that there’s still time till daylight and took off her spacesuit helmet. She pulled her short brown hair off and floated into the toilet nearby.

Now, it would be too obvious to wear a spacesuit here. She entered the toilet that had a toilet bowl for zero gravity use, took off her spacesuit and put on dark blue jeans and a white jean as she got out of the bathroom. She ignored the worker who passed by while whistling on put on a jacket that was as fluffy as a shawl before grabbing the mobile handle and moving to the exit of the tower. As it wass most likely not a change of shift yet, there weren’t many people in front of the exit.

''I have to get to the colony builder before Zinnerman and Marida take action and meet the person I should meet.'' The girl thought as she moved out of the Terminal Building.

===Part 7===

A while back, Banagher was in the same Terminal Building, at the office of Bubbo’s Company, facing the Chief of the Management Section.

“So I can’t sortie today?”

“That’s the instructions of the superiors. A trading ship’s about to enter at the last minute, so I had to send a crane out first…I asked the previous shift to handle the rest, and they went off.”

While the superiors ask for increase in efficiency, the subordinates ask for improvement in working environment, and the Chief of Management had to explain that the blame wasn’t on him. Right now, the large amount of space dust caused lots of social problems, and the Bubbo Company showed marked improvement in growth. However, most people viewed them as merely junk collectors who overturned things, and there’s a rather bleak feeling about this. Even if they changed their title for ‘Junk Collector’ to ‘Resource Collector’, the understanding of society would not change. At this operation base of Industrial 7 and everyone inside, including the Chief had a rather lonely feeling.

It was really no surprise that Bubbo Company would lend out cranes to a ship that just arrived, but to Banagher who came here to work part-time, it wasn’t worth being so happy about. The morning shift squad had already left, so those who were working today flew off. There was no latest mini mobile suits to use, and everything was just a waste of time. Banagher really wanted to grumble ‘I finally became the first one here…’ or something like that.

“Sorry, I’ll add some extra money for your overtime fee next time.”

The bespectacled Chief smiled and seemed to be busy managing the delayed trip. He wasn’t hiding the fact that he didn’t have the time to deal with part-time workers as he went into the office to get the call. The two workers who were working night shift were also lowering their heads and staring at their screens. Seeing them like this, Banagher didn’t have the energy to talk more as he left the office that had the smell of plastic. The word ‘Disjointed’ went through his mind again.

Banagher let Haro exit onto the corridor first, kicked against the wall that had footprints all over it, and let his body float towards the corridor window that could look at the central port. The number 4 crane Bubbo Company used was parked at a ship he had no impression on. It was an old-styled Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Craft. The ship that was obviously stained had the logo ‘RIbakoona Trading’ on it and the ship’s name ‘Garencieres’.

“The name’s rather delicate…”

As he muttered this a little grudgingly, he found that Takuya was coming in from the other end of the corridor. Takuya let go of the handle that was moving at the fastest speed possible before his body landed on the cushion on the wall due to inertia. The first thing he spoke was: “Banagher, you bastard…!” And Banagher silently pointed to the office’s entrance.

Takuya was also stunned as he then walked into the office, and soon appeared on the corridor after 1 minute. He looked like he didn’t know what was going on, but he chuckled on seeing Banagher, and even said (That’s karma, karma.) Even Haro was flapping its ear disks and crying ‘Retribution, retribution’. Banagher carried Haro and left the corridor.

There was still three hours until vocational lessons began, and Banagher and Takuya didn’t want to head back to the hostel to sleep. Thus, they went to the cafeteria in the industrial area. The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony was also a rest area that functioned as an observatory post, so they could still take a little nap at this time.

In this Industrial 7 space colony that was almost completely covered with factories, the zero gravity industrial area that was linked to the docking bay was the largest production base. There were all sorts of production lines, from metal, refining, heating to assembly, and it included a production work that made use of the zero gravity environment. This place produces everything related to industrial needs, from the screws used on a train to the gundanrium alloy.

To the industrial area that works for 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, no matter whether it was midnight or morning, it was just a unit of time. Once they entered the unloading area that was full of air, tey could hear the sounds of mini mobile suits moving about, hoots and controllers shouting, and also the sounds of metal colliding with each other. Soon, they heard the voices of the operator shouting :”DAMN BRATS! WEAR A HELMET HERE!” Banagher and Takuya shouted, “Sorry!” but didn’t slow down as they grabbed hard onto the mobile handle and continued to head to the unloading area that would lead to the cafeteria.

On the way, Banagher mentioned to Takuya about how he saw a white mobile suit in the subway train. Takuya, who was studying mobile suits and aimed to be a test pilot, was already familiar with military affairs such that he could be said to be a fanatic of it. Banagher thought that his facial expression would change on hearing a new mobile suit, but Takuya’s reaction was unexpectedly cold.

“The war with Zeon is over. The Federation finally started with reprogramming. Even if a new mobile suit is developed, it would just be a minor modification to a GM.”

“But that machine was completely white and had a single horn on it. It really looked special. Since it’s a reprogrammed one, it’s not weird to see a new mobile suit developed, right?”

“Fool, that’s something that can only happen during war. Why would they allocate some of the budget to develop a new mobile suit if there’s no imaginary enemy.”

That sounded logical. “Is that so…” “You really don’t know anything.” On hearing such a response, Banagher felt like he may want to find a hole to hide in.

No matter what aspect it is, someone who works hard on one thing would have the keen eyesight of observing the world from that perspective, and Banagher felt a little short and behind others for not being able to have it. It wasn’t too bad if it was an ordinary high school student, but someone studying this ‘one-way trip’ at Anaheim Electronics would feel really guilty.

“It’s great that you had a goal.”

Thus, Banagher suddenly raised this issue. Takuya looked somewhat surprised and gave a wry look “What are you saying?”

“Aren’t you planning to go develop the Jupiter zone?”

“That’s true…”

However, Banagher was different from Takuya. He merely chose one subject out of many when he transferred into Anaheim Electronics Institute College, and didn’t really have a particular insistence. Banagher merely wanted to see Jupiter and was moved by the term trail blazer, but he lost all enthusiasm when he thought of how he had to study engineering and mathematics. No, it’s not that he found studying hard, but that he found himself ‘disjointed’ when he was mixed together with a group a really passionate volunteers.

Thinking about this, the doubts Banagher often had would appear in his mind, whether he should be here? He searched through the layers of his memories as to why he was here. His mother died, and on the night of the funeral, a group of men in suits appeared and said, “We’re hired by your father.” And told him that his life will be assured in the future. After that, what he got was a transfer application to Anaheim Electronics Institute College—

They never explained what kind of person his father was, and only said that one day, he would meet him personally. Banagher himself didn’t want to ask too much. It wasn’t really much of an interest to him, but as both mother and son relied on each other for more than 10 years, anyone would be troubled about a father who suddenly appeared, and no matter what the reason was, Banagher didn’t want to recognize a man who wouldn’t even come to his mother’s funeral. At the same time, he felt that if he opened himself too much, he would be betraying his mother.

His mother was a kind and strong-willed person who raised Banagher alone and made Banagher forget that he needed a father. Though the ever-changing jobs and residences caused Banagher to end up transferring schools without having time to make friends, it wasn’t his mother’s fault. Banagher would always remember how on Christmas night at the age of 5, that this Haro was sent over without warning.

His mother said that it was a present from Santa Claus, but Banagher knew that it was a present sent over by his father. After that, his mother would keep moving houses like she was running away from disaster, perhaps to get away from his father. And his mother would be unhappy if he asked. Thus, Banagher knew before the age of ten that this was a question he couldn’t ask.

“He’s really a strong-willed person. You can be proud to be his son. But I know that his strength won’t bring happiness to us mother and son, so mom can only bring you away from that person…”

His mother would only talk about this when his father was mentioned. Whenever his mother asked “Do you understand?” Banagher could only pretend to understand and nod his head. Both mother and son stayed in an old space colony at Side 1, an old residential area near the slums. Banagher grew up watching his mother who shouldn’t be living in such a place, felt that he shouldn’t cause too much trouble for his mother, and started to feel troubled by the ‘disjointed’ feeling in him.

It’s especially because of that unknown reason that he started to feel ‘disjointed’ ever since he first had his memories. It was different from feeling out of place. It felt like there was a place he should really be at, but that his mind and body was being separated from that place. This baseless feeling still didn’t disappear even after he accepted the invitation of this father of his that he never met before and stayed in Industrial 7. The naïve expectation that this ‘disjointed’ feeling would disappear the moment he came here was just a rhapsody of his own youth. Banagher could calmly analyze this aspect of himself in hindsight.

He thought that if he put on the uniform of Anaheim Electronics and thought of becoming a member of this large corporation, he could forget all about this. However, after 8 months of hostel life, what he got was only an ordinary license and a mini mobile suit license. In the days that never changed, where things never really happened, the ‘disjointed’ feeling started to grow. Right now, he still didn’t know his father’s true identity, and neither did he try to know as he was already having a hard time handling the future that was becoming smaller.

''Why did I come here? Why do I feel that I am looking forward to this ‘Disjointed’ feeling being filled up?'' As he carried the Haro that he took care of all this time, Banagher pondered. ''Was it that I want to meet my father? To see where I come from? But even if we meet, nothing will change. Even if I know my origins, I can’t be assured that there will be where I will go…''

His thoughts just continued to beat around like this as they went from the unloading bay to the cargo area. Takuya, who was walking in front, shouted excitedly, “Wow, that’s a huge find!” and Banagher lifted his head up.

At a corner of the large cargo area, there were the remains of a mobile suit. It’s unknown whether it was the Bubbo Company or other ‘Junk Collector’ company who took it in. The parts below the knees were severed, and those parts under the right shoulder were gone. However, the dark green body and the head with the one eye were still intact, and it was still easy to identify what the damaged thing was. This was really a great find, and even Banagher felt this way. Almost all the remains of space colonies or mobile suits were taken back, and as mainstream mobile suits became mini ones that were only able to pull scraps, it’s really rare to see such a relatively intact scrap. It’s unknown who found it, but the person who found it can earn half a year’s worth of salary with this. Banagher and Takuya let go of the hand and floated towards the remains.

[[Image:KSGU 131.jpg|thumb]]
“Is that a Zaku?”

As he reached the deck where he could look down at the remains, Banagher grabbed onto the handrail and asked Takuya. That used to be the main fighting force of the Republic of Zeon, the name of the line of machines and also the mother of all mobile suits. No matter whether it was the green frame that had lots of spikes on the left shoulder armor, Banagher really couldn’t think of any other machine that had these characteristics. However, Takuya answered: “Idiot, that’s not it.”

“That’s the ‘Geara Doga’, a machine used during ‘Char’s Counterattack’.”

“Never heard of it. I’m not that crazy about machines.”

“This is created by Anaheim! Remember that.”

Takuya used his finger to point at the temple, and Banagher just stared at the remains of the mobile suit. The machine that obviously had burned scars had workers all around using their handheld notebooks to enter data into. It’s unknown whether they were trying to diagnose the selling price of the machine or how to distribute this once they decide to split this out. The one eye and the visor glass were broken, but the power source that was severed off was leaking oil, making one wonder if the reactor could still work. The still-human appearance that remained made one wonder that it may be a remain that could move once someone adjust it.

''Maybe the pilot was able to get out in time?'' Banagher had this idea as he turned his eyes to the cockpit at the abdomen, but gasped as he found that he was wrong. The armor plate that was protecting the cockpit was twisted by the heat, opening a hole that was 1m long. It looked like a beam weapon shot through it, burning through the cocking, leaving a laser bullet hole and vaporizing the pilot. It looked just like a black hole that led to an endless darkness. That was the action of humans who made the hole, one that was unrelated to them, called war. It was deep and black, looking like it was about to absorb someone into it—

“…The war’s over. There won’t be any new frames now.”

Takuya swallowed his saliva and mentioned what they were talking about just now. The side of his face seemed to be a little white.

“There aren’t any news on terrorism recently.”

“There’s still some remnants of Zeon, but the scale’s not large enough to form an army. The Defense Ministry wrote in black and white that ‘We’re cleaning up after the war on Zeon’.”

“The space colony I was staying on once had a freelance transporter, but he said something about space residents living independently, and I didn’t feel anything much after hearing it.”

Side 3, which was on the back of the Moon, was self-proclaimed the Republic of Zeon that declared its independence from the Earth Federation and triggered what’s called the One Year War. Banagher understood this as well. The dark wasteland region where Industrial 7 was where the remains of the initial battle both sides had, the ‘Battle of Loum’. Banagher himself was born under this offensive age where half the population was wiped out—what sociologists call babies born after the war. During the 16 years of war, the so-called remnants of Zeon continued to launch conflicts one after another, creating terrorist attacks on a grand scale. However, these were another thing entirely to Banagher and the rest, just information taught through televised news and textbooks. No matter whether it was the war or the independent movements of the space residents, it was nothing different from fiction to them.

However, the dark bullet hole in front of them showed them that all these were real. It caused them to realize that people really died from this and reprimanded them of their lazy lifestyles. They talked to each other in perfect unison and left this place. The image of war that suddenly appeared in front of them wasn’t so easily erased, and that deep and dark hole that led to emptiness shot through Banagher’s heart.

The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony had one wall that was completely made of glass, and they could see the streets on the inside of the wall from the center of the cylinder. It was 5.20am, and the artificial sun that goes through the entire inside of the colony wasn’t activated as there seemed to be a thin carpet of light seen inside the wall of the colony from 3,000m height.

In another 10 minutes, the artificial sun would declare the start of the day, and the vast amount of light and heat would bring about morning to Industrial 7. At that moment, the windows of the cafeteria would have a light filter on to reduce the shine the artificial sun would release at close range. However, there was no need to cover it for now. The artificial sun outside the window that lead to the other side of the space colony was still in darkness. There were few people who were in the cafeteria at this point, and Banagher and Takuya were holding onto their own trays as they sat beside the window.

They were discussing about what to do with the report they have to hand in a month later, just before summer vacation began, how the old hag in physics lesson would mess them up, and talked around before Takuya started yawning. After putting the empty soup pipe onto the tray, he said “I’m going to sleep” and used the zero gravity environment to put his legs about. Banagher was trained by his mother strictly and couldn’t be as rash as he was. However, he did feel that he was trying his best to get along with his surroundings and let himself loose already.

“Get some sleep, man. Micott’s going to have a party at her house tonight.”

Takuya closed his eyes as he said that. Banagher answered back: “Really?” But didn’t sound very interested.

“Our technical school has too many people with no charm, but her school has quite a lot of good girls there. This is a good chance to get to know them. Better save our energy here, or else it’ll be sad if we’re still single once it’s summer.”

“Aren’t you going back to your old home? Even if you have a girlfriend here…”

“Don’t say that. I do go to the Francesca Colony with my family to do manual labor. Bringing my younger siblings out to fish in the day, barbequing at night with relatives; I can be so happy that I could cry. How can I hang on without a girlfriend waiting for me?”

“Don’t go then.”

“I can’t do that. That’s the bond of family…”

Takuya suddenly shut up and opened an eye before asking: “What are you going to do during summer vacation?” Banagher could only shrug at this concern that bothered him “Who knows.”

“I don’t have any relatives when I go back home, and I shifted. I guess the most I can do is to stay here and continue to work and earn money, and that I can earn my school fees before my sponsor changes his mind.”

“Haven’t you heard anything from your dad?”

“Un. Well, I don’t know what I should do if there really was news.”

“Fu-n…that’s really hard to understand. Calling you here and not coming to see you.”

Takuya felt that this was the only way he could show concern as an outsider and didn’t mention this again. He diverted the topic and said “Then you should take advantage of tonight. There’s only one summer when you’re 16 years old.”

“Un…”, Banagher merely answered methodically as he continued to look outside the dark window.

However, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. Like others, Banagher went through romantic relationships and breakups, and he did have a few girlfriends at his hometown. However, what seemed to be a happy thing to them wasn’t a happy thing to Banagher himself. Also, he never actually got on well with them, and was always seen through. Thus, the relationship would never last long. Girls in their youth really can’t stand creatures like insincere men, and anything more didn’t exist.

No. it was just because he never really had a real romantic relationship. Maybe things would change if he found a good partner. Maybe tonight’s party may solve this. Banagher forced himself to think this way. This may be an encounter that could clear all the ‘disjointed’ feeling he had with the world and enchant him; an encounter that would make this Industrial space colony look rose colored; an encounter that could land him at where he lived. He would become a member who would walk in and out of a factory, covered with sweat and oil, and have a drink on the way home from work as an occasional luxury—an encounter that could allow him to accept this life.

Right outside the windows, the streets lights before dawn broke. The lights on the highway were showing a spiral shape, and what looked like lights from night delivery lorries were gliding silently. In another 2 hours, most of the people would get up and rush to their respective workplaces. The people who were waiting at the bus stops for buses will form crowds, and the subway trains that were filled with workers changing shifts will move between the streets inside the wall and the industrial area. Today, that’s just like yesterday and may be like tomorrow, continued to operate like a conveyor belt.

“Will we become part of this once we graduate…”

Feeling that intense ‘disjointed’ feeling again, Banagher muttered. Takuya didn’t answer back, and as Banagher looked at him, he found that the body that was almost asleep was floating up from the table. As he grabbed Takuya’s shoulders and pressed him back onto the chair like magic tape, Banagher saw ‘that thing’ outside the window.

At the base that’s 100m above the cafeteria, at the pillar of the artificial sun that was reached out to the opposite side of the space colony—there was a warning light flashing. There was something floating as it crossed near the large pillar in the darkness. He first thought that it was junk. It’s obvious for junk to be stuck near the sun after being taken away by an artificial convection when the space colony’s being built in the opposite direction. However, the ‘object’ that was so small that it would disappear into the darkness, and that it was moving on its own. It seemed to be frantically flailing its limbs and moving its body to control its body as it flew with the wind.

He consciously let his body float near the window and grabbed Haro’s fluttering ears in the air from underneath the table. Banagher looked at that ‘object’ that was lit up by the weak warning light. That’s right, there was someone. Someone was floating near the artificial sun. it was 1km away, but Banagher could see—or rather, feel that the person who was floating had a cape-shaped coat on.

It was soon going to be daybreak, and there couldn’t possibly be testing on the artificial sun. Banagher looked at the person who wasn’t even wearing a spacesuit. The figure left the artificial sun and floated towards the wall. It’s obvious that the person was in trouble, and it would be easy to spot in daylight. However, at that moment, the artificial sun would be activated, and the surrounding air would be really hot. The cylinder that was 6km in diameter was a large source of light to the entire space colony, and would burn up anything nearby.

“…Not good.”

Banagher looked at the watch. It was 5.26am. There’s still less than 5 minutes to daylight. “Eh? What’s wrong?” Banagher left behind Takuya as Takuya rubbed his eyes, kicked the table, and rushed through the empty cafeteria, using the pillar near the entrance as the support point and rushed to the corridor. At this moment where not even a second was to be wasted, he didn’t even think of explaining this to anyone else, and the body that was pushed by impulse continued to rush to the worksite.

===Part 8===

She really couldn’t understand what happened for the time being. In her eyes, what she could only see was the artificial sun pillar that was leaving her and the street lights and clouds on the inside of the wall appearing and disappearing at the same time as the winds blew past her ears.

As she kicked her legs about forward, the girl tried to stop the spinning on her body. However, against this artificial wind, such an action was futile. There was an endless steady supply of wind inside the colony to allow for convection of the sun’s heat. The artificial convection installation that was installed in the zero gravity area was moving the air, creating a complicated flow of wind near the sun.

The girl held back the fear that was rising up her throat, telling herself to calm down. She had managed to slip into the artificial solar inspection area and arrived on the passageway that was parallel to the illuminating installation. She just needed to grab the mobile handle and move forward for about 20m, and she should be able to reach the other side of the space colony in less than 30 minutes—where her target, the colony builder.

However, she didn’t expect that pathway to have a section cut off because of repairs. It was too late once she moved in for about 1km, felt that the tunnel was blocked and let go of the handle. The girl’s body flew out in motion, breaking the plastic seal that blocked the passage, and dropped outside the passage.

At the same time, she knocked into the fire extinguisher that was placed on the platform, and got the gas squirted at her, causing the situation to become complicated. The girl was pushed away from the artificial sun pillar because of the gas pressure. And under the vacuum of zero gravity, there’s nothing she could grab onto. The girl became a speck of space dust that was floating in the core of the space colony. She was forced away by the gas pressure and the airflow convection, and was pushed down to the wall 3000m away—

[[Image:KSGU 140.jpg|thumb]]

The artificial sun was gradually getting further and further away. The layers of moving clouds and the street lights that were inside the wall were closing in. The centrifuge force of the space colony wouldn’t work without direct contact. It looked like she could land safely, but the problem was the rotation speed that create the 1G worth of gravity. It looked slow from here, but in fact, the inside wall of the space colony was rotating about 600km per hour. The girl’s body was out of the rotation speed, and if she got close to the inner wall and hit the wall that’s rotating at high speeds, she would be pancaked.

However, she couldn’t just wait for help in zero gravity as a premonition started. BAM BAM, continuous tremors could be heard through the air of the space colony. This was the voice of the artificial sun getting powered up. It was the awakening of a laminating device, the sound of it letting off light as it burned the air around it.

I don’t want to die. No, I can’t die. The girl didn’t give up as she moved her limbs and tried to get close to the artificial sun’s passageway. She was already prepared to die, but she wouldn’t allow herself to die like this. For the sake of the warriors who fought to protect her, her parents who died early, and she wouldn’t forgive herself if she were to die in such an ugly manner.

This thought was more frightening than death itself. However, the artificial sun that seemed to mock the struggling girl got louder and louder, and the laminating installation started to brighten.

===Part 9===

Luckily, there was a mini mobile suit parked at the carpark beside the cafeteria. It was the latest model from the Toruro company, Type-800, commonly known as the ‘Torohachi’. There wasn’t anyone on the machine, which, to Banagher, was a pleasant surprise.

Perhaps the operator went to the toilet as the key was still in the machine. Banagher sat inside the cockpit of the 'Torohachi' to check whether it still had power. While the worker shouted: “HEY, YOU…!”, Banagher shouted back: “Danger!” as he undid the feet clamp on the floor. As he ignored the middle-aged worker “WHO ARE YOU! DON’T MOVE!” and let the 'Torohachi' move forward, a green ball-shaped object slammed into the helmet of the worker and jumped into the cockpit. “Haro…!?” Banagher couldn’t help but exclaim before tucking Haro between his thighs before covering the hemisphere windshield visor.

Once Banagher did the basic minimum safety checks, he undid the magnetic locks on the legs. The short legs of the 'Torohachi' kicked the ground and floated up. Banagher stepped on the gas, and the thruster at the back lit up. The 'Torohachi' head off towards the cargo exit of the space colony and accelerated.

At the front end of the space colony, the sudden slope of the zero gravity industrial area under the wall was called the ‘mountain’. Like its name implied, it was a bare layer of rock and trees and plants covered the mortar-type airtight wall. If one looked up from the inside, what would be seen would be like a famous 3,000m high mountain—Mount Fuji. The mountaintop that was hidden amongst the clouds had many cable cars stations and the exits for cargo ships as they move through the zero gravity belt. The 'Torohachi' went through one entrance and moved towards the artificial sun. The artificial upflow that struck caused the machine to shake, but Banagher continued to look around for the figure floating in the darkness.

Without relying on night vision goggles, Banagher found the floating figure. He didn’t spend the effort to feel how strange it was. Banagher again activated the thruster boost of the 'Torohachi'. This was different from driving in vacuum as the machine was heavy. The air that filled the entire space colony formed a wall, and the shaking of the machine was felt through the control rod. For a moment, he felt that he was really reckless, but this rash of sanity immediately disappeared.

The artificial sun started to glow, and there wasn’t much time left before it was completely activated and burns the surrounding air. Banagher activated the motion sensor and let the relative distance between his machine and the target and the speeds show on the control screen. Though it was the same as collecting space junk, the target this time was a living human. If his methods were too rough, the person may be killed.

The distance from the figure got closer and closer, and he could already see the cape-like jacket fluttering from behind the windshield and the long and narrow limbs of a person. It was a girl—as his instincts told her this, a large amount of shaking happened to the machine, and Banagher hurriedly adjusted the power of the thruster boost. Haro floated up because of the impact as its eyes flashed, calling: “Do your best, do your best!”

The 'Torohachi' again shot out the thrusters and closed in on the target. It seemed that the target seemed to notice the machine’s sound and light as the figure that was floating in the vacuum turned to look at the machine. The jade green eyes had light in them even in the midst of the darkness as they looked like polished gems.

At that moment, the existence of a living being went through Banagher’s body, and he immediately opened the windshield. This wasn’t out of thought, but that his instincts were telling him that this body in front of him was too fragile to be held by the hard mechanical hand of the mini mobile suit.

[[Image:KSGU 145.jpg|thumb]]

The wind that struck hard covered his eyes and mouth. The windshield that was opened let in lots of wind, causing the body of the 'Torohachi' to silt a lot. He used a hand to grab the controls to barely maintain the state of the machine, and used the other hand to reach for the control panel. The girl that was floating with the winds widened her eyes and reached over here too. Once their eyes met, the 'Torohachi' and the human figure grazed past each other for a moment, and Banagher held that person’s hand and pulled her into the cockpit.

After that, the artificial sun glowed, bathing the body of the 'Torohachi' in white light. Banagher continued to hold onto the human’s slender and thin body as he closed the windshield visor and stepped on the gas. He didn’t see the horrifying image of the air heating up and immediately expanding and twisting over. An explosive-like light suppressed them and sent the 'Torohachi' descending to the inner wall.

The wind blew in through the windshield visor that wasn’t completely closed, causing the purple jacket to be draped on Banagher. Banagher lost his bearings and stepped too hard onto the gas pedal. Even though he immediately pulled the jacket away and maintained eye contact, the large pillar supporting the artificial sun inside the wall was already right in front of him. The metal pillar came crashing over at the rotation speed of the space colony—about the same as a passenger jet, and grazed past the 'Torohachi’s frame.

The impact rang through the cockpit, and the numbness in Banagher’s brain caused him to lose consciousness for a while. The streets that were flowing below the feet were spinning wildly and fast approaching. The figure on the knees shouted: “We’ll fall…!” Feeling her breasts crushing his shoulders, Banagher finally managed to get himself out of confusion and responded: “I’ll think of something.” before looking at the current state of the inner wall after the high speed rotation. The 'Torohachi' didn’t have the inertia to go back up again, and its strength wasn’t going to match the relative speed of the inner wall—having made such a conclusion within a second, Banagher again grabbed the control stick.

He used the maximum amount of thrust to make the 'Torohachi' move forward, trying his body to control the machine at a constant height while it descended. It moved onto the road that was located between the light industrial area and the residential area. Even though the speed was estimated to be more than 200km per hour, and that it would continue to accelerate with the wind flow, but there was a difference of 400km per hour in terms of relative speed. Once he checked to see that there were no vehicles or humans, Banagher muttered deep inside his heart “I can do this.” and deliberately lowered the height of the 'Torohachi' and flew into a group of buildings.

The 'Torohachi' looked like it was trying its best to keep its thruster boost working as it continued to move towards the road with the space colony still rotating. It descended till 5m tall, went through the crane while under the high speeds of the wind, and struck from behind by the air. The height continued to descend. On seeing the rear view mirror, Banagher evaded the street lights and the electronic cars that were moving, and just when the height meter was about to reach zero, he shouted: “Brace for impact!”

The feet of the ‘Torohachi’ hit the road, and suddenly, the machine that was gripped by the centrifuge force was tilted backwards like it was knocked away, causing an impact where one could imagine bones scattered all over the place. The impact and echoes rang in the brain, and the safety gasbags shot out from the control panel. While feeling intense pain from the safety belt and the tense shoulders and the touch as he held that slender waist with his alms, Banagher’s consciousness was lost in the turmoil. The loud sounds that surrounded him and the jerks on the machine that was lying face up on the road were gradually moving further away, and the fragments of the asphalt road that was smashed covered his darkened vision. Then, his vision seemed to have what looked like cables used for a cable car, and finally, a large impact struck, and he was then surrounded in darkness.

The dirt that was raised up by the windshield fell through the cracks and landed on face. (Kinkyuu, Kinkyuu), Haro continued to make noises and caused Banagher to wake up. He felt the pain on his neck and shoulders, frowned and looked up at the sky through the thoroughly broken windshield. The bright and familiar sky was right in front of him. The streets on the inner wall at the respective positions were also basked in light such that it’s hard to even tell that it was an artificial sun giving off light. This was a sealed off space colony’s vague sky.

On his chest, there was a face that was unconscious as it was lit by the light—Banagher wasn’t completely awake as he saw the stranger’s face as she was lying on his chest. What couldn’t be called a figure but a real human was a girl of about the same age as she was. The hair that was blown wildly had a beautiful beige color to it, and the delicate skin that was thoroughly white had some red in it. The eyes he saw at that moment—the bright jade-colored eyes that had such a deep impression on him were hidden under the long eyebrows.

There was a soft human smell and the smell of perfume coming out from her hair, floating into Banagher’s nose that was used to gasoline. His heartbeat started to accelerate at this moment. Banagher gently put the girl’s body away from him, checked that she was still breathing, and left her on the seat before climbing out of the cockpit.

It seemed that the ‘Torohachi’ seemed to have broken through the railing of the green park, dug some lawn and crashed into the hill. The short body was half buried in dirt. Even though it couldn’t be seen from here, the surface of the track should be rather defaced like the devastation caused by a landing of a meteor.

There wasn’t anyone around, and the morning brought some light amounts of mist in the park. It was so quiet that only the voices of sparrows could be heard. If it was on a bright day where many people were walking around…thinking about this, Banagher finally realized that he was in big trouble as his knees started to tremble. The police and the fire department would be here immediately, creating lots of commotion in this entire space colony, and he may be arrested. He wanted to save someone, but he drove a mini mobile suit around recklessly and destroyed the streets. Things weren’t going to be dealt with so easily, and he may even be expelled—

Suddenly, his ankle was grabbed and tugged at hard. Banagher, who was standing on the Torohachi, unexpectedly lost his footing, and fell before he could even shout out.

His face and stomach hit the bare ground, and the pain could be felt through his nostrils. He couldn’t breathe for a moment, but Banagher still used both hands to try and get up. However, someone pressed down on him, and Banagher’s face was buried in dirt again.

“How are you!?”

Banagher was held down on the floor by the person who let out this voice, had his head pressed down on the floor and his arms twisted behind his back. Unable to move, Banagher tried to turn around to see who was the one speaking, and shown in one corner of his eyes was those pair of jade-colored eyes.

The refined jade-colored eyes were giving off a cold stare as they looked down at him. Banagher moved his sandy mouth that was filled with dirt and murmured: “And you even ask you I am…”

“I saw you floating near the sun, so I…”

Banagher still couldn’t understand why this slender looking girl was using a hard militaristic tone to talk and hold him down. The girl still did not let her guard down. At this moment, Haro didn’t seem to understand what was going on as it spoke “Banagher, Banagher, are you alright?” and went about the head. The girl seemed to turn her head around, see the Haro that was bouncing around inside the ‘Torohachi’, and slightly removed the grip of her right hand on Banagher. “You’re a citizen of this colony?” Once Banagher nodded his head, she finally released Banagher on the neck before getting up.

Before Banagher could even regain his freedom and stand up, the girl had climbed into the ‘Torohachi’s cockpit, seemingly checking the control panel to see whether it was still powered. The girl didn’t apologize nor thank him as she merely said ‘this can still move’, causing Banagher to blink in a bewildered manner.

“I’m in a rush here. Can you send me to the entrance of the colony builder?”

The girl poked her upper body from the control panel and said that nonchalantly. “Space builder…you mean the ‘Snail’?” Banagher asked back, and the girl confirmed this with her determined expression.

“No way. That’s not allowed. And you have to get to the hospital first.”

“You caught me well, so I wasn’t hurt. Please, it’s urgent.”

“I told you I can’t! I’m already going to get punished for operating this. I may even get my license revoked!”

While Banagher tried to explain himself, the girl listened as she gave a doubting ‘Why must you resist me’ look, and it seemed that both of them lost it and in another world altogether. However, the girl still remained calm. She jumped off the cockpit and muttered: “There’s no time.” with her words obviously sounding a little anxious.

“I have to find someone and talk to him. The situation can’t be saved if we don’t go faster.”

“What? Is something going to happen?”

“A war. There’ll be a large-scale war again. We can still stop it if we move now.”

Banagher’s heart pounded as he looked at the girl’s eyes. The deep jade-colored eyes didn’t look like they lost their sanity, and neither did they look like they were hoping for any agreement. It’s just a strong will that showed that she had to do it. Banagher felt attracted to that strength of hers. He would have nodded his head immediately if not for the sirens of the patrol cars.

The sirens of the patrol cars weren’t coming from one direction, but from many. The girl turned around to look back before looking straight at Banagher in the eyes for him to quickly decide. He held back the throbbing in his heart and looked away from the girl, saying: “Sorry, I can’t do this.” The girl lowered her jaw and looked grim immediately, using this chance to give Banagher a cold stare.

“How spineless…!”

She muttered and ran off without looking back. That voice stabbed deep inside Banagher’s heart, and a pain that was even sharper and pronounced than his own injuries permeated throughout his entire body as he watched the girl go.

“What’s with her…”

As he casually left these words, Banagher remembered that he didn’t have time to ask for her name. As the girl’s profile vanished in the morning fog, what replaced them was the large number of patrol cars giving off blurry red lights through the fog as they entered Banagher’s eyes.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[KSGU:Volume_1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Gundam Unicorn|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[KSGU:Volume_1_Chapter_2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-05-02T03:53:15Z

115.77.135.185: /* Part 8 */

==Chapter 1==

===Part 1===

The alarm inside the ship sounded. That wailing sound gave goosebumps but caused the mind to calm down gradually. The girl went near the ship window on the wall.

Looking out from the plastic board window, it was an outer space of vacuum. Right now, neither the Earth nor the moon could be seen as only the starry spots that filled the sky lit up the silent darkness. This ship should be moving forward at a very fast speed, but the stars outside the window weren't moving at all. It was like being locked in a still darkness.

The girl recalled how she would ask the maidservant the reason behind this phenomenon as she didn't understand them. The extremely patient Lamias would give a beaming smile and say: Princess, that's because the stars are too far away, so they didn't discover us moving...

That was the excuse the adults gave, but it wasn't without sincerity. The 17-year-old girl already knew all this. Lamias was a good maidservant, but she was already dead for almost 10 years. The girl's youth was shrouded in mystery, and the certain person who was called a princess remained in her memories—the past she bore had to be erased for a while from now on.

Thus, she didn't need a name right now. She was just a nameless person who was going to where she should be going to, to meet the person she should be meeting as she got herself stowed aboard this ship. That was all.

“Hurry up and scatter the Minovsky Particles. Get to combat levels!”

“One enemy ship. Most like a Clop-class battleship.”

“That's not an ordinary patrol. It had already planned on an ambush in this space area. There will be an enemy mobile suit attacking. Don't let your guard down.”

Through the broadcast inside the ship, the wireless communication started to reach the ears. They had already scattered Minovsky Particles that could disrupt electromagnetic waves and jam electronics like radar, but it was possible to communicate inside the ship. As the deep operating sounds of the machine rang with the people's voices, the girl heard the low grunt of the ship captain, Suberoa Zinnerman and looked out at the darkness outside the window.

Just now, she saw the pink light fly outside the window. It was the glow of the mega-particle cannon. Due to the development of Minovsky Physics, the high energy beam weapons glowed. The Earth Federation was shooting at this ship to capture it. This ship ignored the command to stop and continued to spray Minovsky particles as it accelerated. The next shot wouldn't be a warning shot. The enemy should have realized that a civilian ship couldn't be this fast.

The concentrated mega-particles that came over at lightspeed would immediately pierce through the armor n this ship if it was a direct hit. Even if it only grazed by, the high temperature of the particles that flew by may open a hole on the wall. The girl kicked herself off the wall of this dim cabin and moved her body to the cupboard in the corner of the room. In the cupboard that designated as a storage and fastened due to the zero gravity environment, there was 3 days worth of food and water she smuggled in, and also a spacesuit.

The girl then pulled the things out, and used the inertia to push her body about, using zero gravity to quickly put on the spacesuit. This cabin was hardly used, so it was used as a storeroom to put stuff inside. Once the ship gets damaged, the life support system would be cut off first. In this case, the likely situation of a vacuum occur, or the supplies that was fastened to the wall or the floor would be frozen. The girl didn't want to think of the worst case scenario where she could be sent flying out of the ship and put on the large worker spacesuit helment.

(Enemy ship's shooting high energy. 2 of them, approaching fast.)

(Its a mobile suit.)

(It seemed to have went past the 'Getas'. Estimated time of contact, T-minus 320.)

(We'll be caught up before we enter the dark wasteland space...alright, hurry up and send Marida out. Let her go chase the flies away.)

Though they looked like shipping crew members, the bridge members all had combat experience and sounded very calm. Right now, they would definitely be in spacesuits and moving to the bridge where the red light is flashing. The girl remembered the bridge that was as cramped as the cockpit in a plane, remembered the thoroughly moustached face of Zinnerman as he sat on the captain's seat, and she wondered whether she should tell them that she was here. If a battle began, it would be best for her to be in the safe protected zone. If she was revealed as a stowaway, she would definitely be sent over there. If she died here without being discovered, it would really be a futile death.

No—she couldn't. If they knew that she was on board as a stowaway, Zinnerman may change the projected course and turn back to the 'Palau'. Even if he didn't, she would be locked up and watched tightly. She wouldn't be able to achieve her aim, she wouldn't be able to got out, and she wouldn't be able to meet the person she had to meet. And this outcome would cause the deaths of even more people.

This was the only chance. The girl told this to herself. She knew that this was a reckless act, but there was no other way. This was to prevent Earth from being covered in battle and causing many housands of people to die. She could only do that...

(The ‘Kshatriya’s ready for launch.)

(Target the enemy Mobile Suits. Ignore the mothership. This Garencieres’ speed is enough to shake them off.”

Once Zinnerman said with the deep coarse voice, a clear female voice (understood) could be heard. The girl remembered the face of the solidary woman, Marida Cruz, who should be of the same age as she was, and looked outside the window. The silver form of the field entered her eyes, and the numerous scale powder-like glitter entered her eyes. The shutter suddenly appeared covered the windows as the ship—the ‘Garencieres’ was entering battle mode, and all the windows had the protective shutter on.

The only image screen was on the inside part of the bridge window, and the protective shutter on the inside of the cabins didn’t have such a convenient function. The girl left the wall and hid her body in the gap between the boxes. Under the light of a weak standing lamp, she used the tape amongst her supplies to tie her hands together and gathered her consciousness onto the wireless communicator inside the helmet.

She will die when the time was right anyway. Instead of looking outside to scare herself, she might as well gather as much information as possible to deal with the current situation. She was calmly and clearly telling herself this as she tucked her knees in and hugged herself in the spacesuit.

Suddenly, she felt a chill. It was a chill that the life support of the spacesuit couldn’t adjust, a chill that entered deep inside her heart. As she often got involved with the battlefield when she was young, her body was already numb to the fear of it, and this chill seemed to be the price. The girl let herself be the instrument of silence as she closed her eyes and waited for the chill to fade.

===Part 2===

The transport ship ‘Garencieres’ was 112m in full length, and it was cone-shaped. The maximum capacity it could bear was over 500 ton. The front end had a bridge that was shaped like the front end of a plane. The shape of the ship made it look like the designer factored in air resistance, and one could tell that it could fly in the atmosphere, and could be used as a transport vehicle between space and Earth. It was an old model that was commonly used by all the shipping companies in the past, but was hardly seen today.

As indicated by the word ‘Ribakoona Trading’ on the side, the ‘Garencieres’ was registered as a civilian transport ship, but in reality, that wasn’t the case. Right now, the shutter on the back of the ship was slowly opening, and the sliding suspension of cargo was slowly opening. What opened from the bottom of the cone was a crane that was suspended by the cone—the place that was supposed to be carrying cargo had a human-shaped giant robot fastened there.

It had 4 limbs that were somewhat thick at the end, and the bulge at the front of the waist had a mouth-shaped armor. The head looked like a rooster’s crown and also like something that was poking out, and then there was a one-eyed laser sensor. The almost 20m humanoid frame had 4 wing-like pods that was about as large as the main body on its shoulders. This dark green machine should be called a giant, and the shape was way too mysterious. However, its humanoid appearance was way too defined to be called something else. In this age, amongst mobile suits—human-shaped mobile weapons that had the power of a main weapon, this machine’s profile was somewhat strange. However, its abdomen had a cockpit like many mobile suits, and it was covered in many layers of a ball-shaped cockpit, and the pilot in the spacesuit was already over there operating it.

“Target captured. Abandoning the ‘Geta’. There’s a ‘Jegan’ that’s somewhat fast, possibly a commander type.”

Marida Cruz looked through the full screen that’s displayed on the inside wall of the cockpit, and a small window showed the specs. She said without emotion, (This means it’s not a coincidence that we met?), and Captain Zinnerman responded through the wireless communicator.

(We’ll be entering the dark wasteland space. Hurry up and finish it off before coming back.)

“Understood, master.”

''Don’t call me master.'' Before these usual words came, Marida heard Zinnerman breathe in a more tense manner than before. The reason they would meet the Federation ship here was that it was rare of them to patrol around here. However, it was really abnormal for a trading ship that was on its designated course and even check for inspection. They even sent out specially equipped mobile suits. ''This may be because the Federation Army already knew our side’s true identity and objective and set an ambush in the space field.'' To Zimmerman, he had to deduce who leaked the information and wonder what to do next.

''That’s right, the next step…Master, he didn’t need to bother about this. I exist for this.'' Ignoring all other thoughts, Marida put the hand on both left and right control sticks—the hemisphere Arm Raker that could allow all 5 fingers to be gripped together.

“Marida Cruz, ‘Kshatriya’, launching.”

As the restraints on the machine were released, the abnormally shaped mobile suit—'Kshatriya' slowly descended down the hangar. It wasn't really accurate to call it 'descending' when there's no concept of up or down in outter space, but the machine that was being dangled had this feeling as it was released from the hangar of the ship at the bottom. Marida released the activation control thrusters and moved under the 'Garencieres' until she was more than 100m away from the ship, and stepped on the pedal. The four main thrusters on the pods let out white light at one go. The 'Kshatriya' got away from the inertial motion of the of the 'Garencieres', spun and soon got behind and approached its target.

In the planet-shaped cockpit that was 1.5m in diameter, there was the screen of a full 360 degrees scnery. The intense rays of the stars entered Marida's eyes, and a bystander would feel that it looked like Marida's cockpit was suddenly in the midst of stars, and that she was flying in the stars. However, the image of outer space that was depicted all around wasn't a real scene, but a computer-depicted outer space that used special effects of constellations as locators.

In one area, there were 3 of these targets after the visual was enlarged. Right now, the optical sensor merely managed to capture the distance, so it was a rough CG. But in contrast, the model number of the data RGM-89 was rather clear itself. It was the mainstream mobile suits of the Earth Federation, the 'Jegan'. Amongst the trio, the one leading the attack was a special type that had an S behind, and they continued to abandon the Geta as they scattered and closed in. 'Geta' was the common name for mobile suits' flight packs when they attack from long range, and the use was to act as a flat bed that transport the mobile suits from below and send them into space battle. It could be said to be a miniature boat that replace the mobile suits legs, but Marida didn't know the origin of the name 'Geta'.

The three mobile suits were each wielding the main weapon, the beam rifle as they closed in—Marida sensed that the enemies wanted to surround her from outside beam weaponry range and surround from 3 directions, and made the first judgment that 'the battle was difficult'. It wasn't difficult to take down 3 'Jegar', but missing one would cause the defenses of the 'Garencieres' to be unstable. Marida wasn't being confident or bold as she merely used her head to think of how to handle the situation right now, and let her mobile suit decelerate suddenly.

The 4 pods swung forward, and the main thrusters spurt flames in the opposite direction, causing the Kshatirya's speed to immediately go from meters per second to meter per minute and finally, terminal velocity. As the back bore the sudden force of slowing down, Marida endured the discomfort of the eyeballs feeling like it was going to fly out and the fingers swelling as the blood flowed back, and muttered, 'Funnel'.

The numerous exhaust lights on the inside of the pods shot out as 2 small objects came from each of the 4 pods, 8 of these 2m things altogether. They moved as per normal, and as they stopped around the 'Kshatriya', they activated their thrusters and rushed to their targets like a bullet.

[[Image:KSGU 084.jpg|thumb]]

The sensor cannons were like its name, funnel, as the conical shaped objects gathered together and then dispersed, striking the 'Jegars' that were still outside shooting range. This wasn't automatic control, and neither was it mechanical long-range control. In a battlefield that was full of Minovsky particles, it was impossible to use electromagnetic waves to control it, and it was impossible to use a computer to launch an attack on one spot. This weapon, the funnel, is controlled by the pilot's brainwaves.

The Psycho communicator—commonly know as psycommu, the brainwave guiding system would use the brain signals of the pilot, magnify it and send the instructions to the unit sensor cannons. The brainwaves are also called psycho waves, and it could cause the Minovsky particles to react. Thus, it didn't have the risk of being interfered with like normal electronic waves. As long as the pilot had ability, the funnels could be said to be completely invincible in the current battlefield. As the Minovsky particles would prevent all electronic devices from working, and as it was required to use a large golem like this kind of mobile suit to protect the body and engage in close range combat on the battlefield, the funnels truly became a flight equipment.

Of course, not everyone could use it. Even though it went through many improvements, the psycommu system would still bring a lot of physical and mental stress to the pilot. However, Marida could operate it better than anyone. More accurately, she was 'created' to be able to operate the funnels.

The funnels that split up continued to spin as they attacked the two 'Jegar' behind. Due to the size, the funnels could be easily mistaken for space dust, and even with optical sensors, it would be hard to capture them visually. The funnels shot out the thrusters that were acting as its controls in a short time and gradually bound the 'Jegars' down before shooting out lasers. The Mega-particles energy beams let out pink glows and shot through the Jegars that didn't detect the enemy approaching at all. The psycommu was only equipped with a small rechargeable battery, and so the intensity of the light was really small and didn't have much energy. However, they do have the power to shoot through a mobile suit's armor. The pilots who were suddenly attacked panicked and started shooting beam shots all around messily. However, the funnels continued to destroy the Jegars' machine frames bit by bit. The transfer fluids continued to shoot out from the critical areas like blood, and the Jegars that were smaller than the green Kshatriya were painfully struggling. At this moment, the funnels were like a flock of killer sharks that hunted down a whale as they lunged forward to attack—

1, 2. Without checking for the lights of explosions, Marida sensed that the two Jegars were already blown to bits and concentrated on the remaining special unit. Though the backups were already destroyed, the unit didn't slow down at all as it continued to close it. Marida decided that there was no need to let out new funnels and again pushed the Kshatriya forward.

The psycommu captured the exterior of that specially equipped unit that was more like a human and had added armor and thrusters. Before it entered the Kshatriay's range, the recoilless rocket launcher the Jegar was wielding let out a flash, and a physical bullet that was 380mm in diameter was shot at the Kshatriya. This hi-firepowered shot was about the size of a normal recoilless rifle on a mobile suit, and though it had the disadvantage of being small, the destructive power it had when it attacked would be larger than a beam weapon. Right now, it was in shotgun mode, and as it explode, the hundreds of metallic balls that scatter would attack the Kshatriya. However, Marida expected it beforehand and dodged with the minimal of movements. The pilot of the special equipped mobile suit seemed to have also expected it to be dodged and used the scattered pellets as a smokescreen, shooting the thrusters out and getting above the Kshatriya.

Then, as if to prove the reason why humanoid weapons were so valued, the battle became a typical mobile suit battle that would be commonly seen in this era. The specially equipped Jegar's missile launcher again shot out another shotgun and let out the missiles that were equipped on the shoulders. The Khastriya activated its main thruster to move up and grazed past the missiles that attacked. She then deployed the 4 pods horizontally, spun the mobile suit and changed 90 degrees and moved forward. The Kshatriay saw through the Jegar's trajectory, and the short and fat body slipped into the dark outer space to get the initiative.

Normally, only the exhaust from the thrusters is needed to change directions in the vacuum of outer space. However, mobile suits had another system commonly known as AMBAC. Though there's no gravity in outer space, the mass of objects themselves weren't gone, and a Newton's worth of push would require a Newton's worth of force, and the force required would be equivalent to the force exerted. The principal behind the AMBAC system is that it uses the law of having equal and opposite reactions when there's an action to control the movement of the machine—the means to control any mobile suits' limbs, and using the recoil to change directions. This was the biggest reasons why the mobile suits were the strongest weapons that stood far above the rest in the same era.

The Kshatriya skilfully used its 4 thick and large limbs and 4 pods to manoeuvre as it closed in on the Jegan in a complicated trajectory. The two machines' thrusters were glowing, and these two humanoid robots seemed to be dancing in outer space. The explosions of the bullets flashed on both sides' visuals. As the explosions occurred, Marida immediately closed in on the enemy. The Kshatriya's pods opened out like a blooming flower, and with the petals at the metal, the one eye on the head was shining. Looking from away, it looked like a flower with the humanoid shape as a human. The metallic flower was covered with beams, and it used the explosive impact to release what's the most savage and beautiful flower in outer space.

This scene was depicted on the optical sensor on the Jegan's visor, and both machines were within several meters of each other where they could use the optical sensor to look at each other—in outer space, this would be an extremely close distance. The battlefield that's affected by Minovsky particles had to be done from close range, and thus it was common to see machines go at each other close. And at this moment, there was a need for a primitive showdown, which was why mobile suits were designed as humanoids.

The moment she was about to cross the Jegar, Marida switched from the firearms to the beam saber and aimed the crosshairs at the abdomen of the Jegar. The Ksatriya grabbed the handle of the beam saber, drew it out from the wrist and used the mechanical five fingers to grab it. The particles of light that shot out from the handle that was more than 10m hacked into the Jegar's abdomen.

The Jegar seemed like it wanted to draw the beam saber, but it reacted too slowly. The beam saber that could cut through 30cm thick metal in a second melted through the Jegar's abdomen, and the sound that sounded similar to metal metally struck Marida from through the suit.

(Damn you, 'Sleeves'...!)

At the same time, she heard the voice of the pilot, even though she did not know whether it was wireless interference or a sense other than her hearing. No matter what, things ended here. The beam saber slashed through the armor of the Jegar, going straight through the cockpit, immediately vaporizing the pilot and hacking the entire machine in half. The nuclear reactor inside the Jegar couldn't explode as the machine was hacked in half at the waist and floated away. The burnt remains were still giving off sparks, and the machine body floated beside this enemy called the 'Sleeve' and silently went away.

Marida silently watched the remains of the enemy move away as she kept her beam saber. The wrist of the Kshatriya had a place to keep a beam saber and also had a crest that looked like a wing, something that looked like a sleeved decoration. The mobile suits of the organization Marida belonged to had such a design, which was why the Federation called them 'Sleeves', but that wasn't important to Marida at all.

No, not just the nickname, even the ideal of being an Anti-Earth Federation organization and the content of this mission wasn't important. Humans were animals that would think and had curiosity, but Marida felt that this definition wasn't suited for her.

Just like how a man was a man and a woman was a woman, Marida Cruz was born to be a pilot, and to live as a pilot. To follow her master's orders and destroy the enemy mobile suits. Perhaps the Garencieres should have entered the dark wasteland space region before the mothership chased over. Right now, she had to return back to the ship as soon as possible, do damage inspection on the Kshatriya, readjust and resupply. Once she's done, she would prepare for the next launch and get as much rest as possible. She wouldn't do anything else, and wouldn't think of anything else. Marida didn't feel that she was unnatural like this, and she didn't feel sad about this.

However—once the battle end, as she release her tense state after having concentrated for so long, the empty soul would feel some pain. The emotions she suppressed in the battlefield would awaken, and her mind would complain about the unhappiness. As the fire of the funnels pierced through the machines, it felt that the psycommu installation went in reverse as she felt really complicated, uneasy about the cries of the pilots before they died that entered her mind. When she sliced the special equipped mobile suit, it felt like she personally sliced a pilot to death, and the muscle cringe before he died would cause an uneasiness in both her mind and soul...after recalling the funnels, Marida switched back to full screen view to let the surroundings show the actual outer space.

Marida reached up to take off the helmet of her spacesuit and loosened the hair that was tied behind her head. The waist-length straight hair was scattered aside, and the healthy hair an 18-year-old should have appeared right in front. But Marida's eyes were staring at the entire starry sky that filled her eyes.

If there wasn't any special reasons, the cockpit of the mobile suit wouldn't show the real outer space. It's not just because it was hard to capture, but also the risk that the pilot may panic. The real outer space was so dark, grim and filled with emptiness that look like it would swallow all existence. However, Marida liked it this way.

During the short time before she returned back to the ship, she took off her helmet and relaxed her entire body as she remained in the vacuum of vast emptiness. This would let her feel that the uneasiness inside her would be washed away, and each star would perform a music that she never heard before, bringing her to another place. That's an outer space that didn't have war, didn't have unhappiness, and that people didn't need space suits.

Of course, such a place didn't exist. Outside this cockpit was a space of vacuum that humans couldn't survive in and a reality that had lots of problems—the human social circle called the Earth's boundary. Marida adjusted the main camera of the Kshatriya and looked at Earth that looked only the size of a tennis ball from here.

Like many space migrants, she had never stepped onto Earth once. Marida knew from the black object that was floating in front of the blue body that the target was near. Floating on the Lagrange point between the Earth and the Moon was the rubble of the past war, as numerous destroyed space colonies and spaceships were located at this dark wasteland space.

Humanity created space colony settlements on five Lagrange points known as Sides, and most of humanity had been living in outer space for almost 100 years. The wounds of this grand-scale war was so deep, and the dark wasteland space was one of them. The place people used to call Side 5 was no longer there as what remained was a space graveyard of countless frozen remains—and Marida and the rest's destination, the 'Industrial 7' should be located deep inside this graveyard.

Right now, it was impossible to find it through the large amount of rubble, but she did find the Garencieres who made a move first. Marida again checked to see if there were any pursuers behind her before pushing the Kshatriya on. The nuclear rocket engine sounded through the machine as it jerked, and the force of acceleration remained on her uneasy body. The helmet that was dragged behind hit the screen and let out a light thud.

===Part 3===

Ah, I’m so out of it today-Banagher Links thought that moment he woke up, and then stopped the alarm clock that was set to vibration mode.

As he carried it to sleep, the alarm clock that became rather warm showed 4.20am. After checking the time, he stealthily got off the bed. It was still pitch black outside. Inside the two-man hostel room, the two beds, desks and dressing tables were still covered in darkness. It was so quiet that only the sound of the clock ticking away by seconds, and his roommate Takuya Irei snoring away on the other bed could be heard.

Of course, it’s impossible for a room with 2 stinky guys inside to be clean as there’s things like clothing that were taken off and empty cans. However, there’s still some orderliness in the mess as Banagher grabbed his shirt and jeans, got off the bed without turning on the lights, and tiptoed his way to the bathroom. He quickly finished combing and washing himself, and then looked at the mirror at the sink.

He had dark brown colored eyes and a skin color of an old Middle Eastern Blood. The long hair of his was of the same color as his eyes, and it was rather smooth even if he didn’t take care of him. On seeing that 16-year-old boyish face of his that was so ordinary and nothing special, that disjointed feeling rose up in him. However, this feeling only continued until he put on that only coat he had.

The blue-based fireproof fibers had the logo ‘AE’ sewn on it. It was the jumper of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, and the logo of the main company Anaheim Electronics was sewn on the left side of the chest. This jumper wasn’t really so good looking that it could be worn outside practical lesson, but Banagher modified the extra jumper he bought and used it as plainclothes. The main modification was at the pocket on the collar. The crest of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, AEIC looked like it was removed. Of course, he wasn’t the one who removed it, but that he found a second-hand shop he was familiar with to do the job.

After putting on his clothing to suppress that ‘disjointed’ feeling, what replaced it was the realism of him being part of the large enterprise Anaheim Electronics. After slapping his face to keep himself awake, Banagher left the bathroom, checked that his roommate was still in dreamland, and intended to silently move towards the exit. However, he accidentally kicked into an object the size of a basketball on the floor.

(Hello, Banagher. Hello, Banagher.)

The two circle disks on the ball-shaped body flapped out like ears, and the impact from the kick caused Haro to be activated as it spoke in a monotone voice. Banagher frantically tried to hold down the Haro that was moving on its own and growled softly, “Quiet, Haro!” But it was too late. Takuya, who had the pillow covering his head, sniggled about, and the moment his eyes met Banagher’s, who was about to leave, he got off the quilt and sat up.

“Damn it, Banagher! You don’t care about the agreement that we’re not supposed to run away?”

Takuya roared out. His tea-colored hair was all messy, and he even forgot to wipe away the drool on his head. Though the impression his roommate give was like a big brother who was very affectionate, his popularity would likely decrease when girls see him like this. However, Banagher didn’t have time to think about this and answered back, “Didn’t you adjust the clock faster by 5 minutes, Takuya?” and carried Haro out of the apartment. Banagher put Haro on the door of the hostel and ate the sandwich he bought yesterday. Haro was jumping energetically like a ball out through the automatic door that led to the corridor.

He ran through the school campus that was linked to the hostel, ran through the stairs that linked the school atrium and the road, and arrived at an electronic carpark. The carparks that were managed by the computers automatically send the vehicles over to the locations where the highest frequency of use was. With an ID card, anyone can use it. Banagher bit onto the sandwich and sat inside the open two-seater electronic car, used his ID card to insert into the slot and pressed the start button, grabbed the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

(Very improper, Banagher.)

Perhaps realizing that Banagher was holding the sandwich with one hand and the steering wheel with the engine, Haro’s two optical sensors flickered as it said. Haro, which had a first-level artificial intelligence in its’ ball-shaped body, was supposed to be a toy robot that’s marketed at kids, and would thus say it like this. This shouldn’t be a toy that should belong to a vocational student that’s of the equivalent of high school, but Banagher modified it and carried it around like a pet.

The streets before daylight were rather quiet. Banagher swallowed the sandwich and looked through the windshield glass of this electric and looked up at the sky. Through the clouds that were scattered in the night sky, there were numerous lights flickering through. They look like shines from the stars, but they’re not. Those were the night lights that came from the windows of shops, factories and skyscraper windows that were opened through the night. It’s the city lights that just so happened to be in the opposite direction from here. The carpet of lights that was about 6000m above in the sky covered the entire sky with a gradual arc. On the gap that linked to the skyscrapers, one could see the lights go all the way to the sky right in front. If any residents that were in the opposite direction were to see the sky, the headlamps of this electric car and the surrounding street lights would look like stars too.

The artificial ground that was built within the large cylinder had houses, office buildings, parks and other important things that made up the streets built on it. The internal structure of space colonies were almost all like this. The cylinder that’s 6.4km in diameter would spin in a definite speed, creating a centrifuge force inside the walls, creating 1G’s worth of gravity that’s similar to Earth. The artificial Earth that’s stuck on the inside of the earth, plate areas that’s 3.2km in size and 1.6km deep. Thus, the inside wouldn’t look like it would follow the inside of the ground. At the most, the joints of the plates would look a little slanted.

Day and night inside the space colony was created through the mirrors outside or through the artificial sun at the core, which also had the function of the of adjusting the temperature and creating the four seasons. The time setting was set as Greenwich Time, and the temperature itself was set to the Northern Hemisphere. Unless there’s special uses for sightseeing, this basic setting was used for all the space colonies. Thus, right now, on the 7th of April, 4.330am now, the residential area itself wasn’t too hot or too cold, and most of them were still in middle of night. Also, just like this ‘Industrial 7’, the numerous space colonies were also waiting for spring at night—of course, this include the billions of residents in the space colonies.

And as one of these billion of people, Banagher had been getting up before daylight to get to the dock to work. The work involved clearing ‘rubbish’ outside the space colonies. It was tough getting up early in the morning, but it was all okay since the general education periods could be used for sleep. It was more worth it to work 3 hours before lessons when the morning duty included extra day for night duty, more than working for 5 hours after school.

Takuya worked at the same place, but he got a mini mobile suit that had better work function, and the salary would increase with the work performance. Thus, they would race to see who would get out early. Though there’s a little gentlemanly conduct of not using underhanded means, it was all right if it was everything else, so Banagher and Takuya would think of ways to sneak out. Right now, the winning chances were about 50-50.

However, the two of them weren’t extremely poor students. They were studying in a vocational school where it’s compulsory for them to stay in the hostel, and they got their clothing and food secured. The most they only needed was some spare money. ''This is just a game,'' Banagher thought.

A game to shake my roommate off, getting a high capability mini mobile suit. A game to shake off studies, using work to get rid of boredom. Everyone’s the same too. Enjoying the game of student’s relaxation and not facing that ‘disjuncture’…

(Working all the time. At least study some more.)

It’s unknown how Haro realized this as it spoke these words that struck through him. Feeling that he was read through, Banagher answered back, “This is just outside studying!”

“The vocational students here will become future employees of Anaheim. It’s not a bad thing to test out this mini mobile suit first.”

On one hand, he wondered how he ended up making this kind of excuse, but on the other hand, he could be said to be really satisfied by this. Banagher again felt that ‘disjointed’ feeling. This was a future that he wouldn’t even dare to dream of a year ago, and as he look forward to the 12 years of wonderful future, he felt that he was just drifting with the flow like this, and yet feeling a little cold to himself for walking on the path others set in stone. However, he didn’t have anything else he really wanted to do. He would maintain his grades in the middle high tier, party around with others, and feel extremely out of place. The psychological state behind this trouble started when Banagher was small, and now it became his bad habit.

The electronic head moved through the residential area, entered the industrial area between the light industrial areas. Banagher parked the electric car at the carpark near a convenience store and walked down to the subway like usual. On thinking that he may be caught up by Takuya for being so slack, he kept his stupid bothers behind as his feet naturally quickened through the silent street.

Industrial 7 was one of the industrial space colonies Anaheim Electronics operate. Under the control of the space colonies association, the management of facilities were all controlled by Anaheim Electronics. Amongst the population of 2 million, more than half of them were workers or family members of Anaheim Electronics. Of the remaining, half of them, were of related enterprises or underground companies, and those who were unrelated to Anaheim were mostly civil servants working with government administration, policemen or firemen. They didn’t belong to any Side, and they didn’t have any self-government activity, so the Federation Army didn’t keep their army there. This space colony was basically Anaheim Electronics’ personal island.

After the war, Anaheim Electronics started to recover and absorb, becoming a large corporation called the ‘Spoon of the entire Space Army’. Thus, supermarkets, fast food chains and others in the commercial district would all have the logo of Anaheim Electronics. There would be movies sponsored by Anaheim Electronics, teams sponsored by Anaheim in away baseball games, and residents using AE credit cards to pay. Money would flow within the corporation, forming a structure where the money’s paid out and taken back. However, it was never forced, and done in a way residents would notice at all. This was the reason why Anaheim Electronics could become the largest corporation. Banagher glanced aside at the posters, where 80% of them were related to the corporation, got into the subway, and onto the platform.

The whole of the space colony Industrial 7 was just like a factory. At all times, there would be people working. However, there’s no real switch of shifts like morning peak hours. Thus, on the subway train, there’s only a collapsed drunk middle-aged man who was in his work clothes and a woman who looked like she was working in a night club and whose thick make-up was coming off. She didn’t notice Banagher as she looked emotionlessly outside the window. The expired smell of perfume inside the train would remind one of the smell of a hometown one gave up on. Banagher got onto a double seater and sat down.

The 3 layers of doors closed, and the subway train jerked slightly before moving from the platform to the tunnels leading to the outside of the space colony. It’s called the subway, but the subway in the space colonies weren’t underground, but rail tracks exposed on the outer walls of the space colony. In other words, it’s hanging on the tracks and transported outside the space colony—in outer space.

Soon after leaving the station, the air lock that was located at the ramp was locked from behind. Then, the air lock was opened from the front, and the train entered the outer space that’s full of vacuum. The sound of transport and air disappeared together through the subway, and in this silence that felt like the ears were stuffed, the monorail that went through the air lock slightly glide through the outer wall of the space colony.

As there was no air resistance, only a minimal amount of force would be required to move the subway train under high speed. In a space colony, this is an essential mode of transport efficiency, whether it’s to get to the dock or to take a cable car from the bottom of the ‘hill’, or even to ride the elevator up with an electric car. However, Banagher preferred to look at outer space from the subway train’s window as this place had a sense of release other places couldn’t provide.

There were also people who wouldn’t want to take the ride for fear of motion sickness. To create the centrifuge force of 1G, the space colony had to make one rotation about once every two minutes, and the speed would be a rotation speed of more than 600km per hour. If it were to follow the movement of the rotation, the subway train would find that outer space would continue to move, and to a passenger, it’s like shaking the bottom of a toilet bowl at high speeds. Of course, as it’s merely a really long rotation of more than 20km, it would merely look like the stars are moving. However, if one’s not caring, the mind would continue to feel dizzy after returning back to the space colony, and in worse cases, it would cause a severe psychological problem. That’s called the Coriolis Syndrome, a common environment illness amongst first generation space migrants.

However, to Banagher who was born in outer space and brought up in space colonies, looking out from the subway train to outer space was like looking through at an exhibition, something that’s merely a little different from daily life. Once he exit the space colony, he could clearly see the construction of Industrial 7 under way. Industrial 7 was between the Moon and Earth, a sealed space colony that orbited in L1 through the dark space region. It was shaped like a large oxygen cylinder, and the point that had a dock and a construction area was facing the Earth. On the other side that’s facing the Moon, there’s a population settlement building tool commonly called ‘Wheels’ that was covered up. After construction, it’s said that the cylinder would be 30km long. Right now, 18km was completed. Banagher suddenly remembered that there’s a new plate coming today.

The notice board at the hostel had the poster with the words ‘On 7th April, 1pm, there will be a new extension on a new plate which will cause inconvenience…’ and so on. This mean that there would be new artificial land added. The cylinder of Industrial 7 would be extended by another 6km, and the space colonies were floating amongst the large amount of rubbish in the last war. No matter how much it expanded, the world Banagher live in would be of such a size…

Just when Banagher was suddenly thinking about this as his mind thought of that ‘disjointment’, he saw a white object crossing through outside the window.

It wasn’t a star. It let out several exhaust of blueish-white lights, going underground through in a diagonal manner and flying over at a speed faster than the rotation of the space colony. It was only for a moment, and it looked only about the size of a small fingertip, but Banagher felt that the white afterimage that flew away looked human.

“Mobile suit…?”

That’s right, it was completely different from a mini mobile suit used for working. It was a real mobile suit. It wasn’t just a complete duplicate of a human’s dimensions as Banagher even saw the lone horn that was extended out. Industrial 7 didn’t have a factory to create mobile suits, so it couldn’t be a testing of new mobile suits here. Was the army nearby?

His pulse started to race for some reason, and his palms started to sweat. The uncanny resemblance to a white horse—no, the lone horn that gave the biggest impression made it not look like a mere white horse, but a mystical beast that appeared in legend. What was that name…

At this moment, the ‘disjointed’ world came, and it seemed that something that couldn’t be seen before appeared right in front of the eyes. However, he couldn’t find a way to describe this. Banagher put his face onto the window, wholeheartedly looking for the location of the white machine. The nightclub-styled woman who was sitting behind wasn’t moving, and the man in worker’s clothing was still sleeping and snoring loudly.

The train reached one end of the space colony cylinder and turned down the corner. The front end of the space colony looked like a round pressure tube that was sealed. The train moved onto the seal, and moved to the dock at the center—the docking bay. Banagher couldn’t find the white object and sat back. Above the windshield, one could see the docking bay linking to several large buildings near the commercial area, and the intense weight would make anyone gasp for breath. However, Banagher now didn’t care about it. he merely felt that the intense white remains in his eyes start to fade away, and that his heart started to beat wildly for some reason.

Everything began like this.

===Part 4===

The white machine moved through the space colony that was rotating in the vacuum and head off in the opposite direction of the docking bay, the side facing the Moon.

Similar to the other space colonies, the outer walls of Industrial 7 were of a blueish-silver color. However, it would change at the 18km point on the moon's side, becoming a tea-brown color. That's because the space colony building tool 'Wheel' was set on the front end of the Moon's side.

The wheel, that's 10km long and 6.4km in diameter like a normal space colony, looked like an Eastern teacup from afar, and what covered the space colony looked like a pencil case cover. Its work was to build the outer wall of the space colony and the plate block on the inside of the wall. Like the name 'Wheels' indicate, the space colony was 'created' out from the large cover. Once the outer wall that was built was aligned properly, the 'Wheels' would slide back until the estimated length before separating. The front end of the cover head an outlet to move the equipment and a workers' quarters, thus, even with the expansion work, the space colonies could continue to operate without being affected in any way.

And right now, Industrial 7 had the equipment of the 'Wheels' moved to the entrance—the bottom of the cup. Then, other machinery and equipment were moved in through that large machine. The white mass went by the outer wall of the 'Wheels', and in a short time, got to the Moon's side to the large machine called 'Magallanica'.

The 'Magallanica' was about 6,500m in length, and the long and thin center exposed the rotation residential area that's 1.6km in length. That unique shape earned it the moniker 'Snail'. On the two sides of the of the rotating residential areas, there were factories shown out, and they looked like little asteroids that were absorbing resources. The biological-like appearnance really fit its moniker. On the back of its main body, there's a nuclear pulse engine. Based on the fact that it could navigate on itself own, it could be said to be a giant spacesuit. However, it would be more appropriate to call it a mobile factory that had an engine due to its production ability to create, refine and even build space colonies. In fact, the Magallanica was classified as a builder of space colonies, and its dimensions were different from a spaceship.

And at an area of the Magallanica, at the place that's the equivalent to the head of s snail, there was an oval-shaped command center. The white machine slowed down right in front of it, used the AMBAC system to make a flip, grazed through the arc of windows in a bow shape and went up. There were many unmanned cameras following it, taking shots of several of the machine's parts. The main thruster on the back of the machine, the overall image of straight and curved contours and the complicated antenna that extended out from the forehead. These images were immediately analysed and shown on the multiple screens in the command room, shown into Cardeas Vist's eyes.

The dome-shaped command room that was more than 70m in diameter had a fan-shaped multi command system that gave a mixed impression between a command room of a ship that's parked and a control room of a base. On the inside of the walls of the dome-shaped space, it seemed to be filled with screens and only windows. What appeared at the middle fan-shaped metal board was a control scheme full of messages and controls. The Magallanica was a space colony builder that was meant to develop the area around Jupiter, and the command room that bore the responsibility of a central brain was large and magnificent. However, as it was now at Earth's vicinity, most of the control functions couldn't be used. Thus, only 1 quarter of the control seats were taken, and it looked somewhat relaxed.

However, every single person amongst these 20 control personnel looked rather serious,. They were staring at the multiple screens on the inside of the wall and recording the data they took down into the computers in their hands. The command room was filled with intensity, and it wasn't just because the overnight operation experiment was about to end, but that they knew that the 'UC project' itself was about to end. Cardeas, who was sitting on the command seat in this fan-shaped central command room, was also feeling this excitement.

Anaheim Electronics was requested by the Earth Federation to secretly carry out the 'UC project', and it would immediately end with the completion of this white mobile suit. However, that would be the start of the development of the plan.

The RX-0 'Unicorn', the product of this 'UC plan', would be born out of the darkness, where even the army and Anaheim wouldn't know, becoming the key onto a journey that would break a 100 year old curse. The machine that had the name of the beast of possibilities would bring release to the world or—

“RX-0, you're too close to the space colonies! The subway train's moving! What'll happen if a passenger sees it!”

An operator who also bore the secrecy of this job roared at the microphone. Cardeas was also sweating it when he saw the Unicorn close in on the outer walls of the space colony, but a daring pilot was a more reliable one. Cardeas gave a wry smile and said,

“Today's his last time piloting the 'Unicorn'. Forgive him.”

“Yes...” Even though he kept back his attitude, the operator still couldn't hide his emotions on his face as he looked at the screen. Even though he was a little overly serious, he was a rather good worker too, and Cardeas' wry smile made it even more obvious. Including the test pilots, all the workers here were Anaheim Electronics employees who were involved in the 'UC Project'. The Vist Foudation gave them a high salary in return of them to keep the company's secret and help Cardeas in his plan. Of course, every single one of them weren't people who could be bought over with money, and every one that helped out were outstanding technicians who hoped for the 'Unicorn' to be completed successfully.

Right now, the only one who wasn't a member of Anaheim Electronics was most likely Gael Chan, who was standing beside Cardeas. He was also the secretary and bodyguard. Gael, who was also of the military in the past like Cardeas, joked “As expected of what an ex-pilot would say.” He was in charge of maintaining the secrecy behind this project, and now, he should be undergoing foolproof security at the secret stronghold in Magallanica.

This man was once involved in the underground society, so he was clear with the dealings within the army and the police. If there was a need, he would do a dirty job without hesitation. Gael had a bitter look on his face, which made Cardeas feel that he had something to say. He whispered, “What's the matter.”

“We just made contact with our allies on Lunar II. A Londo Bell ship fought with the 'Sleeves', lost 3 mobile suits and let them get away.”

Gael whispered back. Londo Bell was an independent mobile squadron of the Earth Federation, and didn't have a designated control area. It was a brigade that would deal with things once there was something. The command system would obviously be different from usual, so it would be more like an external organization of the army.

And Londo Bell set an ambush around the dark space region and fought with the 'Sleeves'. To Cardeas, who had something really important to do, he couldn't leave it alone.

“So news were leaked. Did Londo Bell take any other action yet?”

“We've tried looking into news on the 'Londonio's side, but there's no information yet. The commander's really an upright person.”

“He's called Bright Noa, right? I saw him before on a television interview or something like that. Such a man...”

“RX-0 passed its final phase. All objectives complete.” The voice of the operator rang, and Cardeas looked back at the front. “Good work. The mental response to the G-force is within expectations.” “Pilot's lifesigns all all normal.” Voices of reports continued to echo, and Gael shut up behind and seemed to back away. ''Has it arrived?'' Cardeas rubbed his eyes, looked through the screen to see that the white machine had already entered back onto the trajectory and took the microphone off the control panel.

“Everyone, please swear this together with me. The activation experiment of the RX-0 has completely ended. Once it comes back, we're going to remove the test OS, seal the NT-D and activate the Laplace system.”

The air rumbled a little, and soon, the command room was covered in an urgent silence. As the workers floated under zero gravity right in front of the screen, they were grabbing their things nearby and looking at the chairman with nervous expressions.

“I'm grateful to everyone for taking part in this. The 'UC project' will never see the light of day, and everyone's accomplishment will not be passed through generations. However, I'll like to guarantee everyone that at this moment, where history will be changed, the Unicorn would play an important role. Before that day, I hope for everyone to remain silent about this and forget everything you heard here. The Vist Foundation will use its name to ensure everyone's safety. That's all.”

The 'safety' over here would mean that all the workers here would be watched by the Foundation. All their relationships and communication records would be thoroughly exposed—it's unknown how much the workers knew. Gael used his eyes to indicate to everyone to applaud, and after everyone clapped to scatter away this troubling atmosphere, Cardeas put down the microphone.

Now, all preparations were complete. The Unicorn would be sealed and handed to the recipient. If the recipient had that element within, the Unicorn would approach this recipient, carry him and lead him to 'Laplace Box'.

After that...it's impossible to predict. If the recipient didn't have that element, the seal of the Unicorn will not be broken—no, there's a bigger problem. There's no proof to indicate that such a person existed. No matter how much he thought, there wouldn't be such a beginning. Cardeas' conclusion was not to think about it. He told Gael behind him, “Proceed as according to plan.”

“Continue to track Londo Bell's movements. If we can't track the commander, we can still know of the fleet's movements if we follow their reinforcements.”

“Understood...but, aren't you going to reconsider?”

Grabbing onto the handle of the chair, Gael lowered his upper body and said to Cardeas. Cardeas looked at Gael's face.

“They not related to the Federation, but the 'Sleeves' is still a dangerous organization. There's no need for the head of the Vist Foundation to personally head out.”

On seeing Gael's expression that practically said “Think about your own age”, Cardeas couldn't help but grimace unknowingly. Even if this wasn't something really related to the Foundation, Cardeas didn't want to hand it over to other people. The reason was that if there was really someone who had such a nature, he wanted to see what kind of person that was.

“If you think of it that way, just do your work properly and safely and prevent causing trouble in this Industrial 7. Besides, there's a school I'm running here as the chairman.”

Cardeas said in a half-joking manner as he used the computer beside him to open the introductory page to Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. Gael didn't smile as he used his eyes to say 'is this really alright?' before leaving the command room. On seeing Gael's tall and huge body grab onto the handle on the corridor as he floated out, Cardeas looked back at the screen that had the logo of Anaheim Electronics and the school photo.

After keying in the special password for the chairman, Cardeas looked through the students' namelist that wasn't to be released. As Cardeas scrolled through the 5,000 students that were arranged in alphabetical order, he showed a designated person's photo on the screen, and sighed in a habitual manner.

Now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't use this place as one for dealing. However, there's no better place to hide from the eyes of the client and the developer, and there's no better place to install the Laplace system into the Unicorn. The industrial space colony Magallanica that belonged to Vist Foundation and Anaheim Electronics symbolized a good inseparable location that could fool the army and Anaheim, a secret garden to readjust the Unicorn. Cardeas silently watched the screen at the enlarged profile of the student.

Banagher Links. Currently of the Technical Resource development branch. 16 years old. As he looked at his birthday and the personal particulars, Cardeas again sighed as he looked back at the boyish face that seemed to represent his youth.

===Part 5===

The dock of the space colony would normally be called a docking bay, and it was a habit that remained from a long time ago when space development was under way. In that age when humanity finally found a way to send space stations into low orbit above Earth, the ships that went to and fro were just 'docking' with the space station. The scale of which the stopping point was used wasn't large enough to be called a 'bay'. There were also quite a few cases of space stations being linked to each other. Either way, the early space constructs were just relay platforms.

And right now, the docking bay that was located on the front end of the space colony had 7 space cabins of different sizes inside its cylinder-shaped construct, and the spaceship that entered the dock was merely stopped in zero gravity at the dock in space, waiting for the immigration check and other procedures. And the zero gravity industrial area of Industrial 7 was linked to the docking bay, so the construct that reached out from the space colony was larger than the other space colonies by a ring. Including the cylindrical docking bay, the entire length should be over 3.5km. The cylinder shaped factory in the industrial area, and each factory had a dock for transport ships to dock, so there weren't just 10, 20 ships that came in and went out of space. There were so many of them it was like fireflies surrounding a high pressure bottle.

4.15am. The Garencieres became one of the fireflies as it gradually approached the brand new docking bay of Industrial 7. The space colony that was half complete was still new, and the platform showed a dim glow as what was even more eye-catching was the solar panel. The 4 rows of rectangular solar panels that were 5km long were lined beside the space colony, and the surface was always facing the sun. The electricity obtained from the sun would be sent to the space colony via microwaves. To the space colony of Industrial 7 that is sealed off, this was a must.

Of course, it’s easy to get interference from electromagnetism when the electricity’s being transferred, so the energy panel wouldn’t be on the path where the ships were docked. However, the Garencieres grazed by the solar panels at a close distance and reduced its relative velocity with Industrial 7. Just when the sunlight that was reflected on a solar panel in a white panel was right near it, the hatch of the ship opened, releasing a mobile suit from the hangar.

There was a dark green body, pink glowing mono-eyed golem. This was the ‘Geara Zulu’, the supposedly main fighting force of the ‘Sleeves’ mobile suits. It looked like a middle-ages knight armor and also a soldier with a helmet and a gas mask. As it went past the solar panel, it was dropped off the Garencieres, using the shield on the right shoulder to reflect sunlight, and soon after, continued to let out bursts of thrust. Compared to the large solar panel, the human-shaped machine that was 20m in height was just like dust. Once it slipped through the gap behind the construct of the solar panel, it couldn’t be seen.

Less than 10 seconds passed. Even though the trajectory was cleared, the space region still had lots of space dust around, and the space control management couldn’t possible notice a ship’s mysterious actions. Even if there may be someone who was serious enough to take out a pair of binoculars to look, the light that’s reflected off the solar panel could cover it. Marida Cruz was looked behind at the solar panel, and again looked back at the bridge.

Located on both left and right sides were the steering seat and the navigation seat, and at the back where it was slightly higher, it was the captain’s seat. The bridge of the Garencieres was full just like that, and to those who didn’t have a seat, this wasn’t a place they could stay for long. However, the ceiling still had a definite height, so there wasn’t much problems under zero gravity. Under zero gravity, every could squeeze into this three dimension space.

“This will be long, but it’ll be over before the change. Just endure this.”

Sitting on the captain’s seat, Suberoa Zinnerman bellowed to the microphone. The old captain’s hat, brown leather coat and rough stubble of moustache made him look like the captain of an old trading ship. However, his eyes were sharp. The voice that came through the wireless communicator “Yes, captain.” Couldn’t hide its anxiety.

The one who spoke was the pilot of the Geara Zulu, Savoir. He will be hidden under the solar panel for one whole day and watch the outside of Industrial 7. They didn’t let the enemy know about the deal, but since they were ambushed by the Federation, they couldn’t believe the kind intentions of the other party completely. If they were thoroughly checked through once they entered the dock, Savoir’s Geara Zulu would wreck havoc.

In that case, not only will Marida’s Kshatriya sortie, but even the other Geara Zulu would launch too. And the pilot was Gilboa Sant. Right now, he was sitting on the navigation seat, busy explaining to the control officer why they were slightly off course. Gilboa’s 30 years old and had a friendly and approachable face. He had pure black skin that was rare to see nowadays, and also the father of 3 children. And on the steering seat on the other side was the 27 year old Flaste Schole. As compared to Gilboa, he gave off a cold and aloof vibe. Though his appearance looked rather unapproachable, he was really a good big brother who would take care of others, and the other members all trusted him. He was an acquaintance of Zinnerman for a long time, and the number 2 man supporting the captain from behind.

The entire look of the Garencieres squadron was of 33 members, including the sortie team of mobile suits and the crew of the ship. Amongst the ‘Sleeves’ that the Earth Federation declared to be ‘Terrorists that appear and disappear out of nowhere’, they could be said to be a specialized unit. With Captain Zinnerman leading the front, all the crew members were disguised as members of a trading ship, so they weren’t as rigid as a military organization. The main forces of the ‘Sleeves’ seemed to view them as radicals too; so it was like Zinnerman leading an independent group or an underground organization carrying out a mission. In fact, they received this mission precisely because of such a nature. Including the ambush from the Federation Army just now, the ship had an atmosphere of not knowing how to deal with this mission.

They were headed to Industrial 7 to collect the Laplace Box the Vist Foundation would provide. On first glance, it was a mission that anyone could do, a mission that even a delivery company could do. The only thing abnormal was that no one knew of the true identity of Laplace Box—

“We’ve passed the request completely. It seemed that the Harbor Authority was notified too, so we can dock without an investigation…I don’t understand.”

After ending the conversation with the Control Officer, Gilboa said worriedly. Marida looked over at him, and she could see a space gate that was the size of a thumb outside and the guiding lights.

“The thing we want is on the port on the other side, right? Why won’t they let us go there directly…since it’s connected to the builder of space colonies, wouldn’t it be easier to carry out the deal if we’re not allowed to go out normally?”

“That space colony was said to be Vist Foundation’s personal belonging. Most likely, they don’t want us from getting too close.”

Flaste interrupted. Industrial 7 only opened its port that’s facing Earth, and the port facing the Moon was covered by the Colony Builder. That’s a large installation that could use and purify the space dust in the dark wasteland space and form them as materials for new space colonies. Let alone the personnel there, even the people living inside the space colonies were said to be restricted in their movements. While it was still unknown whether the Laplace Box they heard from the information was real, it was still a good place to carry out a secret deal. However, the Vist Foundation didn’t let them head towards the Colony Builder directly.

“They’re still more or less wary of us. We’re the illegal ‘Sleeves’ after all.”

As he drank from the canned coffee, Zinnerman said in a self-mocking manner. This voice washed away the doubts of his subordinates and made everyone remember that they were in danger. However, Flaste continued on, a rare feat for him,

“So, what’s that Laplace Box anyway? You should more or less tell us, right?”

That’s the question that went straight to the core. Gilboa looked back at Zinnerman on the Captain’s seat too. Zinnerman shrugged and said,

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s some huge treasure that we’ll be shocked by.”

“It doesn’t appear on the surface, but the Vist Foundation one huge tycoon organization, and it’s deeply ingrained in the government and Anaheim Electronics. The Foundation’s their main base, right? Those guys who would deal with the Federation government would actually offer us a treasure. I really don’t understand.

What Gilboa said was precisely what everyone on the Garencieres couldn’t understand, but Zinnerman continued to look rather aloof. He answered “This is news we got from Full Frontal, so we can trust him on that.” And looked at Marida, who just so happened to look back, and the control onto the trajectory became stronger.

''Including the ambush just now, there was definitely something wrong with the situation. Don’t let your guard down.'' Zinnerman warned everyone else with his eyes—Marida nodded and looked out of the window. Luckily, the port official’s boat was closing in, and Flaste and Gilboa started to talk into the wireless communicator, and the conversation ended like that. Marida looked at the numerous fires and exhaust, checking that everyone was normal.

Right now, there were three things they know. First, they will be provided with the item for free provided that they followed the instructions of Vist Foundation. Second, the item that’s the be dealt was large, so it had to be transported through a cargo ship. Because of this, they had only 2 frames of Geara Zulu even though they could normally dock three of them in the hangar to allow space for a mobile suit. On the other hand, the fact that they merely put only one less mobile suit showed that Zinnerman was somewhat hesitant on this mission.

However, the most important point was the third one. This thing called the Laplace Box had the ability to overturn the world—shake the Earth Federation and change the area around the Earth—it could be some scandal on the current administration or the ultimate weapon that could bring about a change in military forces. However, there had to be some basis for this for the headquarters to agree to the Vist Foundation’s invitation. And right now, the situation with the ‘Sleeves’ was such that even if it was only a trace of hope, they had to grab it.

''But no matter what, it didn’t matter to me.''Marida thought that no matter what’s inside Laplace Box, her mission to protect her master and work for him would never change. If the box really existed, they will bring it back, and if it was a trap, she would break through. Thus, no matter how much of a sacrifice she had to make, she wouldn’t hesitate at all. Marida again looked over at Industrial 7 in front of her.

Amidst the numerous remains of steel and stone, the isolated space colony that was floating away slowly was itself like a box with a secret inside. The Garancieres followed the two rows of guiding lights and entered the docking bay, and just when they were about to be allocated into a space gate, there were numerous objects flying into outer space. Marida consciously checked the appearance and number of objects.

The cylinder shaped objects grew out short legs and arms for work, and they had bubble-shaped wind-proof installations. These human shaped machines that were the size of two humans were mobile suits used for port work.

8 mobile suits flew by, perhaps here to clean the runaway, and then, another dozen of mini mobile suits went past the Garancieres . As he looked at the squad of small mobile suits that were 3m tall, Gilboa said, “It’s Bubbo’s Company machines.”

“Junk Collection?”

“Yeah. Lots of space colonies opened chain shops. Most likely, they came here because of Anaheim’s outsourcing project. It looked good, and because of the junk caused by the One Year War, it wouldn’t be complete even if it took 100 years…”

Perhaps feeling that he was in the middle of creating junk, Gilboa sounded somewhat heavy-hearted. Flaste didn’t answer back, and Marida looked at the mini mobile suits that were floating in vacuum.

As they let out the thruster boost, the mini mobile suits started to move into the space dust on orbit, and they would fire at those things that were so big they couldn’t collect back. To them, junk’s just dunk, just a economical value to reclaim to decide who get more back. There’s such a life, Marida thought; a life where she won’t take other people’s lives or have her life taken. After thinking about her future 1 year, 10 years , a life to fight for tomorrow…

''The enemies I took down today may one day be reclaimed back, right?'' Marida looked at the lights that didn’t involve her and thought.

===Part 6===

She moved inside the boat that brought her here, went through three compartments, and arrived at the central bay.

The docking job started, and the variable-sized communicator that looked like a harmonica was connected to the air bridge and the air lock of the Garencieres. As she looked through the window and that the workers inside the ship were starting to get busy, the girl cautiously left the room.

The helmet that had the spacesuit on closed the visor. This wasn’t equipment that wasn’t important when there was air was only important so that the face wasn’t seen. Most of the port workers would be wearing spacesuits, and if she was successful, she could sneak it through. The girl held the handle and move through the narrow corridor, reaching the air lock at the hatch of the ship, and decisively opened grabbed the handle.

Due to the air flow caused by the difference in air pressure, the sound of metal colliding, the sound of the exhaust of the motion control and the audio broadcast of the professional contact enter. The center dock was a large space that was 500m wide, and the floor and the ceiling—though it’s meaningless to call them this under zero gravity—both sides had 4 canes each, and each of them were docked on trading ships similar to the Garencieres. The girl went through the air lock, let her body float towards the floor 20m away. Before the magnetic boots touched the ground, the girl took out some cable from her waist and fired the trigger at the wall of a crane.

The magnet that was shot out stuck onto the wall of the crane. She squeezed the trigger again, and the cable gun that looked like a handgun coiled up automatically, bringing the girl over to the magnet. This was something that was really important when working under zero gravity.

After the coiling was done, the magnetism vanished, and she would have to aim at another point next. Just like this, the girl continued to repeat this motion and move towards the exit of the industrial area. While moving, she went by the crew members of the Garencieres, but as everyone was busy dealing with the docking, and that she had her spacesuit and the visor on, no one could recognize her. The girl reached the exit without anyone noticing, and then used the handle to move on. The mobile handle that was installed on the wall and handrail increased its speed together with the strength of the grip, and sent the girl towards the industrial area.

The ships that were already checked through were docked at this port, thus, it wasn’t hard to leave this port, and there should be no problems if the industrial port wasn’t into operation mode. The problem was about how to reach the colony builder that was on the other side of the space colony. As she continued to remember the map of Industrial 7 in her mind, the girl slipped into a group of workers and entered the Terminal Body.

The girl had a plan. There was an artificial sun inside Industrial 7, at the center core in the cylinder of the space colony. The illuminating installation that reached out on both sides was the thing that create night and day. In the old century’s manner of speech, it was like a large play.

The artificial sun had a walkway for inspection that reach out to both ends of the space colony. Of course, this wasn’t a place anyone would go, and the artificial sun would give off lots of heat, so the pathway couldn’t be used in the day. However, if she entered there, she wouldn’t have to enter the space colony and could reach the region on the other side. There’s a chance that she could get near the colony builder that people were rarely allowed to enter, and find a chance to sneak in.

5.50am. The girl checked the watch to see that there’s still time till daylight and took off her spacesuit helmet. She pulled her short brown hair off and floated into the toilet nearby.

Now, it would be too obvious to wear a spacesuit here. She entered the toilet that had a toilet bowl for zero gravity use, took off her spacesuit and put on dark blue jeans and a white jean as she got out of the bathroom. She ignored the worker who passed by while whistling on put on a jacket that was as fluffy as a shawl before grabbing the mobile handle and moving to the exit of the tower. As it wass most likely not a change of shift yet, there weren’t many people in front of the exit.

''I have to get to the colony builder before Zinnerman and Marida take action and meet the person I should meet.'' The girl thought as she moved out of the Terminal Building.

===Part 7===

A while back, Banagher was in the same Terminal Building, at the office of Bubbo’s Company, facing the Chief of the Management Section.

“So I can’t sortie today?”

“That’s the instructions of the superiors. A trading ship’s about to enter at the last minute, so I had to send a crane out first…I asked the previous shift to handle the rest, and they went off.”

While the superiors ask for increase in efficiency, the subordinates ask for improvement in working environment, and the Chief of Management had to explain that the blame wasn’t on him. Right now, the large amount of space dust caused lots of social problems, and the Bubbo Company showed marked improvement in growth. However, most people viewed them as merely junk collectors who overturned things, and there’s a rather bleak feeling about this. Even if they changed their title for ‘Junk Collector’ to ‘Resource Collector’, the understanding of society would not change. At this operation base of Industrial 7 and everyone inside, including the Chief had a rather lonely feeling.

It was really no surprise that Bubbo Company would lend out cranes to a ship that just arrived, but to Banagher who came here to work part-time, it wasn’t worth being so happy about. The morning shift squad had already left, so those who were working today flew off. There was no latest mini mobile suits to use, and everything was just a waste of time. Banagher really wanted to grumble ‘I finally became the first one here…’ or something like that.

“Sorry, I’ll add some extra money for your overtime fee next time.”

The bespectacled Chief smiled and seemed to be busy managing the delayed trip. He wasn’t hiding the fact that he didn’t have the time to deal with part-time workers as he went into the office to get the call. The two workers who were working night shift were also lowering their heads and staring at their screens. Seeing them like this, Banagher didn’t have the energy to talk more as he left the office that had the smell of plastic. The word ‘Disjointed’ went through his mind again.

Banagher let Haro exit onto the corridor first, kicked against the wall that had footprints all over it, and let his body float towards the corridor window that could look at the central port. The number 4 crane Bubbo Company used was parked at a ship he had no impression on. It was an old-styled Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Craft. The ship that was obviously stained had the logo ‘RIbakoona Trading’ on it and the ship’s name ‘Garencieres’.

“The name’s rather delicate…”

As he muttered this a little grudgingly, he found that Takuya was coming in from the other end of the corridor. Takuya let go of the handle that was moving at the fastest speed possible before his body landed on the cushion on the wall due to inertia. The first thing he spoke was: “Banagher, you bastard…!” And Banagher silently pointed to the office’s entrance.

Takuya was also stunned as he then walked into the office, and soon appeared on the corridor after 1 minute. He looked like he didn’t know what was going on, but he chuckled on seeing Banagher, and even said (That’s karma, karma.) Even Haro was flapping its ear disks and crying ‘Retribution, retribution’. Banagher carried Haro and left the corridor.

There was still three hours until vocational lessons began, and Banagher and Takuya didn’t want to head back to the hostel to sleep. Thus, they went to the cafeteria in the industrial area. The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony was also a rest area that functioned as an observatory post, so they could still take a little nap at this time.

In this Industrial 7 space colony that was almost completely covered with factories, the zero gravity industrial area that was linked to the docking bay was the largest production base. There were all sorts of production lines, from metal, refining, heating to assembly, and it included a production work that made use of the zero gravity environment. This place produces everything related to industrial needs, from the screws used on a train to the gundanrium alloy.

To the industrial area that works for 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, no matter whether it was midnight or morning, it was just a unit of time. Once they entered the unloading area that was full of air, tey could hear the sounds of mini mobile suits moving about, hoots and controllers shouting, and also the sounds of metal colliding with each other. Soon, they heard the voices of the operator shouting :”DAMN BRATS! WEAR A HELMET HERE!” Banagher and Takuya shouted, “Sorry!” but didn’t slow down as they grabbed hard onto the mobile handle and continued to head to the unloading area that would lead to the cafeteria.

On the way, Banagher mentioned to Takuya about how he saw a white mobile suit in the subway train. Takuya, who was studying mobile suits and aimed to be a test pilot, was already familiar with military affairs such that he could be said to be a fanatic of it. Banagher thought that his facial expression would change on hearing a new mobile suit, but Takuya’s reaction was unexpectedly cold.

“The war with Zeon is over. The Federation finally started with reprogramming. Even if a new mobile suit is developed, it would just be a minor modification to a GM.”

“But that machine was completely white and had a single horn on it. It really looked special. Since it’s a reprogrammed one, it’s not weird to see a new mobile suit developed, right?”

“Fool, that’s something that can only happen during war. Why would they allocate some of the budget to develop a new mobile suit if there’s no imaginary enemy.”

That sounded logical. “Is that so…” “You really don’t know anything.” On hearing such a response, Banagher felt like he may want to find a hole to hide in.

No matter what aspect it is, someone who works hard on one thing would have the keen eyesight of observing the world from that perspective, and Banagher felt a little short and behind others for not being able to have it. It wasn’t too bad if it was an ordinary high school student, but someone studying this ‘one-way trip’ at Anaheim Electronics would feel really guilty.

“It’s great that you had a goal.”

Thus, Banagher suddenly raised this issue. Takuya looked somewhat surprised and gave a wry look “What are you saying?”

“Aren’t you planning to go develop the Jupiter zone?”

“That’s true…”

However, Banagher was different from Takuya. He merely chose one subject out of many when he transferred into Anaheim Electronics Institute College, and didn’t really have a particular insistence. Banagher merely wanted to see Jupiter and was moved by the term trail blazer, but he lost all enthusiasm when he thought of how he had to study engineering and mathematics. No, it’s not that he found studying hard, but that he found himself ‘disjointed’ when he was mixed together with a group a really passionate volunteers.

Thinking about this, the doubts Banagher often had would appear in his mind, whether he should be here? He searched through the layers of his memories as to why he was here. His mother died, and on the night of the funeral, a group of men in suits appeared and said, “We’re hired by your father.” And told him that his life will be assured in the future. After that, what he got was a transfer application to Anaheim Electronics Institute College—

They never explained what kind of person his father was, and only said that one day, he would meet him personally. Banagher himself didn’t want to ask too much. It wasn’t really much of an interest to him, but as both mother and son relied on each other for more than 10 years, anyone would be troubled about a father who suddenly appeared, and no matter what the reason was, Banagher didn’t want to recognize a man who wouldn’t even come to his mother’s funeral. At the same time, he felt that if he opened himself too much, he would be betraying his mother.

His mother was a kind and strong-willed person who raised Banagher alone and made Banagher forget that he needed a father. Though the ever-changing jobs and residences caused Banagher to end up transferring schools without having time to make friends, it wasn’t his mother’s fault. Banagher would always remember how on Christmas night at the age of 5, that this Haro was sent over without warning.

His mother said that it was a present from Santa Claus, but Banagher knew that it was a present sent over by his father. After that, his mother would keep moving houses like she was running away from disaster, perhaps to get away from his father. And his mother would be unhappy if he asked. Thus, Banagher knew before the age of ten that this was a question he couldn’t ask.

“He’s really a strong-willed person. You can be proud to be his son. But I know that his strength won’t bring happiness to us mother and son, so mom can only bring you away from that person…”

His mother would only talk about this when his father was mentioned. Whenever his mother asked “Do you understand?” Banagher could only pretend to understand and nod his head. Both mother and son stayed in an old space colony at Side 1, an old residential area near the slums. Banagher grew up watching his mother who shouldn’t be living in such a place, felt that he shouldn’t cause too much trouble for his mother, and started to feel troubled by the ‘disjointed’ feeling in him.

It’s especially because of that unknown reason that he started to feel ‘disjointed’ ever since he first had his memories. It was different from feeling out of place. It felt like there was a place he should really be at, but that his mind and body was being separated from that place. This baseless feeling still didn’t disappear even after he accepted the invitation of this father of his that he never met before and stayed in Industrial 7. The naïve expectation that this ‘disjointed’ feeling would disappear the moment he came here was just a rhapsody of his own youth. Banagher could calmly analyze this aspect of himself in hindsight.

He thought that if he put on the uniform of Anaheim Electronics and thought of becoming a member of this large corporation, he could forget all about this. However, after 8 months of hostel life, what he got was only an ordinary license and a mini mobile suit license. In the days that never changed, where things never really happened, the ‘disjointed’ feeling started to grow. Right now, he still didn’t know his father’s true identity, and neither did he try to know as he was already having a hard time handling the future that was becoming smaller.

''Why did I come here? Why do I feel that I am looking forward to this ‘Disjointed’ feeling being filled up?'' As he carried the Haro that he took care of all this time, Banagher pondered. ''Was it that I want to meet my father? To see where I come from? But even if we meet, nothing will change. Even if I know my origins, I can’t be assured that there will be where I will go…''

His thoughts just continued to beat around like this as they went from the unloading bay to the cargo area. Takuya, who was walking in front, shouted excitedly, “Wow, that’s a huge find!” and Banagher lifted his head up.

At a corner of the large cargo area, there were the remains of a mobile suit. It’s unknown whether it was the Bubbo Company or other ‘Junk Collector’ company who took it in. The parts below the knees were severed, and those parts under the right shoulder were gone. However, the dark green body and the head with the one eye were still intact, and it was still easy to identify what the damaged thing was. This was really a great find, and even Banagher felt this way. Almost all the remains of space colonies or mobile suits were taken back, and as mainstream mobile suits became mini ones that were only able to pull scraps, it’s really rare to see such a relatively intact scrap. It’s unknown who found it, but the person who found it can earn half a year’s worth of salary with this. Banagher and Takuya let go of the hand and floated towards the remains.

[[Image:KSGU 131.jpg|thumb]]
“Is that a Zaku?”

As he reached the deck where he could look down at the remains, Banagher grabbed onto the handrail and asked Takuya. That used to be the main fighting force of the Republic of Zeon, the name of the line of machines and also the mother of all mobile suits. No matter whether it was the green frame that had lots of spikes on the left shoulder armor, Banagher really couldn’t think of any other machine that had these characteristics. However, Takuya answered: “Idiot, that’s not it.”

“That’s the ‘Geara Doga’, a machine used during ‘Char’s Counterattack’.”

“Never heard of it. I’m not that crazy about machines.”

“This is created by Anaheim! Remember that.”

Takuya used his finger to point at the temple, and Banagher just stared at the remains of the mobile suit. The machine that obviously had burned scars had workers all around using their handheld notebooks to enter data into. It’s unknown whether they were trying to diagnose the selling price of the machine or how to distribute this once they decide to split this out. The one eye and the visor glass were broken, but the power source that was severed off was leaking oil, making one wonder if the reactor could still work. The still-human appearance that remained made one wonder that it may be a remain that could move once someone adjust it.

''Maybe the pilot was able to get out in time?'' Banagher had this idea as he turned his eyes to the cockpit at the abdomen, but gasped as he found that he was wrong. The armor plate that was protecting the cockpit was twisted by the heat, opening a hole that was 1m long. It looked like a beam weapon shot through it, burning through the cocking, leaving a laser bullet hole and vaporizing the pilot. It looked just like a black hole that led to an endless darkness. That was the action of humans who made the hole, one that was unrelated to them, called war. It was deep and black, looking like it was about to absorb someone into it—

“…The war’s over. There won’t be any new frames now.”

Takuya swallowed his saliva and mentioned what they were talking about just now. The side of his face seemed to be a little white.

“There aren’t any news on terrorism recently.”

“There’s still some remnants of Zeon, but the scale’s not large enough to form an army. The Defense Ministry wrote in black and white that ‘We’re cleaning up after the war on Zeon’.”

“The space colony I was staying on once had a freelance transporter, but he said something about space residents living independently, and I didn’t feel anything much after hearing it.”

Side 3, which was on the back of the Moon, was self-proclaimed the Republic of Zeon that declared its independence from the Earth Federation and triggered what’s called the One Year War. Banagher understood this as well. The dark wasteland region where Industrial 7 was where the remains of the initial battle both sides had, the ‘Battle of Loum’. Banagher himself was born under this offensive age where half the population was wiped out—what sociologists call babies born after the war. During the 16 years of war, the so-called remnants of Zeon continued to launch conflicts one after another, creating terrorist attacks on a grand scale. However, these were another thing entirely to Banagher and the rest, just information taught through televised news and textbooks. No matter whether it was the war or the independent movements of the space residents, it was nothing different from fiction to them.

However, the dark bullet hole in front of them showed them that all these were real. It caused them to realize that people really died from this and reprimanded them of their lazy lifestyles. They talked to each other in perfect unison and left this place. The image of war that suddenly appeared in front of them wasn’t so easily erased, and that deep and dark hole that led to emptiness shot through Banagher’s heart.

The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony had one wall that was completely made of glass, and they could see the streets on the inside of the wall from the center of the cylinder. It was 5.20am, and the artificial sun that goes through the entire inside of the colony wasn’t activated as there seemed to be a thin carpet of light seen inside the wall of the colony from 3,000m height.

In another 10 minutes, the artificial sun would declare the start of the day, and the vast amount of light and heat would bring about morning to Industrial 7. At that moment, the windows of the cafeteria would have a light filter on to reduce the shine the artificial sun would release at close range. However, there was no need to cover it for now. The artificial sun outside the window that lead to the other side of the space colony was still in darkness. There were few people who were in the cafeteria at this point, and Banagher and Takuya were holding onto their own trays as they sat beside the window.

They were discussing about what to do with the report they have to hand in a month later, just before summer vacation began, how the old hag in physics lesson would mess them up, and talked around before Takuya started yawning. After putting the empty soup pipe onto the tray, he said “I’m going to sleep” and used the zero gravity environment to put his legs about. Banagher was trained by his mother strictly and couldn’t be as rash as he was. However, he did feel that he was trying his best to get along with his surroundings and let himself loose already.

“Get some sleep, man. Micott’s going to have a party at her house tonight.”

Takuya closed his eyes as he said that. Banagher answered back: “Really?” But didn’t sound very interested.

“Our technical school has too many people with no charm, but her school has quite a lot of good girls there. This is a good chance to get to know them. Better save our energy here, or else it’ll be sad if we’re still single once it’s summer.”

“Aren’t you going back to your old home? Even if you have a girlfriend here…”

“Don’t say that. I do go to the Francesca Colony with my family to do manual labor. Bringing my younger siblings out to fish in the day, barbequing at night with relatives; I can be so happy that I could cry. How can I hang on without a girlfriend waiting for me?”

“Don’t go then.”

“I can’t do that. That’s the bond of family…”

Takuya suddenly shut up and opened an eye before asking: “What are you going to do during summer vacation?” Banagher could only shrug at this concern that bothered him “Who knows.”

“I don’t have any relatives when I go back home, and I shifted. I guess the most I can do is to stay here and continue to work and earn money, and that I can earn my school fees before my sponsor changes his mind.”

“Haven’t you heard anything from your dad?”

“Un. Well, I don’t know what I should do if there really was news.”

“Fu-n…that’s really hard to understand. Calling you here and not coming to see you.”

Takuya felt that this was the only way he could show concern as an outsider and didn’t mention this again. He diverted the topic and said “Then you should take advantage of tonight. There’s only one summer when you’re 16 years old.”

“Un…”, Banagher merely answered methodically as he continued to look outside the dark window.

However, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. Like others, Banagher went through romantic relationships and breakups, and he did have a few girlfriends at his hometown. However, what seemed to be a happy thing to them wasn’t a happy thing to Banagher himself. Also, he never actually got on well with them, and was always seen through. Thus, the relationship would never last long. Girls in their youth really can’t stand creatures like insincere men, and anything more didn’t exist.

No. it was just because he never really had a real romantic relationship. Maybe things would change if he found a good partner. Maybe tonight’s party may solve this. Banagher forced himself to think this way. This may be an encounter that could clear all the ‘disjointed’ feeling he had with the world and enchant him; an encounter that would make this Industrial space colony look rose colored; an encounter that could land him at where he lived. He would become a member who would walk in and out of a factory, covered with sweat and oil, and have a drink on the way home from work as an occasional luxury—an encounter that could allow him to accept this life.

Right outside the windows, the streets lights before dawn broke. The lights on the highway were showing a spiral shape, and what looked like lights from night delivery lorries were gliding silently. In another 2 hours, most of the people would get up and rush to their respective workplaces. The people who were waiting at the bus stops for buses will form crowds, and the subway trains that were filled with workers changing shifts will move between the streets inside the wall and the industrial area. Today, that’s just like yesterday and may be like tomorrow, continued to operate like a conveyor belt.

“Will we become part of this once we graduate…”

Feeling that intense ‘disjointed’ feeling again, Banagher muttered. Takuya didn’t answer back, and as Banagher looked at him, he found that the body that was almost asleep was floating up from the table. As he grabbed Takuya’s shoulders and pressed him back onto the chair like magic tape, Banagher saw ‘that thing’ outside the window.

At the base that’s 100m above the cafeteria, at the pillar of the artificial sun that was reached out to the opposite side of the space colony—there was a warning light flashing. There was something floating as it crossed near the large pillar in the darkness. He first thought that it was junk. It’s obvious for junk to be stuck near the sun after being taken away by an artificial convection when the space colony’s being built in the opposite direction. However, the ‘object’ that was so small that it would disappear into the darkness, and that it was moving on its own. It seemed to be frantically flailing its limbs and moving its body to control its body as it flew with the wind.

He consciously let his body float near the window and grabbed Haro’s fluttering ears in the air from underneath the table. Banagher looked at that ‘object’ that was lit up by the weak warning light. That’s right, there was someone. Someone was floating near the artificial sun. it was 1km away, but Banagher could see—or rather, feel that the person who was floating had a cape-shaped coat on.

It was soon going to be daybreak, and there couldn’t possibly be testing on the artificial sun. Banagher looked at the person who wasn’t even wearing a spacesuit. The figure left the artificial sun and floated towards the wall. It’s obvious that the person was in trouble, and it would be easy to spot in daylight. However, at that moment, the artificial sun would be activated, and the surrounding air would be really hot. The cylinder that was 6km in diameter was a large source of light to the entire space colony, and would burn up anything nearby.

“…Not good.”

Banagher looked at the watch. It was 5.26am. There’s still less than 5 minutes to daylight. “Eh? What’s wrong?” Banagher left behind Takuya as Takuya rubbed his eyes, kicked the table, and rushed through the empty cafeteria, using the pillar near the entrance as the support point and rushed to the corridor. At this moment where not even a second was to be wasted, he didn’t even think of explaining this to anyone else, and the body that was pushed by impulse continued to rush to the worksite.

===Part 8===

She really couldn’t understand what happened for the time being. In her eyes, what she could only see was the artificial sun pillar that was leaving her and the street lights and clouds on the inside of the wall appearing and disappearing at the same time as the winds blew past her ears.

As she kicked her legs about forward, the girl tried to stop the spinning on her body. However, against this artificial wind, such an action was futile. There was an endless steady supply of wind inside the colony to allow for convection of the sun’s heat. The artificial convection installation that was installed in the zero gravity area was moving the air, creating a complicated flow of wind near the sun.

The girl held back the fear that was rising up her throat, telling herself to calm down. She had managed to slip into the artificial solar inspection area and arrived on the passageway that was parallel to the illuminating installation. She just needed to grab the mobile handle and move forward for about 20m, and she should be able to reach the other side of the space colony in less than 30 minutes—where her target, the colony builder.

However, she didn’t expect that pathway to have a section cut off because of repairs. It was too late once she moved in for about 1km, felt that the tunnel was blocked and let go of the handle. The girl’s body flew out in motion, breaking the plastic seal that blocked the passage, and dropped outside the passage.

At the same time, she knocked into the fire extinguisher that was placed on the platform, and got the gas squirted at her, causing the situation to become complicated. The girl was pushed away from the artificial sun pillar because of the gas pressure. And under the vacuum of zero gravity, there’s nothing she could grab onto. The girl became a speck of space dust that was floating in the core of the space colony. She was forced away by the gas pressure and the airflow convection, and was pushed down to the wall 3000m away—

[[Image:KSGU 140.jpg|thumb]]

The artificial sun was gradually getting further and further away. The layers of moving clouds and the street lights that were inside the wall were closing in. The centrifuge force of the space colony wouldn’t work without direct contact. It looked like she could land safely, but the problem was the rotation speed that create the 1G worth of gravity. It looked slow from here, but in fact, the inside wall of the space colony was rotating about 600km per hour. The girl’s body was out of the rotation speed, and if she got close to the inner wall and hit the wall that’s rotating at high speeds, she would be pancaked.

However, she couldn’t just wait for help in zero gravity as a premonition started. BAM BAM, continuous tremors could be heard through the air of the space colony. This was the voice of the artificial sun getting powered up. It was the awakening of a laminating device, the sound of it letting off light as it burned the air around it.

I don’t want to die. No, I can’t die. The girl didn’t give up as she moved her limbs and tried to get close to the artificial sun’s passageway. She was already prepared to die, but she wouldn’t allow herself to die like this. For the sake of the warriors who fought to protect her, her parents who died early, and she wouldn’t forgive herself if she were to die in such an ugly manner.

This thought was more frightening than death itself. However, the artificial sun that seemed to mock the struggling girl got louder and louder, and the laminating installation started to brighten.

===Part 9===

Luckily, there was a mini mobile suit parked at the carpark beside the cafeteria. It was the latest model from the Toruro company, Type-800, commonly known as the ‘Torohachi’. There wasn’t anyone on the machine, which, to Banagher, was a pleasant surprise.

Perhaps the operator went to the toilet as the key was still in the machine. Banagher sat inside the cockpit of the 'Torohachi' to check whether it still had power. While the worker shouted: “HEY, YOU…!”, Banagher shouted back: “Danger!” as he undid the feet clamp on the floor. As he ignored the middle-aged worker “WHO ARE YOU! DON’T MOVE!” and let the 'Torohachi' move forward, a green ball-shaped object slammed into the helmet of the worker and jumped into the cockpit. “Haro…!?” Banagher couldn’t help but exclaim before tucking Haro between his thighs before covering the hemisphere windshield visor.

Once Banagher did the basic minimum safety checks, he undid the magnetic locks on the legs. The short legs of the 'Torohachi' kicked the ground and floated up. Banagher stepped on the gas, and the thruster at the back lit up. The 'Torohachi' head off towards the cargo exit of the space colony and accelerated.

At the front end of the space colony, the sudden slope of the zero gravity industrial area under the wall was called the ‘mountain’. Like its name implied, it was a bare layer of rock and trees and plants covered the mortar-type airtight wall. If one looked up from the inside, what would be seen would be like a famous 3,000m high mountain—Mount Fuji. The mountaintop that was hidden amongst the clouds had many cable cars stations and the exits for cargo ships as they move through the zero gravity belt. The 'Torohachi' went through one entrance and moved towards the artificial sun. The artificial upflow that struck caused the machine to shake, but Banagher continued to look around for the figure floating in the darkness.

Without relying on night vision goggles, Banagher found the floating figure. He didn’t spend the effort to feel how strange it was. Banagher again activated the thruster boost of the 'Torohachi'. This was different from driving in vacuum as the machine was heavy. The air that filled the entire space colony formed a wall, and the shaking of the machine was felt through the control rod. For a moment, he felt that he was really reckless, but this rash of sanity immediately disappeared.

The artificial sun started to glow, and there wasn’t much time left before it was completely activated and burns the surrounding air. Banagher activated the motion sensor and let the relative distance between his machine and the target and the speeds show on the control screen. Though it was the same as collecting space junk, the target this time was a living human. If his methods were too rough, the person may be killed.

The distance from the figure got closer and closer, and he could already see the cape-like jacket fluttering from behind the windshield and the long and narrow limbs of a person. It was a girl—as his instincts told her this, a large amount of shaking happened to the machine, and Banagher hurriedly adjusted the power of the thruster boost. Haro floated up because of the impact as its eyes flashed, calling: “Do your best, do your best!”

The 'Torohachi' again shot out the thrusters and closed in on the target. It seemed that the target seemed to notice the machine’s sound and light as the figure that was floating in the vacuum turned to look at the machine. The jade green eyes had light in them even in the midst of the darkness as they looked like polished gems.

At that moment, the existence of a living being went through Banagher’s body, and he immediately opened the windshield. This wasn’t out of thought, but that his instincts were telling him that this body in front of him was too fragile to be held by the hard mechanical hand of the mini mobile suit.

[[Image:KSGU 145.jpg|thumb]]

The wind that struck hard covered his eyes and mouth. The windshield that was opened let in lots of wind, causing the body of the 'Torohachi' to silt a lot. He used a hand to grab the controls to barely maintain the state of the machine, and used the other hand to reach for the control panel. The girl that was floating with the winds widened her eyes and reached over here too. Once their eyes met, the 'Torohachi' and the human figure grazed past each other for a moment, and Banagher held that person’s hand and pulled her into the cockpit.

After that, the artificial sun glowed, bathing the body of the 'Torohachi' in white light. Banagher continued to hold onto the human’s slender and thin body as he closed the windshield visor and stepped on the gas. He didn’t see the horrifying image of the air heating up and immediately expanding and twisting over. An explosive-like light suppressed them and sent the 'Torohachi' descending to the inner wall.

The wind blew in through the windshield visor that wasn’t completely closed, causing the purple jacket to be draped on Banagher. Banagher lost his bearings and stepped too hard onto the gas pedal. Even though he immediately pulled the jacket away and maintained eye contact, the large pillar supporting the artificial sun inside the wall was already right in front of him. The metal pillar came crashing over at the rotation speed of the space colony—about the same as a passenger jet, and grazed past the 'Torohachi’s frame.

The impact rang through the cockpit, and the numbness in Banagher’s brain caused him to lose consciousness for a while. The streets that were flowing below the feet were spinning wildly and fast approaching. The figure on the knees shouted: “We’ll fall…!” Feeling her breasts crushing his shoulders, Banagher finally managed to get himself out of confusion and responded: “I’ll think of something.” before looking at the current state of the inner wall after the high speed rotation. The 'Torohachi' didn’t have the inertia to go back up again, and its strength wasn’t going to match the relative speed of the inner wall—having made such a conclusion within a second, Banagher again grabbed the control stick.

He used the maximum amount of thrust to make the 'Torohachi' move forward, trying his body to control the machine at a constant height while it descended. It moved onto the road that was located between the light industrial area and the residential area. Even though the speed was estimated to be more than 200km per hour, and that it would continue to accelerate with the wind flow, but there was a difference of 400km per hour in terms of relative speed. Once he checked to see that there were no vehicles or humans, Banagher muttered deep inside his heart “I can do this.” and deliberately lowered the height of the 'Torohachi' and flew into a group of buildings.

The 'Torohachi' looked like it was trying its best to keep its thruster boost working as it continued to move towards the road with the space colony still rotating. It descended till 5m tall, went through the crane while under the high speeds of the wind, and struck from behind by the air. The height continued to descend. On seeing the rear view mirror, Banagher evaded the street lights and the electronic cars that were moving, and just when the height meter was about to reach zero, he shouted: “Brace for impact!”

The feet of the ‘Torohachi’ hit the road, and suddenly, the machine that was gripped by the centrifuge force was tilted backwards like it was knocked away, causing an impact where one could imagine bones scattered all over the place. The impact and echoes rang in the brain, and the safety gasbags shot out from the control panel. While feeling intense pain from the safety belt and the tense shoulders and the touch as he held that slender waist with his alms, Banagher’s consciousness was lost in the turmoil. The loud sounds that surrounded him and the jerks on the machine that was lying face up on the road were gradually moving further away, and the fragments of the asphalt road that was smashed covered his darkened vision. Then, his vision seemed to have what looked like cables used for a cable car, and finally, a large impact struck, and he was then surrounded in darkness.

The dirt that was raised up by the windshield fell through the cracks and landed on face. (Kinkyuu, Kinkyuu), Haro continued to make noises and caused Banagher to wake up. He felt the pain on his neck and shoulders, frowned and looked up at the sky through the thoroughly broken windshield. The bright and familiar sky was right in front of him. The streets on the inner wall at the respective positions were also basked in light such that it’s hard to even tell that it was an artificial sun giving off light. This was a sealed off space colony’s vague sky.

On his chest, there was a face that was unconscious as it was lit by the light—Banagher wasn’t completely awake as he saw the stranger’s face as she was lying on his chest. What couldn’t be called a figure but a real human was a girl of about the same age as she was. The hair that was blown wildly had a beautiful beige color to it, and the delicate skin that was thoroughly white had some red in it. The eyes he saw at that moment—the bright jade-colored eyes that had such a deep impression on him were hidden under the long eyebrows.

There was a soft human smell and the smell of perfume coming out from her hair, floating into Banagher’s nose that was used to gasoline. His heartbeat started to accelerate at this moment. Banagher gently put the girl’s body away from him, checked that she was still breathing, and left her on the seat before climbing out of the cockpit.

It seemed that the ‘Torohachi’ seemed to have broken through the railing of the green park, dug some lawn and crashed into the hill. The short body was half buried in dirt. Even though it couldn’t be seen from here, the surface of the track should be rather defaced like the devastation caused by a landing of a meteor.

There wasn’t anyone around, and the morning brought some light amounts of mist in the park. It was so quiet that only the voices of sparrows could be heard. If it was on a bright day where many people were walking around…thinking about this, Banagher finally realized that he was in big trouble as his knees started to tremble. The police and the fire department would be here immediately, creating lots of commotion in this entire space colony, and he may be arrived. He wanted to save someone, but he drove a mini mobile suit around recklessly and destroyed the streets. Things weren’t going to be dealt with so easily, and he may even be expelled—

Suddenly, his ankle was grabbed and tugged at hard. Banagher, who was standing on the Torohachi, unexpectedly lost his footing, and fell before he could even shout out.

His face and stomach hit the bare ground, and the pain could be felt through his nostrils. He couldn’t breathe for a moment, but Banagher still used both hands to try and get up. However, someone pressed down on him, and Banagher’s face was buried in dirt again.

“How are you!?”

Banagher was held down on the floor by the person who let out this voice, had his head pressed down on the floor and his arms twisted behind his back. Unable to move, Banagher tried to turn around to see who was the one speaking, and shown in one corner of his eyes was those pair of jade-colored eyes.

The refined jade-colored eyes were giving off a cold stare as they looked down at him. Banagher moved his sandy mouth that was filled with dirt and murmured: “And you even ask you I am…”

“I saw you floating near the sun, so I…”

Banagher still couldn’t understand why this slender looking girl was using a hard militaristic tone to talk and hold him down. The girl still did not let her guard down. At this moment, Haro didn’t seem to understand what was going on as it spoke “Banagher, Banagher, are you alright?” and went about the head. The girl seemed to turn her head around, see the Haro that was bouncing around inside the ‘Torohachi’, and slightly removed the grip of her right hand on Banagher. “You’re a citizen of this colony?” Once Banagher nodded his head, she finally released Banagher on the neck before getting up.

Before Banagher could even regain his freedom and stand up, the girl had climbed into the ‘Torohachi’s cockpit, seemingly checking the control panel to see whether it was still powered. The girl didn’t apologize nor thank him as she merely said ‘this can still move’, causing Banagher to blink in a bewildered manner.

“I’m in a rush here. Can you send me to the entrance of the colony builder?”

The girl poked her upper body from the control panel and said that nonchalantly. “Space builder…you mean the ‘Snail’?” Banagher asked back, and the girl confirmed this with her determined expression.

“No way. That’s not allowed. And you have to get to the hospital first.”

“You caught me well, so I wasn’t hurt. Please, it’s urgent.”

“I told you I can’t! I’m already going to get punished for operating this. I may even get my license revoked!”

While Banagher tried to explain himself, the girl listened as she gave a doubting ‘Why must you resist me’ look, and it seemed that both of them lost it and in another world altogether. However, the girl still remained calm. She jumped off the cockpit and muttered: “There’s no time.” with her words obviously sounding a little anxious.

“I have to find someone and talk to him. The situation can’t be saved if we don’t go faster.”

“What? Is something going to happen?”

“A war. There’ll be a large-scale war again. We can still stop it if we move now.”

Banagher’s heart pounded as he looked at the girl’s eyes. The deep jade-colored eyes didn’t look like they lost their sanity, and neither did they look like they were hoping for any agreement. It’s just a strong will that showed that she had to do it. Banagher felt attracted to that strength of hers. He would have nodded his head immediately if not for the sirens of the patrol cars.

The sirens of the patrol cars weren’t coming from one direction, but from many. The girl turned around to look back before looking straight at Banagher in the eyes for him to quickly decide. He held back the throbbing in his heart and looked away from the girl, saying: “Sorry, I can’t do this.” The girl lowered her jaw and looked grim immediately, using this chance to give Banagher a cold stare.

“How spineless…!”

She muttered and ran off without looking back. That voice stabbed deep inside Banagher’s heart, and a pain that was even sharper and pronounced than his own injuries permeated throughout his entire body as he watched the girl go.

“What’s with her…”

As he casually left these words, Banagher remembered that he didn’t have time to ask for her name. As the girl’s profile vanished in the morning fog, what replaced them was the large number of patrol cars giving off blurry red lights through the fog as they entered Banagher’s eyes.

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