Editing KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 2 (section)

===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 was rather popular when you were young too, 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 this. Just when Banagher was left speechless by her fast understanding, her clear jade-colored eyes shook, and her expression became 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 seems 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 what I was born like.”

Her gaze turned to the builder unit that was moving on the lane beside them and she 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 said this. 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 that 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 really 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 said 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.