Editing KSGU:Volume 8 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 11===

The ‘L1 Junction’ was as elegant looking as a piece of jewelry, but had parts that offset the beauty mercilessly. The thick stabilizing cable running through the central core area was 10m in diameter and 7km long, forming a straight line through the two sides of the snowflake crystal.

There was a need to accept two gravity sources in order to stabilize the center of the gravities—the attraction forces from both the Earth and the Moon, and the cable reaching to the sides of each celestial body worked like a pendulum. The “Unicorn”, which was approaching the ‘L1 Junction’ from the Earth, followed the cable, approached the snowflake-shaped core, and reached the designated coordinations.

The range of the coordinates included the space of a 1km diameter with the ‘L1 Junction’ at center. In space, this was an extremely small space. Banagher let the relative velocity of the machine slow down to match the ‘L1 Junction’ speed, and cautiously crossed the coordinate space. It had been 3 minutes since they reached, but the “Unicorn” machine did not change in any way. All systems were normal, and the Laplace Program was silent.

“So the condition is to activate the NT-D first?”

“That may be the case…but it immediately transformed the moment it reached when we were at the Prime Minister residence.”

As Audrey looked around, Banagher answered her, and looked at the time on the display board. It had been 4 minutes, and it was weird for the machine to not transform at all. Perhaps he had missed out on something.

“How’s the inside, Mr Conroy?”

(It’s just an empty wasteland. The solar battery power is still there, but most of the functions are dead. There hasn’t been any change ever since the investigation began.)

The two “Lotos” landed on the ‘L1 Junction Point’ 10 minutes ago; one of them entered the core area through the port, while the other checked the Moon side that was hidden from where they were. The sun was located at the Earth’s side, so the side checking from the Moon side could only rely on moonlight for lighting. The “Loto” was most probably in their mobile suit state, flashing the search lights on its shoulders as it move on the solar panels slowly; however, it was impossible for the “Unicorn” on the Moon side to see it. Banagher glanced aside at the Base Jabber remaining at the empty port and let the machine move towards the base of the stabilizing cable. He could see the ‘L1 Junction’ from up close, and it was not of the same size as a ship. It was not as large as a colony, but it was large enough to be a temporary port, to a point where it could be called a space island.

They were at a loss of what to do. They had no idea how big the “Box” was, let alone what it contained. There were no given instructions, and looking for it here would be a search for a pin in a haystack. Banagher knew that it was useless, but he summoned the ‘L1 Junction’ construct map that was downloaded beforehand, and stared at the 3D model. (It can’t change into the “Gundam”? It released the information just like this in Dakar.) Conroy said. “But I can’t change it that freely.”. As he answered, “Banagher”, Audrey’s anxious voice rang.

“Since it’s a plan your father came up with, I don’t believe it’s so one-sided, but what if the “Box” is an item that brings calamity…?”

The hand touched the helmet to cut the communication line for the time being, and the face could not be described simply as serious. “I understand.” After exchanging looks with the stare that was full of killing intent, Banagher answered,

“At that moment, I’ll destroy it and prevent it from falling into other people’s hands.”

These words the words he uttered in his heart once he wanted to know the true identity of the “Box”—when he wanted to know the ‘answer’. Banagher stared at the sighing Audrey, and looked up at the ‘L1 Junction’ which stood like a wall, blocking his sight. “But I don’t think that is it.” he said as he stepped on the pedal lightly.

“It depends on how we use it; it can be something that brings light to this world…right, it depends on who uses it. He even created a system to distinguish Newtypes for this purpose.”

The “Unicorn” left the core and moved towards the outermost region of the snowflake. The civilian ship light moved by from afar below their feet, becoming part of the stars. From the way it moved forward, it seemed to be a ship headed from the Moon to Earth. All ships moving on this course would have to move by the ‘L1 Junction’.

“The real identity of the “Box”, the path to reach it, it’s definitely simpler…”

He looked above, and could see a glowing object shining brighter than the stars. It was the light of the colony, Side 2 that was revolving around L. The Side 5 that revolved around L1—the shoal space region and the “Industrial 7” within it were no longer in sight.

“Starting from “Industrial 7”, the first place was the debris of the Prime Minister residence “Laplace”…”

“Laplace” was the place where the Universal Century began, blown up with the world leaders within due to a terrorist attack. Banagher recalled the speech he heard back then; the voice of the first Prime Minister of the Earth Federation from a hundred years ago, on the last day of Anno Domini, narrating the ‘past’ together with the remnants that were cruelly blown up—

“And next is Dakar, the capital of the Earth Federation…”

The Universal Century Manhattan stood in the middle of the hot desert, and the strengths and weaknesses of the system called the Federation were shown there. Mahdi Garvey’s madness that became a sandstorm strong enough to cut skin, Loni’s brilliance, race and religion, the karma that could not be held down as it swirled at the bottom, the symbol of the ‘present’ that stood on the scorching land—

''And then, what do I say now? What did father want to tell me by pointing here?'' Banagher let the “Unicorn” drift in space and looked around. The all-view monitor cut off the CG, showing the actual scenery of space, and he looked around together with the machine that was slowly turning around.

The cockpit that was surrounded by darkness became dim, and the white flare reflected from the ‘L1 Junction’ lit the place. ''No, I still don’t understand. Even if I’m determined to be a Newtype, I’m just a human who can only see what’s in front of me. Tell me!'' Banagher cried out in his heart. ''If the lingering thoughts are real and resting in this “Unicorn”, lead me to my path now.''

''The need to show the power of human gentleness to humanity; you said that this is the responsibility of humans that entered space. The ghost of “Laplace”, the First Prime Minister said the same thing too. That’s kindness, right? It’s the kindness that allows humanity to maintain its sanity, even in this harsh reality, even as we fight against all things unreasonable. As we journey the way to look for the “Box”, we see a side of truth to the Earth. We see the world that is mixed with good and evil, hard to decipher, struggling to search for the ‘light’. What happens next is the most important thing; to live in the possibilities brought about by kindness, to use this to survive, and to know what to take note of next. The body of flesh and blood accepts the ‘past’ and ‘present’, and what we should face next is—''

A heavy heartbeat shook Banagher’s body and rocked the cockpit. His heartbeat became one with the “Unicorn”, and every pulse caused Banagher to feel his senses expanding. He felt that his nerves were linked to the mechanical fingertips, toes, everywhere, to the point where his senses became as large as the mobile suit.

The Moon was at his feet, and Earth was above him. In front of him was an infinite space. The living beings born on the celestial bodies should be headed to the unexplored world next. They were still limited to this small area of the Earth celestial sphere, but this space was opened in front of them, waiting for humanity to use its power of gentleness to shine its light into the darkness in front of them.

Perhaps one day, as they expand on their senses and understand ways to match their thoughts,  when they may even have control over time, this space would be left wide open in front of humanity. They would soon use time, space and possibilities that will never be used up easily and open an unknown territory.

''Through the past, the starting point where humanity still stands at this point, space, stars, and humans. The infinite presented by the 3 beings—the future.''

“…I understand, father.”

The words that were let out unwittingly became ‘light’, causing the forehead to let out a weak neural-like flash. That light became a V-shaped blade antenna that spread apart, and the luminous light that showed the luminous light of the psycoframe as the armor split apart, and the body of the “Gundam” appeared in vacuum.

However, all Banagher did was to open his eyes naturally. “Banagher…!?” Audrey’s doubtful voice agitated his hearing in reality, pulling senses back onto the little body resting on the linear seat.

The signal of the NT-D flashed, and the machine that transformed into the “Gundam” was shown in its active state. Banagher wanted to be sure if Audrey was fine, but realized that the attachments protecting his head were holding it down. ''There no need for this.'' The attachments were removed the moment he thought this, and his physical body obtained its freedom again as it nearly float up from the linear seat. As he wanted to turn towards the assistant seat, the numerous stars shown on the all-view monitor increased in brightness, and the beams that reached out started to intertwine like they were drawing a constellation.

It was like an Observatory, like a view of the developing brain from within; the flickering stars were linked by their own beams, drawing what seemed to be either a constellation or a neural system, and each area was showing a different light. There were the Earth, Moon and colonies; and just when he was about to check the time, see the respective locations, and confirm the condition of the mobile suit that was at the place, the “Unicorn Gundam” moved on its own, changed the direction it was facing, and pointed its main camera to a corner in space.

The beams let out by the stars formed arcs around the all-view monitor, pointing at a red dot in the front. Numerous beams vanished, ostensibly absorbed by the red light, leaving behind a light spot that pointed at a place far away, and the logo ‘La+’ appeared beside it.

“Banagher…”

Audrey muttered blankly as she looked at the coordinate data that was beyond her expectant. “Right.” Banagher nodded as his voice came out from his dry throat.

“This is the last coordinate…where the “Laplace Box” is.”

Audrey’s hand that was resting on his shoulder shuddered. Banagher shook his head and moved his eyes that were attracted by the light, and reached his hand to his helmet to check if the wireless communicator was cut off. “Leader Conroy, “Nahel Argama”! The final location of the “Box” is—” but the moment he wanted to say this out, a killing intent rose from below his feet, entering the cockpit, and a light rose, savagely burning a corner of his eyes.

The “Unicorn Gundam” reacted before Banagher could hold onto the control stick, and dodged on its own. The beam of the mega-particles let out a flash, covering the all-view monitor, and the explosions of scattered particles echoed through the cockpit.

Banagher drew the shield from his left hand and put it on the left hand as he let the machine zigzag, keeping his eyes at the source of the shot. The moment the navigation lights of the ships floating afar flashed by his eyes, a second shot was fired from there, and the I-field generator hidden inside the shield scattered the incoming high heat particles.

“At this time…!?”

''Is it Federation or Zeon?'' the enemy chose to hide amongst the passing ships, and Banagher raised the Beam rifle that was loaded with the Beam Magnum. The ‘Unicorn Gundam” psycoframe detected this as it piloted the machine, and moved about to find a place he could shoot from. The impact of the anesthetic jolted through the arm, and the air sacks hidden in the pilot suit pressed down on the lower body, preventing the blood from falling, and making the upper body feel warm and uneasy. However, there was a cry like a wild beast at the next instant, causing Banagher to feel his hairs stand.

“Audrey!?”

He turned his head that was held down by the linear seat. Audrey’s upper body was forced back as she was pressed down by the accelerating G-force that could kill, and it was impossible to see her expression. It was impossible to endure the high mobility of the destroy mode without using the pilot suit and the linear seat. Banagher immediately relaxed his foot on the pedal and tried to focus on the killing intent that was closing in from afar.

The mega-particles grazed past the “Unicorn Gundam” that slowed down, and the heat and shock plummeted on the machine. As the cockpit shook wildly, the ‘La+’ light in a corner of space spun above, and the red light flickered from time to time.