Editing KSGU:Volume 7 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 5===

There was also an interrogation room in the battleship. The room that was used to interrogate prisoners or crew that broke the military rules was suspiciously similar to a setting in a movie, but there was a presence that indicated that this was not the case. The room that was 3m wide had a table for interrogating and a table for recording. The recording table had a terminal that was used for quick note-taking, and the interrogating table, naturally, had a moveable desk lamp. It was a piece of equipment used to shine upon the face of the suspect. But even after seeing all these things, he could not feel a sense of realism here.

As for this lack of realism, the fact that his hands were cuffed was a weird thing to him to too.  He was interrogated by the Federation army and the Neo Zeon army before this, but both sides only prompted him to tell the truth, confirm the situation with him, and never gave him a vibe that they would raise their voices. This was the first time he was being interrogated for real—no, or rather, this was the first time he remained silent for so long. The handcuff chains that were shorter than he imagined rattled. ''It’s the sound of metal,'' Banagher Links thought blankly in his mind, and lifted his face that was less swollen. The interrogator’s stoic face could be seen from the other side of the bright desk lamp.

“It’s about time that you obey us now, right?”

The man’s voice showed a dumbfounded flair rather than anger or anxiousness. If this hulking man’s words were to be believed, he was in his forties, and used to be part of an elite squad in the past, the Titans. During the peak of the Zeon purge craze after the war, he used to torture a few suspects to death, and ended up dismissed from the military as a result. After that, this man was employed by the Vist Foundation. Leaving aside whether his words were true or not, his thin lips were showing the cruelty of an officer, and thus, Banagher tried his best to avoid seeing the other man’s face.

“Get into the cockpit of the “Unicorn” and bring out the data from the Laplace Program. It’s that simple. Just follow what you’re told to do, and you can get your freedom. We won’t pursue you about getting involved with the military’s top secret stuff or that you once assisted Neo Zeon. I feel this condition isn’t bad.”

The man sat on the chair with his waist tilted down and used his index finger to tap the finger. Banagher predicted what the other party would do next, and quietly gathered strength in his stomach. As he expected, the man kicked the table aside, “TALK!” and yelled, his voice echoing throughout the cramped room.

“If you think that you won’t be treated too severely just because you’re a kid, you’re in for a grave mistake here. In an adult’s society, we don’t show mercy to anyone we suspect to be an enemy. No matter whether that person is a woman or a child, we will torture thoroughly until the suspect comes clean. You took a military mobile suit on your own, joined the Neo Zeon ranks, and got arrested in flagrante delicto after taking part in the Dakar terrorist incident in the end. There’s no room for mercy here. If we hand you over to the military, you’ll be in jail for the rest of your life.”

Banagher heard the same things the previous day. If one were to link things that way, it was true that they could be explained that way. He, who had no intention of defending himself, turned his face to the man.

“The Neo Zeon cargo ship you rode on has escaped, and now you don’t have any place to return to. We are the only ones who can save you here. It’s too stupid to give up your life just for this kind of thing.”

The man’s voice suddenly became gentle, perhaps because he thought he got what he wanted. ''This kind of pampering tone really annoys me, and I’m able to be stubborn till this point.'' Banagher thought carelessly as he ignored the man and looked away from him. At this moment, the man slammed the table hard and yelled,

“WHO ARE YOU KEEPING THIS SECRET FOR!? YOU LITTLE—”

“That’s enough.”

Another voice could be heard, and the man shut up. The man sitting at the recording table got up, and his stout and fat body appeared amidst the light.

“Leave here for a moment. I want to talk with him for a while.”

Alberto Vist’s face was shown from bottom to top, and his body showed an unnerving shadow as he looked down at Alberto. The man clicked his tongue and glared angrily at Banagher for a while before he got up, walked by Alberto, and went pass the door of the room. The “Ra Cailum” had in practice become a personal ship for the Vist Foundation, so there was no crew member around for the questioning. The interrogation itself was not carried out by an officer, so naturally, there wouldn’t be a timekeeper accompanying. Once the man left, Banagher and Alberto were the only two people left inside. Of course, the men of the Foundation should be keeping their eyes wide as they as they look inside the monitor room through the camera through the camera on the ceiling.

Banagher had a vague feeling that the reason why he felt a bit mindful was because there was a hidden gravity linking him and Alberto. This man had the same father as him—and at this point, this was the only thing he knew of. He toyed with this relationship that seemed so surreal to him in his mouth, and looked back at Alberto’s face right in front of him. Just like their meeting on the “Nahel Argama”, Alberto’s collar was flipped slightly out of his obviously tight collar, and turned his blue eyes at Banagher.

“You’re protecting this secret for Cardeas Vist…your father?”

The back of Alberto’s chair let out a creaking sound before he slowly spoke up. ''Is that the case?'' Banagher pondered for a while, but before he could answer, he looked away from the other man.

“You’re really amazing. You have a strong will, you have guts, and even the sense of piloting the “Unicorn” is gifted to you. It seems that the Laplace Program’s data can’t be extracted without your neurowaves. Even if we tie you down to the cockpit, nobody else can read the data as long as you don’t agree. When did you learn how to operate it like that?”

Banagher himself was not sure. When Alberto barged into the cockpit, his first immediate thought was to switch off, and did not react because he understood the system. “Seriously, you’re made too perfectly.” Alberto sighed as he put his elbows on the table.

“You give the look like you don’t understand anything, but you’re always in the center of everything. The situation’s changed according to your will; you’re just like a natural king here, so perfect that it feels disgusting. What was unsealed might not be the Laplace Program, but you.”

These words were unexpected and ominous. Banagher inadvertently looked up, and Alberto seized this opportunity as his fat cheeks sneered.

“Don’t you find it weird? You’re too perfect already. As expected of an enhanced human Cardeas created.”

“Enhanced…human?”

''Perhaps you’re the same kind as me.''—Marida’s voice, which he heard some time before, suddenly awoke deep within his ears, and he felt goosebumps all over him. “Am I wrong?” Alberto said as his sneer intensified.

“When you were in the Vist family, I was in a boarding school, so I don’t know how Cardeas raised you, but…you said before that you don’t have any memories of that time, right?”

That was something Banagher let slip from his mouth the previous day. He again turned his silent stare at Alberto.

“Perhaps you feel that you sealed your own memories. But do you feel that an ordinary person can do this? If your talent wasn’t spotted by Cardeas, and if you were trained before you were matured—”

“THAT’S NOT THE CASE!”

He yelled out to shake off the chill, and the sound overpowered the sounds of the air-conditioning and the machine, rumbling the air within the room. Banagher did not look at Alberto’s face as the latter twitched his eyebrows, and instead stared at his hands that were handcuffed.

“Whenever I think about the past…about dad, mom, I’ll feel sad…that’s why I told myself to keep forgetting about them, forget about everything, until I really could not think of anything…that’s all.”

“If you’re able to forget your past just like that, it’s proof that you’re not ordinary. You’re an Cyber-Newtype created by Cardeas.”

“No! You’re wrong! The relationship between parent and child isn’t like that! If that’s the case, aren’t you a human created by Cardeas too?”

Alberto gasped and muttered, “What…” as his face looked sinister. Banagher stared right back at him in the eyes.

“The one entrusting, the one being entrusted…it’s because we’re father and son that we can love or hate, right? I can’t live like we don’t have any relation to each other, si I…”

Banagher swallowed the latter half of his words and he looked down. ''That’s why I can seal my memories too, and that’s why I can even recognize him as my father in such a short time, and got bounded down by his last words. This isn’t about theory, this isn’t about my own specifications. This troublesome thing called blood relations isn’t something that can be cleared through knowledge alone—'' “So, what are you trying to say?” Alberto uttered these words and turned his impatient face to the side.

“What parent and son, what blood relations…those are just biological definitions. There are still other things humans have to protect first.”

Alberto got up after saying these words, ostensibly trying to convince himself. ''This isn’t something he understood from his heart.'' Banagher instinctively sensed this as he looked at the back of Alberto’s pudgy body.

“What’s the so called “Laplace Box”? It’s an order. The world’s rules can continue to run with the secret beliefs in this “Box”. It’s like a common delusion, an existence that guards people from their selfishness. Once we lose it, the Vist Foundation will not be the only thing that can’t continue. The gears running the world up till now will lose control too. The Dakar incident was one proof of this. If Cardeas never intended on opening the “Box”, that incident would never have happened. After the chaos of the One Year War, we learned the tactics on how to control war.”

The shadow formed by the lamp caused the slightly arched back to look heinous. ''That’s the back of someone scared of something.'' This thought flashed through Banagher’s mind as he recognized this.

“After this, the organizations under the name of Zeon will be annihilated entirely, actual aliens will be the only enemies left for the Federation, and the situation won’t change. There is an instinct to fight within humans; as long as society continues to rely on the differences in hierarchy, wars will never disappear from the world. Even if we don’t deliberately scatter these seeds, humans can still find any excuses for war, whether they’re tensions in governments or occasional battles. Gears to drive the economy, a catharsis that can purge the instinct to fight; without these two factors, humans will continue to start full-scale worlds. This is a symptom of ill-management of humanity, and it’s impossible to cure them. We can only think of ways to live with our bad habits.”

''If there’s a society where war is regulated, where we believe that terrorism and grudges can be managed, won’t we end up subduing people’s hearts. Won’t we end up creating more people like Mahdi Garvey?'' Banagher thought subconsciously, but he did not say it out. Alberto again returned to the chair facing him, and his eyes that were looking right at Banagher had a dull glint in them.

“Do you understand? We don’t view war as our food. It’s because of the Foundation and Anaheim controlling war that humans can avoid the fate of destroying each other after the wars, and managed to hang on. Cardeas however wanted to break this order, and you’re helping him to break it. Your father’s shadow buried within your heart is driving you and the “Unicorn”. Think about it carefully. What’s the point of protecting this secret for Cardeas’ sake? Even if a kid like you leaves the “Box” alone, there won’t be any benefit. You’ll just cause misfortune to everyone around you. You better treat this as a final advice from a blood relative—”

“Where is Miss Marida?”

Banagher let a voice so calm even he was surprised by, and was unable to speak. At this point, Alberto looked like he was taken aback in a critical area as he immediately looked away. Banagher however continued to stare at him and ask, “Miss Marida should be with you on Earth. Where is she now?”, and the latter suddenly gave a fidgety look as he looked back, “This has nothing to do with you.” sounding vague as he answered.

“Instead of talking about this, you should be understanding your own situation here—”

“I am thinking…! But is this something that I can decide with my own mind, right? I guess not, right?”

He subconsciously moved his hand and tapped the bottom of the table, creating a deep sound from below. Alberto cringed his body back slightly and turned his suspicious and fearful look back at Banagher.

“Up till now, the many people who got involved with me…including those who helped me, those who fought against me to the death, they all helped me become who I am. Even Cardeas…even dad, he’s just one of them.”

Banagher gritted his teeth and reached his tightly clenched fists onto the table. The chain of the handcuff let out a hard sound, and caused a slight tremor in the dim space of the interrogation room without a trace.

“Even now, I can sense that Miss Marida is somewhere nearly. She’s not the only one though; Audrey, Ensign Riddhe, Captain, Miss Loni, Mr Daguza, I can feel them too…I’m frustrated about this, but even you are someone I can sense. I have to find an answer everyone can accept before I can make a decision for the “Box”. That’s because I…”

''Have to fulfill my responsibility—''“I have to do this.” This line alone caused him to be bound together with others. That foreign sense spread within his heart, and he barely managed to swallow the latter half of his words as a result. ''In the end, is this line something I realized in my heart?'' Banagher gathered his consciousness in a corner of my temples, but he did not sense ''that pulsation''. Once he affirmed that this was definitely his thought, he tried to think about that question again. ''What is myself?''  

''An individual unit can’t accomplish anything, and this unstable existence definitely can’t form words. He can only relate with his parents, with others, before he can build his own self existence as he knows the world…or rather, “discover” it. If that were the case, the way I can feel everyone entering my heart isn’t a hallucination here, but that my original self won’t be killed off like this. What’s resonating and changing is the existence called “self”, and this sense that continues to expand may be the real nature behind Newtypes.''

That’s why dad never told me to what I should do, but told me to do what I feel I have to do before entrusting me the “Unicorn”. He also entrusted the possibility of human change in me—but what if these souls I can feel can be adjusted by human means…?''  As he continued to think about things in a roundabout way, Banagher shuddered with fear and clasped his trembling fists together. Alberto turned his silent stare on the other party for a while and muttered, “That’s the curse binding you…just like the brainwashing of a Cyber-Newtype. How pitiful.” He did not look at Banagher in the eyes as he got up from his seat.

“Well, whatever. Even if you aren’t willing, you’ll be forced to comply anyway. Try and find those things you deem as answers before that moment arrives.”

These assured remarks caused Banagher’s hairs to stare. He gave a suspicious look back at Alberto for a moment, and the latter proceeded to reach his hand for the door.

“Really. You’re designed too perfectly. It’s really annoying.”

He gave a piercing glance before stepping through the door. The door panel that closed up immediately let out an abnormally loud sound, causing Banagher’s body and mind to let out a jerk as he remained alone in the dim room. He put his clasped hands on his table and slumped weakly on the table. Alberto’s shoulder figure still remained in his eyes, and Banagher felt tormented that the impression Alberto gave him was not completely dissimilar to Cardeas.