(“…Even though it’s an initial estimation, I’ve already tabulated the accountable damages for you. We can use the work hazard insurance for those who died in the line of work, but it’s harder to determine what to do with the people who died due to other causes.”)
The face that was shown on the screen was of a woman’s, a face that one could hardly believe was over 50 years old. The medium-long blond hair still retained its glow, and the cheeks that were slightly protruding never lost their elasticity. The background was of a dull color that was suited for business, and the lips with lipstick on even look bewitching.
Even so, it was not appropriate to describe this woman as young and lively. This ‘woman’ that appeared was not one a man would recognize as one—or rather, recognize as an ideal ‘woman’ despite her beauty. The reason behind this thinking was because of her eyes. In her wish to become treated as an upper-class lady, the probing eyes were giving off an icy cold magnetism. The greedy expression of the woman who was never satisfied with anything and only hoped to continue take in more was showing an evil tension.
(“Considering how the media would react, it’s more appropriate that we should offer some form of compensation to the victims. My husband will do something with regards to this as well.”)
After saying that, Martha Vist Carbine remained silent, perhaps waiting for the other party to respond. The other displays were showing all sorts of information like ‘insurance claims’, ‘medical fees’ and ‘survivor pension’ as each individual estimated sum scrolled down the displays. The amount of the total fees required to revive the colony was enough to match the budget of a small country in the old centuries, but Martha’s expression was rather calm as if she merely met a small car accident. Right below the numerous displays that were emulated in the air, “That’s really well thought out.” Syam Vist responded while looking similarly calm.
The body that laid down on the bed did not show any signs of moving, and the side of the emotionless face was basked under the light reflected off the displays. The Vist Foundation leader, who had been watching how the world changed ever since the start of the Universal Century and fought through many backdoor wars multiple times before making it till here, never changed his sharp expression even when he was lying down frailly on the bed. The presence he himself gave off never once faded. (“Someone will deal with this, so shut up. Is that what you mean?”) The voice that continued were so cold it felt like they were piercing into his bones.
(“This accident happened in a colony operated by Anaheim Electronics. No matter how we counter, it’s impossible to prevent the stocks from falling, right? I know very well that my role is not to let the voices of blame reach the Foundation.”)
Martha laughed away the leader’s sarcastic remark, narrowed her eyes and showed a suspicious look. The display beside her showed the words ‘A large-scale terrorist attack happened at Industrial 7’, ‘Is it done by the Neo Zeon guerillas?’, ‘The number of dead and missing people has already passed 600’, ‘The Federation space army has already issued warning to the forces guarding each side to remain alert’ and all sorts of such messages continued to appear and disappear. Only the top half silhouette of the news broadcaster or the reference footages of Industrial 7 when it was being built could be seen on the display, and there were no footages of what happened there at all. As for the footages the residents there provided to the media—the Federation units using beam rifles inside the colony and crashing into the residential areas—they could not be seen about 30 minutes ago, whether it was the TV or the Net. Syam shows an expression as if he never saw anything in the first place to avoid Martha’s doubt. “Cardeas did that. I don’t know anything.” He simply answered calmly.
(“You managed to argue back first…”) sighing, Martha could only show wrinkles as her lips give a bitter smile. (“I’m happier than anything to see you being so happy and lively, grandfather. I hope that I can go over to meet you in the near future.”)
“You don’t have to see such a sad old man like me who watched my son and grandson died earlier than me. Those who are still involved in the current world affairs should have something else to do, right?”
(“Please don’t say that. We’re siblings with the same blood, so of course I’m being emotional now that my older brother died. But since I’ve already wedded into the Carbine family, I can’t just dwell in sadness. If any independent action by the Vist Foundation cause Anaheim to be dragged down, how can I possibly meet my husband and my father-in-law? Besides, I’ve already got the approval to take over brother’s duties as the head of the Foundation…”)
After saying that without practically no sincerity, Martha gives a smirk to the display. The matter of succession was not decided through hierarchy, but through the agreement of most of the family members, and there’s something behind the expression. Anaheim Electronics was the family business of the Carbine family she married into, and while keeping this position, she use the muscle power that surpassed her husband to interfere with all sorts of affairs, playing a vital role in linking the Foundation and Anaheim in such a way that they were more than just partners. Syam’s eyebrows could only twitch slightly as he see his granddaughter’s shamelessness in not denying nor admitting that she was involved in this incident.
(“It’s the Vist Foundation’s leader right to know the location of the cryo the boss is in and the view of the ‘Box’, and also a duty. Please take a nap before I go meet you, boss. ”)
After leaving this message, the communication was cute off. The many displays shown in the air disappear, and darkness and silence return back to the space that had nothing but a bed. Soon after, the panel installed on the wall of the dome increase in luminosity until the actual image of the universe was shown inside the room, and Syam’s bed was already surrounded by the clear stars.
The cloud of stairs light up every single corner of the room as if the floor was scattered with silver powder, and the image of outer space showed all corners of the cryo the Foundation’s boss was in. Gael Chan hid himself in the darkness where neither the earth nor the moon could be seen as he saw that bed that was floating there in a lonely manner, sighed and stepped forward. As he lies on the bed that acted as a cryo device, Syam mutters to him ‘just laugh all you want’ as the side of his face that had lost all its glory shows self-mocking wrinkles.
“This is the portrait of the Vist Foundation.”
“I can’t laugh at all. I didn’t fulfill my responsibility in protecting my boss.”
Syam turns his stare at Gael, who’s standing about 3 meters away from him. It’s been half a day since the sudden battle in Industrial 7 and when he learnt about Cardeas Vist’s death. The Foundation’s boss had been through a lifetime that’s far too long for a human, watched too many of his relatives die, and now, it’s impossible to see any sadness in him. He lost his most trusted successor, and watched the Foundation he single-handedly built up move on its own. Right now, he could not even let out a sigh—maybe this was Syam’s current mood. If he could already realize that his own relative were all involved in such series of plots and gradually becoming the next successor, how would he feel—
Gael himself wasn’t as open-minded. He wasn’t able to protect his master, Cardeas, and he did not even fulfill the duty of destroying the “Unicorn”, the final order that was given. Even though he understood that all his paths of entry were already blocked by the Federation’s special forces, the burning hangar deck and the passages being sealed weren’t enough to be excuses. In fact, Cardeas himself dragged his heavily wounded body and managed to reach the “Unicorn” successfully before dying—he was devoured by the flames the moment he left the cockpit, and he was blown into bits the moment he was struck by the incoming shrapnel. The surveillance cameras at the hangar clearly caught the image.
The dire consequences happened in front of him was because of his own negligence. The bald head wrapped in the bandage sank as Gael clenched his burned fist. Just regretting alone can’t change anything, and these are all the results of fate—if it were Cardeas, he would probably say such a thing. Gael had already lots this boss that would comfort him like this. That one and only client of his who could understand him heart to heart; that only man who was worth selling his life to, whether in the army or in the underground society.
“Since it’s Cardeas, I suppose he has already prepared a failsafe such that even if he died, he can protect the secret tightly…someone like Martha will be forceful. She’s different from the men who’re concerned about their pride; she will not have any reservations when carrying out her plots. From the way she could get the approval of the family as the substitute leader in such a short time, I think it’s better to assume that it’s only a matter of time before she finds this place.”
“I’m a man. I won’t just be protective of my own pride, I’ll even swear allegiance for the sake of my own pride.”
At that moment, Gael forgot about being tense in front of the boss. He lifts his face.
“So long as you permit, boss, I’ll be willing to take revenge for Master Cardeas even if I have to sacrifice my life.”
Martha Carbine was staying in the lunar city Von Braun that’s under the protection of Anaheim Electronics. If the Foundation itself was just an organization meant to expand the family’s earnings, then she’ll be described as a really outstanding person who revived and expanded the authority of the Vist Foundation. She, who could even interfere with politics without a problem, detected Syam and Cardeas’ plans for Laplace Box and got the Federation army to attack Industrial 7. Even though the battle that got intense was a result of unforeseen circumstances, the main reason for Cardeas’ death was on Martha. In terms of underground talk, there’s no one else other than her who ‘settled the bill’.
Syam turns his head slightly at a way where one could not even detect, and his face that’s half-buried in the pillow faces over here. Gael gives an unwavering expression as he gets this answer,
“Do you want me to command you to kill my own granddaughter now?”
It was a growl that was full of rage, causing the temperature within Gael to drop. Gael’s stiffened by the other person’s overwhelming presence before he could even reflect on his words, “…I’m really sorry” and lowers his head.
“Very good. Cardeas did get a very good subordinate. Since this is because of what Cardeas did, we can only believe that things will proceed in the positive direction; no matter whether it’s the whereabouts of the Laplace Box or the future of Earth Celestial sphere.”
Syam clasps his hands on the blanket and closes his eyes. Gael had nothing to say and could only bow and answer ‘yes…’, showing a professional expression as he lifts his head to look at the boss.
“About the Box, I’ve already investigated on the details involving the pilot of the “Unicorn”.”
Gael reaches his hand to the floor and operates on the touch-type display that rose up from the floor silently. The holographic display again lights up the space above the bed, showing the photo of a boy’s face.
“Banagher Links, 16 years old, a student studying at Anaheim Electronics. Registered from Side 1 area 3’s ‘Eden’. No special positive or negative data on him, and no records of him taking part in political activities. I don’t understand why he came to the “Magallanica”, but he did meet the leader hours before the battle. As for what happened when both of them met, it’s puzzling…”
Gael gives an overview of what happened yesterday, including the accidental meeting with ‘her’ . How Banagher, who was taken back to Industrial 7 once, managed to enter the “Magallanica” and ride on the “Unicorn”, was a mystery to Gael. However, the pilot login data that was sent to the Command Module “Magallinca” matched Banagher Links information from the records in Industrial 7. The fact that he piloted the “Unicorn” and forced the “Sleeves’” mobile suits to retreat was without a doubt. Also, ther was the fact that he was taken in by a Federation ship—
“To be registered as the pilot of the “Unicorn”, one has to gain the biometric authorization of the leader. In other words, Master Cardeas chose this boy as the pilot and died after that. I can only deduce that, so what happened that time…”
Due to its nature, the records of the “Unicorn’s” pilot could not be easily erased after its logged it. There was a chance to destroy all the system, so Cardeas must had his reason for handing the “Unicorn” to the outsider Banagherr Links. Gael starts to stroke his chin as he looks at what seems to be a boyish instead of a youthful face, but was suddenly startled by a snicker.
Syam lets out the snicker as he watches the face of this boy that’s projected in space. His wrinkled face was smiling. Gael frowns in response, and Syam mutters, “I see. So you don’t know.” and turns to stare at Gael, who in turn inadvertently gulped his own saliva.
“Don’t you understand? He’s the new hope. Cardeas handed the “Unicorn” over to the most suitable person…”
Syam turns his eyes to look at the boy on the display and narrows his eyes as if he’s afraid of light. The boss of the Foundation let out a kind grandfather’s expression, and Gael could only blink hard bewilderedly.
On the display of the notepad-type PC, the designed English alphabets were shown. It was a simple logo formed as a combination of the letters U and C.
“The UC plan, the codename of the army reassembly plan that’s affiliated to the Federation fleet, one that the company underwent under extreme security; the “Unicorn” was a machine that was developed as the flagship under the project of the same name.”
In the dim room, the man with the frail-looking face said as the lamp shone on him. Aaron Terzieff was a 32 years old staff member of Anaheim Electronics and the person in charge of the armor material section in the development of the RX-0. As the battle broke out in Industrial 7, he tried to escape with the other workers from the Magallanica, but was detained by ECOAS as he was too slow. As most of the relevant data of the plan was wrecked, he was viewed as one of the people who knew most about the plans regarding the RX-0—
“Unlike the Mobile Suits of the past, this unit’s biggest unit is that it’s fully covered with Psycoframe all over the body. The development base was the Anaheim Electronics’ factory in Granada, and about one month ago, we have already finished both Test Unit 1 and 2 separately. Unit 2 was sent to Earth, and right now, it should be undergoing activation tests in the presence of gravity. I was in charge of Unit 1, and about 3 weeks ago, I was ordered by the company to send it to Industrial 7. The notification was an official document, and the superiors said that everything would be over if I only worked for another month…”
“Mr Aaron.”
Daguza Mackle interrupted Aaron’s pleading-like voice with an emotionless face as he said, “I’m sorry, but we’re rather unaware of the technological side of things. Please describe the Psycommu, and get down to the details as much as possible.”
“Yes…”
On the other side of the table, Aaron nodded his head in agreement “Yes…” and gives a look behind to ask for permission. Standing behind him, Lieutenant Garrett nodded his head. Aaron then starts to use his trembling fingers to operate the computer he brought along. Before this, Aaron had reached out for the computer without permission before and had his hand twisted behind his back by Garrett, so this should be just precaution on Aaron’s side. Daguza senses that Lieutenant Commander Conroy was beside Garrett, shrugging and nudging his large body in the darkness, and deliberately leans forward to stare at the message on the screen. He used the cast-like left arm to slam the table and let out a shrill sound.
“Psycoframe. Basically put, it’s a unique alloy that has a psycommu functions on it. The theory behind it is to shrink the computer chips to the minimum and level them together with metal particles on the frame.”
The image shown on the display seemed to be an enlarged image of the psycommu under the microscope. If one stared at it closely, one could find what was obviously man-made chips lined in the gaps between the hive-shaped metal particles. That orderly yet mechanical construct felt more like a living cell than an object.
“As you know, the psycommu can receive and amplify the pilot’s brainwaves…or you can call it neural waves, and project the pilot’s consciousness into the movements of the machine. The psycommu that’s the main system is linked over to allow the psycoframe to receive the pilot’s neural waves and also the pilot and machine’s high-mobility coordination to happen. Due to the strength and production and all sorts of problems in the past, we could only install this system around the cockpit. However, the RX-0 in this plan uses psycoframe in all the mobile parts.”
Then, the CG image of the RX-0 appeared on the screen, and above the moveable parts that formed the frame, there was a red light blinking. As it was just a simple introductory picture, it was impossible to see the details. Even though Aaron was one of the developers, he could only download this much data from his terminal. Daguza did not say anything as he merely prompted Aaron to continue.
“Due to the actual assignment of the full-set psycoframe, the pilot’s neural waves can reach the machine’s activation system. In other words, the pilot does not need to ‘control’ the mobile suit as the word implies, and can control it basically through thoughts. Of course, all the joints are all magnet coated so in theory, the reaction speed of the RX-0 is unlimited. One can say that the machine’s one with the body…no, it may be even faster. No matter how outstanding a pilot is, there will be a timing lag of milliseconds from the moment the pilot detects danger to the moment the pilot reacts. The RX-0 interface far exceeds the reaction speed of the human body.”
“But in that case, the pilot’s body shouldn’t be able to react, right?”
If a metal giant that was more than 20m tall could immediately react to the pilot’s brainwaves, one could imagine the outcome if it moved at a speed that far exceeds human reflexes. No matter how big the mobile suit was, a slight movement will create vibrations of several meters, and no matter how sturdy the machine itself was built, the pilot inside would be all dizzy. “That’s right.” Aaron himself agreed with this sentiment.
“In order to reduce the large G force that happens when the machine moves, the RX-0 has a Shock Absorber that specializes in reducing the impact, and there’s also the pilot’s suit. However, even with these equipment, an ordinary person can’t endure the discomfort of piloting for a long time. Also, we have considered the stress the psycommu puts on the brain, and the maximum limit of continual operation is around 5 minutes. Thus, the limiter will be activated when the system is set in normal mode, and the NT-D device will only be activated in battle.”
The horn on the forehead opened up to show a V-sign, and the shoulders, chest and leg armor slid. The psycommu frame hidden underneath appeared, and the thrusters and boosters of the machine that could be said to assure destructive power and mobility bared out. This was the real form of the RX-0—if this was really the case, the appearance of the so-called “Unicorn” would be some form of a limiter and fixed state. As he watches the CG of the RX-0 gradually changed its appearance, Daguza started to feel a chill inside his heart, and whispers, “What’s NT-D?”
“NT-D is the name of the OS that operates the full psycoframe. I was only in charge of the exterior in the past, so I don’t really know the specifics. However, I hear that NT-D is the shortened form of Newtype-Drive.”
The unexpected term echoed in Daguza’s ears as a ripple rose in his heart. After giving a meaningful look to Conroy, Daguza answered back to Aaron “I see” in a monotonous voice.
“After the RX-0 was moved to the Magallanica, it was once modified by someone. You should know clearly that the system wasn’t involved in the initial design, right?”
A B5 sized photo was displayed on the table, and Aaron’s expression obviously wavered. The army had taken close range shots on the interface panel in the cockpit when the RX-0 was taken back into the ship. In the photo, the terminal port showed a red symbol that showed “La+”. “I’m only in charge of the armor outside, so any questions about the system is a little too…” Aaron answered, but Daguza did not show any wavering in his stare as he questioned,
“Mr Aaron, you better think through this before answering. The army does outsource assignments to civilian enterprises, but military use mobile suit developments are still part of the items in the Federation Technological Research Department that we have to report to the higher ups, and you may be deemed a suspect of taking up military resources, you know?”
“Why…!? I’m just…”
“Industrial 7 is a colony registered under Anaheim Electronics, but it’s different for the Magallanica. In fact, the Vist Foundation can be said to be outside of legal means. After the final adjustments of the RX-0 ‘s OS, it had a program that wasn’t in the manual installed into it. I don’t think you can simply pass this with a I don’t know.”
“I really don’t! I only knew of the new program that was installed together with the NT-D after reading the updated specs design. There were rumors that the new program was provided by the Vist Foundation, but I don’t know anything else other than this! Even the activation conditions of the NT-D is an undisclosed classified secret to us who are in charge of hardware.”
“Activation conditions?”
“The pilot can’t just remove the RX-0’s limiter at will. The NT-D will only activate when certain conditions are met. I only heard that the program installed on the Magallanica…the Laplace Program was a program meant to install a new condition on the NT-D. As long as the machine’s controls aren’t affected, we never questioned too much into such hardware stuff.”
“But you should have taken part in the activation tests.”
“The activation was still in simulation mode. The Laplace Program was only installed after the tests!”
Two hands slammed onto the table hard, and Aaron covered his head with his hands as he sprawled down on the table. Daguza used his eyes to stop Garrett, who wanted to pull him up, and stared at the shoulders that were trembling.
“Of course I felt that it was weird. For a manufactured military machine, there’s too much classified information. Even since I reached the Magallanica, I was forbidden to make contact with outside, and I had to remain in full vigilance under the Foundation all day…the weirdest thing was that none of the workers had any relations to the army. However, ever since the war with Neo Zeon ended, the mobile suit productions had only been at the stage where slight modifications were made as we couldn’t even try out new designs. During this time, even if we find it suspicious, the technicians would only close an eye and work on new technology that’s being produced at such a time. Besides, the machine that was developed was that famous “Gundam”.”
““Gundam”?”
Aaron’s depressed eyes looked up as he answered, “That’s our nickname for it”, and gave a forsaken smile on his face.
“The moment we saw its NT-D activated…we could only treat it as if it was deliberately designed to be like that. That’s what all the involved personnel called it, the “Unicorn Gundam”.”
“Then, what should we do? Do we use the drugs on him?”
Five minutes later, Conroy asked as they stared at the monitor showing the camera footage of Aaron’s face. Daguza drank the salted coffee, a Navy tradition, and asked back “What do you think?”
“It’ll just be a waste of time for us to continue. He probably would not know any more even if we probe in more. The Vist Foundation’s secretive measures were well played, giving each department only the information they’re in charge of and not letting them deduce the entire thing.”
Daguza did not disagree. Aaron, who was left in the monitor room, would either just touch the computer that was left in the room deliberately subconsciously or look down with a pale expression. It was not that they did not doubt that it was an act on his part, but his testimony were the same as the other developers. Besides, they were not professional interrogators. Daguza’s feeling the same as well, and he didt want to use the confession drug without being confident and then the few remaining survivors into vegetables.
They would normally hand them over to headquarters to begin formal interrogations. Daguza put down the mug that had coffee in it and checked the numbers on the monitor <<11:17:32/04/08/0096>>. 8th April, 11.17 in the morning, about half a day after the battle cased, and it’s been over 6 hours since the ““Nahel Argama”” left Industrial 7. Even though they were using the detention facilities inside the ship to question the 4 developers held inside the Magallanica, they got such messages that felt like they were blinded. After spending several hours listening to testimonies regarding the UC plan and trying to probe their relationship with Laplace Box, it felt like they were led by the blind as well. Daguza and the rest of ECOAS were feeling such futility.
“Let’s leave aside the UC project for now. The reassembly plan of the space forces was already announced in the Mid-term defense <Mid-term Defense Contingency Plan>. I heard that they’re to complete the unification of all the colonies that were scattered, and the earth orbital forces that are being built up to the level of the main fleets in the past is to hurry and prepare for the 100 year anniversary in UC 0100 4 years later.”
The hulking Conroy rested his large body that dwarfed any wrestler on the wall of the monitor room, rubbing his eyes as he said so. The UC plan that was declared to have ended when the RX-0 was finished was planned as part of the space forces reassembly plan—all the members of the plan admitted. “I heard of it before. That’s a plan that was mentioned when the military budget was being trimmed, right?” Garrett let the chair at the console turn around and said to them.
“That plan never had any intent of mass building new fleets. In other words, it’s just a compression plan to gather all the forces. This is the first time I heard that they developed a new mobile suit.”
“It’s not completely impossible. There’s also the main show of the Republic of Zeon returning its self-independence back in UC 0100. They’re gathering the forces at such a time, and there’s the powerful new mobile suit…”
Daguza dragged his voice with half the mind to show how mystified he was, “Is this a PR activity on the military side?” Garrett frowned.
“I should say that the Federation government intends to show off. The reason why the main forces are stationed at colonies all over the place is to prevent the remnants of Zeon from rebelling. What should they do if they want to recall these fleets?”
“Ah…” Conroy’s hint caused Garrett mug to remain in the air just as it was about to be brought to his lips. “So the Government intends to eliminate the remnants of Zeon before that? But—”
“It’s not as easy as saying this goal. However, the Republic of Zeon’s returning their self-independence over to us is a rare chance to get rid of the name of Zeon. The Federation Government intends to use 0100 as the deadline to wipe out all remnants of Zeon, use that to reassemble the Earth orbital forces, and after all those things, they can say that they finally ended the nightmare since the One Year War. What will be need to pave the way will most likely be the UC plan, the plan to develop the “Gundam” to eliminate Neo Zeon.”
It was dangerous to predict and conclude with only a few reports, but if one thought of it this way, a lot of things could be understood. In this time where military arming was gradually reduced, the development of a mobile suit with new technology, the reason to search for the limits of the machine even if the people involved have to view the pilot’s life as secondary, and the fact that the appearance of this mobile suit was similar to the “Gundam” Zeon so feared as the “White Devil”—
“Cardeas Vist hid a secret that can topple the Federation inside that machine and intended to hand it over to Neo Zeon…how ironic.””
If it really ended up like that, it would just be a slight commotion of sending salt to the enemy. Conroy and Garrett saw Daguza smiling bitterly, and looked at each other.
“Then, leader, is that mobile suit the Laplace Box?”
“Leaving aside whether we can put an end to this speculation, we do have enough proof here. We have a machine that was ready to be moved out with the spare parts and the Laplace Program that was only installed when it was moved to the Magallanica. I have no idea which level of the Vist Foundation got involved with this plan, but the Unicorn’s the symbol of the Foundation after all.”
The moment Daguza finished, the left arm and flank that were numb started to ache, and he did not continue . It seemed that the effect of the painkiller had worn out. Conroy seemed to detect this situation as he wanted to say something, but Daguza averted his stare and quickly said before Conroy could, “What we can understand is that the weapon was built for Newtypes to pilot.”
“The Newtype Theory is the core of Zeon. Removing Zeonism is something that has to be linked with eliminating the remnants of Zeon. It’s really puzzling why they would gamble on the Federation’s trust in the plan and take a weapon meant for Newtypes.”
“Fight fire with fire…you can think of it that way, but I heard that the Newtype research facility was already closed.”
“No matter how we deny it, the conclusion is that we can’t ignore how useful Newtype weapons are, is it? In fact, all the Gundam pilots up till now are…”
“It’s because of this, that the elimination of Newtypes has to be carried out by non-Newtypes. This is to crush the myth that’s ingrained deeply in people’s hearts.”
Conroy and Garrett immediately remained silent as the short silence descended on the narrow monitor room. Daguza darnk the coffee that went cold, and said,
“The UC plan, the NT-DNewtype Drive, the psycommuu…there might be other things we don’t know of. It’s the same with the things seemingly related to Laplace Box. That “Gundam” really seem fishy.”
Getting right down to it, why did it suddenly move on its own? Daguza suddenly recalled the appearance of the boy he found in the cockpit. Now what’s his name… Daguza’s mind is somewhat slowed by the use of the painkiller, and at this moment, he heard a voice that rang through the room’s interal phone.
The members of ECOAS were in charge of this monitor room and the facilities used to detain the prisoners. Even the servicemen on this battleship were not permitted inside. “What is it?” Conroy picked up the receiver and gave a grumpy look. Daguza could read from his lips that Alberto called, and sighs as he walked towards the door. He unlocked the door to this room that could become an airlock in emergencies and pushed the metal door aside.
Alberto, who was standing right in front of the door, was nearly slammed by the metal door that was opened as he backs away in a jumpy manner. The gravity block inside the ship was not that much different from the moon, and quite some skill was required to control and move the body. The ‘guest’ from Anaheim was supported by his subordinates who were dressed in suits. He tried to steady himself, but this time, he nearly trips forward.
The man shook off the hands of the subordinates who wanted to support him again and forcefully steadied his feet on the floor of the passage. He tidied the collar that was buried under the collar’s flesh and stared at Daguza. “What is it?” Daguza merely answered the expected antagonistic stare with an emotionless look.
“You’re already asking me what’s wrong? I’ve already sent someone to say that I’ll be questioning the members of the plan who are detained. Besides, they’re our company’s staff…”
“Right now, they’re important people managed under the military. We can’t let civilians take part in the questioning.”
“Then, I request to investigate the “Unicorn” that’s inside this ship. That’s our company’s property, right? We have the right as it’s not handed over to the military yet.”
“Of course. We’ll be requesting your company for assistance. We’ll contact you at that moment. Please leave for now.”
The conversation between both of them was not any different from before. Alberto used ECOAS to get the initiative and searched the “Magallanica” for any information about the box. He, who showed an out-of-character attitude when the “Unicorn” appeared and demanded for it to be taken back, naturally did not feel happy about being lurched behind for these few hours. Alberto wanted to start arguing back immediately as he glanced at his subordinates who were dressed in suits. The fat and thick face twists mysteriously. Once Daguza detected that it was a smile, Alberto said without a care in the world, “Looks like we still lack a common understanding to this situation, Commander Daguza.”
“What happened in Industrial 7 isn’t something that can be covered up by chopping off the heads of to three conspirators. If there’s anything wrong with the response, even Central Command can collapse. It’s better for both sides to give some leeway to keep the damage to the minimum. Regarding this, I suppose the Supreme Council Committee would have a similar agreement, isn’t it?”
The man’s expression and voice showed that he felt that if the superior’s name was used, the soldier would shut up. Daguza took a deep breath and calmly answered, “It’s true that it does seem that we lack a common understanding.”
“To me, the damage was already done. Including my subordinates, several people, probably even hundreds have died. Even if we try to assist each other, they won’t be revived.”
Perhaps Daguza had some intent to restrain himself, but his eyes were showing some killing intent. Alberto, who was definitely overwhelmed by the mood, backed away and knocked his back into his subordinates who did not move. He glanced back at the stare he once tried to avert and seemingly muttered to himself, “…You’re unexpectedly fragile for a soldier being the leader of ECOAS.” In response, Daguza remained silent.
“Never mind. That’s how it will be then. If there’s difficulty in coming to an agreement, we’ll let the topdown handle it. I’ll report to the higher-ups as soon as possible and get the company HQ to mark the ECOAS headquarters in Luna Two.”
“Do as you please. That’s if the laser communicator can still work while we’re hidden in the shoal space region.”
Alberto’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Daguza stared at his face and continued in a manner of fact, “Right now, the “Nahel Argama” is still hidden in the remnants of Side 5. This place is the remains of the battle of Loum, but there’s not many places to hide a ship. If the enemy intercepts our long-distanced contact, it’ll be very hard for us to find another place to hide.”
The “Nahel Argama” was not that reckless to solo through the space areas where the enemies might appear after having lost most of their forces. They could only remain in the remnants of the colony until the reinforcements arrived and seal off all contact to the outside. The current situation of the “Nahel Argama” was already anticipated by Daguza. If not, he would not talk to the official of Anaheim in such a direct tone.
The enraged Alberto looked like he realized what Daguza was thinking as he gave a defiant look,
“I’ll talk to Captain Otto.”
After glaring at Daguza, Alberto said as he turned around.
“He’s a reasonable soldier.”
After leaving these words behind, Alberto and his men, who gave dangerous looks walked down the passageway before leaving. The cylindrical gravity block was built with the inner wall arcing inwards, making a gradual slope. About more than 30m away from here, the other group disappeared at the edge of the ceiling, and Daguza waited for Alberto’s large butt to disappear from his sights before sighing softly. He breathed hard to ease the pain that was gradually rising up his flank and asked Conroy, who was been watching the conversation from the door, “That boy just now hasn’t woken up yet?” “Yes.” Conroy’s thick eyebrows frowned.
“His body is a lot weaker than we thought.”
“It can’t be helped…he went through such acceleration just now. Once he wakes up, report to me. We have to hurry our investigations on the “Unicorn”.”
“Yes. If possible, I really want to go back to Luna Two and carry out investigations without other people interfering!”
The small asteroid Juno, “Luna Two”, was dragged over from the asteroid belt to obtain resources needed to build colonies. It was the Federation’s largest base in space ever since it was steadied on the lunar orbit 50 years ago, and the special commands headquarters that was the base of ECOAS was also located there. There was no better place to investigate the RX-0 better than Luna Two, but the problem was that the Earth was right in the middle from there to where the ship was, as they’re directly opposite from each other. Sighing, Daguza added on, “Tough one.”
“Londo Bell’s reinforcements are too slow. If the fleets that are stationed nearby are unwilling to move, it’s likely that the Nahel Argama will reach the moon that’s closer. Once we enter Anaheim’s headquarters, we’ll lose the chance to investigate the “Unicorn”.”
Though the moon did have a military command post, it was not as secure as ECOAS in terms of secrecy. Besides, if Anaheim lodged a complaint, the RX-0 will have to be left to the legislature, and it would definitely be moved away from the base. In this situation, Anaheim’s outstanding lawyers in the Earth Celestial Sphere would try to drag on the legal case and use this time to thoroughly investigate the RX-0. Once a conclusion was made, the machine that was returned to the military will be an empty shell, and all data related to the box will be wiped clean…this outcome was extremely obvious. No matter what anyone said, the moon itself was a world revolving around Anaheim Electronics.
Hiding in the shoal space region was their one and only chance. Even if Anaheim might talk later, they would have to do something before Anaheim does. “Understood”. Conroy answered, showing that he understood the situation.
“So please get some sleep, commander.”
Daguza heard these words that were quipped in at the end, and look like he was unprepared for this sudden attack as he glanced back at Conroy.
“When was the last time you slept? Around 30 hours ago, I believe? Nobody can replace you, so please treat your rest as part of the job.”
The voice of the vice commander who had been with him for many years causes Daguza’s tense feelings to ease somewhat. That’s good. Daguza watches Conroy leave these words as he left the monitor room, and leaned his body that felt extremely heavy onto the wall, maintaining this state as he closed his eyes for a while.
I’m old now. Daguza felt the bitterness that came with age in the chest of his almost-40 body that was starting to become useless.
There’s a piano sound. I know this—Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” mother liked. The music that was quiet, sad yet maddening in a way that the heart would flutter, echoed throughout the high-ceiling and wide room. It felt like it was saying that his distant past could only look up from the Earth to the moon as it excited the human heart once before.
Looking up, the large tapestry hung on the wall filled his sights. The tapestry that reached all the way to the ceiling had flowers and animals woven on the scarlet red background of the cloth, and there was a woman in a sari dress standing in the middle of each tapestry. Playing the small piano, holding the flower garland, holding a sweet; in the six tapestries that decorated the room, the women were all focused on doing different things. Beside her, there was a lion with a thick mane and a unicorn with the horn on its forehead pointing to the sky—
“Sight, hearing, touch, scent, taste. What these illustrations describe all the 5 senses that come with most living creatures when they were born, but as for this 6th one…what this ‘tent’ represents, there’s still no conclusion.”
Banagher was carried up by the large hands of his father, and stared at the tapestry with the tent woven in the middle. The lady put the ornament into the box the servant girl beside her was holding, and intended to enter the tent. At the top of the tent, there were the words in ancient language ‘My only wish’. Banagher read these words in the way he was taught before, and his father smiled happily as he said, “Amazing, you remembered.”
But even father doesn’t know what “My only wish” is about…
“It was drawn because that person didn’t understand. And we think. Only humans are blessed with such ability. The unicorn that’s woven on the tapestry and the music that’s heard now show what that person felt through the human eyes and ears. That is a certain feeling the five senses can’t comprehend, a certain feeling that transcends reality…maybe that might be called an existence called god, or maybe that’s just an illusion created as a result of a human’s wish. However, as long as we believe in that existence and do something for the world, that chance will become reality.
Do you understand? Banagher? Only humans have God. It’s a great power to visualize their ideals and go close to their ideals…the god that exist within, called possibilities.”
I don’t understand completely, but I know father feels that he wants to teach me something important. Banagher stared at his father’s face.
“That’s the source of the power that allowed humans to rise up amongst countless animals and even land in space. It’s true that humans devoured Earth until it was drained. They wasted their precious knowledge on killing each other, and the past wars have forced half of humanity to their deaths. Based on these, some people concluded that as a species, humans have reached their end. But I feel that’s a pessimistic view, Past wars have shown the possibilities of Newtypes to people. Humans are the ones who can find hope in any given situation and use it to overcome any situation. Knowledge and kindness, things that make humans what they are, come from possibility. Right now, the world’s involved in the mess of despair and rebirth. You people who’re to live on in the future must create a world where people can accept their deaths properly as humans. You must bring out the possibility within you and fulfill a world that can showcase the power and kindness of humanity.”
“What you’re saying it is too difficult…Banagher still doesn’t understand.”
His mother said without stopping her hands from playing the piano. The face that showed itself from the grand piano seemed to be smiling. “This kid is special.” After saying that, Banagher’s father carried him up again as he smiled.
“If you’re willing to try, you’ll be able to understand. This boy has the ability to listen to others. Even if he doesn’t understand, he’ll use his own way to try and feel what others intend to expression. This is an inherent gift. Once a person’s 5, the nature will show itself like this. This isn’t a talent that can be nurtured whether you want to or not. This kid’s special.”
Special. This word brought about a chill into his chest. The room that was surrounded by soft light suddenly darkened. He could not see the tapestries, and his father’s hands were not there to hold him. A red light came out from the darkness, and just when that light was about to disappear, many lights appeared all over the place, moving on their own. They looked like fireflies he saw on the TV, but they were much faster. These red lights would reach places Banagher could not see, and sometimes, some icy cold needle-like things would poke his body.
Antagonistic intent, this term appeared in his mind. As he hated this piercing feeling, Banagher desperately tried to note where the lights were. He wanted to teach these things really badly.
“Don’t be fooled by what you can see or hear. Use your feelings. If it’s you, you can do it.”
Banagher heard his father. He closed his eyes and tried to feel that icy cold object. This was not too hard as these guys would give a sharp and painful presence before they attacked. Just aim there and attack. There’s no need to use your hands or your feet; just use your head to think. Once he detected the presence, the belt that’s tied on his head moved on its own as he thought of teaching those things a lesson. See? Another one down.
However, the opponent would attack in response to my presence, so I can’t show my emotions too much. I have to imagine that there’s a pair of eyes staring outside, and I can see the entire battlefield completely. I have to read the flow of the enemy’s presence and lure them into a corner—
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”
The piano let out a distorted sound. His mother’s face came out from the darkness as her hands were still on the piano. She was glaring at his father with a horrifying expression.
“What are you intending to do to Banagher!? Aren’t you treating him as some test subject!?”
“This is just a game. There’s no drugs used at all.”
“Of course not, right!? Of course you can’t use such things! Newtype is just a term Zeon’s promoting themselves with.”
“But this kid has power, a power you and I don’t have. This power can clear the curse that’s bestowed on the Vist Foundation and show the world the future it should have…”
“Just let the kid who inherited the Vist family’s name to do it. It has nothing to do with us.”
“I intend to hand the Foundation over to Banagher in the future. If you wish, I can allow you to be registered under the Vist’s family name…”
“THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! I LIKE THE MAN CALLED CARDEAS VIST, AND IF POSSIBLE, I WANTED TO HAVE A KID WITH HIM—THAT WAS ALL! I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FOUNDATION OR THE VIST FAMILY’S CURSE!”
There’s no point talking any further. His mother showed such an expression and sat behind the piano, not to be seen again. The light that vaguely showed revealed a piano no one was playing, and a faint light showed his father’s silhouette outside the light. His father’s face sank into darkness, and could hardly be seen.
“…Those bestowed with power will create responsibility that comes with it. This is something I can’t choose.”
“So you’re working on the order of the god of possibilities… I like the strong you who will back up his words, but I have no intent on offering Banagher as a sacrifice to god.”
His father wanted to say something, but did not as he faded into the darkness. Banagher was left in this silent and cold room, and he did not have time to feel uneasy or even cry before he was taken away by somebody else’s arms. It was his mother’s. To those eyes of the kid, the arms were large and warm. But at the same time, he felt that the arms were relying on him. Yes, father’s no long around. I have to be mother’s support—
“Let’s go, Banagher. This isn’t the place for us to stay in. I hope that you become an adult who understands the importance of an ordinary life.”
After these words were spoken, Banagher suddenly felt difficulty in breathing. But if this is mother’s wish, I’ll obey. It’s best for me to forget this family and what father taught. That tapestry’s the same too, and also everything about father. I’ll hide them all deep within my memories.
I have to protect mother. Father said before that a man has to do this. I think remembering what father taught me has nothing to do with this…
Banagher left the Vist family’s house as he was dragged away by his mother’s hands. The sculptures in the garden, the fountains and usually trimmed grass hedges all gradually faded away, and a world that Banagher had never seen before appeared in front of him. It was a world that focused on being ‘ordinary’, a world where he must not let himself be ‘special’. He was likes an obstinate old man. He had to change, but he would not. Even if he had a wish to step forward, he would not move on his own. It felt like a gust of wind blew by, and like he was floating on the oceans, showing an expression that he was not disappointed despite losing half his body in a major injury a few years ago.
That kind of thing has its own fun. That’s right, it’s just as mother said. Being ‘ordinary’ will definitely have significance and greatness that comes from being ‘ordinary’. But Banagher felt the ‘disjoined’ feeling in there. For every step he took away from the house, the ‘disjointed feeling’ felt stronger. Maybe I forgot something important? He instinctively stops in his tracks and looks back at the house that seemed to have gone far, far away, and then continue on without thinking. At this moment, Banagher’s ankle was grabbed as he immediately knelt down.
Looking back in shock, his father’s hand was grabbing onto his ankle. The large and reliable hand of his father—was so icy cold it was scary. He had much more wrinkles, and he was as skinny as bones. The face looked aged, and his hair seemed to have all grayed. What was most shocking was that his father was covered with blood. Cardeas, who laid down on the floor, grabbed onto Banagher’s ankle tightly, and the face that was like a dead man was staring at his own son.
“Don’t be afraid. Believe in yourself. Do what you feel you have to do.”
Cardeas Vist said as his body was partly collapsed as it fused with the floor. Banagher only felt like escaping that hand’s grip, but Cardeas just would not let go of his ankle. He originally intended to move further away as he held his mother’s hand. Banagher, who thought of shaking the leg that was grabbed and even stamp on him to get away, saw a giant that was standing in place of what was his house.
In that darkness, there was a darkness that was much deeper. The giant figure with the lone horn is staring down at Banagher. The term ‘Unicorn’ immediately appeared in his mind, and the giant’s body suddenly expands as the surface that’s cracked open reveals red light that looked like bleeding.
At the same time, the horn of the giant cracks in half as its eyes seems to shine like a demon. Banagher instinctively felt that he’s about to be eaten as his body would not listen to him. The fear that rose within him form a voice that roared out from his throat—
The voice that came out from his throat was so hoarse it was surprising, and Banagher Links opened his eyes.
What first entered his eyes is the light panel that’s giving off white light. The light panel had a wire fence on the surface. It doesn’t look like furniture an ordinary house will have. It seems that I’m on a certain ship. On thinking about this, Banagher’s head started to move slowly. He remained lying down as he moves his sights.
There was a light antiseptic smell here. The fans seemed to be too loud for an air-conditioner. Most likely, it was the sound of the machines inside the ship making the sounds. From the way the sounds came about, this place was not a space shuttle or a working-class ship. It’s a larger ship—the sound of a large carrier-class ship’s engine running. As Banagher thought about that “Are you awake?” a voice came from beside him, and a man dressed in white appears in his sights.
One could tell from the slightly tan skinn that this man with some moustache was of Arabic descent. Baangher immediately tried to get up, but the man pushed him back onto the bed without hesitation. The small torchlight shines right into Banagher’s eyes, causing his face to frown. Fm, the man snorted and let go, and Banagher quietly leaned his back on the bed he was lying on.
He could see boxes with medication inside the room and 9 monitors on the wall. There was a treatment table beside the console, and there are documents of medical history. The wall beside the bed had small holes that are like mini tunnels, and they should be for something like CT scans. Banagher stared at his numb hands and notices that he was waiting a gown for patients. He tried to force out a hoarse voice, “May I know…this is?” The man in white continued to write something on the record and answered Banagher’s doubt without looking at him.
“This is the infirmary of the Nahel Argama…can you understand it this way? Anyway, it’s a Federation ship.”
Tossing aside the medical record, the man picked up a canteen and returned to Banagher. Banagher immediately realized that he was in low gravity conditions from the way the water inside the canteen swayed. He received the canteen and seemingly gulped all the water down in one shot.
“I took your wallet to check. Your name’s Banagher Links, a student of Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. Am I right?”
The man, who returned back to the treatment table, pulled out the chair and sat down before asking. “Yes.” Banagher, who could finally make some sound after drinking, answered,
“As we were rushing out of the port, we didn’t have the time to check the data of the colony, so I’ll ask directly. Do you have any past medical history or any allergies to drugs?”
“I guess not…is this ship moving in space?”
“Yeah. We’re still hidden inside the shoal space region. Don’t worry, the enemy won’t come looking for us so quickly.”
From that nonchalant tone, he could tell that the man was already used to such a situation. Enemies; Banagher remembered this term that had nothing to do with him. Even though he could vaguely sense some danger, Banagher showed a relaxed expression and diverted his attention to the canteen that was already empty. He felt that the water was filling his originally parched body, melting away the weight that was built up within his heart.Why am I so thirsty? How long have I been asleep? He could not remember anything, and the brain that tried to recall was still not working. Even though he remembered he did have a very bad nightmare, it was just a vague feeling left, melting away gradually together with the weight inside.
Perhaps this might be a dream as well. This is a dream I’m having in the AEIC dorm. Once I wake up, I’ll have to be careful not to wake Takuya up and sneak out to work in the morning—speaking of which, I don’t know what happened to the people of the Bubbo Company. The 4 winged mobile suit appeared in the Industrial zone. If there’s a disaster at the port, the office that had some gasoline stench should be…
Banagher’s heart started to beat faster as his temples hurt. He used his hand to touch, and the feeling of the bandage reached his fingertips, causing him to gasp. Perhaps detecting Banagher’s current situation, the man asked without looking over, “Does it hurt?” “A little…” Banagher answers. “That’s proof that you’re still alive. Try and endure it.” What he got was such cold words. “The latch that’s used to fasten the helmet forced itself on the forehead. Without that, you would have died with your neck snapped.”
His heart started to race again, and this time, the sound is so loud that other could hear it. The latch was used to fasten the helmet—that machine that looked like it had an interrogation set attached to the headrest. His head was once held by that thing on both left and right side before pressing onto his forehead. The scene in the past immediately became a bright visual, and the thin layer that covered his memories was ripped apart.
The siren could not stop, and the monitor displayed the words “NT-D”. His body was then held down with such force that it felt like his eyeballs were about to explode from the acceleration. Finally, everything was soaked in a very viscous liquid, causing everything in front of his eyes to look like they’re in slow-motion…what happened after that?
The canteen dropped out from Banagher’s hand and onto the floor, letting out a clear sound. That’s right, I was once sitting inside that cockpit, piloting that mobile suit called the “Unicorn” and fighting against the “enemy”. Audrey, Cardeas, Takuya, Micott; several faces and names appeared in his mind. Banagher used his hand to support his head that felt like exploding soon. The automatic door opened, and a woman’s voice could be heard “Excuse me!” before she entered.
“Doctor Hassan, I heard that the kid’s awake…” Speaking halfway through, the woman’s eyes met Banagher, who lifts his head. “Ah, it’s true.” The woman’s round eyes became even rounder. The Easterner’s petite body had a grey shirt and white pants on her. Though one could tell from her attire that it was the Federation Space Forces, the woman herself did not look like a soldier. Once Banagher felt that she was basically a girl around his age, the man called Dr Hassan turned around and said with a flat tone, “Oh, you’re here alone.”
“The person himself did indicate that the identity’s correct. I’ve already done the checks you wanted as well. What I investigated using the facilities here show that he’s all clean.”
Hassan showed a meaningful expression as he concluded and said this to the woman. The woman looked back at his expression and nodded. The grim atmosphere that came with the term check reached Banagher’s heart, but he did not have the mind to think too much into it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ensign Mihiro Oiwakken.” She lifted her expression that seemed to be hidden before and greeted with a smile, causing Banagher to blink.
“Welcome to the Nahel Argama…the current situation doesn’t make it situation to say this, but are you alright? Banagher Links?”
“Ehh, well…”
“There’s a lot of things I would like to ask you, but first, I have to thank you. It’s thanks to you piloting the gundam that we’re able to survive.”
““Gundam”?”
“The machine you piloted. Am I right? The face was hidden thought, and there’s only one horn left.”
I don’t understand at all. I don’t even understand what she’s asking. Banagher turned towards Hassan, who was facing the desk as the white back did not look like it was going to turn around. “Don’t you remember?” Mihiro’s head tilted slightly to the side as she glanced at Banagher’s eyes.
“I remember sitting in the mobile suit and piloting it. But at that time, my mind was just thinking about making it move…”
Suddenly, a pulsating pain came out from his temples. It was not the pain from the restraint, but a pain from the inside—“Is this kid alright?” Mihiro turned away from Banagher, who was touching his bandages, as she asked Hassan.
“I still have to do some more important things that will be of burden to him!”
“There’s a slight concussion, so he might feel dizzy. His body doesn’t have any problems. He’s fine, for a “Gundam” pilot.”
Hassan answered with his face tilted aside. Banagher’s confused mind responded to the term “Gundam pilot” as he and Mihiro turned to look at the side of Hassan’s face.
“This isn’t the first time. Every time, the “Gundam”…never mind, you’ll soon understand.”
Hassan waved his hand to divert both their stares away and turned back to the table. Banagher and Mihiro stared at the white profile, glancing at each other from time to time, and an awkward silence soon happened. “Don’t worry too much.” Mihiro forced a smile and said,
“We’ve checked your identity, so just answer the military’s questions later.”
“But the doctor just said that he didn’t have time to check with the colony’s records…”
Banagher saw that Mihiro was taken aback, and regretted somewhat that he just said something unnecessary. Those who knew about such things would have the other party on the ropes—especially in such a place like the army. Perhaps begrudging Hassan for saying too much, Mihiro glared at his back and sighed, gave a wry smile as she admitted to Banagher, “Your friend identified you.” Sensing that Mihiro seemed to be a gentle person, Banagher relaxed somewhat. On the other hand, the term friend causes Banagher to frown.
“Those people look like they’re from AEIC, so I was wondering if they knew you. Asking asking, they said that they went to the colony builder with you when escaping and separated in the meantime.”
“Takuya and Micott? They’re on this ship too?”
Banagher really couldn’t make any other conclusions. “Do you want to meet them?” On hearing Mihiro follow up with these words, “Of course…!” Banagher answered enthusiastically. Mihiro looks at Hassan and gave him a look of dilemma. Hassan did notturn back as he merely said, “I didn’t hear anything.” Mihiro then shrugged her slender shoulders, lowered her head to stare at Banagher, and said, “Alright.”
“Just a little though. There’ll be a lot of high-ranking uncles coming over to ask you questions. Understand?”
Mihiro gave a stiff smile, which somehow indicated the seriousness of this situation. Realizing that he was in a troublesome situation, Banagher cautiously got off the bed and stepped on the floor barefooted for the first time. It felt eerily cold.
‘Banagher. Banagher.’
The moment the door opened, the basketball-sized ball leapt over. “Haro!” Banagher answered as he hurriedly caught that thing.
Haro flapped its ear-like round discs as it remained in Banagher’s clutches, asking in a synthesized voice, ‘Are you alright? Are you alright?’ “Of course.” Banagher answered as he turned Haro upside down to check. Even though there’s a bit of soot, the surface that was covered by a layer of rubber did not show any signs of scars. After scarring in a relieved manner, “Banagher!” “You’re still alive!” The familiar voices entered Banagher’s ears, and he frantically looked around the room that was 10m wide.
At a corner of the recreational room for officers, which had vending machines, plants and several simple tables and chairs, Banagher found the owners of the voices. Standing up from the sofa and looking over with a blank expression was Micott Bartsch. Takuya ignored the NCO who looked like he was in charge of watching over them as he dashed over. As he saw their faces, Banagher could not hold back the emotions swelling in him as he answered, “I thought you guys were…!” the words remained in his throat as he stamped the floor and caught Takuya who was flying over.
Micott then caught up to them and hugged them. The trio were all bundled up and floating in the air due to inertia. Mihiro stands beside them and stops the NCO who was trying to stop them, giving a wry look. Banagher uses his body to embrace the warmth of his friends. This warmth, this is reality—even if the ‘disjointed feeling’, he would not feel shaken. This was the warmth that showed that he belonged to this world. The skin that was tense due to the cold was warmed up, and Banagher enjoyed the comfort that came with the hugs. This is where I should be in. His heart was filled with such thoughts. I’m not going to ride on the mobile suit again; I’m not going to get involved with the Vist Foundation and Neo Zeon. The day I got involved in nightmares has ended…
It had been about a mere 2, 3 seconds in the air. The moment they slammed into the wall, the trio was grabbed by the gravity they once left as they collapsed onto the sofa “It hurts!” “Gyah!” All sorts of cries could be heard. And then, it was unknown who started laughing first as the room is then filled with the trio’s laughter. Takuya and Micott only had some light scratches on their legs and arms, and it looked like they did not get injuries that were too severe. Both of them look a lot livelier than the last time they met, and it seemed that they bathed and washed off the sweat and dirt on them. After looking at both of them, Banagher repeated it again, “It’s great to know that you two are fine…” “Of course not.” Takuya clenched his fist loosely and jabbed it into Banagher’s stomach, grumbling unhappily,
“We had it rough. We were shaken about by the mobile suit’s hand, moving all around the battlefield. I really don’t know what you were doing that time.”
“I was really worried about you, seriously. I heard that you were kept in the ship with us, Banagher, but they wouldn’t let us see you. Is the injury on your head fine? They said that you never regained consciousness…”
Micott wanted to touch the bandage on Banagher’s head, but was blocked by his hand. As Banagher wants to tell her that it was not too serious, a light Banagher saw before came from opposite the table, behind Mihiro and the NCO, causing him to gasp.
Emerald eyes. The eyes that declared that everything had changed. The eyes that were gleaming intensely were in the same room as her. That person was starting at him while looking like she was hiding behind the NCO. Immediately, Banaagher was not looking at other people as he stands up from the sofa.
“Audrey!”
Her shoulders jerk, and the emerald eyes widen slightly. Banagher did not care as he steps on the floor, and as he was about to fall, he passes by Mihiro and the NCO.
That’s right. It was Audrey Burne. The chestnut-colored hair, clear white skin and long legs with jeans on were the same as yesterday. He feels a burning sensation climbing out from deep within him—it was not warmth, but something much stronger. The heat caused Banagher’s body to become anxious and made him move to those emerald eyes. For some reason, the first words Banagher said were “I didn’t expect you to be kept in this ship too…!” On hearing this, Audrey diverted her gaze to the floor.
“Ehh…things ended up like this.”
Looking over, Audrey turned her stare behind Banagher’s shoulders. Banagher realized that Audrey was staring at Takuya and Micott, the heat inside him subsides.
The two of them know Audrey. They know that Audrey, who looks like she’s part of the anti-Federation forces, snuck into Industrial 7 yesterday, met the Vist Foundation—and definitely has something to do with the battle last night. Banagher, not anybody else, was the only one who told them these. As Banagher thought about this, it was too late by the time he took a step back from Audrey. “So you’re the Audrey Banagher mentioned before.” The stinging words came from behind, causing Banagher to turn around.
The one who spoke was Micott. The bone-chilling stare passed by Banagher as it landed on Audrey alone. Banagher noticed at Micott was staring over at him with a suspicious stare at well and got in front of Audrey.
“Who are you? Why did you come over to Industrial 7?”
Perhaps Micott was wary of the NCO’s stare as she never asked Audrey so directly. Mihiro interrupted Micott, who let out stinging words after being unrestrained, saying, “Oh my, don’t the four of you know each other?” Banagher clenched his sweating fists tight as such a situation developed right in front of the one person he did not want knowing what was going on—the Federation officer. As Banagher could not think of any words to break the deadlock, he subconsciously raised his arms to protect Audrey…“She just moved into Industrial 7 yesterday” another voice rang inside the room.
“She’s Banagher’s childhood friend, and she’s supposed to transfer over to our school, right?”
Takuya gave a look, but Banagher could not catch up for that moment as he vaguely answered, “Eh? Ahh…”
“Hm? Is that so?” Mihiro asked. Before Micott could show a doubtful look, Takuya patted her on the back and said, “You’re worrying too much, Mihiro.”
“Even if there’s a friend who suddenly came by for an hour, Banagher won’t probably look at any girl other than you, right?”
Even Banagher was dumbstruck by these words as his mouth was gaped open. Mihiro let out an understanding expression as she nodded away, while MIcott, who was left behind, immediately went red. You said too much! What if she gets angry!? Banagher was worried as he could not help but close his eyes. “What are you saying!? What I mean is…!” Micott’s enraged voice rang, and just when the helpless Banagher had to endure this—
“Is Banagher Links around?”
A sharp voice suddenly interrupted them. Banagher looked over at where the voice came from, and he saw two men walking through the door of the recreation room.
One of the men was tall and burly, had short hair, and had a physique of a wrestler, and the other was a man with sharp attention and ferocity all over him. Both of them were also wearing Federation uniform, but the presence they gave off was obviously different from the other passengers. If the other soldiers were wooden sticks, these two were metal bats. The man with the sharp expression alone may even be described as being like a sharp knife.
Banagher met that knife in the eyes, and as Mihiro and the NCO remained still, those two walked over without much thought. Even with a cast on one of the men’s left arm, the footsteps were not showing any signs of faltering. The sharp stare scanned Banagher from the head to the fingernails, and the body that resembles a giant cat species arrived in front of Banagher. Banagher tried his best not to look away as he stared straight at the man’s face. The man’s stare remained still, asking without any emotion on his face, “Is this the boy?”
“Yes, Commander Daguza.” Mihiro answered. The man looks away from Banagher and immediately questions Mihiro, “I did say before to immediately bring him to me once he’s awake, right?”
“I was the one who let him meet the refugees who were detained. That’s because I heard that they were school mates.”
Mihiro gave a bold expression that did not match her babyface as she never looks at the men. Her attitude shows that she had some contempt for the men. However, the man called Daguza did not seem to mind as he looks down at Banagher, telling him “You, follow me” before turning away. The tone that did not allow for any objection caused Banagher to step forward before he could even think.
“Wait a second…! You’re saying that you’re taking him? To where?”
“Banagher’s like us! He managed to escape to this ship!”
Takuya and Micott then added in, causing Banagher to stop immediately. Daguza turned back and glanced at them, and said with an unwavering tone, “That’s for us to decide.”
“Aren’t you being too bossy here!? Besides, when are you going to send us back to Industrial 7!?”
“The ship’s in a precarious situation. I can’t make any guarantees.”
“My father Fabio Bartsch is the factory owner of Industrial 7’s Third Workzone. If you’re only going to take Banagher away, please state the reason first.”
Micott knew that most adults will change their attitude after hearing these words, but this time, the outcome was not what she desired as Daguza stared at Micott and said solemnly,
“He piloted a military mobile suit as a civilian and entered the battlefield. This heavy crime alone is enough to warrant capital punishment.”
“Military mobile suit…?” “You’re the one who piloted it?” Takuya and Micott let out their shocked voices respectively. Banagher saw that Mihiro seems to be begrudging Daguza for saying too much as she glared at the side of his face. His eyes started to move around. “Banagher, don’t tell me you…” A soft voice came from behind, causing Banagher to be so shocked his eyebrows twitch.
Audrey, who instinctively reached her hand out for Banagher’s shoulder before taking it back immediately, was showing signs of faltering in her expression. Banagher recalls that everything changed the moment he saw these eyes. Me, Audrey, and maybe even including Takuya and Micott may have taken on a path of no return. Banagher harbored such a thought that might be instinctive and answers, “I’ll tell you later.”
“Wait here for me, alright?”
Don’t tell anyone else. Banagher said this to Audrey with his eyes. Audrey backs away, showing a silent stare at Banagher. Banagher felt the warmth that spread when his shoulder was touched, and followed Daguza out of the recreation room. Mihiro looks like she was saying “Don’t worry”, and the hand that was patted on Banagher’s shoulder gave him strength to walk forward with his head held high.
The high pitched siren rang inside the helmets through the wireless communicator. This summoning siren for the Marines sounded exceptionally pitiful here as it brought about a lonely presence, ringing through Riddhe Marcenas’ ears.
Soon after, a rumbling could be felt under his feet, and the large catapult gate was closed. The gates that closed in from top and bottom sealed off the catapult that was 20m on all sides, hiding the large catapult that was floating upright in the vacuum. During this time, before the hatch closed completely, Riddhe and the rest were lined up in front of the catapult, raising their hands to salute. The catapult hatch for landing was still open as they awaited the machines that had not returned…but no matter how much they waited, the people who did not come back would never come back. It had been more than half a day since the battle people would record as ‘Battle Of Industrial 7’ in the future happened, and the Nahel Argama was headed to a new situation. Riddhe and the rest remembered the people who passed away, and had to take their next steps forward. The souls of the pilots who died in this battle should had returned home—
<So everyone wasn’t able to make it…>
Lieutenant Commander Norm Basililock muttered as the thick gates closed up and the warning lights flashed, indicating that pressure was moving in. He once requested the superiors to keep the gate open even after 12 hours, and after the 17th hour, the mobile suit squadron leader whose attitude softened might still be able to see the remains of his subordinates floating in the vacuum. Riddhe turned to look at Norm, but he could not see the expression on Norm’s face as it was covered by the visor. Riddhe could not say anything as he could only mix around the troops after the squadron was dismissed, and went down one airlock after another inside the ship.
Riddhe removed his helmet and hung it on the hook behind him, walking down the mobile suit deck that already had air. He sees that most of the mobile suits were not back inside the hangar as the silent metal wall just remained there, feeling thoroughly dejected. There were 5 “ReZELs” that were definitely destroyed, and 3 “Jegans” as well. ECOAS also lost what looked like a tank, and the remaining one was lying in a corner of the hangar under a canvas. There were 3 confirmed survivors, and one of them had only minor injuries while the other two were lying inside the ship’s intensive care room for treatment, so there’s no hope of them return back to the front lines. The mobile suit deck that had already lost 2-thirds of their fighting strength had a relaxed presence of air inside. The sounds of cranes moving and welding caused the melancholy of lights fading to be even more acute.
“Deborah, Nazal, and even Commander Ian…that’s quite the heavy loss.”
“Leaving aside the R003 Romeo that was ambushed, the other 7 units were all taken down by the same machine, right? And we let that guy get away.”
“That’s two-thirds, two-thirds! How are we going to regroup with so many units taken down? Even if we count in the spare “Jegan”, there’s only 5 mobile suits we can use! We can’t even form a squad!”
“We can only wait for reinforcements. In this situation, we can’t even hang on with that four-winged of the Sleeves attack again.”
“I still haven’t massacred that J4 Juliet ReZEL guy who beat me in poker…”
As there was no loud chatter like usual, the conversation between the mechanics became extremely shrill. Riddhe subconsciously clenched his fists and floated by the mechanical frames that were lined up in such a way that it looked like they were tombstones. Stop blaming us all the time, Riddhe grumbled deep inside his heart. It’s not that the cowards survived or the brave soldiers died. What separates these people is just luck. When the death god swings its large scythe, a slight difference of whether we’re standing or sitting will decide the outcome. In this situation, no matter whether it’s experience, ability or courage, none of them have any help.
Death just came by so simply, causing the people who survived to feel lost. Though Riddhe had thoughts of taking revenge for his allies, that sort of feeling was like taking a gamble. Maybe it was just an instinct, the only way for him to feel at ease. To Riddhe, things like hatred for the enemy and regret had become really alien to him. To put it directly, he lamented not being able to feel regret. Riddhe felt angry over being so inexperienced that he doesn’t know what to do with his body that was still alive. Sooner or later, I might have to use the memories of the people who have died as part of dishes—
As he thought unhappily, the voices of the people were further away. Before he realized it, Riddhe was already right in front of his own machine that was being maintained. The machine itself was covered in soot, and the NAR-008 that was spray painted on it had become unidentifiable, but the machine itself was not significantly damaged anywhere. Riddhe looked up at the “ReZEL” that did not have any signs of a graze from the beam rifle and realized that he did not do anything. He took the cable gun and pulled himself to the cockpit. Several cables extended out from the opened cockpit, making it hard to identify the back of Mechanical Officer Jonas Gibney who was working inside.
The tall and burly body was bent as he was holding the keyboard that was attached to the display board. The back profile looked like it was crying, and Riddhe gasped slightly. The old timer NCOs had completely different views from rookies who were assigned here like him, and they seemed to have a passion-like will when being on this ship. They just went through an official battle for the first time since being on active duty again, and this battle took many lives too. Having experienced this again, Gibney might had been hurt more than anyone else. Riddhe ws unable to think of what to say as he let out a call, “Mechanic officer…” and that thick body turn around with a glare of killing intent right on him.
“DAMN YOU! YOU EVEN DARED TO BRING SUCH A TOY ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD!?”
His savage face looked a lot more heinous than usual as he tossed the hand-sized plane model right at him—that was the model Riddhe brought into the cockpit before the battle and forgot that it was inside— “Ah, no, that is…”the voice that was let out was stuck inside the throat, and Riddhe backed his body as he floated back. “WHAT IS THAT!?” Gibney continued to glare at him as he moved out, and the large body was standing right in front of the cockpit’s hatch.
“It’s because you took this thing out with the attitude of going to a picnic that we got massacred by the Zeon remnants!”
Gibney opened his legs and forcefully stepped on the cockpit hatch, kicking Riddhe out. Riddhe could not do anything as he floated around in zero gravity, his back crashing into the hock-shaped armor that was extended out from the “ReZEL”s crotch. The surrounding mechanics were all shocked as they looked at both of them, only to show a ‘here we go again’ look as they turned back. Riddhe quickly stood up, glared at Gibney and yelled, “YOU’RE JUST USING THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO VENT YOUR FRUSTRATIONS OUT!”
“I FOUGHT HARD ON THE BATTLE AS WELL! DON’T VENT YOUR FRUSTRATION ON ME!”
“IT’S POINTLESS IF YOU DON’T SHOW ANYTHING! JUST TAKE THIS AWAY AND PLAY!”
Gibeny threw over the plane model and snorted. Riddhe did not look at his face as he merely stared at the little biplane flying over his head before kicking the armor beside his feet instinctively.
Riddhe felt that it was stupid to think about this, yet he also thought that it was less depressing this way as he feels motivated out of a sudden as he started to chase the plane that was moving through the deck in a dreamlike-state. Perhaps it was because the original design was suitable for aerodynamics as the biplane model’s wings easily passed through the air, flying to the wall on the opposite side without slowing down. The biplane moved through the narrow spaces between the cranes, reached the narrow catwalk at the wall, and flew into the crowd working on it.
A person moving through dodged it and used his hand to grab the biplane that suddenly flew over. Riddhe was a step slower in reaching the handrail of the catwalk, and was surprised by the side of the face of the person who was not wearing the uniform. He was wearing deep blue jumper and jeans, and had slightly long ash-brown hair. His face was smaller than the man who was walking in front of him by a size, and one could possibly call him a teenager—
“Ah, sorry.”
“No…that was nicely done.”
The boy handed over the biplane he caught as his mouth relaxed, staring over at Riddhe. Those eyes had no hidden intent in them, but they were rather strong-willed. There was a sharp glint in his eyes, one that did not match his obedient looking appearance. Riddhe stared at those eyes that were giving off some mysterious pulling force, and was confused by some form of fluttering in his heart, but looked up once he noticed the other stares around him. Commander Daguza Mackle, who was walking in front, glanced over at Riddhe without any expression.
Riddhe immediately saluted and moved away from them. The boy’s face was soon blocked by the adults as he walked into a place that could not be seen. If he were a refugee that’s being moved…it’s overly cautious to surround a boy with a gang of people. What’s most suspicious is that even the Manhunters are amongst them. Riddhe watched the group of around 10 people walk by, and finally found a familiar face at the end. He moved over to that person, arookie who was assigned to the security force at the same time Riddhe was assigned here.
The security troop had a sling on his usual secondary uniform, and his head had a anti-round helmet with a white line drawn on it. Riddhe went over to greet him, and brought his face closer to whisper, “Who is that guy?” he pointed at the boy with his chin, and the peer answered softly, “The brat who piloted the ‘gundam’ just now.”
“It’s him…!? He’s still a kid.”
“Didn’t I say it before? I heard that they’re going to carry out tests on him later.”
The gundam-type mobile suit who forced the ‘Sleeves’ four-winged to retreat with its overwhelming power and this boy walking in front of him who looks like a kid; Riddhe never thought of linking these two thought as he can only remain still. During this time, the group of people had already walked all the way to the front, and the peer kicked the floor hard to catch up. Riddhe followed suit and moveed beside the peer.
“What now?”
“Aren’t you going to the “Gundam”? I heard it even got a solid shield and rifle. I want to look too…”
“No no, outsiders are not allowed. The guys from Anaheim and the Manhunters are already arguing loudly over the rights, so it’s already boiling point here.”
“They’re the outsiders.”
“It’s pointless to tell me that now.”
Move on move on. Riddhe was chased away by his peer as he could only stop unwillingly. The group got on the lift at the end of the catwalk, and the peer who followed in at the end was in charge of closing the lift. For an instant, Riddhe’s eyes meet the boy’s eyes, but he did not have the time to check his impression on the boy. The door that was closed cut off the boy’s stare as the lift moved to the lower deck.
Below the mobile suit deck, there was a mechanic deck that was also called the factory inside the ship. This was a place that was used when a machine needed a change of parts or that there needs to be a large-scale repair. The Gundam-type mobile suit that was taken in was kept inside here—or to put it correctly, if it was the same as when it was taken in, it should be the one-horned mobile suit that did not look like a “Gundam”. The enraged Riddhe kicked the elevator door and used the recoil to bounce back, grabbing the airlock that was installed inside the ship. Everyone looks really tense now, so can’t you understand other people’s feelings now? Riddhe grumbled some meaningless rants about others in his mind and left the mobile suit deck.
Since the standby order was already issued, Riddhe could not go back to his own room to relax. He hid the biplane model inside his helmet and walked towards the pilot waiting room.
At this point, the standby unit and mechanics were all mobilized, and the Nahel Argama couldn’t maintain its original formation. Riddhe could only stay in the empty waiting room together with the members who survived as he put on the normal suit and moved through the dull space in front of him. He looked rather irritated as he moved around while holding the lift-grip. Once he arrived in front of a cross-junction, a familiar profile move right in front of Riddhe, causing his heart to beat faster.
Chestnut-colored hair, clear white slender face, and the purple cape that was puffed with air inside; that’s right. Riddhe quickly adjusted the speed of the lift-grip as he called out, “Wait, you’re…!” He let go of the lift-grip right in front of the cross junction and kicked the wall at the end to eliminate inertia. The girl showed a surprised look on her face as Riddhe turned 90 degrees to look at her.
“So it’s you. Are you hurt? I was worried just now, but I didn’t have time to ask…”
The girl with the floating cape stopped at where she was as she stares at Riddhe. The emerald eyes show a form of willfulness…or rather, it might be appropriate to call it tension. Riddhe himself tensed up as he saw the beautiful side of the girl’s face and eyes through the monitor when the Magallanica was in utter chaos. It’s because I saw this face that I could respond without fear. As he made such a baseless belief, Riddhe politely smiles and said, “Ah, I was wearing this helmet just now, so you might not be able to identify me.”
“I was the mobile suit pilot who brought you guys here.”
Ahh. The girl looked like she was trying to recall. “I’m Riddhe Marcenas. What about you?” he continued. “…Audrey Burne.” The girl let out the voice from her lips. Her emerald eyes looked down to the floor, and the slender prideful face had lost some of its luster. The carefree look from before was gone as the girl let out an awkward presence while she looked away, causing Riddhe to be unable to comprehend. Maybe she’s an unexpectedly shy girl? He wondered. As he harboured such a thought was completely wrong, Riddhe looked down at the side of this girl’s face again, and immediately, “AREN’T YOU TREATING HIM AS A CRIMINAL!?” another voice rang throughout the passage.
At the end of the passage, right at the entrance of the door leading to the machine adjustment room, Riddhe saw a black-haired girl with her eyebrows curling up. “You must be mistaken about Banagher piloting the “Gundam”.” and then, the one who spoke up next was an Easterner boy who looked to be of the same age as the girl. They were both staring at the female officer in front of them. If she was not wearing a uniform, she would most likely be mistaken for being of the same age as them with the baby-like face of hers. It was Mihiro Oiwakken.
“But it’s a fact that he sat in the cockpit. Is there any other reason why the “Gundam” could move?”
Mihiro was not aware of Riddhe’s group standing on the other end of the corridor as she looked really flustered while trying to comfort them. He felt somewhat surprised the moment he heard the term “Gundam” in such an unexpected place, and said to the girl, “Erm, they brought along with you too, right?” the girl who called herself Audrey looks up and simply nodded.
“You know that brat…that “Gundam” pilot?”
“Yeah…”
What’s going on? Riddhe vaguely answers ‘Fuun’, recalls the appearance of the boy that was taken away by the Manhunters, and immediately tninks of an idea. He curls his lips up, smiles and whispers to Audrey, if you’re so worried, do you want to see him?”
“Eh?” Audrey lifted her face. As she gave him a weird stare, Riddhe turned his back on her and walks towards Mihiro. This might be able to clear the vagueness inside. Besides, it’s a pilot’s job to remain motivated when on standby. If nobody’s going to comfort me, I’m going to do it myself. Riddhe spent less than a second fooling himself completely as he stared at Mihiro and company, and raised his index finger in a way resembling old-Eastern children playing,
“Those who want to see the “Gundam”, please gather here—”
The monitor panel seam let out a green light, forming a layer of laser in the air as it scanned the body. The display board showed the mapping data of the capillaries until the <IDENTIFIED> word appeared on it, and the activation sound of the main engine rang throughout the cockpit.
The monitor panel started to run, and the all-view monitor appeared in front of the linear seat. At this moment, it showed the vision of the eyes of the 20m tall giant. It’s the enclosed space surrounded by the walls. The mechanic deck that was not even half the size of the mobile suit deck had two sets of mechanic hangars for minor repairs. One of the hangar sets had a Jegan unit with the armor removed, and facing it on the opposite side was the “Unicorn”, surrounded by many people under zero gravity. This mobile suit had unique specs, had the cockpit at the abdomen, and had a lone horn pointing out at the top.
Commander Daguza was standing on the other side of the opened cockpit door, and behind him was the guard with his hand on a pistol at his waist, getting ready and showing no signs of relaxing at all. The sounds of the shutters start to echo, and Banagher just felt that it was unbearable to be inside. He lowered his head and hoped for everything to end here. The reason why he did not want to remain so long in such a place was because this place still had the bloody smell of that person—
“That really shocked me. We couldn’t activate it no matter what we did just now!”
The mechanic who poked his head into the cockpit, watching the inside of the cockpit said. There were many people of different affiliations taking part in the live examination of the “Unicorn”; people dressed in army uniforms and people dressed in suits. Those dressed in uniforms could even be divided into two groups; the members of this ship and the strong men Daguza was leading—seeing how muscular his arms were, this mechanic should be Daguza’s man. Banagher peered at the head of this mechanic who was inspecting the display board, and was about to ask whether he could leave “Don’t you know that this mobile suit can only be activated through biometric inspection?” On hearing the unfriendly words, Banagher lifted his head.
The one who spoke was the leader of the people in suits, and it seemed that his name was called Alberto. That fat body was floating in the air, looking over Daguza’s shoulder and staring at the machine. The mild colored-styled suit looked very similar to the suit Cardeas used to wear. However, Alberto did not have the mark of the unicorn on it, and he looked to be rather hot as the collar was all messed up while under the blob of flesh on the chin. Banagher thought that it was a special suit designed for the Vist Foundation, but perhaps that might be the latest trend or something?
The mechanic gave an annoyed look. Alberto simply looked away, pretending not to see, “That sort of thing can be removed immediately once we send it back to Anaheim.” he said. “It looks hard.” This line interrupted Alberto’s snort. “What!?” Alberto glared at the subordinate standing on the “Unicorn” head.
“This is already programmed deep into the OS. If we randomly reformat it, we might end up deleting that Laplace Program at all.”
The subordinate answered without even paying attention to the situation, causing a speechless Alberto’s face to look like a compressed meatball. As he stared at that face, Banagher had a feeling that they met before. However, this feeling merely lasted until Daguza entered the cockpit.
“You entered the cockpit to look for a spacesuit. Cardeas Vist then appeared in front of you and registered you as the pilot of the “Unicorn”. That’s how it went, am I right?”
Daguza bent over as he brought his face near the seat, giving a sharp look. “Yes.” Banagher answered him with a stiff voice.
“You’ve never met Cardeas Vist before this, right?”
“…Yes.”
“It’s only the first time you met. How did you know he’s Cardeas?”
“I just said it already. I saw his photo on the AEIC introduction or something pamphlet.”
Banagher lifted his head and answered as he stared right at the other person’s eyes, whose stern stare caused Banagher to look away. Pull yourself through. He clenched his sweaty hands as he told himself this. I can’t say the truth that easily. I still haven’t understood the situation yet. If I say anything random, Audrey will be deemed suspicious as well. He’s a military man, and a man with such sharp knife-like stare, but it’s not like I can’t hide anything from him. Besides, I have something advantageous to me.
Even Banagher himself could not accept the truth that just felt surreal to him. Lying about this should be useful. Banagher kept quiet and turned his face to the front. Daguza sighed “Your words are really hard to accept.” He said as he looked away.
“He left everything to a person he met for the first time…and to a boy like you to boot.”
Will you accept this if I say that Cardeas’ my father? Banagher muttered deep inside his heart. Will you not admit this even in such a case? As he mocked himself for this, Banagher felt a chill from the words he heard next, “That man has always been a weirdo.” Alberto said this as he stood beside the cockpit.
“If that wasn’t the case, there wouldn’t be so much controversy, right?” he continued, and glanced into the room. Ever since they first met, Alberto would shoot looks of heinous ill intent at Banagher whenever he had the chance, and this time, it was already on the verge of hatred. That hatred was now all over Banagher, causing him to unwittingly swallow his saliva.
“One-man show. Tyrannical. He said that he was doing it for the sake of the Foundation, yet it was just for his own satisfaction. It’s really nice enough to call him a rogue. Simply put, he’s just a man so lonely that he couldn’t trust others. He probably want to create one more hassle for us by handing the “Unicorn” to this boy, or he lost his sanity on the brink on death…”
“He was still sane at that time! He clearly told me to use this to protect everyone!”
Banagher stared at the side of Alberto’s face, realizing that Alberto had finished speaking and that he was the one who spoke up. Alberto looked stunned while Daguza turned his sharp stare over. Thinking that this was bad, Banagher could not restrain the hot sensation rising from his throat to his nostrils, and he simply said out what was left of what he wanted to say,
“That’s not something that somebody who doesn’t trusts others will say. Such words were only said because he has no one around him whom he could trust, right?”
Why am I arguing about this? What am I angry about? Just as Banagher himself did not seem to understand what was going on, Alberto, whose expression immediately changed drastically, reached for the cockpit cover and let his hand reach in from outside. He grabbed Banagher’s chest and showed a menacing look, saying, “Saying it like you understand really well, huh!?” even though he was right in his sights, Banagher gritted his teeth and never looked away.
“You’re saying this because you know what sort of situation you’re in now, right? In certain situations, even kids will have to go to jail.”
“Of course I don’t know…! I only know common sense like ‘talking behind other people’s backs when they’re dead isn’t right’. You’re an adult, and you don’t even feel embarrassed by this?”
Alberto gasped, and his nostrils expanded as the hand that was on his chest showed signs of tightening. Banagher grited his teeth, and at this moment, “Stop it.” Daguza roared and quickly reached his hand out to grab Alberto’s wrist, which Banagher saw,
“You’re being too carried away here. You too, Banagher. Those aren’t words a child should be saying.”
Daguza said as he simply twisted the wrists to restrain Alberto completely. Banagher swallowed the retort he was about to say and turned around. “I GOT IT! JUST LET GO OF ME!” Alberto roared at Daguza as he left the cockpit while looking like he was flying forward.
“It’s a waste of time to do this. The “Unicorn” will be sent over to Anaheim on the moon for investigations. Before that, seal it, SEAL IT ALL!”
“This is a Federation’s ship. You don’t have the authority to order…”
“I can get it if there’s a need. I’ll go to the Prime Minister or the Chief Senator to give the order. Oi! Don’t randomly take photos there!”
Alberto rubbed the wrist that was just twisted and lashed out at the mechanic who was about to take photos with his camera. At this moment, his foot that was on the cockpit cover slid off. Alberto frantically tried to reach the cockpit cover with his hands, and missed as his body slipped towards the mechanic deck in a confused manner. Nobody was at the area he was falling to; only a “Jegan” frame with exposed moveable frames. If he accidentally crashes into there, he might be electrocuted. Realizing this, Banagher immediately grabbed onto the control stick.
With the sound of the actuators being activated, the “Unicorn” slowly raises its right arm. “Oi!?” “It moved!” Banagher ignored the people creating the ruckus as he used the mechanical arm of the “Unicorn” to grab onto Alberto. He gently gripped onto the control stick that moved with the fingers, and the “Unicorn”s palm easily grab onto Alberto who was floating due to the recoil. Everything should be fine as he had checked that there was no one around the arm’s movement rang.
Everyone turn their backs on the giant hand holding onto Alberto and divert their stares into the cockpit. Banagher brought his hand away from the control stick and tried not to look at any of their faces. “Did you do that?” Daguza asked while standing beside him, and Banagher did not look back at him as he said “Yes.”
“That’s not easy. It’s impossible for me to imagine that you piloted a mobile suit for the first time.”
“That’s because piloting mini mobile suits is part of the vocation courses.”
No matter how the opponent tried to probe, even Banagher himself did not know how to explain this. Banagher was regretting that he again provided information that would allow room for Daguza to suspect, but Daguza himself simply gives a wry smile and said “This must be a so-called Newtype” and nothing else. Alberto, who was yelping away, “HURRY UP AND LET ME GO!” as he tried to struggle out of the giant’s hand, was looking at this unnerving silence.
“Don’t crush him.”
“I know.”
“Or else it’ll be hard to clear up later.”
Daguza removed the slight bitter smile on his face and said without a smile. In response, Banagher frowned and answered, “Yeah.”
“That’s the “Gundam”?”
“Looks like it…it looks completely different.”
Takuya answered to Micott, who was carrying Haro, as he scratched his head with an inexplicable look. Audrey deliberately brought her neck closer over their shoulders to check the situation on the mechanic deck.
There had to be at least 30m from the open space here on the ceiling down to the bottom, and inside it, they could see the white mobile suit being held up by the mechanical hangar. The lone horn looked exceptionally eye-catching amongst the long line of Federation-styled humanoid machines. That was the “Unicorn Gundam”.
The so-called guide to Laplace Box Cardeas Vist designated—just had to be taken by the Federation army. Audrey muttered, but thinks, If that were the case, I’m the same as well. Audrey sighed without Micott and the rest noticing as she diverted her gaze again at her own face and the two Federation soldiers, who were reflected off the airtight window, and she had to sigh at this nightmare that had become reality.
Mihiro Oiwakken had no reason to realize Audrey’s thoughts as she looked around the dark room while looking rather jumpy. As for Riddhe Marcenas, his face was not at the window, but that expression of his looked like a child who was allowed to do anything he wanted. Though he said that it was for Micott and the others to calm down, it was just an excuse to get Mihiro’s permission; the one who really wanted to see the “Unicorn’ should be Riddhe himself. Riddhe led everyone to this crane control room, and truly, they could see everything clearly inside. Even though they could not see the cockpit, they can see the appearance of the “Unicorn” completely from above, even the people investigating the machine. What’s with that lapse in security after forbidding outsiders from entering? Audrey wondered. Is it because they haven’t had an agreed view on what to do with the “Unicorn”? Or is the Federation itself like this?
“As expected of a pilot to really know the layout of the ship.”
Takuya lifted his head from the side of the window as he said that, and it seemed that he was not having the same kind of doubt as Audrey. “Kinda.” Riddhe, who was praised, answered as he looked like he was not completely unhappy.
“For me…no, I myself hope to become a test pilot for Anaheim. I hope that once I graduate, I can join the army’s teaching squad once I graduate, so I’ve been working hard at the school. I feel really honoured to be able to talk to a real pilot!”
“Wait a sec, Takuya. Now’s not the time to talk about such things, right?” Micott said. “It’s alright. It’s a rare chance anyway!” Takuya enthusiastically said as he showed an admiring expression at Riddhe as if he were a superstar. In response, Riddhe tried to act cool as he waved his arm,
“If you’re willing to become a pilot, it’s nice that you know how to seize opportunities. I’ll let you see my machine later.”
“Really!? Your mobile suit is the Zeta-series transformable-type machine right, Ensign? This year’s equipment yearbook has the photos of the testing, and the idea of it becoming a support flight system for the “Jegan” is really…”
Riddhe seemed to be overwhelmed by Takuya’s ravaging explosion of knowledge as his responses seemed to be vague while smiling stiffly. Micott, who seemed to have gotten used to it, had not been paying attention to it right from the beginning. In the end, Takuya even starts to describe and rattle away to Haro. Mihiro left Takuya as she moved behind Riddhe to whisper, “Is this good?” “It’s alright, I suppose.” Riddhe looked rather calm as he answered.
“It’s not good to not treasure a youth’s dreams.”
“You’re still saying such random stuff again. Besides, shouldn’t you be on standby? Don’t blame me when you get scolded after coming to such a place on your own.”
“Don’t be so strict. My mood will worsen in the waiting room when the atmosphere’s so tense. The enemy won’t come after us immediately.”
Audrey heard both of them whispering to each other, and started to doubt, Is this really a conversation between soldiers? Is the atmosphere floating in here really one that a battleship involved in real battles should have?Enduring her sighs, she looked outside the window. There is basically no sense of tension, and they’re very different from my own people. This isn’t a question of morale, but that they have a luxury of composure.
Even with half the forces depleted, there’s a way as long as they can hang on through this. They had the luxury to think of such things. There might be a chance if they get reinforcements. Such a decisive composure is something my own camp doesn’t have—no, we never had since the One Year War. Zeon never had any composure when they were fighting against the Earth Federation that had around 100 times the political power. What was lost will never return, and if they failed then, there wouldn’t be a next time. That’s because everyone had been fighting, bleeding and blown to bits in the vacuum space because of the many constraints.
This is probably the difference between being at ease and being uneasy…I say. Both sides’ thoughts are already so different, right down to the basics. There’s nothing that will raise hatred or envy already, and even I feel that the principle my side is pointless. Through this experience that she could not understand without seeing things personally, Audrey realized that she had lots to see, and again realized that she will be in danger if she continued to stay here. She had no confidence that she could remain so calm and natural in such a presence. Even though she was not talking now, that girl called Micott was obviously showing signs of doubt on her. I have to find a way to escape the ship before exposing myself—
“Then, your friend’s called Banagher, right? What kind of person is here?”
Perhaps sick and tired of seeing the seeing the mechanic deck that did not have anything going on, Riddhe spoke up. Audrey interrupted her thoughts and looked and him. “Even if you ask me what kind of person he is…he’s nothing special, right?” Takuya sounded puzzled, and Micott shrugged,
“He’s a quiet ordinary boy. I really can’t imagine him riding on that mobile suit and going into battle.”
“But it’s a fact that he sent the enemy packing!”
“Even if you say that…Banagher did feel different before the raid.”
“Yeah. Maybe he became really motivated? He always looked lazy.”
Speaking of which, Audrey was somewhat bothered as well. The Banagher she met in the recreation room did really have a completely different presence from before. Even though his appearance and voice were all the same, the pressurizing feeling he gave felt stronger—to put it, his presence felt heavier.
What happened to that person who touched my hand as he held me close? What caused him to end up piloting the “Unicorn”? “But he managed to win because of the capabilities of the machine, right? Besides, that’s a “Gundam”!” Audrey, who again looked around the mechanic deck, was shocked by the voice. On hearing Takuya say such confident words, Micott frowned and said, “What do you mean by that?”
“That Amuro Ray who piloted the first “Gundam” was also a student too! The Camille Bidan who piloted the “Zeta Gundam” and Judau Ashta who piloted the “ZZ Gundam” are the same as well. Letting amateurs become pilots is basically a tradition amongst “Gundams”!”
“…You really know your stuff.” Riddhe said. Takuya laughed aside Riddhe’s obviously lethargic wry remark as he proudly said, “I researched on it before!”
“Speaking of which, this Nahel Agrama became the mothership for the Gundam squads during the First Neo Zeon War, right? It’s really coincidental for it to carry a new kind of Gundam here.”
If I just talk here, I’ll probably be involved in a hurricane of vast knowledge or something here. Riddhe silently looks away from Takuya and stands behind Audrey. “Mobile suit maniacs are so troublesome.” Riddhe whispered, and then looks over at Audrey.
“I feel that I saw your face before.”
The voice that did not have any other intent in it caused Audrey’s heart to pounce. No way. Audrey thought, but did not have the guts to look at Riddhe’s expression as she diverted her tense expression to the floor.
The only time I was openly revealed to the public was when I was a kid, and the media most likely never showed photos of me recently. But if it’s a Federation officer, there might be a chance he might have saw it before. If saying that I just look like that person doesn’t work, at that moment— Audrey clenched her fists, clearing hearing her heart pounding wildly, and on hearing Riddhe say “Ah, I remember”, she inadvertently closed her eyes,
“Did anyone say that you look like that actress, Natsume Swanson?”
Riddhe’s nonchalant voice caused Audrey to feel extremely weakened. It was really stupid to relax over such a thing. As she thought, Audrey simply answered, “I’m not so sure about things in the entertainment here.” Riddhe looked downheartened that he could not continue as he scratched his head and said, “Oh, I see…” At this moment, Mihiro sighed and said, “What are you thinking of doing?” Micott glanced over at the two of them and gave a suspicious look.
I definitely can’t stay here for long. Audrey again realized this, and right at the moment she was about to turn her eyes away from Micott, the sudden alarm rang in her ears.
“All personnel, prepare for anti-air combat. Mobile suit squadron, prepare for launch immediately.”
The monotonous audio voice and the alarm echoed throughout, causing Micott and Takuya to immediately lift their heads. Mihiro prevented them from talking and looked towards the speaker, while Riddhe stood beside her and was taking the helmet that was strapped to his neck. “…They’re here?” He muttered as he threw the thing inside the helmet to Takuya. Once Audrey recognized that was a mini plane model, he had already put it on.
“Help me take care of it. Don’t break it.” Riddhe said to Takuya, who received the model, “Mihiro, bring these guys to somewhere safe” and then pulled the fastener down. He, who rushed to the operations room’s door, showed a stern expression that was completely different from before. Takuya did not know what to do as he took the plane modeal, asking with a doubtful voice, “What’s going on?”
“May be the enemy attacking this time. Hurry up and head back to the living quarters!”
“You say an enemy’s…coming back again?”
As Takuya’s face turned pale, standing beside him was Micott, who covered her ears with her hands, saying “I had enough of this…!” The people inside the mechanic deck were starting to show signs of movements as well as the people who looked like guards were leaving the crowd. Audrey looked around for Banagher, only to find nothing as she carried the floating Haro. She repeated the term in her heart ‘Enemy attack’. With the “Garencieres” fighting strength alone, Audrey did not feel that Zinnerman would come over to attack on his own. Did “Palau” sent reinforcements? It’s still too early to conclude. Audrey thought. The chilling feeling caused her to leave the window, and Audrey was told by Mihiro, who carried Micott, to hurry up. She then left the room of the operations room with Takuya.
Several crew members’ panicked expressions floated by the red light area. They continued to put on their spaceships as they moved forward, only to realize that the partition walls were all sealed up completely. As their roars rang, Audrey thought of a name who could make the overly-early reinforcements arrive early.
Full Frontal. If he were the man called “The Second Coming of Char”, or—the guess that came after did not become words as Audrey exerted more strength into the hand holding onto the lift grip.
(“…Even though it’s an initial estimation, I’ve already tabulated the accountable damages for you. We can use the work hazard insurance for those who died in the line of work, but it’s harder to determine what to do with the people who died due to other causes.”)
The face that was shown on the screen was of a woman’s, a face that one could hardly believe was over 50 years old. The medium-long blond hair still retained its glow, and the cheeks that were slightly protruding never lost their elasticity. The background was of a dull color that was suited for business, and the lips with lipstick on even look bewitching.
Even so, it was not appropriate to describe this woman as young and lively. This ‘woman’ that appeared was not one a man would recognize as one—or rather, recognize as an ideal ‘woman’ despite her beauty. The reason behind this thinking was because of her eyes. In her wish to become treated as an upper-class lady, the probing eyes were giving off an icy cold magnetism. The greedy expression of the woman who was never satisfied with anything and only hoped to continue take in more was showing an evil tension.
(“Considering how the media would react, it’s more appropriate that we should offer some form of compensation to the victims. My husband will do something with regards to this as well.”)
After saying that, Martha Vist Carbine remained silent, perhaps waiting for the other party to respond. The other displays were showing all sorts of information like ‘insurance claims’, ‘medical fees’ and ‘survivor pension’ as each individual estimated sum scrolled down the displays. The amount of the total fees required to revive the colony was enough to match the budget of a small country in the old centuries, but Martha’s expression was rather calm as if she merely met a small car accident. Right below the numerous displays that were emulated in the air, “That’s really well thought out.” Syam Vist responded while looking similarly calm.
The body that laid down on the bed did not show any signs of moving, and the side of the emotionless face was basked under the light reflected off the displays. The Vist Foundation leader, who had been watching how the world changed ever since the start of the Universal Century and fought through many backdoor wars multiple times before making it till here, never changed his sharp expression even when he was lying down frailly on the bed. The presence he himself gave off never once faded. (“Someone will deal with this, so shut up. Is that what you mean?”) The voice that continued were so cold it felt like they were piercing into his bones.
(“This accident happened in a colony operated by Anaheim Electronics. No matter how we counter, it’s impossible to prevent the stocks from falling, right? I know very well that my role is not to let the voices of blame reach the Foundation.”)
Martha laughed away the leader’s sarcastic remark, narrowed her eyes and showed a suspicious look. The display beside her showed the words ‘A large-scale terrorist attack happened at Industrial 7’, ‘Is it done by the Neo Zeon guerillas?’, ‘The number of dead and missing people has already passed 600’, ‘The Federation space army has already issued warning to the forces guarding each side to remain alert’ and all sorts of such messages continued to appear and disappear. Only the top half silhouette of the news broadcaster or the reference footages of Industrial 7 when it was being built could be seen on the display, and there were no footages of what happened there at all. As for the footages the residents there provided to the media—the Federation units using beam rifles inside the colony and crashing into the residential areas—they could not be seen about 30 minutes ago, whether it was the TV or the Net. Syam shows an expression as if he never saw anything in the first place to avoid Martha’s doubt. “Cardeas did that. I don’t know anything.” He simply answered calmly.
(“You managed to argue back first…”) sighing, Martha could only show wrinkles as her lips give a bitter smile. (“I’m happier than anything to see you being so happy and lively, grandfather. I hope that I can go over to meet you in the near future.”)
“You don’t have to see such a sad old man like me who watched my son and grandson died earlier than me. Those who are still involved in the current world affairs should have something else to do, right?”
(“Please don’t say that. We’re siblings with the same blood, so of course I’m being emotional now that my older brother died. But since I’ve already wedded into the Carbine family, I can’t just dwell in sadness. If any independent action by the Vist Foundation cause Anaheim to be dragged down, how can I possibly meet my husband and my father-in-law? Besides, I’ve already got the approval to take over brother’s duties as the head of the Foundation…”)
After saying that without practically no sincerity, Martha gives a smirk to the display. The matter of succession was not decided through hierarchy, but through the agreement of most of the family members, and there’s something behind the expression. Anaheim Electronics was the family business of the Carbine family she married into, and while keeping this position, she use the muscle power that surpassed her husband to interfere with all sorts of affairs, playing a vital role in linking the Foundation and Anaheim in such a way that they were more than just partners. Syam’s eyebrows could only twitch slightly as he see his granddaughter’s shamelessness in not denying nor admitting that she was involved in this incident.
(“It’s the Vist Foundation’s leader right to know the location of the cryo the boss is in and the view of the ‘Box’, and also a duty. Please take a nap before I go meet you, boss. ”)
After leaving this message, the communication was cute off. The many displays shown in the air disappear, and darkness and silence return back to the space that had nothing but a bed. Soon after, the panel installed on the wall of the dome increase in luminosity until the actual image of the universe was shown inside the room, and Syam’s bed was already surrounded by the clear stars.
The cloud of stairs light up every single corner of the room as if the floor was scattered with silver powder, and the image of outer space showed all corners of the cryo the Foundation’s boss was in. Gael Chan hid himself in the darkness where neither the earth nor the moon could be seen as he saw that bed that was floating there in a lonely manner, sighed and stepped forward. As he lies on the bed that acted as a cryo device, Syam mutters to him ‘just laugh all you want’ as the side of his face that had lost all its glory shows self-mocking wrinkles.
“This is the portrait of the Vist Foundation.”
“I can’t laugh at all. I didn’t fulfill my responsibility in protecting my boss.”
Syam turns his stare at Gael, who’s standing about 3 meters away from him. It’s been half a day since the sudden battle in Industrial 7 and when he learnt about Cardeas Vist’s death. The Foundation’s boss had been through a lifetime that’s far too long for a human, watched too many of his relatives die, and now, it’s impossible to see any sadness in him. He lost his most trusted successor, and watched the Foundation he single-handedly built up move on its own. Right now, he could not even let out a sigh—maybe this was Syam’s current mood. If he could already realize that his own relative were all involved in such series of plots and gradually becoming the next successor, how would he feel—
Gael himself wasn’t as open-minded. He wasn’t able to protect his master, Cardeas, and he did not even fulfill the duty of destroying the “Unicorn”, the final order that was given. Even though he understood that all his paths of entry were already blocked by the Federation’s special forces, the burning hangar deck and the passages being sealed weren’t enough to be excuses. In fact, Cardeas himself dragged his heavily wounded body and managed to reach the “Unicorn” successfully before dying—he was devoured by the flames the moment he left the cockpit, and he was blown into bits the moment he was struck by the incoming shrapnel. The surveillance cameras at the hangar clearly caught the image.
The dire consequences happened in front of him was because of his own negligence. The bald head wrapped in the bandage sank as Gael clenched his burned fist. Just regretting alone can’t change anything, and these are all the results of fate—if it were Cardeas, he would probably say such a thing. Gael had already lots this boss that would comfort him like this. That one and only client of his who could understand him heart to heart; that only man who was worth selling his life to, whether in the army or in the underground society.
“Since it’s Cardeas, I suppose he has already prepared a failsafe such that even if he died, he can protect the secret tightly…someone like Martha will be forceful. She’s different from the men who’re concerned about their pride; she will not have any reservations when carrying out her plots. From the way she could get the approval of the family as the substitute leader in such a short time, I think it’s better to assume that it’s only a matter of time before she finds this place.”
“I’m a man. I won’t just be protective of my own pride, I’ll even swear allegiance for the sake of my own pride.”
At that moment, Gael forgot about being tense in front of the boss. He lifts his face.
“So long as you permit, boss, I’ll be willing to take revenge for Master Cardeas even if I have to sacrifice my life.”
Martha Carbine was staying in the lunar city Von Braun that’s under the protection of Anaheim Electronics. If the Foundation itself was just an organization meant to expand the family’s earnings, then she’ll be described as a really outstanding person who revived and expanded the authority of the Vist Foundation. She, who could even interfere with politics without a problem, detected Syam and Cardeas’ plans for Laplace Box and got the Federation army to attack Industrial 7. Even though the battle that got intense was a result of unforeseen circumstances, the main reason for Cardeas’ death was on Martha. In terms of underground talk, there’s no one else other than her who ‘settled the bill’.
Syam turns his head slightly at a way where one could not even detect, and his face that’s half-buried in the pillow faces over here. Gael gives an unwavering expression as he gets this answer,
“Do you want me to command you to kill my own granddaughter now?”
It was a growl that was full of rage, causing the temperature within Gael to drop. Gael’s stiffened by the other person’s overwhelming presence before he could even reflect on his words, “…I’m really sorry” and lowers his head.
“Very good. Cardeas did get a very good subordinate. Since this is because of what Cardeas did, we can only believe that things will proceed in the positive direction; no matter whether it’s the whereabouts of the Laplace Box or the future of Earth Celestial sphere.”
Syam clasps his hands on the blanket and closes his eyes. Gael had nothing to say and could only bow and answer ‘yes…’, showing a professional expression as he lifts his head to look at the boss.
“About the Box, I’ve already investigated on the details involving the pilot of the “Unicorn”.”
Gael reaches his hand to the floor and operates on the touch-type display that rose up from the floor silently. The holographic display again lights up the space above the bed, showing the photo of a boy’s face.
“Banagher Links, 16 years old, a student studying at Anaheim Electronics. Registered from Side 1 area 3’s ‘Eden’. No special positive or negative data on him, and no records of him taking part in political activities. I don’t understand why he came to the “Magallanica”, but he did meet the leader hours before the battle. As for what happened when both of them met, it’s puzzling…”
Gael gives an overview of what happened yesterday, including the accidental meeting with ‘her’ . How Banagher, who was taken back to Industrial 7 once, managed to enter the “Magallanica” and ride on the “Unicorn”, was a mystery to Gael. However, the pilot login data that was sent to the Command Module “Magallinca” matched Banagher Links information from the records in Industrial 7. The fact that he piloted the “Unicorn” and forced the “Sleeves’” mobile suits to retreat was without a doubt. Also, ther was the fact that he was taken in by a Federation ship—
“To be registered as the pilot of the “Unicorn”, one has to gain the biometric authorization of the leader. In other words, Master Cardeas chose this boy as the pilot and died after that. I can only deduce that, so what happened that time…”
Due to its nature, the records of the “Unicorn’s” pilot could not be easily erased after its logged it. There was a chance to destroy all the system, so Cardeas must had his reason for handing the “Unicorn” to the outsider Banagherr Links. Gael starts to stroke his chin as he looks at what seems to be a boyish instead of a youthful face, but was suddenly startled by a snicker.
Syam lets out the snicker as he watches the face of this boy that’s projected in space. His wrinkled face was smiling. Gael frowns in response, and Syam mutters, “I see. So you don’t know.” and turns to stare at Gael, who in turn inadvertently gulped his own saliva.
“Don’t you understand? He’s the new hope. Cardeas handed the “Unicorn” over to the most suitable person…”
Syam turns his eyes to look at the boy on the display and narrows his eyes as if he’s afraid of light. The boss of the Foundation let out a kind grandfather’s expression, and Gael could only blink hard bewilderedly.
On the display of the notepad-type PC, the designed English alphabets were shown. It was a simple logo formed as a combination of the letters U and C.
“The UC plan, the codename of the army reassembly plan that’s affiliated to the Federation fleet, one that the company underwent under extreme security; the “Unicorn” was a machine that was developed as the flagship under the project of the same name.”
In the dim room, the man with the frail-looking face said as the lamp shone on him. Aaron Terzieff was a 32 years old staff member of Anaheim Electronics and the person in charge of the armor material section in the development of the RX-0. As the battle broke out in Industrial 7, he tried to escape with the other workers from the Magallanica, but was detained by ECOAS as he was too slow. As most of the relevant data of the plan was wrecked, he was viewed as one of the people who knew most about the plans regarding the RX-0—
“Unlike the Mobile Suits of the past, this unit’s biggest unit is that it’s fully covered with Psycoframe all over the body. The development base was the Anaheim Electronics’ factory in Granada, and about one month ago, we have already finished both Test Unit 1 and 2 separately. Unit 2 was sent to Earth, and right now, it should be undergoing activation tests in the presence of gravity. I was in charge of Unit 1, and about 3 weeks ago, I was ordered by the company to send it to Industrial 7. The notification was an official document, and the superiors said that everything would be over if I only worked for another month…”
“Mr Aaron.”
Daguza Mackle interrupted Aaron’s pleading-like voice with an emotionless face as he said, “I’m sorry, but we’re rather unaware of the technological side of things. Please describe the Psycommu, and get down to the details as much as possible.”
“Yes…”
On the other side of the table, Aaron nodded his head in agreement “Yes…” and gives a look behind to ask for permission. Standing behind him, Lieutenant Garrett nodded his head. Aaron then starts to use his trembling fingers to operate the computer he brought along. Before this, Aaron had reached out for the computer without permission before and had his hand twisted behind his back by Garrett, so this should be just precaution on Aaron’s side. Daguza senses that Lieutenant Commander Conroy was beside Garrett, shrugging and nudging his large body in the darkness, and deliberately leans forward to stare at the message on the screen. He used the cast-like left arm to slam the table and let out a shrill sound.
“Psycoframe. Basically put, it’s a unique alloy that has a psycommu functions on it. The theory behind it is to shrink the computer chips to the minimum and level them together with metal particles on the frame.”
The image shown on the display seemed to be an enlarged image of the psycommu under the microscope. If one stared at it closely, one could find what was obviously man-made chips lined in the gaps between the hive-shaped metal particles. That orderly yet mechanical construct felt more like a living cell than an object.
“As you know, the psycommu can receive and amplify the pilot’s brainwaves…or you can call it neural waves, and project the pilot’s consciousness into the movements of the machine. The psycommu that’s the main system is linked over to allow the psycoframe to receive the pilot’s neural waves and also the pilot and machine’s high-mobility coordination to happen. Due to the strength and production and all sorts of problems in the past, we could only install this system around the cockpit. However, the RX-0 in this plan uses psycoframe in all the mobile parts.”
Then, the CG image of the RX-0 appeared on the screen, and above the moveable parts that formed the frame, there was a red light blinking. As it was just a simple introductory picture, it was impossible to see the details. Even though Aaron was one of the developers, he could only download this much data from his terminal. Daguza did not say anything as he merely prompted Aaron to continue.
“Due to the actual assignment of the full-set psycoframe, the pilot’s neural waves can reach the machine’s activation system. In other words, the pilot does not need to ‘control’ the mobile suit as the word implies, and can control it basically through thoughts. Of course, all the joints are all magnet coated so in theory, the reaction speed of the RX-0 is unlimited. One can say that the machine’s one with the body…no, it may be even faster. No matter how outstanding a pilot is, there will be a timing lag of milliseconds from the moment the pilot detects danger to the moment the pilot reacts. The RX-0 interface far exceeds the reaction speed of the human body.”
“But in that case, the pilot’s body shouldn’t be able to react, right?”
If a metal giant that was more than 20m tall could immediately react to the pilot’s brainwaves, one could imagine the outcome if it moved at a speed that far exceeds human reflexes. No matter how big the mobile suit was, a slight movement will create vibrations of several meters, and no matter how sturdy the machine itself was built, the pilot inside would be all dizzy. “That’s right.” Aaron himself agreed with this sentiment.
“In order to reduce the large G force that happens when the machine moves, the RX-0 has a Shock Absorber that specializes in reducing the impact, and there’s also the pilot’s suit. However, even with these equipment, an ordinary person can’t endure the discomfort of piloting for a long time. Also, we have considered the stress the psycommu puts on the brain, and the maximum limit of continual operation is around 5 minutes. Thus, the limiter will be activated when the system is set in normal mode, and the NT-D device will only be activated in battle.”
The horn on the forehead opened up to show a V-sign, and the shoulders, chest and leg armor slid. The psycommu frame hidden underneath appeared, and the thrusters and boosters of the machine that could be said to assure destructive power and mobility bared out. This was the real form of the RX-0—if this was really the case, the appearance of the so-called “Unicorn” would be some form of a limiter and fixed state. As he watches the CG of the RX-0 gradually changed its appearance, Daguza started to feel a chill inside his heart, and whispers, “What’s NT-D?”
“NT-D is the name of the OS that operates the full psycoframe. I was only in charge of the exterior in the past, so I don’t really know the specifics. However, I hear that NT-D is the shortened form of Newtype-Drive.”
The unexpected term echoed in Daguza’s ears as a ripple rose in his heart. After giving a meaningful look to Conroy, Daguza answered back to Aaron “I see” in a monotonous voice.
“After the RX-0 was moved to the Magallanica, it was once modified by someone. You should know clearly that the system wasn’t involved in the initial design, right?”
A B5 sized photo was displayed on the table, and Aaron’s expression obviously wavered. The army had taken close range shots on the interface panel in the cockpit when the RX-0 was taken back into the ship. In the photo, the terminal port showed a red symbol that showed “La+”. “I’m only in charge of the armor outside, so any questions about the system is a little too…” Aaron answered, but Daguza did not show any wavering in his stare as he questioned,
“Mr Aaron, you better think through this before answering. The army does outsource assignments to civilian enterprises, but military use mobile suit developments are still part of the items in the Federation Technological Research Department that we have to report to the higher ups, and you may be deemed a suspect of taking up military resources, you know?”
“Why…!? I’m just…”
“Industrial 7 is a colony registered under Anaheim Electronics, but it’s different for the Magallanica. In fact, the Vist Foundation can be said to be outside of legal means. After the final adjustments of the RX-0 ‘s OS, it had a program that wasn’t in the manual installed into it. I don’t think you can simply pass this with a I don’t know.”
“I really don’t! I only knew of the new program that was installed together with the NT-D after reading the updated specs design. There were rumors that the new program was provided by the Vist Foundation, but I don’t know anything else other than this! Even the activation conditions of the NT-D is an undisclosed classified secret to us who are in charge of hardware.”
“Activation conditions?”
“The pilot can’t just remove the RX-0’s limiter at will. The NT-D will only activate when certain conditions are met. I only heard that the program installed on the Magallanica…the Laplace Program was a program meant to install a new condition on the NT-D. As long as the machine’s controls aren’t affected, we never questioned too much into such hardware stuff.”
“But you should have taken part in the activation tests.”
“The activation was still in simulation mode. The Laplace Program was only installed after the tests!”
Two hands slammed onto the table hard, and Aaron covered his head with his hands as he sprawled down on the table. Daguza used his eyes to stop Garrett, who wanted to pull him up, and stared at the shoulders that were trembling.
“Of course I felt that it was weird. For a manufactured military machine, there’s too much classified information. Even since I reached the Magallanica, I was forbidden to make contact with outside, and I had to remain in full vigilance under the Foundation all day…the weirdest thing was that none of the workers had any relations to the army. However, ever since the war with Neo Zeon ended, the mobile suit productions had only been at the stage where slight modifications were made as we couldn’t even try out new designs. During this time, even if we find it suspicious, the technicians would only close an eye and work on new technology that’s being produced at such a time. Besides, the machine that was developed was that famous “Gundam”.”
““Gundam”?”
Aaron’s depressed eyes looked up as he answered, “That’s our nickname for it”, and gave a forsaken smile on his face.
“The moment we saw its NT-D activated…we could only treat it as if it was deliberately designed to be like that. That’s what all the involved personnel called it, the “Unicorn Gundam”.”
“Then, what should we do? Do we use the drugs on him?”
Five minutes later, Conroy asked as they stared at the monitor showing the camera footage of Aaron’s face. Daguza drank the salted coffee, a Navy tradition, and asked back “What do you think?”
“It’ll just be a waste of time for us to continue. He probably would not know any more even if we probe in more. The Vist Foundation’s secretive measures were well played, giving each department only the information they’re in charge of and not letting them deduce the entire thing.”
Daguza did not disagree. Aaron, who was left in the monitor room, would either just touch the computer that was left in the room deliberately subconsciously or look down with a pale expression. It was not that they did not doubt that it was an act on his part, but his testimony were the same as the other developers. Besides, they were not professional interrogators. Daguza’s feeling the same as well, and he didt want to use the confession drug without being confident and then the few remaining survivors into vegetables.
They would normally hand them over to headquarters to begin formal interrogations. Daguza put down the mug that had coffee in it and checked the numbers on the monitor <<11:17:32/04/08/0096>>. 8th April, 11.17 in the morning, about half a day after the battle cased, and it’s been over 6 hours since the ““Nahel Argama”” left Industrial 7. Even though they were using the detention facilities inside the ship to question the 4 developers held inside the Magallanica, they got such messages that felt like they were blinded. After spending several hours listening to testimonies regarding the UC plan and trying to probe their relationship with Laplace Box, it felt like they were led by the blind as well. Daguza and the rest of ECOAS were feeling such futility.
“Let’s leave aside the UC project for now. The reassembly plan of the space forces was already announced in the Mid-term defense <Mid-term Defense Contingency Plan>. I heard that they’re to complete the unification of all the colonies that were scattered, and the earth orbital forces that are being built up to the level of the main fleets in the past is to hurry and prepare for the 100 year anniversary in UC 0100 4 years later.”
The hulking Conroy rested his large body that dwarfed any wrestler on the wall of the monitor room, rubbing his eyes as he said so. The UC plan that was declared to have ended when the RX-0 was finished was planned as part of the space forces reassembly plan—all the members of the plan admitted. “I heard of it before. That’s a plan that was mentioned when the military budget was being trimmed, right?” Garrett let the chair at the console turn around and said to them.
“That plan never had any intent of mass building new fleets. In other words, it’s just a compression plan to gather all the forces. This is the first time I heard that they developed a new mobile suit.”
“It’s not completely impossible. There’s also the main show of the Republic of Zeon returning its self-independence back in UC 0100. They’re gathering the forces at such a time, and there’s the powerful new mobile suit…”
Daguza dragged his voice with half the mind to show how mystified he was, “Is this a PR activity on the military side?” Garrett frowned.
“I should say that the Federation government intends to show off. The reason why the main forces are stationed at colonies all over the place is to prevent the remnants of Zeon from rebelling. What should they do if they want to recall these fleets?”
“Ah…” Conroy’s hint caused Garrett mug to remain in the air just as it was about to be brought to his lips. “So the Government intends to eliminate the remnants of Zeon before that? But—”
“It’s not as easy as saying this goal. However, the Republic of Zeon’s returning their self-independence over to us is a rare chance to get rid of the name of Zeon. The Federation Government intends to use 0100 as the deadline to wipe out all remnants of Zeon, use that to reassemble the Earth orbital forces, and after all those things, they can say that they finally ended the nightmare since the One Year War. What will be need to pave the way will most likely be the UC plan, the plan to develop the “Gundam” to eliminate Neo Zeon.”
It was dangerous to predict and conclude with only a few reports, but if one thought of it this way, a lot of things could be understood. In this time where military arming was gradually reduced, the development of a mobile suit with new technology, the reason to search for the limits of the machine even if the people involved have to view the pilot’s life as secondary, and the fact that the appearance of this mobile suit was similar to the “Gundam” Zeon so feared as the “White Devil”—
“Cardeas Vist hid a secret that can topple the Federation inside that machine and intended to hand it over to Neo Zeon…how ironic.””
If it really ended up like that, it would just be a slight commotion of sending salt to the enemy. Conroy and Garrett saw Daguza smiling bitterly, and looked at each other.
“Then, leader, is that mobile suit the Laplace Box?”
“Leaving aside whether we can put an end to this speculation, we do have enough proof here. We have a machine that was ready to be moved out with the spare parts and the Laplace Program that was only installed when it was moved to the Magallanica. I have no idea which level of the Vist Foundation got involved with this plan, but the Unicorn’s the symbol of the Foundation after all.”
The moment Daguza finished, the left arm and flank that were numb started to ache, and he did not continue . It seemed that the effect of the painkiller had worn out. Conroy seemed to detect this situation as he wanted to say something, but Daguza averted his stare and quickly said before Conroy could, “What we can understand is that the weapon was built for Newtypes to pilot.”
“The Newtype Theory is the core of Zeon. Removing Zeonism is something that has to be linked with eliminating the remnants of Zeon. It’s really puzzling why they would gamble on the Federation’s trust in the plan and take a weapon meant for Newtypes.”
“Fight fire with fire…you can think of it that way, but I heard that the Newtype research facility was already closed.”
“No matter how we deny it, the conclusion is that we can’t ignore how useful Newtype weapons are, is it? In fact, all the Gundam pilots up till now are…”
“It’s because of this, that the elimination of Newtypes has to be carried out by non-Newtypes. This is to crush the myth that’s ingrained deeply in people’s hearts.”
Conroy and Garrett immediately remained silent as the short silence descended on the narrow monitor room. Daguza darnk the coffee that went cold, and said,
“The UC plan, the NT-DNewtype Drive, the psycommuu…there might be other things we don’t know of. It’s the same with the things seemingly related to Laplace Box. That “Gundam” really seem fishy.”
Getting right down to it, why did it suddenly move on its own? Daguza suddenly recalled the appearance of the boy he found in the cockpit. Now what’s his name… Daguza’s mind is somewhat slowed by the use of the painkiller, and at this moment, he heard a voice that rang through the room’s interal phone.
The members of ECOAS were in charge of this monitor room and the facilities used to detain the prisoners. Even the servicemen on this battleship were not permitted inside. “What is it?” Conroy picked up the receiver and gave a grumpy look. Daguza could read from his lips that Alberto called, and sighs as he walked towards the door. He unlocked the door to this room that could become an airlock in emergencies and pushed the metal door aside.
Alberto, who was standing right in front of the door, was nearly slammed by the metal door that was opened as he backs away in a jumpy manner. The gravity block inside the ship was not that much different from the moon, and quite some skill was required to control and move the body. The ‘guest’ from Anaheim was supported by his subordinates who were dressed in suits. He tried to steady himself, but this time, he nearly trips forward.
The man shook off the hands of the subordinates who wanted to support him again and forcefully steadied his feet on the floor of the passage. He tidied the collar that was buried under the collar’s flesh and stared at Daguza. “What is it?” Daguza merely answered the expected antagonistic stare with an emotionless look.
“You’re already asking me what’s wrong? I’ve already sent someone to say that I’ll be questioning the members of the plan who are detained. Besides, they’re our company’s staff…”
“Right now, they’re important people managed under the military. We can’t let civilians take part in the questioning.”
“Then, I request to investigate the “Unicorn” that’s inside this ship. That’s our company’s property, right? We have the right as it’s not handed over to the military yet.”
“Of course. We’ll be requesting your company for assistance. We’ll contact you at that moment. Please leave for now.”
The conversation between both of them was not any different from before. Alberto used ECOAS to get the initiative and searched the “Magallanica” for any information about the box. He, who showed an out-of-character attitude when the “Unicorn” appeared and demanded for it to be taken back, naturally did not feel happy about being lurched behind for these few hours. Alberto wanted to start arguing back immediately as he glanced at his subordinates who were dressed in suits. The fat and thick face twists mysteriously. Once Daguza detected that it was a smile, Alberto said without a care in the world, “Looks like we still lack a common understanding to this situation, Commander Daguza.”
“What happened in Industrial 7 isn’t something that can be covered up by chopping off the heads of to three conspirators. If there’s anything wrong with the response, even Central Command can collapse. It’s better for both sides to give some leeway to keep the damage to the minimum. Regarding this, I suppose the Supreme Council Committee would have a similar agreement, isn’t it?”
The man’s expression and voice showed that he felt that if the superior’s name was used, the soldier would shut up. Daguza took a deep breath and calmly answered, “It’s true that it does seem that we lack a common understanding.”
“To me, the damage was already done. Including my subordinates, several people, probably even hundreds have died. Even if we try to assist each other, they won’t be revived.”
Perhaps Daguza had some intent to restrain himself, but his eyes were showing some killing intent. Alberto, who was definitely overwhelmed by the mood, backed away and knocked his back into his subordinates who did not move. He glanced back at the stare he once tried to avert and seemingly muttered to himself, “…You’re unexpectedly fragile for a soldier being the leader of ECOAS.” In response, Daguza remained silent.
“Never mind. That’s how it will be then. If there’s difficulty in coming to an agreement, we’ll let the topdown handle it. I’ll report to the higher-ups as soon as possible and get the company HQ to mark the ECOAS headquarters in Luna Two.”
“Do as you please. That’s if the laser communicator can still work while we’re hidden in the shoal space region.”
Alberto’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Daguza stared at his face and continued in a manner of fact, “Right now, the “Nahel Argama” is still hidden in the remnants of Side 5. This place is the remains of the battle of Loum, but there’s not many places to hide a ship. If the enemy intercepts our long-distanced contact, it’ll be very hard for us to find another place to hide.”
The “Nahel Argama” was not that reckless to solo through the space areas where the enemies might appear after having lost most of their forces. They could only remain in the remnants of the colony until the reinforcements arrived and seal off all contact to the outside. The current situation of the “Nahel Argama” was already anticipated by Daguza. If not, he would not talk to the official of Anaheim in such a direct tone.
The enraged Alberto looked like he realized what Daguza was thinking as he gave a defiant look,
“I’ll talk to Captain Otto.”
After glaring at Daguza, Alberto said as he turned around.
“He’s a reasonable soldier.”
After leaving these words behind, Alberto and his men, who gave dangerous looks walked down the passageway before leaving. The cylindrical gravity block was built with the inner wall arcing inwards, making a gradual slope. About more than 30m away from here, the other group disappeared at the edge of the ceiling, and Daguza waited for Alberto’s large butt to disappear from his sights before sighing softly. He breathed hard to ease the pain that was gradually rising up his flank and asked Conroy, who was been watching the conversation from the door, “That boy just now hasn’t woken up yet?” “Yes.” Conroy’s thick eyebrows frowned.
“His body is a lot weaker than we thought.”
“It can’t be helped…he went through such acceleration just now. Once he wakes up, report to me. We have to hurry our investigations on the “Unicorn”.”
“Yes. If possible, I really want to go back to Luna Two and carry out investigations without other people interfering!”
The small asteroid Juno, “Luna Two”, was dragged over from the asteroid belt to obtain resources needed to build colonies. It was the Federation’s largest base in space ever since it was steadied on the lunar orbit 50 years ago, and the special commands headquarters that was the base of ECOAS was also located there. There was no better place to investigate the RX-0 better than Luna Two, but the problem was that the Earth was right in the middle from there to where the ship was, as they’re directly opposite from each other. Sighing, Daguza added on, “Tough one.”
“Londo Bell’s reinforcements are too slow. If the fleets that are stationed nearby are unwilling to move, it’s likely that the Nahel Argama will reach the moon that’s closer. Once we enter Anaheim’s headquarters, we’ll lose the chance to investigate the “Unicorn”.”
Though the moon did have a military command post, it was not as secure as ECOAS in terms of secrecy. Besides, if Anaheim lodged a complaint, the RX-0 will have to be left to the legislature, and it would definitely be moved away from the base. In this situation, Anaheim’s outstanding lawyers in the Earth Celestial Sphere would try to drag on the legal case and use this time to thoroughly investigate the RX-0. Once a conclusion was made, the machine that was returned to the military will be an empty shell, and all data related to the box will be wiped clean…this outcome was extremely obvious. No matter what anyone said, the moon itself was a world revolving around Anaheim Electronics.
Hiding in the shoal space region was their one and only chance. Even if Anaheim might talk later, they would have to do something before Anaheim does. “Understood”. Conroy answered, showing that he understood the situation.
“So please get some sleep, commander.”
Daguza heard these words that were quipped in at the end, and look like he was unprepared for this sudden attack as he glanced back at Conroy.
“When was the last time you slept? Around 30 hours ago, I believe? Nobody can replace you, so please treat your rest as part of the job.”
The voice of the vice commander who had been with him for many years causes Daguza’s tense feelings to ease somewhat. That’s good. Daguza watches Conroy leave these words as he left the monitor room, and leaned his body that felt extremely heavy onto the wall, maintaining this state as he closed his eyes for a while.
I’m old now. Daguza felt the bitterness that came with age in the chest of his almost-40 body that was starting to become useless.
There’s a piano sound. I know this—Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” mother liked. The music that was quiet, sad yet maddening in a way that the heart would flutter, echoed throughout the high-ceiling and wide room. It felt like it was saying that his distant past could only look up from the Earth to the moon as it excited the human heart once before.
Looking up, the large tapestry hung on the wall filled his sights. The tapestry that reached all the way to the ceiling had flowers and animals woven on the scarlet red background of the cloth, and there was a woman in a sari dress standing in the middle of each tapestry. Playing the small piano, holding the flower garland, holding a sweet; in the six tapestries that decorated the room, the women were all focused on doing different things. Beside her, there was a lion with a thick mane and a unicorn with the horn on its forehead pointing to the sky—
“Sight, hearing, touch, scent, taste. What these illustrations describe all the 5 senses that come with most living creatures when they were born, but as for this 6th one…what this ‘tent’ represents, there’s still no conclusion.”
Banagher was carried up by the large hands of his father, and stared at the tapestry with the tent woven in the middle. The lady put the ornament into the box the servant girl beside her was holding, and intended to enter the tent. At the top of the tent, there were the words in ancient language ‘My only wish’. Banagher read these words in the way he was taught before, and his father smiled happily as he said, “Amazing, you remembered.”
But even father doesn’t know what “My only wish” is about…
“It was drawn because that person didn’t understand. And we think. Only humans are blessed with such ability. The unicorn that’s woven on the tapestry and the music that’s heard now show what that person felt through the human eyes and ears. That is a certain feeling the five senses can’t comprehend, a certain feeling that transcends reality…maybe that might be called an existence called god, or maybe that’s just an illusion created as a result of a human’s wish. However, as long as we believe in that existence and do something for the world, that chance will become reality.
Do you understand? Banagher? Only humans have God. It’s a great power to visualize their ideals and go close to their ideals…the god that exist within, called possibilities.”
I don’t understand completely, but I know father feels that he wants to teach me something important. Banagher stared at his father’s face.
“That’s the source of the power that allowed humans to rise up amongst countless animals and even land in space. It’s true that humans devoured Earth until it was drained. They wasted their precious knowledge on killing each other, and the past wars have forced half of humanity to their deaths. Based on these, some people concluded that as a species, humans have reached their end. But I feel that’s a pessimistic view, Past wars have shown the possibilities of Newtypes to people. Humans are the ones who can find hope in any given situation and use it to overcome any situation. Knowledge and kindness, things that make humans what they are, come from possibility. Right now, the world’s involved in the mess of despair and rebirth. You people who’re to live on in the future must create a world where people can accept their deaths properly as humans. You must bring out the possibility within you and fulfill a world that can showcase the power and kindness of humanity.”
“What you’re saying it is too difficult…Banagher still doesn’t understand.”
His mother said without stopping her hands from playing the piano. The face that showed itself from the grand piano seemed to be smiling. “This kid is special.” After saying that, Banagher’s father carried him up again as he smiled.
“If you’re willing to try, you’ll be able to understand. This boy has the ability to listen to others. Even if he doesn’t understand, he’ll use his own way to try and feel what others intend to expression. This is an inherent gift. Once a person’s 5, the nature will show itself like this. This isn’t a talent that can be nurtured whether you want to or not. This kid’s special.”
Special. This word brought about a chill into his chest. The room that was surrounded by soft light suddenly darkened. He could not see the tapestries, and his father’s hands were not there to hold him. A red light came out from the darkness, and just when that light was about to disappear, many lights appeared all over the place, moving on their own. They looked like fireflies he saw on the TV, but they were much faster. These red lights would reach places Banagher could not see, and sometimes, some icy cold needle-like things would poke his body.
Antagonistic intent, this term appeared in his mind. As he hated this piercing feeling, Banagher desperately tried to note where the lights were. He wanted to teach these things really badly.
“Don’t be fooled by what you can see or hear. Use your feelings. If it’s you, you can do it.”
Banagher heard his father. He closed his eyes and tried to feel that icy cold object. This was not too hard as these guys would give a sharp and painful presence before they attacked. Just aim there and attack. There’s no need to use your hands or your feet; just use your head to think. Once he detected the presence, the belt that’s tied on his head moved on its own as he thought of teaching those things a lesson. See? Another one down.
However, the opponent would attack in response to my presence, so I can’t show my emotions too much. I have to imagine that there’s a pair of eyes staring outside, and I can see the entire battlefield completely. I have to read the flow of the enemy’s presence and lure them into a corner—
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”
The piano let out a distorted sound. His mother’s face came out from the darkness as her hands were still on the piano. She was glaring at his father with a horrifying expression.
“What are you intending to do to Banagher!? Aren’t you treating him as some test subject!?”
“This is just a game. There’s no drugs used at all.”
“Of course not, right!? Of course you can’t use such things! Newtype is just a term Zeon’s promoting themselves with.”
“But this kid has power, a power you and I don’t have. This power can clear the curse that’s bestowed on the Vist Foundation and show the world the future it should have…”
“Just let the kid who inherited the Vist family’s name to do it. It has nothing to do with us.”
“I intend to hand the Foundation over to Banagher in the future. If you wish, I can allow you to be registered under the Vist’s family name…”
“THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! I LIKE THE MAN CALLED CARDEAS VIST, AND IF POSSIBLE, I WANTED TO HAVE A KID WITH HIM—THAT WAS ALL! I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FOUNDATION OR THE VIST FAMILY’S CURSE!”
There’s no point talking any further. His mother showed such an expression and sat behind the piano, not to be seen again. The light that vaguely showed revealed a piano no one was playing, and a faint light showed his father’s silhouette outside the light. His father’s face sank into darkness, and could hardly be seen.
“…Those bestowed with power will create responsibility that comes with it. This is something I can’t choose.”
“So you’re working on the order of the god of possibilities… I like the strong you who will back up his words, but I have no intent on offering Banagher as a sacrifice to god.”
His father wanted to say something, but did not as he faded into the darkness. Banagher was left in this silent and cold room, and he did not have time to feel uneasy or even cry before he was taken away by somebody else’s arms. It was his mother’s. To those eyes of the kid, the arms were large and warm. But at the same time, he felt that the arms were relying on him. Yes, father’s no long around. I have to be mother’s support—
“Let’s go, Banagher. This isn’t the place for us to stay in. I hope that you become an adult who understands the importance of an ordinary life.”
After these words were spoken, Banagher suddenly felt difficulty in breathing. But if this is mother’s wish, I’ll obey. It’s best for me to forget this family and what father taught. That tapestry’s the same too, and also everything about father. I’ll hide them all deep within my memories.
I have to protect mother. Father said before that a man has to do this. I think remembering what father taught me has nothing to do with this…
Banagher left the Vist family’s house as he was dragged away by his mother’s hands. The sculptures in the garden, the fountains and usually trimmed grass hedges all gradually faded away, and a world that Banagher had never seen before appeared in front of him. It was a world that focused on being ‘ordinary’, a world where he must not let himself be ‘special’. He was likes an obstinate old man. He had to change, but he would not. Even if he had a wish to step forward, he would not move on his own. It felt like a gust of wind blew by, and like he was floating on the oceans, showing an expression that he was not disappointed despite losing half his body in a major injury a few years ago.
That kind of thing has its own fun. That’s right, it’s just as mother said. Being ‘ordinary’ will definitely have significance and greatness that comes from being ‘ordinary’. But Banagher felt the ‘disjoined’ feeling in there. For every step he took away from the house, the ‘disjointed feeling’ felt stronger. Maybe I forgot something important? He instinctively stops in his tracks and looks back at the house that seemed to have gone far, far away, and then continue on without thinking. At this moment, Banagher’s ankle was grabbed as he immediately knelt down.
Looking back in shock, his father’s hand was grabbing onto his ankle. The large and reliable hand of his father—was so icy cold it was scary. He had much more wrinkles, and he was as skinny as bones. The face looked aged, and his hair seemed to have all grayed. What was most shocking was that his father was covered with blood. Cardeas, who laid down on the floor, grabbed onto Banagher’s ankle tightly, and the face that was like a dead man was staring at his own son.
“Don’t be afraid. Believe in yourself. Do what you feel you have to do.”
Cardeas Vist said as his body was partly collapsed as it fused with the floor. Banagher only felt like escaping that hand’s grip, but Cardeas just would not let go of his ankle. He originally intended to move further away as he held his mother’s hand. Banagher, who thought of shaking the leg that was grabbed and even stamp on him to get away, saw a giant that was standing in place of what was his house.
In that darkness, there was a darkness that was much deeper. The giant figure with the lone horn is staring down at Banagher. The term ‘Unicorn’ immediately appeared in his mind, and the giant’s body suddenly expands as the surface that’s cracked open reveals red light that looked like bleeding.
At the same time, the horn of the giant cracks in half as its eyes seems to shine like a demon. Banagher instinctively felt that he’s about to be eaten as his body would not listen to him. The fear that rose within him form a voice that roared out from his throat—
The voice that came out from his throat was so hoarse it was surprising, and Banagher Links opened his eyes.
What first entered his eyes is the light panel that’s giving off white light. The light panel had a wire fence on the surface. It doesn’t look like furniture an ordinary house will have. It seems that I’m on a certain ship. On thinking about this, Banagher’s head started to move slowly. He remained lying down as he moves his sights.
There was a light antiseptic smell here. The fans seemed to be too loud for an air-conditioner. Most likely, it was the sound of the machines inside the ship making the sounds. From the way the sounds came about, this place was not a space shuttle or a working-class ship. It’s a larger ship—the sound of a large carrier-class ship’s engine running. As Banagher thought about that “Are you awake?” a voice came from beside him, and a man dressed in white appears in his sights.
One could tell from the slightly tan skinn that this man with some moustache was of Arabic descent. Baangher immediately tried to get up, but the man pushed him back onto the bed without hesitation. The small torchlight shines right into Banagher’s eyes, causing his face to frown. Fm, the man snorted and let go, and Banagher quietly leaned his back on the bed he was lying on.
He could see boxes with medication inside the room and 9 monitors on the wall. There was a treatment table beside the console, and there are documents of medical history. The wall beside the bed had small holes that are like mini tunnels, and they should be for something like CT scans. Banagher stared at his numb hands and notices that he was waiting a gown for patients. He tried to force out a hoarse voice, “May I know…this is?” The man in white continued to write something on the record and answered Banagher’s doubt without looking at him.
“This is the infirmary of the Nahel Argama…can you understand it this way? Anyway, it’s a Federation ship.”
Tossing aside the medical record, the man picked up a canteen and returned to Banagher. Banagher immediately realized that he was in low gravity conditions from the way the water inside the canteen swayed. He received the canteen and seemingly gulped all the water down in one shot.
“I took your wallet to check. Your name’s Banagher Links, a student of Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. Am I right?”
The man, who returned back to the treatment table, pulled out the chair and sat down before asking. “Yes.” Banagher, who could finally make some sound after drinking, answered,
“As we were rushing out of the port, we didn’t have the time to check the data of the colony, so I’ll ask directly. Do you have any past medical history or any allergies to drugs?”
“I guess not…is this ship moving in space?”
“Yeah. We’re still hidden inside the shoal space region. Don’t worry, the enemy won’t come looking for us so quickly.”
From that nonchalant tone, he could tell that the man was already used to such a situation. Enemies; Banagher remembered this term that had nothing to do with him. Even though he could vaguely sense some danger, Banagher showed a relaxed expression and diverted his attention to the canteen that was already empty. He felt that the water was filling his originally parched body, melting away the weight that was built up within his heart.Why am I so thirsty? How long have I been asleep? He could not remember anything, and the brain that tried to recall was still not working. Even though he remembered he did have a very bad nightmare, it was just a vague feeling left, melting away gradually together with the weight inside.
Perhaps this might be a dream as well. This is a dream I’m having in the AEIC dorm. Once I wake up, I’ll have to be careful not to wake Takuya up and sneak out to work in the morning—speaking of which, I don’t know what happened to the people of the Bubbo Company. The 4 winged mobile suit appeared in the Industrial zone. If there’s a disaster at the port, the office that had some gasoline stench should be…
Banagher’s heart started to beat faster as his temples hurt. He used his hand to touch, and the feeling of the bandage reached his fingertips, causing him to gasp. Perhaps detecting Banagher’s current situation, the man asked without looking over, “Does it hurt?” “A little…” Banagher answers. “That’s proof that you’re still alive. Try and endure it.” What he got was such cold words. “The latch that’s used to fasten the helmet forced itself on the forehead. Without that, you would have died with your neck snapped.”
His heart started to race again, and this time, the sound is so loud that other could hear it. The latch was used to fasten the helmet—that machine that looked like it had an interrogation set attached to the headrest. His head was once held by that thing on both left and right side before pressing onto his forehead. The scene in the past immediately became a bright visual, and the thin layer that covered his memories was ripped apart.
The siren could not stop, and the monitor displayed the words “NT-D”. His body was then held down with such force that it felt like his eyeballs were about to explode from the acceleration. Finally, everything was soaked in a very viscous liquid, causing everything in front of his eyes to look like they’re in slow-motion…what happened after that?
The canteen dropped out from Banagher’s hand and onto the floor, letting out a clear sound. That’s right, I was once sitting inside that cockpit, piloting that mobile suit called the “Unicorn” and fighting against the “enemy”. Audrey, Cardeas, Takuya, Micott; several faces and names appeared in his mind. Banagher used his hand to support his head that felt like exploding soon. The automatic door opened, and a woman’s voice could be heard “Excuse me!” before she entered.
“Doctor Hassan, I heard that the kid’s awake…” Speaking halfway through, the woman’s eyes met Banagher, who lifts his head. “Ah, it’s true.” The woman’s round eyes became even rounder. The Easterner’s petite body had a grey shirt and white pants on her. Though one could tell from her attire that it was the Federation Space Forces, the woman herself did not look like a soldier. Once Banagher felt that she was basically a girl around his age, the man called Dr Hassan turned around and said with a flat tone, “Oh, you’re here alone.”
“The person himself did indicate that the identity’s correct. I’ve already done the checks you wanted as well. What I investigated using the facilities here show that he’s all clean.”
Hassan showed a meaningful expression as he concluded and said this to the woman. The woman looked back at his expression and nodded. The grim atmosphere that came with the term check reached Banagher’s heart, but he did not have the mind to think too much into it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ensign Mihiro Oiwakken.” She lifted her expression that seemed to be hidden before and greeted with a smile, causing Banagher to blink.
“Welcome to the Nahel Argama…the current situation doesn’t make it situation to say this, but are you alright? Banagher Links?”
“Ehh, well…”
“There’s a lot of things I would like to ask you, but first, I have to thank you. It’s thanks to you piloting the gundam that we’re able to survive.”
““Gundam”?”
“The machine you piloted. Am I right? The face was hidden thought, and there’s only one horn left.”
I don’t understand at all. I don’t even understand what she’s asking. Banagher turned towards Hassan, who was facing the desk as the white back did not look like it was going to turn around. “Don’t you remember?” Mihiro’s head tilted slightly to the side as she glanced at Banagher’s eyes.
“I remember sitting in the mobile suit and piloting it. But at that time, my mind was just thinking about making it move…”
Suddenly, a pulsating pain came out from his temples. It was not the pain from the restraint, but a pain from the inside—“Is this kid alright?” Mihiro turned away from Banagher, who was touching his bandages, as she asked Hassan.
“I still have to do some more important things that will be of burden to him!”
“There’s a slight concussion, so he might feel dizzy. His body doesn’t have any problems. He’s fine, for a “Gundam” pilot.”
Hassan answered with his face tilted aside. Banagher’s confused mind responded to the term “Gundam pilot” as he and Mihiro turned to look at the side of Hassan’s face.
“This isn’t the first time. Every time, the “Gundam”…never mind, you’ll soon understand.”
Hassan waved his hand to divert both their stares away and turned back to the table. Banagher and Mihiro stared at the white profile, glancing at each other from time to time, and an awkward silence soon happened. “Don’t worry too much.” Mihiro forced a smile and said,
“We’ve checked your identity, so just answer the military’s questions later.”
“But the doctor just said that he didn’t have time to check with the colony’s records…”
Banagher saw that Mihiro was taken aback, and regretted somewhat that he just said something unnecessary. Those who knew about such things would have the other party on the ropes—especially in such a place like the army. Perhaps begrudging Hassan for saying too much, Mihiro glared at his back and sighed, gave a wry smile as she admitted to Banagher, “Your friend identified you.” Sensing that Mihiro seemed to be a gentle person, Banagher relaxed somewhat. On the other hand, the term friend causes Banagher to frown.
“Those people look like they’re from AEIC, so I was wondering if they knew you. Asking asking, they said that they went to the colony builder with you when escaping and separated in the meantime.”
“Takuya and Micott? They’re on this ship too?”
Banagher really couldn’t make any other conclusions. “Do you want to meet them?” On hearing Mihiro follow up with these words, “Of course…!” Banagher answered enthusiastically. Mihiro looks at Hassan and gave him a look of dilemma. Hassan did notturn back as he merely said, “I didn’t hear anything.” Mihiro then shrugged her slender shoulders, lowered her head to stare at Banagher, and said, “Alright.”
“Just a little though. There’ll be a lot of high-ranking uncles coming over to ask you questions. Understand?”
Mihiro gave a stiff smile, which somehow indicated the seriousness of this situation. Realizing that he was in a troublesome situation, Banagher cautiously got off the bed and stepped on the floor barefooted for the first time. It felt eerily cold.
‘Banagher. Banagher.’
The moment the door opened, the basketball-sized ball leapt over. “Haro!” Banagher answered as he hurriedly caught that thing.
Haro flapped its ear-like round discs as it remained in Banagher’s clutches, asking in a synthesized voice, ‘Are you alright? Are you alright?’ “Of course.” Banagher answered as he turned Haro upside down to check. Even though there’s a bit of soot, the surface that was covered by a layer of rubber did not show any signs of scars. After scarring in a relieved manner, “Banagher!” “You’re still alive!” The familiar voices entered Banagher’s ears, and he frantically looked around the room that was 10m wide.
At a corner of the recreational room for officers, which had vending machines, plants and several simple tables and chairs, Banagher found the owners of the voices. Standing up from the sofa and looking over with a blank expression was Micott Bartsch. Takuya ignored the NCO who looked like he was in charge of watching over them as he dashed over. As he saw their faces, Banagher could not hold back the emotions swelling in him as he answered, “I thought you guys were…!” the words remained in his throat as he stamped the floor and caught Takuya who was flying over.
Micott then caught up to them and hugged them. The trio were all bundled up and floating in the air due to inertia. Mihiro stands beside them and stops the NCO who was trying to stop them, giving a wry look. Banagher uses his body to embrace the warmth of his friends. This warmth, this is reality—even if the ‘disjointed feeling’, he would not feel shaken. This was the warmth that showed that he belonged to this world. The skin that was tense due to the cold was warmed up, and Banagher enjoyed the comfort that came with the hugs. This is where I should be in. His heart was filled with such thoughts. I’m not going to ride on the mobile suit again; I’m not going to get involved with the Vist Foundation and Neo Zeon. The day I got involved in nightmares has ended…
It had been about a mere 2, 3 seconds in the air. The moment they slammed into the wall, the trio was grabbed by the gravity they once left as they collapsed onto the sofa “It hurts!” “Gyah!” All sorts of cries could be heard. And then, it was unknown who started laughing first as the room is then filled with the trio’s laughter. Takuya and Micott only had some light scratches on their legs and arms, and it looked like they did not get injuries that were too severe. Both of them look a lot livelier than the last time they met, and it seemed that they bathed and washed off the sweat and dirt on them. After looking at both of them, Banagher repeated it again, “It’s great to know that you two are fine…” “Of course not.” Takuya clenched his fist loosely and jabbed it into Banagher’s stomach, grumbling unhappily,
“We had it rough. We were shaken about by the mobile suit’s hand, moving all around the battlefield. I really don’t know what you were doing that time.”
“I was really worried about you, seriously. I heard that you were kept in the ship with us, Banagher, but they wouldn’t let us see you. Is the injury on your head fine? They said that you never regained consciousness…”
Micott wanted to touch the bandage on Banagher’s head, but was blocked by his hand. As Banagher wants to tell her that it was not too serious, a light Banagher saw before came from opposite the table, behind Mihiro and the NCO, causing him to gasp.
Emerald eyes. The eyes that declared that everything had changed. The eyes that were gleaming intensely were in the same room as her. That person was starting at him while looking like she was hiding behind the NCO. Immediately, Banaagher was not looking at other people as he stands up from the sofa.
“Audrey!”
Her shoulders jerk, and the emerald eyes widen slightly. Banagher did not care as he steps on the floor, and as he was about to fall, he passes by Mihiro and the NCO.
That’s right. It was Audrey Burne. The chestnut-colored hair, clear white skin and long legs with jeans on were the same as yesterday. He feels a burning sensation climbing out from deep within him—it was not warmth, but something much stronger. The heat caused Banagher’s body to become anxious and made him move to those emerald eyes. For some reason, the first words Banagher said were “I didn’t expect you to be kept in this ship too…!” On hearing this, Audrey diverted her gaze to the floor.
“Ehh…things ended up like this.”
Looking over, Audrey turned her stare behind Banagher’s shoulders. Banagher realized that Audrey was staring at Takuya and Micott, the heat inside him subsides.
The two of them know Audrey. They know that Audrey, who looks like she’s part of the anti-Federation forces, snuck into Industrial 7 yesterday, met the Vist Foundation—and definitely has something to do with the battle last night. Banagher, not anybody else, was the only one who told them these. As Banagher thought about this, it was too late by the time he took a step back from Audrey. “So you’re the Audrey Banagher mentioned before.” The stinging words came from behind, causing Banagher to turn around.
The one who spoke was Micott. The bone-chilling stare passed by Banagher as it landed on Audrey alone. Banagher noticed at Micott was staring over at him with a suspicious stare at well and got in front of Audrey.
“Who are you? Why did you come over to Industrial 7?”
Perhaps Micott was wary of the NCO’s stare as she never asked Audrey so directly. Mihiro interrupted Micott, who let out stinging words after being unrestrained, saying, “Oh my, don’t the four of you know each other?” Banagher clenched his sweating fists tight as such a situation developed right in front of the one person he did not want knowing what was going on—the Federation officer. As Banagher could not think of any words to break the deadlock, he subconsciously raised his arms to protect Audrey…“She just moved into Industrial 7 yesterday” another voice rang inside the room.
“She’s Banagher’s childhood friend, and she’s supposed to transfer over to our school, right?”
Takuya gave a look, but Banagher could not catch up for that moment as he vaguely answered, “Eh? Ahh…”
“Hm? Is that so?” Mihiro asked. Before Micott could show a doubtful look, Takuya patted her on the back and said, “You’re worrying too much, Mihiro.”
“Even if there’s a friend who suddenly came by for an hour, Banagher won’t probably look at any girl other than you, right?”
Even Banagher was dumbstruck by these words as his mouth was gaped open. Mihiro let out an understanding expression as she nodded away, while MIcott, who was left behind, immediately went red. You said too much! What if she gets angry!? Banagher was worried as he could not help but close his eyes. “What are you saying!? What I mean is…!” Micott’s enraged voice rang, and just when the helpless Banagher had to endure this—
“Is Banagher Links around?”
A sharp voice suddenly interrupted them. Banagher looked over at where the voice came from, and he saw two men walking through the door of the recreation room.
One of the men was tall and burly, had short hair, and had a physique of a wrestler, and the other was a man with sharp attention and ferocity all over him. Both of them were also wearing Federation uniform, but the presence they gave off was obviously different from the other passengers. If the other soldiers were wooden sticks, these two were metal bats. The man with the sharp expression alone may even be described as being like a sharp knife.
Banagher met that knife in the eyes, and as Mihiro and the NCO remained still, those two walked over without much thought. Even with a cast on one of the men’s left arm, the footsteps were not showing any signs of faltering. The sharp stare scanned Banagher from the head to the fingernails, and the body that resembles a giant cat species arrived in front of Banagher. Banagher tried his best not to look away as he stared straight at the man’s face. The man’s stare remained still, asking without any emotion on his face, “Is this the boy?”
“Yes, Commander Daguza.” Mihiro answered. The man looks away from Banagher and immediately questions Mihiro, “I did say before to immediately bring him to me once he’s awake, right?”
“I was the one who let him meet the refugees who were detained. That’s because I heard that they were school mates.”
Mihiro gave a bold expression that did not match her babyface as she never looks at the men. Her attitude shows that she had some contempt for the men. However, the man called Daguza did not seem to mind as he looks down at Banagher, telling him “You, follow me” before turning away. The tone that did not allow for any objection caused Banagher to step forward before he could even think.
“Wait a second…! You’re saying that you’re taking him? To where?”
“Banagher’s like us! He managed to escape to this ship!”
Takuya and Micott then added in, causing Banagher to stop immediately. Daguza turned back and glanced at them, and said with an unwavering tone, “That’s for us to decide.”
“Aren’t you being too bossy here!? Besides, when are you going to send us back to Industrial 7!?”
“The ship’s in a precarious situation. I can’t make any guarantees.”
“My father Fabio Bartsch is the factory owner of Industrial 7’s Third Workzone. If you’re only going to take Banagher away, please state the reason first.”
Micott knew that most adults will change their attitude after hearing these words, but this time, the outcome was not what she desired as Daguza stared at Micott and said solemnly,
“He piloted a military mobile suit as a civilian and entered the battlefield. This heavy crime alone is enough to warrant capital punishment.”
“Military mobile suit…?” “You’re the one who piloted it?” Takuya and Micott let out their shocked voices respectively. Banagher saw that Mihiro seems to be begrudging Daguza for saying too much as she glared at the side of his face. His eyes started to move around. “Banagher, don’t tell me you…” A soft voice came from behind, causing Banagher to be so shocked his eyebrows twitch.
Audrey, who instinctively reached her hand out for Banagher’s shoulder before taking it back immediately, was showing signs of faltering in her expression. Banagher recalls that everything changed the moment he saw these eyes. Me, Audrey, and maybe even including Takuya and Micott may have taken on a path of no return. Banagher harbored such a thought that might be instinctive and answers, “I’ll tell you later.”
“Wait here for me, alright?”
Don’t tell anyone else. Banagher said this to Audrey with his eyes. Audrey backs away, showing a silent stare at Banagher. Banagher felt the warmth that spread when his shoulder was touched, and followed Daguza out of the recreation room. Mihiro looks like she was saying “Don’t worry”, and the hand that was patted on Banagher’s shoulder gave him strength to walk forward with his head held high.
The high pitched siren rang inside the helmets through the wireless communicator. This summoning siren for the Marines sounded exceptionally pitiful here as it brought about a lonely presence, ringing through Riddhe Marcenas’ ears.
Soon after, a rumbling could be felt under his feet, and the large catapult gate was closed. The gates that closed in from top and bottom sealed off the catapult that was 20m on all sides, hiding the large catapult that was floating upright in the vacuum. During this time, before the hatch closed completely, Riddhe and the rest were lined up in front of the catapult, raising their hands to salute. The catapult hatch for landing was still open as they awaited the machines that had not returned…but no matter how much they waited, the people who did not come back would never come back. It had been more than half a day since the battle people would record as ‘Battle Of Industrial 7’ in the future happened, and the Nahel Argama was headed to a new situation. Riddhe and the rest remembered the people who passed away, and had to take their next steps forward. The souls of the pilots who died in this battle should had returned home—
<So everyone wasn’t able to make it…>
Lieutenant Commander Norm Basililock muttered as the thick gates closed up and the warning lights flashed, indicating that pressure was moving in. He once requested the superiors to keep the gate open even after 12 hours, and after the 17th hour, the mobile suit squadron leader whose attitude softened might still be able to see the remains of his subordinates floating in the vacuum. Riddhe turned to look at Norm, but he could not see the expression on Norm’s face as it was covered by the visor. Riddhe could not say anything as he could only mix around the troops after the squadron was dismissed, and went down one airlock after another inside the ship.
Riddhe removed his helmet and hung it on the hook behind him, walking down the mobile suit deck that already had air. He sees that most of the mobile suits were not back inside the hangar as the silent metal wall just remained there, feeling thoroughly dejected. There were 5 “ReZELs” that were definitely destroyed, and 3 “Jegans” as well. ECOAS also lost what looked like a tank, and the remaining one was lying in a corner of the hangar under a canvas. There were 3 confirmed survivors, and one of them had only minor injuries while the other two were lying inside the ship’s intensive care room for treatment, so there’s no hope of them return back to the front lines. The mobile suit deck that had already lost 2-thirds of their fighting strength had a relaxed presence of air inside. The sounds of cranes moving and welding caused the melancholy of lights fading to be even more acute.
“Deborah, Nazal, and even Commander Ian…that’s quite the heavy loss.”
“Leaving aside the R003 Romeo that was ambushed, the other 7 units were all taken down by the same machine, right? And we let that guy get away.”
“That’s two-thirds, two-thirds! How are we going to regroup with so many units taken down? Even if we count in the spare “Jegan”, there’s only 5 mobile suits we can use! We can’t even form a squad!”
“We can only wait for reinforcements. In this situation, we can’t even hang on with that four-winged of the Sleeves attack again.”
“I still haven’t massacred that J4 Juliet ReZEL guy who beat me in poker…”
As there was no loud chatter like usual, the conversation between the mechanics became extremely shrill. Riddhe subconsciously clenched his fists and floated by the mechanical frames that were lined up in such a way that it looked like they were tombstones. Stop blaming us all the time, Riddhe grumbled deep inside his heart. It’s not that the cowards survived or the brave soldiers died. What separates these people is just luck. When the death god swings its large scythe, a slight difference of whether we’re standing or sitting will decide the outcome. In this situation, no matter whether it’s experience, ability or courage, none of them have any help.
Death just came by so simply, causing the people who survived to feel lost. Though Riddhe had thoughts of taking revenge for his allies, that sort of feeling was like taking a gamble. Maybe it was just an instinct, the only way for him to feel at ease. To Riddhe, things like hatred for the enemy and regret had become really alien to him. To put it directly, he lamented not being able to feel regret. Riddhe felt angry over being so inexperienced that he doesn’t know what to do with his body that was still alive. Sooner or later, I might have to use the memories of the people who have died as part of dishes—
As he thought unhappily, the voices of the people were further away. Before he realized it, Riddhe was already right in front of his own machine that was being maintained. The machine itself was covered in soot, and the NAR-008 that was spray painted on it had become unidentifiable, but the machine itself was not significantly damaged anywhere. Riddhe looked up at the “ReZEL” that did not have any signs of a graze from the beam rifle and realized that he did not do anything. He took the cable gun and pulled himself to the cockpit. Several cables extended out from the opened cockpit, making it hard to identify the back of Mechanical Officer Jonas Gibney who was working inside.
The tall and burly body was bent as he was holding the keyboard that was attached to the display board. The back profile looked like it was crying, and Riddhe gasped slightly. The old timer NCOs had completely different views from rookies who were assigned here like him, and they seemed to have a passion-like will when being on this ship. They just went through an official battle for the first time since being on active duty again, and this battle took many lives too. Having experienced this again, Gibney might had been hurt more than anyone else. Riddhe ws unable to think of what to say as he let out a call, “Mechanic officer…” and that thick body turn around with a glare of killing intent right on him.
“DAMN YOU! YOU EVEN DARED TO BRING SUCH A TOY ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD!?”
His savage face looked a lot more heinous than usual as he tossed the hand-sized plane model right at him—that was the model Riddhe brought into the cockpit before the battle and forgot that it was inside— “Ah, no, that is…”the voice that was let out was stuck inside the throat, and Riddhe backed his body as he floated back. “WHAT IS THAT!?” Gibney continued to glare at him as he moved out, and the large body was standing right in front of the cockpit’s hatch.
“It’s because you took this thing out with the attitude of going to a picnic that we got massacred by the Zeon remnants!”
Gibney opened his legs and forcefully stepped on the cockpit hatch, kicking Riddhe out. Riddhe could not do anything as he floated around in zero gravity, his back crashing into the hock-shaped armor that was extended out from the “ReZEL”s crotch. The surrounding mechanics were all shocked as they looked at both of them, only to show a ‘here we go again’ look as they turned back. Riddhe quickly stood up, glared at Gibney and yelled, “YOU’RE JUST USING THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO VENT YOUR FRUSTRATIONS OUT!”
“I FOUGHT HARD ON THE BATTLE AS WELL! DON’T VENT YOUR FRUSTRATION ON ME!”
“IT’S POINTLESS IF YOU DON’T SHOW ANYTHING! JUST TAKE THIS AWAY AND PLAY!”
Gibeny threw over the plane model and snorted. Riddhe did not look at his face as he merely stared at the little biplane flying over his head before kicking the armor beside his feet instinctively.
Riddhe felt that it was stupid to think about this, yet he also thought that it was less depressing this way as he feels motivated out of a sudden as he started to chase the plane that was moving through the deck in a dreamlike-state. Perhaps it was because the original design was suitable for aerodynamics as the biplane model’s wings easily passed through the air, flying to the wall on the opposite side without slowing down. The biplane moved through the narrow spaces between the cranes, reached the narrow catwalk at the wall, and flew into the crowd working on it.
A person moving through dodged it and used his hand to grab the biplane that suddenly flew over. Riddhe was a step slower in reaching the handrail of the catwalk, and was surprised by the side of the face of the person who was not wearing the uniform. He was wearing deep blue jumper and jeans, and had slightly long ash-brown hair. His face was smaller than the man who was walking in front of him by a size, and one could possibly call him a teenager—
“Ah, sorry.”
“No…that was nicely done.”
The boy handed over the biplane he caught as his mouth relaxed, staring over at Riddhe. Those eyes had no hidden intent in them, but they were rather strong-willed. There was a sharp glint in his eyes, one that did not match his obedient looking appearance. Riddhe stared at those eyes that were giving off some mysterious pulling force, and was confused by some form of fluttering in his heart, but looked up once he noticed the other stares around him. Commander Daguza Mackle, who was walking in front, glanced over at Riddhe without any expression.
Riddhe immediately saluted and moved away from them. The boy’s face was soon blocked by the adults as he walked into a place that could not be seen. If he were a refugee that’s being moved…it’s overly cautious to surround a boy with a gang of people. What’s most suspicious is that even the Manhunters are amongst them. Riddhe watched the group of around 10 people walk by, and finally found a familiar face at the end. He moved over to that person, arookie who was assigned to the security force at the same time Riddhe was assigned here.
The security troop had a sling on his usual secondary uniform, and his head had a anti-round helmet with a white line drawn on it. Riddhe went over to greet him, and brought his face closer to whisper, “Who is that guy?” he pointed at the boy with his chin, and the peer answered softly, “The brat who piloted the ‘gundam’ just now.”
“It’s him…!? He’s still a kid.”
“Didn’t I say it before? I heard that they’re going to carry out tests on him later.”
The gundam-type mobile suit who forced the ‘Sleeves’ four-winged to retreat with its overwhelming power and this boy walking in front of him who looks like a kid; Riddhe never thought of linking these two thought as he can only remain still. During this time, the group of people had already walked all the way to the front, and the peer kicked the floor hard to catch up. Riddhe followed suit and moveed beside the peer.
“What now?”
“Aren’t you going to the “Gundam”? I heard it even got a solid shield and rifle. I want to look too…”
“No no, outsiders are not allowed. The guys from Anaheim and the Manhunters are already arguing loudly over the rights, so it’s already boiling point here.”
“They’re the outsiders.”
“It’s pointless to tell me that now.”
Move on move on. Riddhe was chased away by his peer as he could only stop unwillingly. The group got on the lift at the end of the catwalk, and the peer who followed in at the end was in charge of closing the lift. For an instant, Riddhe’s eyes meet the boy’s eyes, but he did not have the time to check his impression on the boy. The door that was closed cut off the boy’s stare as the lift moved to the lower deck.
Below the mobile suit deck, there was a mechanic deck that was also called the factory inside the ship. This was a place that was used when a machine needed a change of parts or that there needs to be a large-scale repair. The Gundam-type mobile suit that was taken in was kept inside here—or to put it correctly, if it was the same as when it was taken in, it should be the one-horned mobile suit that did not look like a “Gundam”. The enraged Riddhe kicked the elevator door and used the recoil to bounce back, grabbing the airlock that was installed inside the ship. Everyone looks really tense now, so can’t you understand other people’s feelings now? Riddhe grumbled some meaningless rants about others in his mind and left the mobile suit deck.
Since the standby order was already issued, Riddhe could not go back to his own room to relax. He hid the biplane model inside his helmet and walked towards the pilot waiting room.
At this point, the standby unit and mechanics were all mobilized, and the Nahel Argama couldn’t maintain its original formation. Riddhe could only stay in the empty waiting room together with the members who survived as he put on the normal suit and moved through the dull space in front of him. He looked rather irritated as he moved around while holding the lift-grip. Once he arrived in front of a cross-junction, a familiar profile move right in front of Riddhe, causing his heart to beat faster.
Chestnut-colored hair, clear white slender face, and the purple cape that was puffed with air inside; that’s right. Riddhe quickly adjusted the speed of the lift-grip as he called out, “Wait, you’re…!” He let go of the lift-grip right in front of the cross junction and kicked the wall at the end to eliminate inertia. The girl showed a surprised look on her face as Riddhe turned 90 degrees to look at her.
“So it’s you. Are you hurt? I was worried just now, but I didn’t have time to ask…”
The girl with the floating cape stopped at where she was as she stares at Riddhe. The emerald eyes show a form of willfulness…or rather, it might be appropriate to call it tension. Riddhe himself tensed up as he saw the beautiful side of the girl’s face and eyes through the monitor when the Magallanica was in utter chaos. It’s because I saw this face that I could respond without fear. As he made such a baseless belief, Riddhe politely smiles and said, “Ah, I was wearing this helmet just now, so you might not be able to identify me.”
“I was the mobile suit pilot who brought you guys here.”
Ahh. The girl looked like she was trying to recall. “I’m Riddhe Marcenas. What about you?” he continued. “…Audrey Burne.” The girl let out the voice from her lips. Her emerald eyes looked down to the floor, and the slender prideful face had lost some of its luster. The carefree look from before was gone as the girl let out an awkward presence while she looked away, causing Riddhe to be unable to comprehend. Maybe she’s an unexpectedly shy girl? He wondered. As he harboured such a thought was completely wrong, Riddhe looked down at the side of this girl’s face again, and immediately, “AREN’T YOU TREATING HIM AS A CRIMINAL!?” another voice rang throughout the passage.
At the end of the passage, right at the entrance of the door leading to the machine adjustment room, Riddhe saw a black-haired girl with her eyebrows curling up. “You must be mistaken about Banagher piloting the “Gundam”.” and then, the one who spoke up next was an Easterner boy who looked to be of the same age as the girl. They were both staring at the female officer in front of them. If she was not wearing a uniform, she would most likely be mistaken for being of the same age as them with the baby-like face of hers. It was Mihiro Oiwakken.
“But it’s a fact that he sat in the cockpit. Is there any other reason why the “Gundam” could move?”
Mihiro was not aware of Riddhe’s group standing on the other end of the corridor as she looked really flustered while trying to comfort them. He felt somewhat surprised the moment he heard the term “Gundam” in such an unexpected place, and said to the girl, “Erm, they brought along with you too, right?” the girl who called herself Audrey looks up and simply nodded.
“You know that brat…that “Gundam” pilot?”
“Yeah…”
What’s going on? Riddhe vaguely answers ‘Fuun’, recalls the appearance of the boy that was taken away by the Manhunters, and immediately tninks of an idea. He curls his lips up, smiles and whispers to Audrey, if you’re so worried, do you want to see him?”
“Eh?” Audrey lifted her face. As she gave him a weird stare, Riddhe turned his back on her and walks towards Mihiro. This might be able to clear the vagueness inside. Besides, it’s a pilot’s job to remain motivated when on standby. If nobody’s going to comfort me, I’m going to do it myself. Riddhe spent less than a second fooling himself completely as he stared at Mihiro and company, and raised his index finger in a way resembling old-Eastern children playing,
“Those who want to see the “Gundam”, please gather here—”
The monitor panel seam let out a green light, forming a layer of laser in the air as it scanned the body. The display board showed the mapping data of the capillaries until the <IDENTIFIED> word appeared on it, and the activation sound of the main engine rang throughout the cockpit.
The monitor panel started to run, and the all-view monitor appeared in front of the linear seat. At this moment, it showed the vision of the eyes of the 20m tall giant. It’s the enclosed space surrounded by the walls. The mechanic deck that was not even half the size of the mobile suit deck had two sets of mechanic hangars for minor repairs. One of the hangar sets had a Jegan unit with the armor removed, and facing it on the opposite side was the “Unicorn”, surrounded by many people under zero gravity. This mobile suit had unique specs, had the cockpit at the abdomen, and had a lone horn pointing out at the top.
Commander Daguza was standing on the other side of the opened cockpit door, and behind him was the guard with his hand on a pistol at his waist, getting ready and showing no signs of relaxing at all. The sounds of the shutters start to echo, and Banagher just felt that it was unbearable to be inside. He lowered his head and hoped for everything to end here. The reason why he did not want to remain so long in such a place was because this place still had the bloody smell of that person—
“That really shocked me. We couldn’t activate it no matter what we did just now!”
The mechanic who poked his head into the cockpit, watching the inside of the cockpit said. There were many people of different affiliations taking part in the live examination of the “Unicorn”; people dressed in army uniforms and people dressed in suits. Those dressed in uniforms could even be divided into two groups; the members of this ship and the strong men Daguza was leading—seeing how muscular his arms were, this mechanic should be Daguza’s man. Banagher peered at the head of this mechanic who was inspecting the display board, and was about to ask whether he could leave “Don’t you know that this mobile suit can only be activated through biometric inspection?” On hearing the unfriendly words, Banagher lifted his head.
The one who spoke was the leader of the people in suits, and it seemed that his name was called Alberto. That fat body was floating in the air, looking over Daguza’s shoulder and staring at the machine. The mild colored-styled suit looked very similar to the suit Cardeas used to wear. However, Alberto did not have the mark of the unicorn on it, and he looked to be rather hot as the collar was all messed up while under the blob of flesh on the chin. Banagher thought that it was a special suit designed for the Vist Foundation, but perhaps that might be the latest trend or something?
The mechanic gave an annoyed look. Alberto simply looked away, pretending not to see, “That sort of thing can be removed immediately once we send it back to Anaheim.” he said. “It looks hard.” This line interrupted Alberto’s snort. “What!?” Alberto glared at the subordinate standing on the “Unicorn” head.
“This is already programmed deep into the OS. If we randomly reformat it, we might end up deleting that Laplace Program at all.”
The subordinate answered without even paying attention to the situation, causing a speechless Alberto’s face to look like a compressed meatball. As he stared at that face, Banagher had a feeling that they met before. However, this feeling merely lasted until Daguza entered the cockpit.
“You entered the cockpit to look for a spacesuit. Cardeas Vist then appeared in front of you and registered you as the pilot of the “Unicorn”. That’s how it went, am I right?”
Daguza bent over as he brought his face near the seat, giving a sharp look. “Yes.” Banagher answered him with a stiff voice.
“You’ve never met Cardeas Vist before this, right?”
“…Yes.”
“It’s only the first time you met. How did you know he’s Cardeas?”
“I just said it already. I saw his photo on the AEIC introduction or something pamphlet.”
Banagher lifted his head and answered as he stared right at the other person’s eyes, whose stern stare caused Banagher to look away. Pull yourself through. He clenched his sweaty hands as he told himself this. I can’t say the truth that easily. I still haven’t understood the situation yet. If I say anything random, Audrey will be deemed suspicious as well. He’s a military man, and a man with such sharp knife-like stare, but it’s not like I can’t hide anything from him. Besides, I have something advantageous to me.
Even Banagher himself could not accept the truth that just felt surreal to him. Lying about this should be useful. Banagher kept quiet and turned his face to the front. Daguza sighed “Your words are really hard to accept.” He said as he looked away.
“He left everything to a person he met for the first time…and to a boy like you to boot.”
Will you accept this if I say that Cardeas’ my father? Banagher muttered deep inside his heart. Will you not admit this even in such a case? As he mocked himself for this, Banagher felt a chill from the words he heard next, “That man has always been a weirdo.” Alberto said this as he stood beside the cockpit.
“If that wasn’t the case, there wouldn’t be so much controversy, right?” he continued, and glanced into the room. Ever since they first met, Alberto would shoot looks of heinous ill intent at Banagher whenever he had the chance, and this time, it was already on the verge of hatred. That hatred was now all over Banagher, causing him to unwittingly swallow his saliva.
“One-man show. Tyrannical. He said that he was doing it for the sake of the Foundation, yet it was just for his own satisfaction. It’s really nice enough to call him a rogue. Simply put, he’s just a man so lonely that he couldn’t trust others. He probably want to create one more hassle for us by handing the “Unicorn” to this boy, or he lost his sanity on the brink on death…”
“He was still sane at that time! He clearly told me to use this to protect everyone!”
Banagher stared at the side of Alberto’s face, realizing that Alberto had finished speaking and that he was the one who spoke up. Alberto looked stunned while Daguza turned his sharp stare over. Thinking that this was bad, Banagher could not restrain the hot sensation rising from his throat to his nostrils, and he simply said out what was left of what he wanted to say,
“That’s not something that somebody who doesn’t trusts others will say. Such words were only said because he has no one around him whom he could trust, right?”
Why am I arguing about this? What am I angry about? Just as Banagher himself did not seem to understand what was going on, Alberto, whose expression immediately changed drastically, reached for the cockpit cover and let his hand reach in from outside. He grabbed Banagher’s chest and showed a menacing look, saying, “Saying it like you understand really well, huh!?” even though he was right in his sights, Banagher gritted his teeth and never looked away.
“You’re saying this because you know what sort of situation you’re in now, right? In certain situations, even kids will have to go to jail.”
“Of course I don’t know…! I only know common sense like ‘talking behind other people’s backs when they’re dead isn’t right’. You’re an adult, and you don’t even feel embarrassed by this?”
Alberto gasped, and his nostrils expanded as the hand that was on his chest showed signs of tightening. Banagher grited his teeth, and at this moment, “Stop it.” Daguza roared and quickly reached his hand out to grab Alberto’s wrist, which Banagher saw,
“You’re being too carried away here. You too, Banagher. Those aren’t words a child should be saying.”
Daguza said as he simply twisted the wrists to restrain Alberto completely. Banagher swallowed the retort he was about to say and turned around. “I GOT IT! JUST LET GO OF ME!” Alberto roared at Daguza as he left the cockpit while looking like he was flying forward.
“It’s a waste of time to do this. The “Unicorn” will be sent over to Anaheim on the moon for investigations. Before that, seal it, SEAL IT ALL!”
“This is a Federation’s ship. You don’t have the authority to order…”
“I can get it if there’s a need. I’ll go to the Prime Minister or the Chief Senator to give the order. Oi! Don’t randomly take photos there!”
Alberto rubbed the wrist that was just twisted and lashed out at the mechanic who was about to take photos with his camera. At this moment, his foot that was on the cockpit cover slid off. Alberto frantically tried to reach the cockpit cover with his hands, and missed as his body slipped towards the mechanic deck in a confused manner. Nobody was at the area he was falling to; only a “Jegan” frame with exposed moveable frames. If he accidentally crashes into there, he might be electrocuted. Realizing this, Banagher immediately grabbed onto the control stick.
With the sound of the actuators being activated, the “Unicorn” slowly raises its right arm. “Oi!?” “It moved!” Banagher ignored the people creating the ruckus as he used the mechanical arm of the “Unicorn” to grab onto Alberto. He gently gripped onto the control stick that moved with the fingers, and the “Unicorn”s palm easily grab onto Alberto who was floating due to the recoil. Everything should be fine as he had checked that there was no one around the arm’s movement rang.
Everyone turn their backs on the giant hand holding onto Alberto and divert their stares into the cockpit. Banagher brought his hand away from the control stick and tried not to look at any of their faces. “Did you do that?” Daguza asked while standing beside him, and Banagher did not look back at him as he said “Yes.”
“That’s not easy. It’s impossible for me to imagine that you piloted a mobile suit for the first time.”
“That’s because piloting mini mobile suits is part of the vocation courses.”
No matter how the opponent tried to probe, even Banagher himself did not know how to explain this. Banagher was regretting that he again provided information that would allow room for Daguza to suspect, but Daguza himself simply gives a wry smile and said “This must be a so-called Newtype” and nothing else. Alberto, who was yelping away, “HURRY UP AND LET ME GO!” as he tried to struggle out of the giant’s hand, was looking at this unnerving silence.
“Don’t crush him.”
“I know.”
“Or else it’ll be hard to clear up later.”
Daguza removed the slight bitter smile on his face and said without a smile. In response, Banagher frowned and answered, “Yeah.”
“That’s the “Gundam”?”
“Looks like it…it looks completely different.”
Takuya answered to Micott, who was carrying Haro, as he scratched his head with an inexplicable look. Audrey deliberately brought her neck closer over their shoulders to check the situation on the mechanic deck.
There had to be at least 30m from the open space here on the ceiling down to the bottom, and inside it, they could see the white mobile suit being held up by the mechanical hangar. The lone horn looked exceptionally eye-catching amongst the long line of Federation-styled humanoid machines. That was the “Unicorn Gundam”.
The so-called guide to Laplace Box Cardeas Vist designated—just had to be taken by the Federation army. Audrey muttered, but thinks, If that were the case, I’m the same as well. Audrey sighed without Micott and the rest noticing as she diverted her gaze again at her own face and the two Federation soldiers, who were reflected off the airtight window, and she had to sigh at this nightmare that had become reality.
Mihiro Oiwakken had no reason to realize Audrey’s thoughts as she looked around the dark room while looking rather jumpy. As for Riddhe Marcenas, his face was not at the window, but that expression of his looked like a child who was allowed to do anything he wanted. Though he said that it was for Micott and the others to calm down, it was just an excuse to get Mihiro’s permission; the one who really wanted to see the “Unicorn’ should be Riddhe himself. Riddhe led everyone to this crane control room, and truly, they could see everything clearly inside. Even though they could not see the cockpit, they can see the appearance of the “Unicorn” completely from above, even the people investigating the machine. What’s with that lapse in security after forbidding outsiders from entering? Audrey wondered. Is it because they haven’t had an agreed view on what to do with the “Unicorn”? Or is the Federation itself like this?
“As expected of a pilot to really know the layout of the ship.”
Takuya lifted his head from the side of the window as he said that, and it seemed that he was not having the same kind of doubt as Audrey. “Kinda.” Riddhe, who was praised, answered as he looked like he was not completely unhappy.
“For me…no, I myself hope to become a test pilot for Anaheim. I hope that once I graduate, I can join the army’s teaching squad once I graduate, so I’ve been working hard at the school. I feel really honoured to be able to talk to a real pilot!”
“Wait a sec, Takuya. Now’s not the time to talk about such things, right?” Micott said. “It’s alright. It’s a rare chance anyway!” Takuya enthusiastically said as he showed an admiring expression at Riddhe as if he were a superstar. In response, Riddhe tried to act cool as he waved his arm,
“If you’re willing to become a pilot, it’s nice that you know how to seize opportunities. I’ll let you see my machine later.”
“Really!? Your mobile suit is the Zeta-series transformable-type machine right, Ensign? This year’s equipment yearbook has the photos of the testing, and the idea of it becoming a support flight system for the “Jegan” is really…”
Riddhe seemed to be overwhelmed by Takuya’s ravaging explosion of knowledge as his responses seemed to be vague while smiling stiffly. Micott, who seemed to have gotten used to it, had not been paying attention to it right from the beginning. In the end, Takuya even starts to describe and rattle away to Haro. Mihiro left Takuya as she moved behind Riddhe to whisper, “Is this good?” “It’s alright, I suppose.” Riddhe looked rather calm as he answered.
“It’s not good to not treasure a youth’s dreams.”
“You’re still saying such random stuff again. Besides, shouldn’t you be on standby? Don’t blame me when you get scolded after coming to such a place on your own.”
“Don’t be so strict. My mood will worsen in the waiting room when the atmosphere’s so tense. The enemy won’t come after us immediately.”
Audrey heard both of them whispering to each other, and started to doubt, Is this really a conversation between soldiers? Is the atmosphere floating in here really one that a battleship involved in real battles should have?Enduring her sighs, she looked outside the window. There is basically no sense of tension, and they’re very different from my own people. This isn’t a question of morale, but that they have a luxury of composure.
Even with half the forces depleted, there’s a way as long as they can hang on through this. They had the luxury to think of such things. There might be a chance if they get reinforcements. Such a decisive composure is something my own camp doesn’t have—no, we never had since the One Year War. Zeon never had any composure when they were fighting against the Earth Federation that had around 100 times the political power. What was lost will never return, and if they failed then, there wouldn’t be a next time. That’s because everyone had been fighting, bleeding and blown to bits in the vacuum space because of the many constraints.
This is probably the difference between being at ease and being uneasy…I say. Both sides’ thoughts are already so different, right down to the basics. There’s nothing that will raise hatred or envy already, and even I feel that the principle my side is pointless. Through this experience that she could not understand without seeing things personally, Audrey realized that she had lots to see, and again realized that she will be in danger if she continued to stay here. She had no confidence that she could remain so calm and natural in such a presence. Even though she was not talking now, that girl called Micott was obviously showing signs of doubt on her. I have to find a way to escape the ship before exposing myself—
“Then, your friend’s called Banagher, right? What kind of person is here?”
Perhaps sick and tired of seeing the seeing the mechanic deck that did not have anything going on, Riddhe spoke up. Audrey interrupted her thoughts and looked and him. “Even if you ask me what kind of person he is…he’s nothing special, right?” Takuya sounded puzzled, and Micott shrugged,
“He’s a quiet ordinary boy. I really can’t imagine him riding on that mobile suit and going into battle.”
“But it’s a fact that he sent the enemy packing!”
“Even if you say that…Banagher did feel different before the raid.”
“Yeah. Maybe he became really motivated? He always looked lazy.”
Speaking of which, Audrey was somewhat bothered as well. The Banagher she met in the recreation room did really have a completely different presence from before. Even though his appearance and voice were all the same, the pressurizing feeling he gave felt stronger—to put it, his presence felt heavier.
What happened to that person who touched my hand as he held me close? What caused him to end up piloting the “Unicorn”? “But he managed to win because of the capabilities of the machine, right? Besides, that’s a “Gundam”!” Audrey, who again looked around the mechanic deck, was shocked by the voice. On hearing Takuya say such confident words, Micott frowned and said, “What do you mean by that?”
“That Amuro Ray who piloted the first “Gundam” was also a student too! The Camille Bidan who piloted the “Zeta Gundam” and Judau Ashta who piloted the “ZZ Gundam” are the same as well. Letting amateurs become pilots is basically a tradition amongst “Gundams”!”
“…You really know your stuff.” Riddhe said. Takuya laughed aside Riddhe’s obviously lethargic wry remark as he proudly said, “I researched on it before!”
“Speaking of which, this Nahel Agrama became the mothership for the Gundam squads during the First Neo Zeon War, right? It’s really coincidental for it to carry a new kind of Gundam here.”
If I just talk here, I’ll probably be involved in a hurricane of vast knowledge or something here. Riddhe silently looks away from Takuya and stands behind Audrey. “Mobile suit maniacs are so troublesome.” Riddhe whispered, and then looks over at Audrey.
“I feel that I saw your face before.”
The voice that did not have any other intent in it caused Audrey’s heart to pounce. No way. Audrey thought, but did not have the guts to look at Riddhe’s expression as she diverted her tense expression to the floor.
The only time I was openly revealed to the public was when I was a kid, and the media most likely never showed photos of me recently. But if it’s a Federation officer, there might be a chance he might have saw it before. If saying that I just look like that person doesn’t work, at that moment— Audrey clenched her fists, clearing hearing her heart pounding wildly, and on hearing Riddhe say “Ah, I remember”, she inadvertently closed her eyes,
“Did anyone say that you look like that actress, Natsume Swanson?”
Riddhe’s nonchalant voice caused Audrey to feel extremely weakened. It was really stupid to relax over such a thing. As she thought, Audrey simply answered, “I’m not so sure about things in the entertainment here.” Riddhe looked downheartened that he could not continue as he scratched his head and said, “Oh, I see…” At this moment, Mihiro sighed and said, “What are you thinking of doing?” Micott glanced over at the two of them and gave a suspicious look.
I definitely can’t stay here for long. Audrey again realized this, and right at the moment she was about to turn her eyes away from Micott, the sudden alarm rang in her ears.
“All personnel, prepare for anti-air combat. Mobile suit squadron, prepare for launch immediately.”
The monotonous audio voice and the alarm echoed throughout, causing Micott and Takuya to immediately lift their heads. Mihiro prevented them from talking and looked towards the speaker, while Riddhe stood beside her and was taking the helmet that was strapped to his neck. “…They’re here?” He muttered as he threw the thing inside the helmet to Takuya. Once Audrey recognized that was a mini plane model, he had already put it on.
“Help me take care of it. Don’t break it.” Riddhe said to Takuya, who received the model, “Mihiro, bring these guys to somewhere safe” and then pulled the fastener down. He, who rushed to the operations room’s door, showed a stern expression that was completely different from before. Takuya did not know what to do as he took the plane modeal, asking with a doubtful voice, “What’s going on?”
“May be the enemy attacking this time. Hurry up and head back to the living quarters!”
“You say an enemy’s…coming back again?”
As Takuya’s face turned pale, standing beside him was Micott, who covered her ears with her hands, saying “I had enough of this…!” The people inside the mechanic deck were starting to show signs of movements as well as the people who looked like guards were leaving the crowd. Audrey looked around for Banagher, only to find nothing as she carried the floating Haro. She repeated the term in her heart ‘Enemy attack’. With the “Garencieres” fighting strength alone, Audrey did not feel that Zinnerman would come over to attack on his own. Did “Palau” sent reinforcements? It’s still too early to conclude. Audrey thought. The chilling feeling caused her to leave the window, and Audrey was told by Mihiro, who carried Micott, to hurry up. She then left the room of the operations room with Takuya.
Several crew members’ panicked expressions floated by the red light area. They continued to put on their spaceships as they moved forward, only to realize that the partition walls were all sealed up completely. As their roars rang, Audrey thought of a name who could make the overly-early reinforcements arrive early.
Full Frontal. If he were the man called “The Second Coming of Char”, or—the guess that came after did not become words as Audrey exerted more strength into the hand holding onto the lift grip.
