Editing KSGU:Volume 1 Prologue (section)

===0096===

As he reached out and grabbed the emptiness, Syam Vist woke up.

There was nothing, and there was no sign of himself wearing a spacesuit like in the reflection of the object. As he looked from the bed to the ceiling, he could see the starry sky that didn’t flicker. Of course, these weren’t really stars, but a hologram that was displayed on the domed roof. It was a screen of a starry sky that was meticulously detailed, no different from what his naked eye saw.

He reached out his five fingers toward this fake space as his wrinkled arm grabbed at air—his youthful days were gone. Seeing the back of his age-wrinkled arm, Syam realized that he had merely been dreaming and heaved a sigh of relief. He hadn’t woken from cryo-sleep. If he had, he would feel pain as his body became active, and his body couldn’t take the pain of fluids being injected into the frozen cells…

Suddenly, he sensed the presence of a person. In this space, everything other than the bed was full of stars and couldn’t be distinguished from one another. A man was standing silently at the door. “Is it Cardeas?” Syam asked. The air that shook slightly answered him. He saw the tall and lankly figure of Cardeas Vist walk out from the darkness of the universe and arrive near the bed.

Cardeas was wearing a collared suit and a similar Nehru jacket, the perfect traditional attire of the Vist Foundation. He had a sharp expression under his silver eyebrows, and was more than 60 years old, but it was hard to tell that his body was aging. He wasn’t hiding nor was he flaunting his sense of authority, and the straight and primp posture that could defeat all envy and slander made Syam feel that Cardeas was indeed worthy of being the leader of the Vist Foundation.

Besides finance, steel-making, construction and other basic enterprises, the Vist Foundation showed most of its power through logistics, entertainment, and even department stores. One single expression from Cardeas would move complicated, yet diverse crowds and investments, but he was definitely not the king of hidden plans. Having taken over the mantle many years ago, he was used to people referring to the stench of the underground links the Vist Foundation had as the ‘fortune’, and he was also used to the Foundation’s corrupted coexistence with the Federation government. Right in front of Syam was the face of the relative who looked stronger and stronger every day.

Syam had had many children, and most of them became a part of the underground kingdom of the vast Vist Foundation. However, other than his second son’s son, Cardeas, nobody else was capable enough to inherit Syam’s throne. Throughout history, there were many cases of the first generation starting a enterprise, the second generation building on the enterprise, and the third generation ruining it. However, Cardeas’ rebellious nature when he was young caused him to be open-minded and not be poisoned by the Vist Foundation. As a student, he left home, hid his real name, and joined the Federation’s space army as a fighter jet pilot. Such an experience caused him to be a rare breed amongst a family that was already poisoned by authority. Unlike his father, who was an heir before him, the open-minded Cardeas was envied by his own family as he leap-frogged the heir hierarchy, and could continue to maintain his strength without being bothered by them.

However, the never-before-seen rare breed was merely his exterior. Cardeas himself had a complicated side of delicateness and straightforwardness that could read the hearts of any man. Even Syam, who had lived for a long time, couldn’t tell what this person, the second head who knew everything, including the truth behind his father’s mysterious death, was thinking. However, he would regularly come over to visit Syam, show a cryptic expression and make the old man, who had been sleeping continuously, meaninglessly remember all his past lies. That was the sort of person Cardeas Vist was. Syam was the leader of the Vist family, a family with more than 200 members, including affiliations, but it was an undeniable fact that there was no one but this grandson of his with shom he could share his lies.

Looking down at Syam as he lay on the bed, Cardeas asked “How are you?” His eyes hid a suppressed emotion that couldn’t be explained by being second fiddle and being the second head of the family. Syam touched the bracelet-shaped remote control, engraved with the Vist family crest, and took the bottle of water from the table beside him.

“The assumption that cryogenics can regain my youth was thoroughly denied by my body. There’s no difference at all. I’m so tired.”

Syam felt the cold water enter his wilted body and sighed. Freezing one’s body and using cryosleep to slow the metabolism wasn’t a complete technology. In fact, only a few research facilities and hospitals were undergoingtesting it, and those that volunteered for the process could be said to be lab rats. However, on hearing that cryogenics were finally practical, Syam bought every institute involved, including the research facility.

Syam would use vacations or recuperation as an excuse to gain time when managing the finances of the Foundation's operations, and the long sleep after his retirement allowed him to gain nearly 20 years. But the primary doctor’s diagnosis was that Syam’s body was equivalent to that of a 93-year-old. His wife was already dead, half of his children were already dead, and he alone supported his own body, defying the natural aging of time. This was even more awkward than being interrogated, and anyone would find it unbearable to see an old man so insistent on being alive. But even if he was mocked for this, for the sake of the Vist Foundation, for the curse that laid sealed behind the prosperity, he had to continue living even if he had to lie.

As the keeper of <<Laplace's Box>>, the curse that was granted to this world and sealed almost a 100 years ago—

“How is it?”

And the moment where it all had to end arrived. Syam used a business-like tone to ask Cardeas, and Cardeas used a similar to answer, “As we planned, it will be executed 3 days from now.”

“I will head to <<Industrial 7>> directly to meet the collector.”

“You’ll head over yourself?”

“I can’t delegate this job to anyone.”

Cardeas smiled as Syam said that. As he smiled, he showed the daring nature that defined him when he was a pilot. Even in his late age, he still believes in his own body. Syam, who was unable to get up, could not ever remember feeling like that.

“We can finally use it with the <<UC plan>>. Before I hand it over, I would like to try it.”

“The curiosity of an ex-pilot…”

“You can call it desire, but in fact, that is a really good machine.”

The leader of Vist Foundation sounded like he wanted to be a test pilot. "But that’s good," Syam thought wryly.

Cardeas was the one who single-handedly decided on the successor, and on the the plan that solved the difficult issue of passing the ‘Box’ on to a third party. Even though Syam’s own interest was somewhat involved, everything was ready. He could only allow Cardeas to do it.

“The <<Unicorn>> was created by the <<UC Plan>>. We must make the beast of possibilities lead the way to <<Laplace's Box>>…”

Syam muttered as he again felt the moral implication behind this. However, he also felt that something like this would always happen when something important occurred. Nothing was planned at the beginning, but coincidences caused things to move about. That’s right. Life was just about being manipulated by fate.

At that time, the 17-year-old Syam would run out of the worker ship, float into the endless vacuum, meet the debris field of <<Laplace>>, obtain the <<Box>> over there, all because…

Cardeas gave a mystified expression as he saw Syam deep in thought. Syam lifted his eyes and looked at the image of the starry skies that filled the ceiling, and asked, “How’s the investigation on the recipient’s trust?”

“The fact is that this is a deal with Anaheim Electronics. It’s disguised as an underground dealing, but that’s the first step to opening the window. In the current situation now, this was the only viable option.”

Cardeas named what was undoubtedly the largest enterprise of all the businesses in the Vist Foundation. Like its name, Anaheim began as an electronics company in North America, and was now the largest weapons supplier for the Earth Federation army, and the largest corporation in the world. This electronics company had become a leading military enterprise, and also a subsidiary of the Vist Foundation.

Since Anaheim Electronics was involved in the dealing, it could be seen as Vist Foundation being involved. Though the recipient’s guarantee to collect would be the best possible, Cardeas’ tone indicated that he wasn’t sure. On one hand, he had to bring blood relatives of his into the business to stabilize the underground empire even more. On the other hand, he had to keep the reins tight to prevent them from going out of control. As he contemplated the loneliness of someone sitting on a throne, Syam asked, “Is it Alberto?” Cardeas looked away and answered simply, “Yes. That man who could barely earn small change.”

“No matter what, this is a plan that relies on uncertainty. No matter how much we investigate, we can’t possibly lose anything.”

Cardeas hid the shakiness inside him and used a dry and stiff voice to continue. But the way he was hiding his wavering so much showed that he still had a bit of youth in him. Syam didn’t answer, as if he was impatient with his old and feeble body.

“It’s only because we posses <<Laplace’s Box>> that Vist Foundation even exits. This is entire affair amounts to breaking a 100-year alliance with the Federation. I admit that I made it a thorough secret, but someone should have realized it already. It’s not just the Foundation itself. Even Anaheim Electronics may take action.”

“Ever since Melanie left active duty, Anaheim has become more and more useless. It’s about time to show them how to continue operations without relying on the Federation.”

“This is basically a matter of life and death to them. Martha won’t just sit back and watch, right? We’re basically abusing our authority here!”

This was the expression and voice of a man who knew about developing enough authority and influence to get away with murder. Syam looked back at Cardeas’ eyes, and pictured his second son’s face overlapping Cardeas’. “There’s no need to worry.” He said that not only to Cardeas, but also to himself.

“Until they die, those without power can’t imagine how much duty and responsibility those with power had to bear.”

Syam spoke as he looked up at the starry sky on the ceiling. After a while, Cardeas responded. “You really haven’t changed at all, leader,” his gentle voice had some grimace behind it. The warm voice of his descendant made Syam lose his breath. He asked himself: "Haven’t I changed?"

"Haven’t changed? No, I changed a long time ago. That 17 year old man in my dreams, that young man who thought that he’d tasted all of the world’s bitterness, probably wouldn’t recognize that this old man that’s lying on the bed is who he would become. Living more than 100 years is enough to change a person. I don’t know when I lost my initial goal. I set up this system for it, and continued to expand the system endlessly just to survive. 100 years is long enough to let a person’s or organization’s lies grow. The Earth Federation government was like this. The Vist Foundation was like this. Anaheim Electronics was like this. And I also was like this—"

After Syam had been miraculously saved from the explosion of his ship by a civilian ship that was in the area he went back to Earth with the ‘Box’. He didn’t go back to his hometown, and he never saw his mother or sister again. The poor and foolish young terrorist was scattered into space dust with his separatist comrades. If news that he had survived leaked out and messed up a certain person’s script, then his newly-recovered life, and even his mother and sister would be in danger. Syam’s experience with society allowed him to make that prediction with some degree of confidence.

Syam didn’t know whether or not it was due to that person’s script that all people who were related to the terrorists involved in the destruction of the ‘Laplace’ station were quickly investigated. The ‘organization’ and the separatist countries who supported them were all completely annihilated by the Federation Army. The Federation government then immediately reformed as a new government under the slogan of ‘Remembering Laplace’, and started its eradication of anti-government movements. The ‘organization’ that planned and executed the terrorist plot was begun by the liberals who wanted to take over the Marcenas administration. Many books and movies questioned if this was the truth, but the majority of people felt that it was just an uncreative conspiracy theory, and praised the Federation’s enthusiasm in wiping out terrorism.

It’s not that the people were stupid. The stupid ones were the separatists who were facing the start of the Universal Century and still arrogantly calling for people to give up on the administration and wanted civil wars for at least 10 years. People gave up on shapeless ideals and chose reality. It was just a first proof in reality that ‘the majority’s the smart one’. In Universal Century, the Federation government declared that they had ‘erased all terrestrial conflicts in the world’, and clearly established the states in the Earth Federation, causing society to move into Universal Century. What Prime Minister Ricardo Marcenas wanted, humanity  ‘saying goodbye to the age of gods’, was, ironically, completed because of his own death.

At that moment, Syam, who had become someone ‘who no longer existed’, used this unique trait to start a business. Even at the beginning of the Universal Century, the underground society of triads and gangsters still existed, and the social, political and economic stages that appeared on the forefront wasn’t that much different from the Anno Domini Era. Syam managed to get his start here. As he got involved with a war of monopolies, he started getting involved with a certain enterprise whose headquarters was located in the North American region.

That enterprise called Anaheim Electronics was merely a normal-sized electronic company, but once it received Syam’s rather beneficial assistance, it started to grow rapidly. That was Syam using the power of the <<Box>> to force the government to defeat opposing companies who were fighting for supremacy. As Syam continued to maintain his relations with the underground societies, he became an ally of Anaheim Electronics and married the daughter of the Managing Director. The family was old famous nobility from France and was a successful installation for ‘a person who does not exist anymore’ to appear again. And that famous Vist family had a grand old tradition of asking no questions and accepting anyone who had ability, even if the son-in-law that joined them was of unknown origins. Syam used the name of the Vist Foundation to create a public corporation. On the surface, it was a legitammate financial corporation that moved world heritage pieces like art or antiques to space colonies, which were more politically stable than Earth. In actual fact however, it was used to launder the money earned from various enterprises or investments and provides high ranking officials of the Federation government an opportunity to work after retirement. The co-existence between the Federation and the Vist Foundation was born at that moment.

Under the rigid control of the Federation government, the space migration plan was carried out successfully. Before Side 1 of L5 was complete, construction of Side 2 in L4 started, and the building of space colonies continued to develop. The number of <<Island 3>> colonies soon broke 100, and whether people were willing or not, they were dumped into outer space by the millions. Inadvertently, the number of space migrants grew, in stark contrast to the number of residents on Earth. As livestock and agriculture were able to operate in outer space, the age where economy and production couldn’t operate without outer space arrived. Strict restrictions were soon put in place on people moving on and off of Earth, and space residents almost had no chance of stepping onto Eath again. They adopted an ideology that Earth was a sacred ground. They viewed Earth as a sanctuary, and thought that it should be preserved as the birthplace of humanity. A lamentation of how space residents tried to sever their yearning for the Earth, and their revenge on those who still stayed on Earth.

In fact, the space resident plan the Federation government pushed forward started to hit a problem by year 0050, after the first phase was completed. Earth originally should have reached the minimum population for the environment to recover, but there were still lots of people staying on Earth and even developing in new areas. The Federation government itself was based on Earth, and only those involved in the government remained on Earth. The space colonies, bound by the one-sided laws of the central government could not express their views, and could only watch the Earth rotate silently. The Federation raised the ‘Laplace Tragedy’ to emphasize the danger of moving the government to outer space, but also froze the migration plans to the space colonies. This hypocritical act was almost admitting silently that they had ‘dumped enough people’, causing great dissatisfaction amongst the space residents. A certain thought appeared in a corner of outer space as if it gathered all the unhappiness.

The politician who raised this thought was Zeon Zum Deikun, and his beliefs were later adopted as the Principality of Zeon. Zeon carefully included the Nationalism of Sides that demanded self-government of space colonies, along with the sanctification of the Earth, becoming an ideal that included space biochemistry of mankind. Those space residents that were disillusioned by the space migration plan were awakened by Zeon’s Principles. The Federation government ignored this moment, but the Zeon movement spread from Side 3, behind the moon, and finally, half a century after the space migration plan began, Side 3 declared its independence.

It was a proud moment of revolution to the now-independent residents of Side 3, but to the Federation government, it was the first real threat they faced since they eliminated the separatists. The Federation government started to increase its suppression of Side 3 and increase the size of their space army. It started to build the latest model of the <<Salamis>>-class space navigation ships, far larger than the ships that guarded ‘Laplace’. In response, Side 3 built up its national defense in case of any aggression. Both sides remained at tense relations until the year 0079 in the Universal Century. Not caring about the implications on economics and internal affairs, the self-proclaimed Principality of Zeon, Side 3, declared war on the Earth Federation, and the grand war began.

Since the war lasted for one year, it later became known as the One Year War. The Federation and Zeon continued to invest in Universal Century technology without restraint and the situation escalated into a war of mass destruction, becoming the most devastating war in human history. After this year of disaster, where more than half the population was wiped out, the Principality of Zeon finally lost the war, and an armistice was signed. The Earth Federation managed to keep its governmental structure. However, the escalating war between Earth and Space under the Principality of Zeon never ended, as there were many other conflicts for another 10 years and more, adding salt to the wounds of Earth before it could recover from the One Year War.

Such large expenditure and wastage caused Anaheim Electronics to gain a stable income through war, and it quickly became the largest enterprise on Earth. They absorbed and took over the military industry of the old Principality of Zeon, and almost single-handedly managed all the development of the Earth Federation’s armaments. They used the excuse of charging each customer independently to work dealings with Anti-Earth Union Group, and did business fairly with both Earth and Space. Since Anaheim Electronics’ resources mostly went to the Moon, people often dubbed them ‘the rulers of the Moon’, and others would even directly call them ‘Merchants of Death’. However, behind Anaheim, there was the shadow of Vist Foundation and the ‘Box’ that allowed for their monopoly and the elimination of any competitors.

The Vist Foundation hid the <<Box>> for nearly 100 years, and could manipulate the Federation government whenever and however they wanted to. At the start of the Universal Century, the <<Box>> landed in Syam’s hands at a chance of 1 in a billion. Humanity broke free from the chains of gravity, religions, and race, and should have gotten a <<Box>> that represented the New Covenant of the Universal Century, <<Laplace’s Box>>. It sealed a seal that was 100 years long, and still remained with him. The dry and feeble body lay on the bed as Syam sighed.

He once had a chance to open the <<Box>>. He had a chance to immediately let the world collapse from the base on and bring ‘the supposed future’ the Universal Century should have had. Thus, he created the Vist Foundation. And even if he had to rely on cryogenics, he had to survive, to bear what is an overly heavy responsibility and duty for a human. "No, I shouldn’t be thinking about excuses. I just don’t have the courage and strength to open the box. I’m scared of the illusion I saw—the hellish scenes of space colonies falling on Earth. Yet I watched this cruel imagery become reality and only focused my heart and soul on improving the Foundation’s prosperity. I’m just a coward who lost my initial goal after 100 years, a coward who became distrusting of humans and still couldn’t give up on my life and end it all."

The night side of the Earth was moving above them, and there was the thin veil of the atmosphere floating around it. Earth looked like it did 100 years ago, but in fact, countless ‘colony drops’ caused a large amount of dust to scatter, and the Earth’s atmosphere looked as if it were stained. Syam watched the thin veil of the atmosphere and wanted to look at the imprint of this guilt. Guilt that wouldn’t disappear for another thousand years. At this moment, he saw a human-shaped object pass in front of the Earth.

It looked as large as a little thumb, though the human-shaped object that was moving through the stars at high speed wasn’t a human in a spacesuit, but a mobile suit. As Minovsky particles, which allowed for easy jamming of radar and electronic devices, were discovered, a mobile, human-shaped weapon became mainstream in space combat. The one-eyed giants he saw in his vision almost 100 years ago were now a common weapon, manufactured by Anaheim Electonics’ assembly line, replacing tanks and fighter jets, and becoming the main weapon of the Earth Federation.

The first nation to successfully develop mobile suit technology was the Principality of Zeon. It brought an advantage to the Zeon forces just when they were severely disadvantaged. However, as the memories of the One Year War faded, this story was merely a footnote in a corner of a history book. After several years, once this Side 3, once called the Republic of Zeon, gives up its self-independence and returns to the Federation government, people will forget about that time. It’s only to be expected that the space residents’ passion in its demands for self-government and upsurge of classes would fall apart as the Principality of Zeon declined and finally disappeared in this dark and cold outer space.

The time was Universal Century 0096—the fervor for revolution had gone, and in the universe of concepts, even the stars were so cold.

“…It’s time to activate <<Laplace's Box>>.”

Feeling a chill all over himself, Syam spoke. “If the space residents lose this chance of independence, the Earth Sphere shall remain shut.”

“But this may bring even more chaos to the world.”

Cardeas responded calmly as he stood beside the bed. His lanky body looked like a pastor who witnessed a death on a patient’s bed, but also like the figure of a death god. Syam smiled,

“It’s better than being in stasis forever and slowly dying. If I can hand <<Laplace's Box>> over to anyone else, my role as guardian will be over. I don’t want to defy nature and watch my grandson die.”

“That’s enough for the person that’s to be entrusted with the <<Box>>.” After saying that, Syam again confirmed that that person wasn’t himself. No matter if it was him or the Vist Foundation, he could only wait. Though they benefited from the magic of the <<Box>> and had the power to move the world, they were content to be mere observers, watching everything. Like the meaning of the word itself, they were just watching.

A century had passed since Syam had found the <<Box>>, and there were signs that such observers were being born. Having entered the new environment called Outer Space, humanity gradually gained power that exceeded that of normal people. 100 years ago, the people gathered at ‘Laplace’ expected it earlier than anyone else. The god that resides in us. God’s blessing called possibility was moving through the countless space colonies.

The new humans, called Newtypes by Zeon Zum Deikun; they will definitely be able to open the <<Box>>, ride on the beast of possibilities <<Unicorn>>, and see the contents of the <<Box>>, bringing the prayer of redemption from ‘Laplace’ to now and setting the Universal Century on the right path.

Of course, there’s no evidence to prove these theories, and Syam knew that he was being reckless, but there wasn’t much time left. He had to take action before it was too late to salvage the situation. Before the world completely collapsed, before the god known as possibilities extinguished itself, before this rotting thing that couldn’t endure another frozen sleep…

“Can you forgive me?”

This was just him being opinionated, as Syam finally asked the question that burdened him with the heavy lies he knew about.

“This might bring an end to a world. Is there anyone who can forgive you other than me?”

Cardeas’ answer to this was extremely clear. The lies and the pains were all gone in that instant. Syam was unable to respond to this kinship and looked at Earth displayed on the wall.

"You’re willing to forgive me? You’re forgiving this devil who took action on his own children in order to protect the 100 years of silence the Vist Foundation protects? You’re forgiving this inhuman grandfather who took your father away? You’re forgiving this man whose thoughts may be opinionated and send the world to destruction—"

Earth was about to face dawn from the front. The sun’s glow appeared on the long arc profile, and the white light shone through the atmosphere, causing the blue that was locked under the color of night to recover.

The light shone on Syam’s bed and Cardeas’ body as their two shadows became one. Syam basked in this intense glow that could burn all the remaining lies away. As the scene in front of him blured, Syam again fell into a deep sleep.

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