KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Part 1

The ship's alarm sounded. Despite the goosebumps the sound caused, it made the mind focus as well. The girl went to window on the wall.

Outside the plastic board window was the vacuum of outer space. Right now, neither the Earth nor the moon could be seen, and only the multitude of starry spots in the sky lit up the silent darkness. This ship was moving forward at a very fast speed, but the stars outside the window weren't moving at all. It was like being locked in a still darkness.

The girl recalled how she would ask her maidservant, Lamias, the reason for this phenomenon, as she didn't understand it herself. The ever-patient Lamias would give a beaming smile and say: "Princess, that's because the stars are too far away, so they don't see us moving."

That was the excuse the adults gave, but it wasn't without merit. The 17-year-old girl knew this. Lamias was a good maidservant, but she had already been dead for almost ten years now. The girl's youth was shrouded in mystery, and she who was called a princess remained in her memories. But for the moment, the past she bore had to be forgotten for a while.

Because she had forgotten her past, she didn't need a name right now. She stowed herself aboard this ship because she was just a nameless person who was going to where she should be going, to meet the person she should be meeting. That was all.

“That's no ordinary patrol. It was waiting in ambush in this area. There will be enemy mobile suits attacking. Don't let your guard down.”

The crew was scattering Minovsky particles, which could disrupt electromagnetic waves and jam electronics like radar, around the ship, but it was still possible to communicate with internal ship-wide communications. As the ship rang with the people's voices and the sounds of operation, the girl heard the low grunt of the ship’s captain, Suberoa Zinnerman, over the intercom and looked at the darkness outside the window.

As she looked, she saw a pink light fly past the window. It was the glow of a mega-particle cannon beam. The glowing, high-energy beam weapons were due to the development of Minovsky physics. The Earth Federation was shooting at this ship to capture it. This ship ignored the command to stop and continued to spray Minovsky particles around itself as it accelerated away. The next shot wouldn't be a warning shot. The enemy should have realized by now that a civilian ship couldn't be this fast.

The concentrated mega-particles were moving at very close to light speed, and would immediately pierce through the ship's armor if it was a direct hit. Even if it only grazed the hull, the high temperature of the particles themselves might melt a hole in the wall. The girl kicked herself off from the wall of the dim cabin, and moved over to the cupboard in the corner of the room. The cupboard was designated as storage, and its contents were fastened down due to the zero gravity environment. Inside were the three days worth of food and water she had smuggled in, and a spacesuit.

The girl pulled everything out of the cupboard, and used the resulting inertia to push her body about, using zero gravity to put on the spacesuit with minimal hassle. This cabin was hardly used, so the crew used it as a storeroom. If the ship was damaged, the life support system in this part of the ship would be one of the first systems to be cut off. In the likely situation of a vacuum, the supplies that were fastened to the wall or the floor would be frozen. The girl didn't want to think of the worst case scenario, where she would be sent flying out of the ship, and put on her space suit's large helmet.

<There’s a mobile suit!>

<It’s on a Geta. Estimated time of contact: T-minus 320.>

<They’ll catch us before we enter the debris field. Alright, hurry up and send Marida out. Let her chase the flies away.>

Though they all looked like members of a shipping crew, the people on the bridge all had combat experience and sounded very calm. Right now, they would be in spacesuits, moving to the bridge, which would be filled with flashing red lights. The girl remembered the that bridge was as cramped as the cockpit in a plane; she remembered the thoroughly moustached face of Zinnerman as he sat on the captain's seat; and she wondered whether she should tell him that she was here. If a battle began, it would be best for her to be in the safe protected zone. If she was discovered as a stowaway, she would definitely be sent there anyway. If she died here without being found, it would really be a futile death.

No, she couldn't. If he knew that she was on board as a stowaway, Zinnerman may change the ship’s projected course and go back to the Palau. Even if he didn't, she would be locked up and watched closely. She wouldn't be able to achieve her goal, she wouldn't be able to got out, and she wouldn't be able to meet the person she had to meet. This outcome would cause the deaths of even more people.

This was the only chance, the girl told to herself. She knew this was a reckless act, but there was no other way. This was to prevent Earth from being covered in battle and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. She could only do that...

Zinnerman’s deep, coarse voice could be heard of the intercom, and a clear female voice could be heard responding <Understood>. The girl remembered the face of the solitary woman, Marida Cruz, who should be of the same age as she was, and looked outside the window. She saw the silver form of the battlefield, and numerous scale powder-like things glittered around the ship. The shutter suddenly appeared and covered the windows as the ship The Garencieres’ was entering battle mode, and all the windows had their protective shutters on.

The only image screen was on the inside of the bridge window, and the protective shutter on the inside of the cabin windows didn’t have such a convenient function. The girl left the wall and hid her body in the gap between some boxes. Under the light of a weak standing lamp, she used the tape that she had included in her supplies to tie her hands together, and focused her attention on the wireless communicator inside her helmet.

She would die when she would, looking outside to scare herself wouldn’t do anything to change that. She might as well gather as much information as possible to deal with the current situation. She calmly and clearly told this to herself as she tucked her knees in and hugged herself in the spacesuit.

Suddenly, she felt a chill. It was a chill that the life support of the spacesuit couldn’t adjust, a chill that entered deep inside her heart. As she had often gotten involved with the battlefield when she was young, her body was already numb to the fear of it, and this chill seemed to be the price. The girl let herself be the instrument of silence as she closed her eyes and waited for the chill to fade.

Part 2

The transport ship Garencieres was 112 meters in length, and it was cone-shaped. Its maximum weight capacity was over 500 tons. The bridge was at the front of the ship, which was shaped like the nose of an old airplane. The shape made it look like the designer factored in air resistance, and one could tell that the ship could fly in an atmosphere, and could be used as a transport between Earth and space. It was a model commonly used by shipping companies in the past, but it was hardly seen anymore.

The words “Ribakoona Trading” on the side indicated the Garencieres was registered as a civilian transport ship, but that wasn’t the whole truth. Right now, the large door on the back of the cone-shaped ship was opening, and the sliding cargo crane was emerging. Instead of carrying cargo though, the crane was carrying a giant, human-shaped robot.

The robot had four limbs that were somewhat thick at the end, and a bulge at the top of the waist that had a beak-shaped piece of armor. The head had a something like a large crest poking out, as well as a single eye-like laser sensor. The almost 20 meter tall humanoid frame had four shoulder-mounted wing-like pods, each one about as tall as the main body. This dark green machine should, by all rights, be called a giant, and the shape was far from a normal human’s. However, its humanoid appearance was far too defined to be called anything but a giant. In this age of mobile suits, giant human-shaped weapons that had the power of a battleship’s main cannon, this machine’s profile was somewhat strange. However, like most mobile suits, it had a ball-shaped cockpit in its abdomen, covered in many layers of armor. The figure of the mobile suit’s pilot was already wearing a space suit, sitting in the cockpit, starting the machine.

“Target acquired. There’s a Jegan that’s somewhat fast, possibly a commander type.”

Marida Cruz looked through the full screen display on the inside wall of the cockpit, and a small window showed the details of the enemy mobile suit.

<This means it’s not a coincidence that we met, doesn’t it?>, she asked emotionlessly

<We’ll be entering the debris field soon. Hurry up and finish it off before coming back.> Captain Zinnerman responded through the wireless communicator.

<Understood, master.>

Marida heard Zinnerman breathe in a more tense manner than before, then came the usual words <Don’t call me master>.The reason it was odd that they would meet a Federation ship here was that it was rare for them to patrol this area of space. However, it was really abnormal to stop a trading ship on its designated course and ask for an inspection. They had even sent out specially equipped mobile suits.

<This may be because the Federation Army already knew our true identity and objective and set an ambush in the debris field>. Zimmerman had to deduce who leaked the information about his ship, and wondered what he should do next.

“That’s right,” thought Marida, “The next step…. Master doesn’t need to be bothered about this. This is why I exist." Ignoring all other thoughts, Marida put her hands on the control sticks—the hemisphere Arm Raker that allowed all 5 fingers to be gripped together.

“Marida Cruz, Kshatriya, launching.”

As the restraints on the machine were released, the abnormally-shaped mobile suit, Kshatriya, slowly descended from the hangar. It wasn't really accurate to call it “descending”, since there was no concept of up or down in outer space, but the machine had the feeling of being dangled as it was released from the hangar at the bottom of the ship. Marida released the activation control thrusters and moved under the Garencieres, until she was more than 100 meters from the ship, and stepped on the pedal. The four main thrusters on the wing-like pods let out white light all at once. The Kshatriya left behind the inertial motion of the of the Garencieres, spun and approached from behind its target.

In the ball-shaped cockpit was one and a half meters across, and the screen of displayed a full 360 degrees of scenery. The intense rays of the stars hit Marida's eyes, and a bystander would feel that Marida's cockpit was suddenly floating in the midst of the stars, and that she was flying through them. However, the image of outer space that was shown around her wasn't a real scene, but a computer-generated image of outer space that used images of constellations to aid positioning.

One part of the screen showed an enlarged image of three targets. The optical sensor couldn’t capture very much at such a large distance, so it was a rough image. But in contrast, the model number of the targets, RGM-89, was rather clear. It was the mainstream mobile suits of the Earth Federation, the Jegan. The one leading the attack was a special type that had an S-shape extending from its back. The mobile suits abandoned their Geta as they scattered and closed in. Geta was the common name for mobile suits flight packs, used for long range attacks, acting as a flat bed to transport the mobile suits and send them into battle without wasting the mobile suit’s fuel. In short, it was something like a miniature boat for mobile suits. Marida didn't know why they were called Geta.

The three mobile suits were each wielding their main weapon, a beam rifle, as they closed in on Marida. She sensed that the enemies wanted to surround her from three directions outside her weapon’s range, and decided that this battle would be difficult. It wasn't that hard to take down three Jegan, but missing one would open a hole in the defenses of the Garencieres. Rather than being confident or bold in this situation, Marida merely used her head to think of the best way to handle the situation, and let her mobile suit decelerate suddenly.

The four pods swung forward, and the main thrusters on the tips spurt flames ahead of the Kshatirya, causing the suit's speed to immediately drop from meters per second to meters per minute and finally, nothing at all. As her back bore the sudden force of slowing down, Marida endured the discomfort of her eyeballs feeling like they was going to fly out of her skull, and her fingers swelling as the blood flowed into them. Then she muttered, “Funnels”.

Numerous exhaust lights on the inside of the four wing pods lit up as a pair of two-meter long objects came from each of them, totalling eight of these small things things altogether. They moved normally, and as they hovered around the Kshatriya, their thrusters activated and they rushed to their targets like a bullet.

The sensor cannons were shaped like their name, funnels. The conical objects gathered and dispersed, striking the Jegans that were still outside the Kshatriya’s shooting range. This pattern wasn't automatic, nor was it mechanical long-range control. In a battlefield saturated with Minovsky particles, it was impossible to use electromagnetic waves to control anything, and it was impossible to use a computer to launch an attack on one spot. This weapon, the funnel, was controlled by the pilot's brainwaves.

The Psycho communicator, commonly know as psycommu, was a brainwave guiding system that recorded the brain signals of the pilot, magnified them and sent them as instructions to the funnel units. These brainwaves were also called psycho waves, and they didn’t cause the Minovsky particles to react. Thus, the psycommu didn't run the risk of interference like normal electromagnetic wave transmissions. As long as the pilot could control them, the funnels could be thought of as completely invincible in the modern battlefield, as Minovsky particles would prevent all electronic devices from working. And as it was required to use a large mobile suit like the Kshatriya to protect the pilot and engage in close range combat on the battlefield, the funnels truly became a necessary piece of equipment.

Of course, not everyone could use this system. Even through many improvements, the psycommu system still caused a lot of physical and mental stress on the pilot. However, Marida could operate it better than anyone. More accurately, she had been created to be able to operate the funnels.

The funnels continued to spin as they attacked the two Jegan behind Marida. Due to their size, the funnels weren’t much larger than space junk. It would be hard to detect them, even with visual sensors. The funnels quickly fired their control thrusters and gradually pinned the Jegans down before shooting out lasers. The Mega-particle energy beams glowed pink and fired completely through the Jegans that hadn’t detected the enemy approaching at all. The funnels were only equipped with a small rechargeable battery, and so the intensity of their laser was low, and didn't have much energy. However, they did have the power to shoot through a mobile suit's armor. The Jegan pilots panicked and started firing beam shots randomly, trying to hit their invisible attackers. However, the funnels continued to destroy the Jegans bit by bit. Electrical transfer fluids continued to shoot out from damaged critical areas like blood, and the Jegans, smaller than the green Kshatriya, were painfully struggling. By this point, the funnels were like a flock of sharks hunting down a whale as they lunged forward to attack.

One, two. Without checking for the lights of explosions, Marida sensed that the two Jegans had already been blown to bits and concentrated on the remaining special unit. Though its backups were already destroyed, the unit didn't slow down at all as it continued to close the distance between itself and the Kshatriya. Marida decided that there was no need to let out new funnels and again pushed the Kshatriya forward.

The psycommu showed an image of the specially equipped unit that was more like a human, with added armor and thrusters. Before it entered the Kshatriya's range, the recoilless rocket launcher the Jegan was wielding let out a flash, and a physical shell with a diameter of 380 millimeters came flying at the Kshatriya. This high-powered shot was a normal size for a mobile suit’s recoilless rifle, and though it had the disadvantage of being small, the destructive power it contained was be larger than that of a beam weapon. Right now, it was in shotgun mode, and as it exploded, hundreds of metallic balls scattered around the Kshatriya. However, Marida had expected this, and dodged with the smallest of movements. The pilot of the specially-equipped mobile suit seemed to have also expected it to be dodged and used the scattered pellets as a smokescreen, firing his thrusters and getting above the Kshatriya.

With this, the battle became a typical mobile suit battle, as was commonly seen in this era, as if to prove why humanoid weapons were so valued. The specially equipped Jegan's missile launcher again fired another shell, and let out the missiles that were mounted on the shoulders. The Khastriya activated its main thruster to move up and grazed past the missiles as they passed. She then deployed the four wing-pods horizontally, spun the mobile suit 90 degrees, and flew forward. The Kshatriya slipped through the Jegan's trajectory, and into the dark outer space to get the initiative.

Normally, only thruster exhaust is needed to change directions in the vacuum of outer space. However, mobile suits had another system called the Active Mass Balance Control, or AMBAC system. Though there's no gravity in outer space to cause weight, objects still have all their mass, and a one Newton push would require one Newton of force; the force required would be equivalent to the force exerted. The main principal behind the AMBAC system is Newton’s third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. Simply put, the system could control any of a mobile suit's limbs, and use the “equal but opposite reaction” to change the direction the mobile suit faces. This was the one of the main reasons why mobile suits were the strongest weapons of the era, standing head and shoulders above any other.

The Kshatriya skilfully used its four thick limbs and four wing-pods to maneuver as it closed in on the Jegan via a complicated trajectory. The two machines' thrusters were glowing, and these two humanoid robots gave every impression of dancing in outer space. The explosions of the bullets flashed on the screens of both suit's cockpits. Under cover of the explosions, Marida closed in on the enemy. The Kshatriya's pods opened like a blooming metallic flower, with the one shining eye in the middle. The metallic flower was covered with beam cannons, and it used the impact from the explosions to become the most savage and beautiful flower in outer space.

These images were all displayed on the cockpit screens in the Jegan. Both machines were within a few meters of each other, an extremely close distance in outer space, and could use their optical sensors to look directly at one another. A battlefield saturated with Minovsky particles meant close-range combat, and thus it was common to see machines go in close for attacks. In situations like this, there was a need for a one-on-one battle, which was another reason mobile suits were designed as humanoids.

The moment before she crossed the Jegan’s path, Marida switched from the firearms to the beam saber and aimed at the abdomen of the Jegan. The Ksatriya used its mechanical hand to grab the handle of the beam saber and draw it out from the wrist holster. Particles of light shot more than ten meters from the handle, and formed a blade that hacked through the Jegan's abdomen.

The Jegan seemed like it wanted to draw its own beam saber, but reacted too slowly. The beam saber that could cut through 30 centimeters of metal in a second, melted through the Jegan's abdomen, and a metallic sound struck Marida’s mind through the suit.

At the same time Marida heard the voice of the other pilot, whether through wireless signal, or a sense other than her hearing, she did not know. No matter how she heard the voice, though, things ended here. The beam saber slashed through the armor of the Jegan, going straight through the cockpit, immediately vaporizing the pilot, and slicing the entire machine in half. The nuclear reactor inside the Jegan didn't explode as the machine was hacked in half at the waist, and floated away. The burnt remains were still giving off sparks, and the remains of the machine floated past this enemy called the “Sleeve” and silently disappeared.

Marida watched silently as she stowed her beam saber. The wrist of the Kshatriya had a place to keep a beam saber, and was adorned with a crest that looked like a wing—something that looked like a sleeved decoration. The mobile suits of the organization Marida belonged to all had such a design, which was why the Federation called them “Sleeves”, but that wasn't important to Marida at all.

No, it wasn’t just the nickname that wasn’t important. Even the ideal of being an Anti-Earth Federation organization or the content of this mission weren't important. Humans were animals that could think and had curiosity, but Marida felt that this definition wasn't suited for her.

Just like how a man was born a man and a woman was born a woman, Marida Cruz was born a pilot, and lived as a pilot. To follow her master's orders and destroy the enemy mobile suits was her only desire. Perhaps the Garencieres should enter the debris field before the enemy mothership arrived. Right now, though, Marida had to return to her ship as soon as possible, do a damage inspection on the Kshatriya, readjust and resupply. Once she was done, she would prepare for the next launch and get as much rest as possible. She wouldn't do anything else, and wouldn't think of anything else. Marida didn't feel this was in any way unnatural, and she didn't feel sad about it either.

However, once the battle ended, as she relaxed from her tense state after having concentrated for so long, her empty soul would feel some pain. The emotions she suppressed in the battlefield would awaken, and her mind would complain about the unhappiness. As the fire of the funnels destroyed the enemy machines, it felt as if the psycommu system were working in reverse, as she felt really complicated, uneasy about the dying scrams of the pilots that entered her mind. When she sliced the specially-equipped mobile suit, it felt as if she had personally sliced a pilot to death, and the final cringe before he died would cause an uneasiness in both her mind and soul. After recalling the funnels, Marida switched back to full screen view to let the cockpit screens show outer space.

Marida reached up, took off the helmet of her spacesuit, and loosened the hair that was tied behind her head. The straight, waist-length hair was pushed aside, and the hair of a healthy 18-year-old should have floated infront of her eyes, but Marida was instead staring at the starry sky.

The cockpit screens of a mobile suit wouldn't show outer space as it actually appeared if there wasn’t some specific reason. It wasn’t just because it was hard to accurately capture and display, but also because the risk of the pilot panicking was too great. The reality of outer space was so dark, grim and filled with emptiness that it seemed as if it would swallow all existence. However, Marida liked the view to be this way.

During the short time she had before she returned to the ship, Marida took off her helmet and relaxed her entire body as she remained in the vacuum of vast emptiness. This let her feel as if the uneasiness inside her would be washed away. Each star would perform a music she had never heard before, bringing her to another place. To an outer space that didn't have war or unhappiness, that people didn't need space suits to explore.

Of course, such a place didn't exist. Outside this cockpit was an outer space of vacuum deadly to humans, and a reality filled with problems—the human social circle known as the Earth's boundary. Marida adjusted the main camera of the Kshatriya and looked at Earth, far away enough that it was only the size of a tennis ball.

Like many space migrants, she had never stepped onto Earth even once. Marida knew by the object floating in front of the blue body of the Earth that the Garencieres’ target was near. Floating in one of the Lagrange points between Earth and the Moon was the rubble of the past war; this debris field was home to numerous destroyed space colonies and spaceships.

Humanity had created space colony settlements, known as Sides, in the five Lagrange points around Earth and the Moon, and most of humanity had been living in outer space for almost 100 years by now. The wounds of this grand-scale war ran deep, and the debris field was one of them. The place people used to call Side 5 was no longer there, and what remained was a floating graveyard of countless frozen remains. The final destination of Marida and the rest, the colony known as 'Industrial 7', should be located somewhere deep inside this graveyard.

Right now, though, it was impossible to find the colony in the large amount of rubble, but she did find the Garencieres which began to move towards her. Marida again checked to see if there were any pursuers behind her before pushing the Kshatriya on. The nuclear rocket engine sounded through the machine as it jerked, and the force of acceleration pressed on her uneasy body. The helmet that was floating in the cockpit hit the rear screen and let out a light thud.

Part 3

Ah, I’m so out of it today-Banagher Links thought that moment he woke up, and then stopped the alarm clock that was set to vibration mode.

As he carried it to sleep, the alarm clock that became rather warm showed 4.20am. After checking the time, he stealthily got off the bed. It was still pitch black outside. Inside the two-man hostel room, the two beds, desks and dressing tables were still covered in darkness. It was so quiet that only the sound of the clock ticking away by seconds, and his roommate Takuya Irei snoring away on the other bed could be heard.

Of course, it’s impossible for a room with 2 stinky guys inside to be clean as there’s things like clothing that were taken off and empty cans. However, there’s still some orderliness in the mess as Banagher grabbed his shirt and jeans, got off the bed without turning on the lights, and tiptoed his way to the bathroom. He quickly finished combing and washing himself, and then looked at the mirror at the sink.

He had dark brown colored eyes and a skin color of an old Middle Eastern Blood. The long hair of his was of the same color as his eyes, and it was rather smooth even if he didn’t take care of him. On seeing that 16-year-old boyish face of his that was so ordinary and nothing special, that disjointed feeling rose up in him. However, this feeling only continued until he put on that only coat he had.

The blue-based fireproof fibers had the logo ‘AE’ sewn on it. It was the jumper of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, and the logo of the main company Anaheim Electronics was sewn on the left side of the chest. This jumper wasn’t really so good looking that it could be worn outside practical lesson, but Banagher modified the extra jumper he bought and used it as plainclothes. The main modification was at the pocket on the collar. The crest of the Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, AEIC looked like it was removed. Of course, he wasn’t the one who removed it, but that he found a second-hand shop he was familiar with to do the job.

After putting on his clothing to suppress that ‘disjointed’ feeling, what replaced it was the realism of him being part of the large enterprise Anaheim Electronics. After slapping his face to keep himself awake, Banagher left the bathroom, checked that his roommate was still in dreamland, and intended to silently move towards the exit. However, he accidentally kicked into an object the size of a basketball on the floor.

(Hello, Banagher. Hello, Banagher.)

The two circle disks on the ball-shaped body flapped out like ears, and the impact from the kick caused Haro to be activated as it spoke in a monotone voice. Banagher frantically tried to hold down the Haro that was moving on its own and growled softly, “Quiet, Haro!” But it was too late. Takuya, who had the pillow covering his head, sniggled about, and the moment his eyes met Banagher’s, who was about to leave, he got off the quilt and sat up.

“Damn it, Banagher! You don’t care about the agreement that we’re not supposed to run away?”

Takuya roared out. His tea-colored hair was all messy, and he even forgot to wipe away the drool on his head. Though the impression his roommate give was like a big brother who was very affectionate, his popularity would likely decrease when girls see him like this. However, Banagher didn’t have time to think about this and answered back, “Didn’t you adjust the clock faster by 5 minutes, Takuya?” and carried Haro out of the apartment. Banagher put Haro on the door of the hostel and ate the sandwich he bought yesterday. Haro was jumping energetically like a ball out through the automatic door that led to the corridor.

He ran through the school campus that was linked to the hostel, ran through the stairs that linked the school atrium and the road, and arrived at an electronic carpark. The carparks that were managed by the computers automatically send the vehicles over to the locations where the highest frequency of use was. With an ID card, anyone can use it. Banagher bit onto the sandwich and sat inside the open two-seater electronic car, used his ID card to insert into the slot and pressed the start button, grabbed the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

(Very improper, Banagher.)

Perhaps realizing that Banagher was holding the sandwich with one hand and the steering wheel with the engine, Haro’s two optical sensors flickered as it said. Haro, which had a first-level artificial intelligence in its’ ball-shaped body, was supposed to be a toy robot that’s marketed at kids, and would thus say it like this. This shouldn’t be a toy that should belong to a vocational student that’s of the equivalent of high school, but Banagher modified it and carried it around like a pet.

The streets before daylight were rather quiet. Banagher swallowed the sandwich and looked through the windshield glass of this electric and looked up at the sky. Through the clouds that were scattered in the night sky, there were numerous lights flickering through. They look like shines from the stars, but they’re not. Those were the night lights that came from the windows of shops, factories and skyscraper windows that were opened through the night. It’s the city lights that just so happened to be in the opposite direction from here. The carpet of lights that was about 6000m above in the sky covered the entire sky with a gradual arc. On the gap that linked to the skyscrapers, one could see the lights go all the way to the sky right in front. If any residents that were in the opposite direction were to see the sky, the headlamps of this electric car and the surrounding street lights would look like stars too.

The artificial ground that was built within the large cylinder had houses, office buildings, parks and other important things that made up the streets built on it. The internal structure of space colonies were almost all like this. The cylinder that’s 6.4km in diameter would spin in a definite speed, creating a centrifuge force inside the walls, creating 1G’s worth of gravity that’s similar to Earth. The artificial Earth that’s stuck on the inside of the earth, plate areas that’s 3.2km in size and 1.6km deep. Thus, the inside wouldn’t look like it would follow the inside of the ground. At the most, the joints of the plates would look a little slanted.

Day and night inside the space colony was created through the mirrors outside or through the artificial sun at the core, which also had the function of the of adjusting the temperature and creating the four seasons. The time setting was set as Greenwich Time, and the temperature itself was set to the Northern Hemisphere. Unless there’s special uses for sightseeing, this basic setting was used for all the space colonies. Thus, right now, on the 7th of April, 4.330am now, the residential area itself wasn’t too hot or too cold, and most of them were still in middle of night. Also, just like this ‘Industrial 7’, the numerous space colonies were also waiting for spring at night—of course, this include the billions of residents in the space colonies.

And as one of these billion of people, Banagher had been getting up before daylight to get to the dock to work. The work involved clearing ‘rubbish’ outside the space colonies. It was tough getting up early in the morning, but it was all okay since the general education periods could be used for sleep. It was more worth it to work 3 hours before lessons when the morning duty included extra day for night duty, more than working for 5 hours after school.

Takuya worked at the same place, but he got a mini mobile suit that had better work function, and the salary would increase with the work performance. Thus, they would race to see who would get out early. Though there’s a little gentlemanly conduct of not using underhanded means, it was all right if it was everything else, so Banagher and Takuya would think of ways to sneak out. Right now, the winning chances were about 50-50.

However, the two of them weren’t extremely poor students. They were studying in a vocational school where it’s compulsory for them to stay in the hostel, and they got their clothing and food secured. The most they only needed was some spare money. This is just a game, Banagher thought.

A game to shake my roommate off, getting a high capability mini mobile suit. A game to shake off studies, using work to get rid of boredom. Everyone’s the same too. Enjoying the game of student’s relaxation and not facing that ‘disjuncture’…

(Working all the time. At least study some more.)

It’s unknown how Haro realized this as it spoke these words that struck through him. Feeling that he was read through, Banagher answered back, “This is just outside studying!”

“The vocational students here will become future employees of Anaheim. It’s not a bad thing to test out this mini mobile suit first.”

On one hand, he wondered how he ended up making this kind of excuse, but on the other hand, he could be said to be really satisfied by this. Banagher again felt that ‘disjointed’ feeling. This was a future that he wouldn’t even dare to dream of a year ago, and as he look forward to the 12 years of wonderful future, he felt that he was just drifting with the flow like this, and yet feeling a little cold to himself for walking on the path others set in stone. However, he didn’t have anything else he really wanted to do. He would maintain his grades in the middle high tier, party around with others, and feel extremely out of place. The psychological state behind this trouble started when Banagher was small, and now it became his bad habit.

The electronic head moved through the residential area, entered the industrial area between the light industrial areas. Banagher parked the electric car at the carpark near a convenience store and walked down to the subway like usual. On thinking that he may be caught up by Takuya for being so slack, he kept his stupid bothers behind as his feet naturally quickened through the silent street.

Industrial 7 was one of the industrial space colonies Anaheim Electronics operate. Under the control of the space colonies association, the management of facilities were all controlled by Anaheim Electronics. Amongst the population of 2 million, more than half of them were workers or family members of Anaheim Electronics. Of the remaining, half of them, were of related enterprises or underground companies, and those who were unrelated to Anaheim were mostly civil servants working with government administration, policemen or firemen. They didn’t belong to any Side, and they didn’t have any self-government activity, so the Federation Army didn’t keep their army there. This space colony was basically Anaheim Electronics’ personal island.

After the war, Anaheim Electronics started to recover and absorb, becoming a large corporation called the ‘Spoon of the entire Space Army’. Thus, supermarkets, fast food chains and others in the commercial district would all have the logo of Anaheim Electronics. There would be movies sponsored by Anaheim Electronics, teams sponsored by Anaheim in away baseball games, and residents using AE credit cards to pay. Money would flow within the corporation, forming a structure where the money’s paid out and taken back. However, it was never forced, and done in a way residents would notice at all. This was the reason why Anaheim Electronics could become the largest corporation. Banagher glanced aside at the posters, where 80% of them were related to the corporation, got into the subway, and onto the platform.

The whole of the space colony Industrial 7 was just like a factory. At all times, there would be people working. However, there’s no real switch of shifts like morning peak hours. Thus, on the subway train, there’s only a collapsed drunk middle-aged man who was in his work clothes and a woman who looked like she was working in a night club and whose thick make-up was coming off. She didn’t notice Banagher as she looked emotionlessly outside the window. The expired smell of perfume inside the train would remind one of the smell of a hometown one gave up on. Banagher got onto a double seater and sat down.

The 3 layers of doors closed, and the subway train jerked slightly before moving from the platform to the tunnels leading to the outside of the space colony. It’s called the subway, but the subway in the space colonies weren’t underground, but rail tracks exposed on the outer walls of the space colony. In other words, it’s hanging on the tracks and transported outside the space colony—in outer space.

Soon after leaving the station, the air lock that was located at the ramp was locked from behind. Then, the air lock was opened from the front, and the train entered the outer space that’s full of vacuum. The sound of transport and air disappeared together through the subway, and in this silence that felt like the ears were stuffed, the monorail that went through the air lock slightly glide through the outer wall of the space colony.

As there was no air resistance, only a minimal amount of force would be required to move the subway train under high speed. In a space colony, this is an essential mode of transport efficiency, whether it’s to get to the dock or to take a cable car from the bottom of the ‘hill’, or even to ride the elevator up with an electric car. However, Banagher preferred to look at outer space from the subway train’s window as this place had a sense of release other places couldn’t provide.

There were also people who wouldn’t want to take the ride for fear of motion sickness. To create the centrifuge force of 1G, the space colony had to make one rotation about once every two minutes, and the speed would be a rotation speed of more than 600km per hour. If it were to follow the movement of the rotation, the subway train would find that outer space would continue to move, and to a passenger, it’s like shaking the bottom of a toilet bowl at high speeds. Of course, as it’s merely a really long rotation of more than 20km, it would merely look like the stars are moving. However, if one’s not caring, the mind would continue to feel dizzy after returning back to the space colony, and in worse cases, it would cause a severe psychological problem. That’s called the Coriolis Syndrome, a common environment illness amongst first generation space migrants.

However, to Banagher who was born in outer space and brought up in space colonies, looking out from the subway train to outer space was like looking through at an exhibition, something that’s merely a little different from daily life. Once he exit the space colony, he could clearly see the construction of Industrial 7 under way. Industrial 7 was between the Moon and Earth, a sealed space colony that orbited in L1 through the dark space region. It was shaped like a large oxygen cylinder, and the point that had a dock and a construction area was facing the Earth. On the other side that’s facing the Moon, there’s a population settlement building tool commonly called ‘Wheels’ that was covered up. After construction, it’s said that the cylinder would be 30km long. Right now, 18km was completed. Banagher suddenly remembered that there’s a new plate coming today.

The notice board at the hostel had the poster with the words ‘On 7th April, 1pm, there will be a new extension on a new plate which will cause inconvenience…’ and so on. This mean that there would be new artificial land added. The cylinder of Industrial 7 would be extended by another 6km, and the space colonies were floating amongst the large amount of rubbish in the last war. No matter how much it expanded, the world Banagher live in would be of such a size…

Just when Banagher was suddenly thinking about this as his mind thought of that ‘disjointment’, he saw a white object crossing through outside the window.

It wasn’t a star. It let out several exhaust of blueish-white lights, going underground through in a diagonal manner and flying over at a speed faster than the rotation of the space colony. It was only for a moment, and it looked only about the size of a small fingertip, but Banagher felt that the white afterimage that flew away looked human.

“Mobile suit…?”

That’s right, it was completely different from a mini mobile suit used for working. It was a real mobile suit. It wasn’t just a complete duplicate of a human’s dimensions as Banagher even saw the lone horn that was extended out. Industrial 7 didn’t have a factory to create mobile suits, so it couldn’t be a testing of new mobile suits here. Was the army nearby?

His pulse started to race for some reason, and his palms started to sweat. The uncanny resemblance to a white horse—no, the lone horn that gave the biggest impression made it not look like a mere white horse, but a mystical beast that appeared in legend. What was that name…

At this moment, the ‘disjointed’ world came, and it seemed that something that couldn’t be seen before appeared right in front of the eyes. However, he couldn’t find a way to describe this. Banagher put his face onto the window, wholeheartedly looking for the location of the white machine. The nightclub-styled woman who was sitting behind wasn’t moving, and the man in worker’s clothing was still sleeping and snoring loudly.

The train reached one end of the space colony cylinder and turned down the corner. The front end of the space colony looked like a round pressure tube that was sealed. The train moved onto the seal, and moved to the dock at the center—the docking bay. Banagher couldn’t find the white object and sat back. Above the windshield, one could see the docking bay linking to several large buildings near the commercial area, and the intense weight would make anyone gasp for breath. However, Banagher now didn’t care about it. he merely felt that the intense white remains in his eyes start to fade away, and that his heart started to beat wildly for some reason.

Everything began like this.

Part 4

The white machine moved through the space colony that was rotating in the vacuum and head off in the opposite direction of the docking bay, the side facing the Moon.

Similar to the other space colonies, the outer walls of Industrial 7 were of a blueish-silver color. However, it would change at the 18km point on the moon's side, becoming a tea-brown color. That's because the space colony building tool 'Wheel' was set on the front end of the Moon's side.

The wheel, that's 10km long and 6.4km in diameter like a normal space colony, looked like an Eastern teacup from afar, and what covered the space colony looked like a pencil case cover. Its work was to build the outer wall of the space colony and the plate block on the inside of the wall. Like the name 'Wheels' indicate, the space colony was 'created' out from the large cover. Once the outer wall that was built was aligned properly, the 'Wheels' would slide back until the estimated length before separating. The front end of the cover head an outlet to move the equipment and a workers' quarters, thus, even with the expansion work, the space colonies could continue to operate without being affected in any way.

And right now, Industrial 7 had the equipment of the 'Wheels' moved to the entrance—the bottom of the cup. Then, other machinery and equipment were moved in through that large machine. The white mass went by the outer wall of the 'Wheels', and in a short time, got to the Moon's side to the large machine called 'Magallanica'.

The 'Magallanica' was about 6,500m in length, and the long and thin center exposed the rotation residential area that's 1.6km in length. That unique shape earned it the moniker 'Snail'. On the two sides of the of the rotating residential areas, there were factories shown out, and they looked like little asteroids that were absorbing resources. The biological-like appearnance really fit its moniker. On the back of its main body, there's a nuclear pulse engine. Based on the fact that it could navigate on itself own, it could be said to be a giant spacesuit. However, it would be more appropriate to call it a mobile factory that had an engine due to its production ability to create, refine and even build space colonies. In fact, the Magallanica was classified as a builder of space colonies, and its dimensions were different from a spaceship.

And at an area of the Magallanica, at the place that's the equivalent to the head of s snail, there was an oval-shaped command center. The white machine slowed down right in front of it, used the AMBAC system to make a flip, grazed through the arc of windows in a bow shape and went up. There were many unmanned cameras following it, taking shots of several of the machine's parts. The main thruster on the back of the machine, the overall image of straight and curved contours and the complicated antenna that extended out from the forehead. These images were immediately analysed and shown on the multiple screens in the command room, shown into Cardeas Vist's eyes.

The dome-shaped command room that was more than 70m in diameter had a fan-shaped multi command system that gave a mixed impression between a command room of a ship that's parked and a control room of a base. On the inside of the walls of the dome-shaped space, it seemed to be filled with screens and only windows. What appeared at the middle fan-shaped metal board was a control scheme full of messages and controls. The Magallanica was a space colony builder that was meant to develop the area around Jupiter, and the command room that bore the responsibility of a central brain was large and magnificent. However, as it was now at Earth's vicinity, most of the control functions couldn't be used. Thus, only 1 quarter of the control seats were taken, and it looked somewhat relaxed.

However, every single person amongst these 20 control personnel looked rather serious,. They were staring at the multiple screens on the inside of the wall and recording the data they took down into the computers in their hands. The command room was filled with intensity, and it wasn't just because the overnight operation experiment was about to end, but that they knew that the 'UC project' itself was about to end. Cardeas, who was sitting on the command seat in this fan-shaped central command room, was also feeling this excitement.

Anaheim Electronics was requested by the Earth Federation to secretly carry out the 'UC project', and it would immediately end with the completion of this white mobile suit. However, that would be the start of the development of the plan.

The RX-0 'Unicorn', the product of this 'UC plan', would be born out of the darkness, where even the army and Anaheim wouldn't know, becoming the key onto a journey that would break a 100 year old curse. The machine that had the name of the beast of possibilities would bring release to the world or—

“RX-0, you're too close to the space colonies! The subway train's moving! What'll happen if a passenger sees it!”

An operator who also bore the secrecy of this job roared at the microphone. Cardeas was also sweating it when he saw the Unicorn close in on the outer walls of the space colony, but a daring pilot was a more reliable one. Cardeas gave a wry smile and said,

“Today's his last time piloting the 'Unicorn'. Forgive him.”

“Yes...” Even though he kept back his attitude, the operator still couldn't hide his emotions on his face as he looked at the screen. Even though he was a little overly serious, he was a rather good worker too, and Cardeas' wry smile made it even more obvious. Including the test pilots, all the workers here were Anaheim Electronics employees who were involved in the 'UC Project'. The Vist Foudation gave them a high salary in return of them to keep the company's secret and help Cardeas in his plan. Of course, every single one of them weren't people who could be bought over with money, and every one that helped out were outstanding technicians who hoped for the 'Unicorn' to be completed successfully.

Right now, the only one who wasn't a member of Anaheim Electronics was most likely Gael Chan, who was standing beside Cardeas. He was also the secretary and bodyguard. Gael, who was also of the military in the past like Cardeas, joked “As expected of what an ex-pilot would say.” He was in charge of maintaining the secrecy behind this project, and now, he should be undergoing foolproof security at the secret stronghold in Magallanica.

This man was once involved in the underground society, so he was clear with the dealings within the army and the police. If there was a need, he would do a dirty job without hesitation. Gael had a bitter look on his face, which made Cardeas feel that he had something to say. He whispered, “What's the matter.”

“We just made contact with our allies on Lunar II. A Londo Bell ship fought with the 'Sleeves', lost 3 mobile suits and let them get away.”

Gael whispered back. Londo Bell was an independent mobile squadron of the Earth Federation, and didn't have a designated control area. It was a brigade that would deal with things once there was something. The command system would obviously be different from usual, so it would be more like an external organization of the army.

And Londo Bell set an ambush around the dark space region and fought with the 'Sleeves'. To Cardeas, who had something really important to do, he couldn't leave it alone.

“So news were leaked. Did Londo Bell take any other action yet?”

“We've tried looking into news on the 'Londonio's side, but there's no information yet. The commander's really an upright person.”

“He's called Bright Noa, right? I saw him before on a television interview or something like that. Such a man...”

“RX-0 passed its final phase. All objectives complete.” The voice of the operator rang, and Cardeas looked back at the front. “Good work. The mental response to the G-force is within expectations.” “Pilot's lifesigns all all normal.” Voices of reports continued to echo, and Gael shut up behind and seemed to back away. Has it arrived? Cardeas rubbed his eyes, looked through the screen to see that the white machine had already entered back onto the trajectory and took the microphone off the control panel.

“Everyone, please swear this together with me. The activation experiment of the RX-0 has completely ended. Once it comes back, we're going to remove the test OS, seal the NT-D and activate the Laplace system.”

The air rumbled a little, and soon, the command room was covered in an urgent silence. As the workers floated under zero gravity right in front of the screen, they were grabbing their things nearby and looking at the chairman with nervous expressions.

“I'm grateful to everyone for taking part in this. The 'UC project' will never see the light of day, and everyone's accomplishment will not be passed through generations. However, I'll like to guarantee everyone that at this moment, where history will be changed, the Unicorn would play an important role. Before that day, I hope for everyone to remain silent about this and forget everything you heard here. The Vist Foundation will use its name to ensure everyone's safety. That's all.”

The 'safety' over here would mean that all the workers here would be watched by the Foundation. All their relationships and communication records would be thoroughly exposed—it's unknown how much the workers knew. Gael used his eyes to indicate to everyone to applaud, and after everyone clapped to scatter away this troubling atmosphere, Cardeas put down the microphone.

Now, all preparations were complete. The Unicorn would be sealed and handed to the recipient. If the recipient had that element within, the Unicorn would approach this recipient, carry him and lead him to 'Laplace Box'.

After that...it's impossible to predict. If the recipient didn't have that element, the seal of the Unicorn will not be broken—no, there's a bigger problem. There's no proof to indicate that such a person existed. No matter how much he thought, there wouldn't be such a beginning. Cardeas' conclusion was not to think about it. He told Gael behind him, “Proceed as according to plan.”

“Continue to track Londo Bell's movements. If we can't track the commander, we can still know of the fleet's movements if we follow their reinforcements.”

“Understood...but, aren't you going to reconsider?”

Grabbing onto the handle of the chair, Gael lowered his upper body and said to Cardeas. Cardeas looked at Gael's face.

“They not related to the Federation, but the 'Sleeves' is still a dangerous organization. There's no need for the head of the Vist Foundation to personally head out.”

On seeing Gael's expression that practically said “Think about your own age”, Cardeas couldn't help but grimace unknowingly. Even if this wasn't something really related to the Foundation, Cardeas didn't want to hand it over to other people. The reason was that if there was really someone who had such a nature, he wanted to see what kind of person that was.

“If you think of it that way, just do your work properly and safely and prevent causing trouble in this Industrial 7. Besides, there's a school I'm running here as the chairman.”

Cardeas said in a half-joking manner as he used the computer beside him to open the introductory page to Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. Gael didn't smile as he used his eyes to say 'is this really alright?' before leaving the command room. On seeing Gael's tall and huge body grab onto the handle on the corridor as he floated out, Cardeas looked back at the screen that had the logo of Anaheim Electronics and the school photo.

After keying in the special password for the chairman, Cardeas looked through the students' namelist that wasn't to be released. As Cardeas scrolled through the 5,000 students that were arranged in alphabetical order, he showed a designated person's photo on the screen, and sighed in a habitual manner.

Now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't use this place as one for dealing. However, there's no better place to hide from the eyes of the client and the developer, and there's no better place to install the Laplace system into the Unicorn. The industrial space colony Magallanica that belonged to Vist Foundation and Anaheim Electronics symbolized a good inseparable location that could fool the army and Anaheim, a secret garden to readjust the Unicorn. Cardeas silently watched the screen at the enlarged profile of the student.

Banagher Links. Currently of the Technical Resource development branch. 16 years old. As he looked at his birthday and the personal particulars, Cardeas again sighed as he looked back at the boyish face that seemed to represent his youth.

Part 5

The dock of the space colony would normally be called a docking bay, and it was a habit that remained from a long time ago when space development was under way. In that age when humanity finally found a way to send space stations into low orbit above Earth, the ships that went to and fro were just 'docking' with the space station. The scale of which the stopping point was used wasn't large enough to be called a 'bay'. There were also quite a few cases of space stations being linked to each other. Either way, the early space constructs were just relay platforms.

And right now, the docking bay that was located on the front end of the space colony had 7 space cabins of different sizes inside its cylinder-shaped construct, and the spaceship that entered the dock was merely stopped in zero gravity at the dock in space, waiting for the immigration check and other procedures. And the zero gravity industrial area of Industrial 7 was linked to the docking bay, so the construct that reached out from the space colony was larger than the other space colonies by a ring. Including the cylindrical docking bay, the entire length should be over 3.5km. The cylinder shaped factory in the industrial area, and each factory had a dock for transport ships to dock, so there weren't just 10, 20 ships that came in and went out of space. There were so many of them it was like fireflies surrounding a high pressure bottle.

4.15am. The Garencieres became one of the fireflies as it gradually approached the brand new docking bay of Industrial 7. The space colony that was half complete was still new, and the platform showed a dim glow as what was even more eye-catching was the solar panel. The 4 rows of rectangular solar panels that were 5km long were lined beside the space colony, and the surface was always facing the sun. The electricity obtained from the sun would be sent to the space colony via microwaves. To the space colony of Industrial 7 that is sealed off, this was a must.

Of course, it’s easy to get interference from electromagnetism when the electricity’s being transferred, so the energy panel wouldn’t be on the path where the ships were docked. However, the Garencieres grazed by the solar panels at a close distance and reduced its relative velocity with Industrial 7. Just when the sunlight that was reflected on a solar panel in a white panel was right near it, the hatch of the ship opened, releasing a mobile suit from the hangar.

There was a dark green body, pink glowing mono-eyed golem. This was the ‘Geara Zulu’, the supposedly main fighting force of the ‘Sleeves’ mobile suits. It looked like a middle-ages knight armor and also a soldier with a helmet and a gas mask. As it went past the solar panel, it was dropped off the Garencieres, using the shield on the right shoulder to reflect sunlight, and soon after, continued to let out bursts of thrust. Compared to the large solar panel, the human-shaped machine that was 20m in height was just like dust. Once it slipped through the gap behind the construct of the solar panel, it couldn’t be seen.

Less than 10 seconds passed. Even though the trajectory was cleared, the space region still had lots of space dust around, and the space control management couldn’t possible notice a ship’s mysterious actions. Even if there may be someone who was serious enough to take out a pair of binoculars to look, the light that’s reflected off the solar panel could cover it. Marida Cruz was looked behind at the solar panel, and again looked back at the bridge.

Located on both left and right sides were the steering seat and the navigation seat, and at the back where it was slightly higher, it was the captain’s seat. The bridge of the Garencieres was full just like that, and to those who didn’t have a seat, this wasn’t a place they could stay for long. However, the ceiling still had a definite height, so there wasn’t much problems under zero gravity. Under zero gravity, every could squeeze into this three dimension space.

“This will be long, but it’ll be over before the change. Just endure this.”

Sitting on the captain’s seat, Suberoa Zinnerman bellowed to the microphone. The old captain’s hat, brown leather coat and rough stubble of moustache made him look like the captain of an old trading ship. However, his eyes were sharp. The voice that came through the wireless communicator “Yes, captain.” Couldn’t hide its anxiety.

The one who spoke was the pilot of the Geara Zulu, Savoir. He will be hidden under the solar panel for one whole day and watch the outside of Industrial 7. They didn’t let the enemy know about the deal, but since they were ambushed by the Federation, they couldn’t believe the kind intentions of the other party completely. If they were thoroughly checked through once they entered the dock, Savoir’s Geara Zulu would wreck havoc.

In that case, not only will Marida’s Kshatriya sortie, but even the other Geara Zulu would launch too. And the pilot was Gilboa Sant. Right now, he was sitting on the navigation seat, busy explaining to the control officer why they were slightly off course. Gilboa’s 30 years old and had a friendly and approachable face. He had pure black skin that was rare to see nowadays, and also the father of 3 children. And on the steering seat on the other side was the 27 year old Flaste Schole. As compared to Gilboa, he gave off a cold and aloof vibe. Though his appearance looked rather unapproachable, he was really a good big brother who would take care of others, and the other members all trusted him. He was an acquaintance of Zinnerman for a long time, and the number 2 man supporting the captain from behind.

The entire look of the Garencieres squadron was of 33 members, including the sortie team of mobile suits and the crew of the ship. Amongst the ‘Sleeves’ that the Earth Federation declared to be ‘Terrorists that appear and disappear out of nowhere’, they could be said to be a specialized unit. With Captain Zinnerman leading the front, all the crew members were disguised as members of a trading ship, so they weren’t as rigid as a military organization. The main forces of the ‘Sleeves’ seemed to view them as radicals too; so it was like Zinnerman leading an independent group or an underground organization carrying out a mission. In fact, they received this mission precisely because of such a nature. Including the ambush from the Federation Army just now, the ship had an atmosphere of not knowing how to deal with this mission.

They were headed to Industrial 7 to collect the Laplace Box the Vist Foundation would provide. On first glance, it was a mission that anyone could do, a mission that even a delivery company could do. The only thing abnormal was that no one knew of the true identity of Laplace Box—

“We’ve passed the request completely. It seemed that the Harbor Authority was notified too, so we can dock without an investigation…I don’t understand.”

After ending the conversation with the Control Officer, Gilboa said worriedly. Marida looked over at him, and she could see a space gate that was the size of a thumb outside and the guiding lights.

“The thing we want is on the port on the other side, right? Why won’t they let us go there directly…since it’s connected to the builder of space colonies, wouldn’t it be easier to carry out the deal if we’re not allowed to go out normally?”

“That space colony was said to be Vist Foundation’s personal belonging. Most likely, they don’t want us from getting too close.”

Flaste interrupted. Industrial 7 only opened its port that’s facing Earth, and the port facing the Moon was covered by the Colony Builder. That’s a large installation that could use and purify the space dust in the dark wasteland space and form them as materials for new space colonies. Let alone the personnel there, even the people living inside the space colonies were said to be restricted in their movements. While it was still unknown whether the Laplace Box they heard from the information was real, it was still a good place to carry out a secret deal. However, the Vist Foundation didn’t let them head towards the Colony Builder directly.

“They’re still more or less wary of us. We’re the illegal ‘Sleeves’ after all.”

As he drank from the canned coffee, Zinnerman said in a self-mocking manner. This voice washed away the doubts of his subordinates and made everyone remember that they were in danger. However, Flaste continued on, a rare feat for him,

“So, what’s that Laplace Box anyway? You should more or less tell us, right?”

That’s the question that went straight to the core. Gilboa looked back at Zinnerman on the Captain’s seat too. Zinnerman shrugged and said,

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s some huge treasure that we’ll be shocked by.”

“It doesn’t appear on the surface, but the Vist Foundation one huge tycoon organization, and it’s deeply ingrained in the government and Anaheim Electronics. The Foundation’s their main base, right? Those guys who would deal with the Federation government would actually offer us a treasure. I really don’t understand.

What Gilboa said was precisely what everyone on the Garencieres couldn’t understand, but Zinnerman continued to look rather aloof. He answered “This is news we got from Full Frontal, so we can trust him on that.” And looked at Marida, who just so happened to look back, and the control onto the trajectory became stronger.

Including the ambush just now, there was definitely something wrong with the situation. Don’t let your guard down. Zinnerman warned everyone else with his eyes—Marida nodded and looked out of the window. Luckily, the port official’s boat was closing in, and Flaste and Gilboa started to talk into the wireless communicator, and the conversation ended like that. Marida looked at the numerous fires and exhaust, checking that everyone was normal.

Right now, there were three things they know. First, they will be provided with the item for free provided that they followed the instructions of Vist Foundation. Second, the item that’s the be dealt was large, so it had to be transported through a cargo ship. Because of this, they had only 2 frames of Geara Zulu even though they could normally dock three of them in the hangar to allow space for a mobile suit. On the other hand, the fact that they merely put only one less mobile suit showed that Zinnerman was somewhat hesitant on this mission.

However, the most important point was the third one. This thing called the Laplace Box had the ability to overturn the world—shake the Earth Federation and change the area around the Earth—it could be some scandal on the current administration or the ultimate weapon that could bring about a change in military forces. However, there had to be some basis for this for the headquarters to agree to the Vist Foundation’s invitation. And right now, the situation with the ‘Sleeves’ was such that even if it was only a trace of hope, they had to grab it.

But no matter what, it didn’t matter to me.Marida thought that no matter what’s inside Laplace Box, her mission to protect her master and work for him would never change. If the box really existed, they will bring it back, and if it was a trap, she would break through. Thus, no matter how much of a sacrifice she had to make, she wouldn’t hesitate at all. Marida again looked over at Industrial 7 in front of her.

Amidst the numerous remains of steel and stone, the isolated space colony that was floating away slowly was itself like a box with a secret inside. The Garancieres followed the two rows of guiding lights and entered the docking bay, and just when they were about to be allocated into a space gate, there were numerous objects flying into outer space. Marida consciously checked the appearance and number of objects.

The cylinder shaped objects grew out short legs and arms for work, and they had bubble-shaped wind-proof installations. These human shaped machines that were the size of two humans were mobile suits used for port work.

8 mobile suits flew by, perhaps here to clean the runaway, and then, another dozen of mini mobile suits went past the Garancieres . As he looked at the squad of small mobile suits that were 3m tall, Gilboa said, “It’s Bubbo’s Company machines.”

“Junk Collection?”

“Yeah. Lots of space colonies opened chain shops. Most likely, they came here because of Anaheim’s outsourcing project. It looked good, and because of the junk caused by the One Year War, it wouldn’t be complete even if it took 100 years…”

Perhaps feeling that he was in the middle of creating junk, Gilboa sounded somewhat heavy-hearted. Flaste didn’t answer back, and Marida looked at the mini mobile suits that were floating in vacuum.

As they let out the thruster boost, the mini mobile suits started to move into the space dust on orbit, and they would fire at those things that were so big they couldn’t collect back. To them, junk’s just dunk, just a economical value to reclaim to decide who get more back. There’s such a life, Marida thought; a life where she won’t take other people’s lives or have her life taken. After thinking about her future 1 year, 10 years , a life to fight for tomorrow…

The enemies I took down today may one day be reclaimed back, right? Marida looked at the lights that didn’t involve her and thought.

Part 6

She moved inside the boat that brought her here, went through three compartments, and arrived at the central bay.

The docking job started, and the variable-sized communicator that looked like a harmonica was connected to the air bridge and the air lock of the Garencieres. As she looked through the window and that the workers inside the ship were starting to get busy, the girl cautiously left the room.

The helmet that had the spacesuit on closed the visor. This wasn’t equipment that wasn’t important when there was air was only important so that the face wasn’t seen. Most of the port workers would be wearing spacesuits, and if she was successful, she could sneak it through. The girl held the handle and move through the narrow corridor, reaching the air lock at the hatch of the ship, and decisively opened grabbed the handle.

Due to the air flow caused by the difference in air pressure, the sound of metal colliding, the sound of the exhaust of the motion control and the audio broadcast of the professional contact enter. The center dock was a large space that was 500m wide, and the floor and the ceiling—though it’s meaningless to call them this under zero gravity—both sides had 4 canes each, and each of them were docked on trading ships similar to the Garencieres. The girl went through the air lock, let her body float towards the floor 20m away. Before the magnetic boots touched the ground, the girl took out some cable from her waist and fired the trigger at the wall of a crane.

The magnet that was shot out stuck onto the wall of the crane. She squeezed the trigger again, and the cable gun that looked like a handgun coiled up automatically, bringing the girl over to the magnet. This was something that was really important when working under zero gravity.

After the coiling was done, the magnetism vanished, and she would have to aim at another point next. Just like this, the girl continued to repeat this motion and move towards the exit of the industrial area. While moving, she went by the crew members of the Garencieres, but as everyone was busy dealing with the docking, and that she had her spacesuit and the visor on, no one could recognize her. The girl reached the exit without anyone noticing, and then used the handle to move on. The mobile handle that was installed on the wall and handrail increased its speed together with the strength of the grip, and sent the girl towards the industrial area.

The ships that were already checked through were docked at this port, thus, it wasn’t hard to leave this port, and there should be no problems if the industrial port wasn’t into operation mode. The problem was about how to reach the colony builder that was on the other side of the space colony. As she continued to remember the map of Industrial 7 in her mind, the girl slipped into a group of workers and entered the Terminal Body.

The girl had a plan. There was an artificial sun inside Industrial 7, at the center core in the cylinder of the space colony. The illuminating installation that reached out on both sides was the thing that create night and day. In the old century’s manner of speech, it was like a large play.

The artificial sun had a walkway for inspection that reach out to both ends of the space colony. Of course, this wasn’t a place anyone would go, and the artificial sun would give off lots of heat, so the pathway couldn’t be used in the day. However, if she entered there, she wouldn’t have to enter the space colony and could reach the region on the other side. There’s a chance that she could get near the colony builder that people were rarely allowed to enter, and find a chance to sneak in.

5.50am. The girl checked the watch to see that there’s still time till daylight and took off her spacesuit helmet. She pulled her short brown hair off and floated into the toilet nearby.

Now, it would be too obvious to wear a spacesuit here. She entered the toilet that had a toilet bowl for zero gravity use, took off her spacesuit and put on dark blue jeans and a white jean as she got out of the bathroom. She ignored the worker who passed by while whistling on put on a jacket that was as fluffy as a shawl before grabbing the mobile handle and moving to the exit of the tower. As it wass most likely not a change of shift yet, there weren’t many people in front of the exit.

I have to get to the colony builder before Zinnerman and Marida take action and meet the person I should meet. The girl thought as she moved out of the Terminal Building.

Part 7

A while back, Banagher was in the same Terminal Building, at the office of Bubbo’s Company, facing the Chief of the Management Section.

“So I can’t sortie today?”

“That’s the instructions of the superiors. A trading ship’s about to enter at the last minute, so I had to send a crane out first…I asked the previous shift to handle the rest, and they went off.”

While the superiors ask for increase in efficiency, the subordinates ask for improvement in working environment, and the Chief of Management had to explain that the blame wasn’t on him. Right now, the large amount of space dust caused lots of social problems, and the Bubbo Company showed marked improvement in growth. However, most people viewed them as merely junk collectors who overturned things, and there’s a rather bleak feeling about this. Even if they changed their title for ‘Junk Collector’ to ‘Resource Collector’, the understanding of society would not change. At this operation base of Industrial 7 and everyone inside, including the Chief had a rather lonely feeling.

It was really no surprise that Bubbo Company would lend out cranes to a ship that just arrived, but to Banagher who came here to work part-time, it wasn’t worth being so happy about. The morning shift squad had already left, so those who were working today flew off. There was no latest mini mobile suits to use, and everything was just a waste of time. Banagher really wanted to grumble ‘I finally became the first one here…’ or something like that.

“Sorry, I’ll add some extra money for your overtime fee next time.”

The bespectacled Chief smiled and seemed to be busy managing the delayed trip. He wasn’t hiding the fact that he didn’t have the time to deal with part-time workers as he went into the office to get the call. The two workers who were working night shift were also lowering their heads and staring at their screens. Seeing them like this, Banagher didn’t have the energy to talk more as he left the office that had the smell of plastic. The word ‘Disjointed’ went through his mind again.

Banagher let Haro exit onto the corridor first, kicked against the wall that had footprints all over it, and let his body float towards the corridor window that could look at the central port. The number 4 crane Bubbo Company used was parked at a ship he had no impression on. It was an old-styled Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Craft. The ship that was obviously stained had the logo ‘RIbakoona Trading’ on it and the ship’s name ‘Garencieres’.

“The name’s rather delicate…”

As he muttered this a little grudgingly, he found that Takuya was coming in from the other end of the corridor. Takuya let go of the handle that was moving at the fastest speed possible before his body landed on the cushion on the wall due to inertia. The first thing he spoke was: “Banagher, you bastard…!” And Banagher silently pointed to the office’s entrance.

Takuya was also stunned as he then walked into the office, and soon appeared on the corridor after 1 minute. He looked like he didn’t know what was going on, but he chuckled on seeing Banagher, and even said (That’s karma, karma.) Even Haro was flapping its ear disks and crying ‘Retribution, retribution’. Banagher carried Haro and left the corridor.

There was still three hours until vocational lessons began, and Banagher and Takuya didn’t want to head back to the hostel to sleep. Thus, they went to the cafeteria in the industrial area. The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony was also a rest area that functioned as an observatory post, so they could still take a little nap at this time.

In this Industrial 7 space colony that was almost completely covered with factories, the zero gravity industrial area that was linked to the docking bay was the largest production base. There were all sorts of production lines, from metal, refining, heating to assembly, and it included a production work that made use of the zero gravity environment. This place produces everything related to industrial needs, from the screws used on a train to the gundanrium alloy.

To the industrial area that works for 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, no matter whether it was midnight or morning, it was just a unit of time. Once they entered the unloading area that was full of air, tey could hear the sounds of mini mobile suits moving about, hoots and controllers shouting, and also the sounds of metal colliding with each other. Soon, they heard the voices of the operator shouting :”DAMN BRATS! WEAR A HELMET HERE!” Banagher and Takuya shouted, “Sorry!” but didn’t slow down as they grabbed hard onto the mobile handle and continued to head to the unloading area that would lead to the cafeteria.

On the way, Banagher mentioned to Takuya about how he saw a white mobile suit in the subway train. Takuya, who was studying mobile suits and aimed to be a test pilot, was already familiar with military affairs such that he could be said to be a fanatic of it. Banagher thought that his facial expression would change on hearing a new mobile suit, but Takuya’s reaction was unexpectedly cold.

“The war with Zeon is over. The Federation finally started with reprogramming. Even if a new mobile suit is developed, it would just be a minor modification to a GM.”

“But that machine was completely white and had a single horn on it. It really looked special. Since it’s a reprogrammed one, it’s not weird to see a new mobile suit developed, right?”

“Fool, that’s something that can only happen during war. Why would they allocate some of the budget to develop a new mobile suit if there’s no imaginary enemy.”

That sounded logical. “Is that so…” “You really don’t know anything.” On hearing such a response, Banagher felt like he may want to find a hole to hide in.

No matter what aspect it is, someone who works hard on one thing would have the keen eyesight of observing the world from that perspective, and Banagher felt a little short and behind others for not being able to have it. It wasn’t too bad if it was an ordinary high school student, but someone studying this ‘one-way trip’ at Anaheim Electronics would feel really guilty.

“It’s great that you had a goal.”

Thus, Banagher suddenly raised this issue. Takuya looked somewhat surprised and gave a wry look “What are you saying?”

“Aren’t you planning to go develop the Jupiter zone?”

“That’s true…”

However, Banagher was different from Takuya. He merely chose one subject out of many when he transferred into Anaheim Electronics Institute College, and didn’t really have a particular insistence. Banagher merely wanted to see Jupiter and was moved by the term trail blazer, but he lost all enthusiasm when he thought of how he had to study engineering and mathematics. No, it’s not that he found studying hard, but that he found himself ‘disjointed’ when he was mixed together with a group a really passionate volunteers.

Thinking about this, the doubts Banagher often had would appear in his mind, whether he should be here? He searched through the layers of his memories as to why he was here. His mother died, and on the night of the funeral, a group of men in suits appeared and said, “We’re hired by your father.” And told him that his life will be assured in the future. After that, what he got was a transfer application to Anaheim Electronics Institute College—

They never explained what kind of person his father was, and only said that one day, he would meet him personally. Banagher himself didn’t want to ask too much. It wasn’t really much of an interest to him, but as both mother and son relied on each other for more than 10 years, anyone would be troubled about a father who suddenly appeared, and no matter what the reason was, Banagher didn’t want to recognize a man who wouldn’t even come to his mother’s funeral. At the same time, he felt that if he opened himself too much, he would be betraying his mother.

His mother was a kind and strong-willed person who raised Banagher alone and made Banagher forget that he needed a father. Though the ever-changing jobs and residences caused Banagher to end up transferring schools without having time to make friends, it wasn’t his mother’s fault. Banagher would always remember how on Christmas night at the age of 5, that this Haro was sent over without warning.

His mother said that it was a present from Santa Claus, but Banagher knew that it was a present sent over by his father. After that, his mother would keep moving houses like she was running away from disaster, perhaps to get away from his father. And his mother would be unhappy if he asked. Thus, Banagher knew before the age of ten that this was a question he couldn’t ask.

“He’s really a strong-willed person. You can be proud to be his son. But I know that his strength won’t bring happiness to us mother and son, so mom can only bring you away from that person…”

His mother would only talk about this when his father was mentioned. Whenever his mother asked “Do you understand?” Banagher could only pretend to understand and nod his head. Both mother and son stayed in an old space colony at Side 1, an old residential area near the slums. Banagher grew up watching his mother who shouldn’t be living in such a place, felt that he shouldn’t cause too much trouble for his mother, and started to feel troubled by the ‘disjointed’ feeling in him.

It’s especially because of that unknown reason that he started to feel ‘disjointed’ ever since he first had his memories. It was different from feeling out of place. It felt like there was a place he should really be at, but that his mind and body was being separated from that place. This baseless feeling still didn’t disappear even after he accepted the invitation of this father of his that he never met before and stayed in Industrial 7. The naïve expectation that this ‘disjointed’ feeling would disappear the moment he came here was just a rhapsody of his own youth. Banagher could calmly analyze this aspect of himself in hindsight.

He thought that if he put on the uniform of Anaheim Electronics and thought of becoming a member of this large corporation, he could forget all about this. However, after 8 months of hostel life, what he got was only an ordinary license and a mini mobile suit license. In the days that never changed, where things never really happened, the ‘disjointed’ feeling started to grow. Right now, he still didn’t know his father’s true identity, and neither did he try to know as he was already having a hard time handling the future that was becoming smaller.

Why did I come here? Why do I feel that I am looking forward to this ‘Disjointed’ feeling being filled up? As he carried the Haro that he took care of all this time, Banagher pondered. Was it that I want to meet my father? To see where I come from? But even if we meet, nothing will change. Even if I know my origins, I can’t be assured that there will be where I will go…

His thoughts just continued to beat around like this as they went from the unloading bay to the cargo area. Takuya, who was walking in front, shouted excitedly, “Wow, that’s a huge find!” and Banagher lifted his head up.

At a corner of the large cargo area, there were the remains of a mobile suit. It’s unknown whether it was the Bubbo Company or other ‘Junk Collector’ company who took it in. The parts below the knees were severed, and those parts under the right shoulder were gone. However, the dark green body and the head with the one eye were still intact, and it was still easy to identify what the damaged thing was. This was really a great find, and even Banagher felt this way. Almost all the remains of space colonies or mobile suits were taken back, and as mainstream mobile suits became mini ones that were only able to pull scraps, it’s really rare to see such a relatively intact scrap. It’s unknown who found it, but the person who found it can earn half a year’s worth of salary with this. Banagher and Takuya let go of the hand and floated towards the remains.

“Is that a Zaku?”

As he reached the deck where he could look down at the remains, Banagher grabbed onto the handrail and asked Takuya. That used to be the main fighting force of the Republic of Zeon, the name of the line of machines and also the mother of all mobile suits. No matter whether it was the green frame that had lots of spikes on the left shoulder armor, Banagher really couldn’t think of any other machine that had these characteristics. However, Takuya answered: “Idiot, that’s not it.”

“That’s the ‘Geara Doga’, a machine used during ‘Char’s Counterattack’.”

“Never heard of it. I’m not that crazy about machines.”

“This is created by Anaheim! Remember that.”

Takuya used his finger to point at the temple, and Banagher just stared at the remains of the mobile suit. The machine that obviously had burned scars had workers all around using their handheld notebooks to enter data into. It’s unknown whether they were trying to diagnose the selling price of the machine or how to distribute this once they decide to split this out. The one eye and the visor glass were broken, but the power source that was severed off was leaking oil, making one wonder if the reactor could still work. The still-human appearance that remained made one wonder that it may be a remain that could move once someone adjust it.

Maybe the pilot was able to get out in time? Banagher had this idea as he turned his eyes to the cockpit at the abdomen, but gasped as he found that he was wrong. The armor plate that was protecting the cockpit was twisted by the heat, opening a hole that was 1m long. It looked like a beam weapon shot through it, burning through the cocking, leaving a laser bullet hole and vaporizing the pilot. It looked just like a black hole that led to an endless darkness. That was the action of humans who made the hole, one that was unrelated to them, called war. It was deep and black, looking like it was about to absorb someone into it—

“…The war’s over. There won’t be any new frames now.”

Takuya swallowed his saliva and mentioned what they were talking about just now. The side of his face seemed to be a little white.

“There aren’t any news on terrorism recently.”

“There’s still some remnants of Zeon, but the scale’s not large enough to form an army. The Defense Ministry wrote in black and white that ‘We’re cleaning up after the war on Zeon’.”

“The space colony I was staying on once had a freelance transporter, but he said something about space residents living independently, and I didn’t feel anything much after hearing it.”

Side 3, which was on the back of the Moon, was self-proclaimed the Republic of Zeon that declared its independence from the Earth Federation and triggered what’s called the One Year War. Banagher understood this as well. The dark wasteland region where Industrial 7 was where the remains of the initial battle both sides had, the ‘Battle of Loum’. Banagher himself was born under this offensive age where half the population was wiped out—what sociologists call babies born after the war. During the 16 years of war, the so-called remnants of Zeon continued to launch conflicts one after another, creating terrorist attacks on a grand scale. However, these were another thing entirely to Banagher and the rest, just information taught through televised news and textbooks. No matter whether it was the war or the independent movements of the space residents, it was nothing different from fiction to them.

However, the dark bullet hole in front of them showed them that all these were real. It caused them to realize that people really died from this and reprimanded them of their lazy lifestyles. They talked to each other in perfect unison and left this place. The image of war that suddenly appeared in front of them wasn’t so easily erased, and that deep and dark hole that led to emptiness shot through Banagher’s heart.

The cafeteria that was facing the inside of the space colony had one wall that was completely made of glass, and they could see the streets on the inside of the wall from the center of the cylinder. It was 5.20am, and the artificial sun that goes through the entire inside of the colony wasn’t activated as there seemed to be a thin carpet of light seen inside the wall of the colony from 3,000m height.

In another 10 minutes, the artificial sun would declare the start of the day, and the vast amount of light and heat would bring about morning to Industrial 7. At that moment, the windows of the cafeteria would have a light filter on to reduce the shine the artificial sun would release at close range. However, there was no need to cover it for now. The artificial sun outside the window that lead to the other side of the space colony was still in darkness. There were few people who were in the cafeteria at this point, and Banagher and Takuya were holding onto their own trays as they sat beside the window.

They were discussing about what to do with the report they have to hand in a month later, just before summer vacation began, how the old hag in physics lesson would mess them up, and talked around before Takuya started yawning. After putting the empty soup pipe onto the tray, he said “I’m going to sleep” and used the zero gravity environment to put his legs about. Banagher was trained by his mother strictly and couldn’t be as rash as he was. However, he did feel that he was trying his best to get along with his surroundings and let himself loose already.

“Get some sleep, man. Micott’s going to have a party at her house tonight.”

Takuya closed his eyes as he said that. Banagher answered back: “Really?” But didn’t sound very interested.

“Our technical school has too many people with no charm, but her school has quite a lot of good girls there. This is a good chance to get to know them. Better save our energy here, or else it’ll be sad if we’re still single once it’s summer.”

“Aren’t you going back to your old home? Even if you have a girlfriend here…”

“Don’t say that. I do go to the Francesca Colony with my family to do manual labor. Bringing my younger siblings out to fish in the day, barbequing at night with relatives; I can be so happy that I could cry. How can I hang on without a girlfriend waiting for me?”

“Don’t go then.”

“I can’t do that. That’s the bond of family…”

Takuya suddenly shut up and opened an eye before asking: “What are you going to do during summer vacation?” Banagher could only shrug at this concern that bothered him “Who knows.”

“I don’t have any relatives when I go back home, and I shifted. I guess the most I can do is to stay here and continue to work and earn money, and that I can earn my school fees before my sponsor changes his mind.”

“Haven’t you heard anything from your dad?”

“Un. Well, I don’t know what I should do if there really was news.”

“Fu-n…that’s really hard to understand. Calling you here and not coming to see you.”

Takuya felt that this was the only way he could show concern as an outsider and didn’t mention this again. He diverted the topic and said “Then you should take advantage of tonight. There’s only one summer when you’re 16 years old.”

“Un…”, Banagher merely answered methodically as he continued to look outside the dark window.

However, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. Like others, Banagher went through romantic relationships and breakups, and he did have a few girlfriends at his hometown. However, what seemed to be a happy thing to them wasn’t a happy thing to Banagher himself. Also, he never actually got on well with them, and was always seen through. Thus, the relationship would never last long. Girls in their youth really can’t stand creatures like insincere men, and anything more didn’t exist.

No. it was just because he never really had a real romantic relationship. Maybe things would change if he found a good partner. Maybe tonight’s party may solve this. Banagher forced himself to think this way. This may be an encounter that could clear all the ‘disjointed’ feeling he had with the world and enchant him; an encounter that would make this Industrial space colony look rose colored; an encounter that could land him at where he lived. He would become a member who would walk in and out of a factory, covered with sweat and oil, and have a drink on the way home from work as an occasional luxury—an encounter that could allow him to accept this life.

Right outside the windows, the streets lights before dawn broke. The lights on the highway were showing a spiral shape, and what looked like lights from night delivery lorries were gliding silently. In another 2 hours, most of the people would get up and rush to their respective workplaces. The people who were waiting at the bus stops for buses will form crowds, and the subway trains that were filled with workers changing shifts will move between the streets inside the wall and the industrial area. Today, that’s just like yesterday and may be like tomorrow, continued to operate like a conveyor belt.

“Will we become part of this once we graduate…”

Feeling that intense ‘disjointed’ feeling again, Banagher muttered. Takuya didn’t answer back, and as Banagher looked at him, he found that the body that was almost asleep was floating up from the table. As he grabbed Takuya’s shoulders and pressed him back onto the chair like magic tape, Banagher saw ‘that thing’ outside the window.

At the base that’s 100m above the cafeteria, at the pillar of the artificial sun that was reached out to the opposite side of the space colony—there was a warning light flashing. There was something floating as it crossed near the large pillar in the darkness. He first thought that it was junk. It’s obvious for junk to be stuck near the sun after being taken away by an artificial convection when the space colony’s being built in the opposite direction. However, the ‘object’ that was so small that it would disappear into the darkness, and that it was moving on its own. It seemed to be frantically flailing its limbs and moving its body to control its body as it flew with the wind.

He consciously let his body float near the window and grabbed Haro’s fluttering ears in the air from underneath the table. Banagher looked at that ‘object’ that was lit up by the weak warning light. That’s right, there was someone. Someone was floating near the artificial sun. it was 1km away, but Banagher could see—or rather, feel that the person who was floating had a cape-shaped coat on.

It was soon going to be daybreak, and there couldn’t possibly be testing on the artificial sun. Banagher looked at the person who wasn’t even wearing a spacesuit. The figure left the artificial sun and floated towards the wall. It’s obvious that the person was in trouble, and it would be easy to spot in daylight. However, at that moment, the artificial sun would be activated, and the surrounding air would be really hot. The cylinder that was 6km in diameter was a large source of light to the entire space colony, and would burn up anything nearby.

“…Not good.”

Banagher looked at the watch. It was 5.26am. There’s still less than 5 minutes to daylight. “Eh? What’s wrong?” Banagher left behind Takuya as Takuya rubbed his eyes, kicked the table, and rushed through the empty cafeteria, using the pillar near the entrance as the support point and rushed to the corridor. At this moment where not even a second was to be wasted, he didn’t even think of explaining this to anyone else, and the body that was pushed by impulse continued to rush to the worksite.

Part 8

She really couldn’t understand what happened for the time being. In her eyes, what she could only see was the artificial sun pillar that was leaving her and the street lights and clouds on the inside of the wall appearing and disappearing at the same time as the winds blew past her ears.

As she kicked her legs about forward, the girl tried to stop the spinning on her body. However, against this artificial wind, such an action was futile. There was an endless steady supply of wind inside the colony to allow for convection of the sun’s heat. The artificial convection installation that was installed in the zero gravity area was moving the air, creating a complicated flow of wind near the sun.

The girl held back the fear that was rising up her throat, telling herself to calm down. She had managed to slip into the artificial solar inspection area and arrived on the passageway that was parallel to the illuminating installation. She just needed to grab the mobile handle and move forward for about 20m, and she should be able to reach the other side of the space colony in less than 30 minutes—where her target, the colony builder.

However, she didn’t expect that pathway to have a section cut off because of repairs. It was too late once she moved in for about 1km, felt that the tunnel was blocked and let go of the handle. The girl’s body flew out in motion, breaking the plastic seal that blocked the passage, and dropped outside the passage.

At the same time, she knocked into the fire extinguisher that was placed on the platform, and got the gas squirted at her, causing the situation to become complicated. The girl was pushed away from the artificial sun pillar because of the gas pressure. And under the vacuum of zero gravity, there’s nothing she could grab onto. The girl became a speck of space dust that was floating in the core of the space colony. She was forced away by the gas pressure and the airflow convection, and was pushed down to the wall 3000m away—

The artificial sun was gradually getting further and further away. The layers of moving clouds and the street lights that were inside the wall were closing in. The centrifuge force of the space colony wouldn’t work without direct contact. It looked like she could land safely, but the problem was the rotation speed that create the 1G worth of gravity. It looked slow from here, but in fact, the inside wall of the space colony was rotating about 600km per hour. The girl’s body was out of the rotation speed, and if she got close to the inner wall and hit the wall that’s rotating at high speeds, she would be pancaked.

However, she couldn’t just wait for help in zero gravity as a premonition started. BAM BAM, continuous tremors could be heard through the air of the space colony. This was the voice of the artificial sun getting powered up. It was the awakening of a laminating device, the sound of it letting off light as it burned the air around it.

I don’t want to die. No, I can’t die. The girl didn’t give up as she moved her limbs and tried to get close to the artificial sun’s passageway. She was already prepared to die, but she wouldn’t allow herself to die like this. For the sake of the warriors who fought to protect her, her parents who died early, and she wouldn’t forgive herself if she were to die in such an ugly manner.

This thought was more frightening than death itself. However, the artificial sun that seemed to mock the struggling girl got louder and louder, and the laminating installation started to brighten.

Part 9

Luckily, there was a mini mobile suit parked at the carpark beside the cafeteria. It was the latest model from the Toruro company, Type-800, commonly known as the ‘Torohachi’. There wasn’t anyone on the machine, which, to Banagher, was a pleasant surprise.

Perhaps the operator went to the toilet as the key was still in the machine. Banagher sat inside the cockpit of the 'Torohachi' to check whether it still had power. While the worker shouted: “HEY, YOU…!”, Banagher shouted back: “Danger!” as he undid the feet clamp on the floor. As he ignored the middle-aged worker “WHO ARE YOU! DON’T MOVE!” and let the 'Torohachi' move forward, a green ball-shaped object slammed into the helmet of the worker and jumped into the cockpit. “Haro…!?” Banagher couldn’t help but exclaim before tucking Haro between his thighs before covering the hemisphere windshield visor.

Once Banagher did the basic minimum safety checks, he undid the magnetic locks on the legs. The short legs of the 'Torohachi' kicked the ground and floated up. Banagher stepped on the gas, and the thruster at the back lit up. The 'Torohachi' head off towards the cargo exit of the space colony and accelerated.

At the front end of the space colony, the sudden slope of the zero gravity industrial area under the wall was called the ‘mountain’. Like its name implied, it was a bare layer of rock and trees and plants covered the mortar-type airtight wall. If one looked up from the inside, what would be seen would be like a famous 3,000m high mountain—Mount Fuji. The mountaintop that was hidden amongst the clouds had many cable cars stations and the exits for cargo ships as they move through the zero gravity belt. The 'Torohachi' went through one entrance and moved towards the artificial sun. The artificial upflow that struck caused the machine to shake, but Banagher continued to look around for the figure floating in the darkness.

Without relying on night vision goggles, Banagher found the floating figure. He didn’t spend the effort to feel how strange it was. Banagher again activated the thruster boost of the 'Torohachi'. This was different from driving in vacuum as the machine was heavy. The air that filled the entire space colony formed a wall, and the shaking of the machine was felt through the control rod. For a moment, he felt that he was really reckless, but this rash of sanity immediately disappeared.

The artificial sun started to glow, and there wasn’t much time left before it was completely activated and burns the surrounding air. Banagher activated the motion sensor and let the relative distance between his machine and the target and the speeds show on the control screen. Though it was the same as collecting space junk, the target this time was a living human. If his methods were too rough, the person may be killed.

The distance from the figure got closer and closer, and he could already see the cape-like jacket fluttering from behind the windshield and the long and narrow limbs of a person. It was a girl—as his instincts told her this, a large amount of shaking happened to the machine, and Banagher hurriedly adjusted the power of the thruster boost. Haro floated up because of the impact as its eyes flashed, calling: “Do your best, do your best!”

The 'Torohachi' again shot out the thrusters and closed in on the target. It seemed that the target seemed to notice the machine’s sound and light as the figure that was floating in the vacuum turned to look at the machine. The jade green eyes had light in them even in the midst of the darkness as they looked like polished gems.

At that moment, the existence of a living being went through Banagher’s body, and he immediately opened the windshield. This wasn’t out of thought, but that his instincts were telling him that this body in front of him was too fragile to be held by the hard mechanical hand of the mini mobile suit.

The wind that struck hard covered his eyes and mouth. The windshield that was opened let in lots of wind, causing the body of the 'Torohachi' to silt a lot. He used a hand to grab the controls to barely maintain the state of the machine, and used the other hand to reach for the control panel. The girl that was floating with the winds widened her eyes and reached over here too. Once their eyes met, the 'Torohachi' and the human figure grazed past each other for a moment, and Banagher held that person’s hand and pulled her into the cockpit.

After that, the artificial sun glowed, bathing the body of the 'Torohachi' in white light. Banagher continued to hold onto the human’s slender and thin body as he closed the windshield visor and stepped on the gas. He didn’t see the horrifying image of the air heating up and immediately expanding and twisting over. An explosive-like light suppressed them and sent the 'Torohachi' descending to the inner wall.

The wind blew in through the windshield visor that wasn’t completely closed, causing the purple jacket to be draped on Banagher. Banagher lost his bearings and stepped too hard onto the gas pedal. Even though he immediately pulled the jacket away and maintained eye contact, the large pillar supporting the artificial sun inside the wall was already right in front of him. The metal pillar came crashing over at the rotation speed of the space colony—about the same as a passenger jet, and grazed past the 'Torohachi’s frame.

The impact rang through the cockpit, and the numbness in Banagher’s brain caused him to lose consciousness for a while. The streets that were flowing below the feet were spinning wildly and fast approaching. The figure on the knees shouted: “We’ll fall…!” Feeling her breasts crushing his shoulders, Banagher finally managed to get himself out of confusion and responded: “I’ll think of something.” before looking at the current state of the inner wall after the high speed rotation. The 'Torohachi' didn’t have the inertia to go back up again, and its strength wasn’t going to match the relative speed of the inner wall—having made such a conclusion within a second, Banagher again grabbed the control stick.

He used the maximum amount of thrust to make the 'Torohachi' move forward, trying his body to control the machine at a constant height while it descended. It moved onto the road that was located between the light industrial area and the residential area. Even though the speed was estimated to be more than 200km per hour, and that it would continue to accelerate with the wind flow, but there was a difference of 400km per hour in terms of relative speed. Once he checked to see that there were no vehicles or humans, Banagher muttered deep inside his heart “I can do this.” and deliberately lowered the height of the 'Torohachi' and flew into a group of buildings.

The 'Torohachi' looked like it was trying its best to keep its thruster boost working as it continued to move towards the road with the space colony still rotating. It descended till 5m tall, went through the crane while under the high speeds of the wind, and struck from behind by the air. The height continued to descend. On seeing the rear view mirror, Banagher evaded the street lights and the electronic cars that were moving, and just when the height meter was about to reach zero, he shouted: “Brace for impact!”

The feet of the ‘Torohachi’ hit the road, and suddenly, the machine that was gripped by the centrifuge force was tilted backwards like it was knocked away, causing an impact where one could imagine bones scattered all over the place. The impact and echoes rang in the brain, and the safety gasbags shot out from the control panel. While feeling intense pain from the safety belt and the tense shoulders and the touch as he held that slender waist with his alms, Banagher’s consciousness was lost in the turmoil. The loud sounds that surrounded him and the jerks on the machine that was lying face up on the road were gradually moving further away, and the fragments of the asphalt road that was smashed covered his darkened vision. Then, his vision seemed to have what looked like cables used for a cable car, and finally, a large impact struck, and he was then surrounded in darkness.

The dirt that was raised up by the windshield fell through the cracks and landed on face. (Kinkyuu, Kinkyuu), Haro continued to make noises and caused Banagher to wake up. He felt the pain on his neck and shoulders, frowned and looked up at the sky through the thoroughly broken windshield. The bright and familiar sky was right in front of him. The streets on the inner wall at the respective positions were also basked in light such that it’s hard to even tell that it was an artificial sun giving off light. This was a sealed off space colony’s vague sky.

On his chest, there was a face that was unconscious as it was lit by the light—Banagher wasn’t completely awake as he saw the stranger’s face as she was lying on his chest. What couldn’t be called a figure but a real human was a girl of about the same age as she was. The hair that was blown wildly had a beautiful beige color to it, and the delicate skin that was thoroughly white had some red in it. The eyes he saw at that moment—the bright jade-colored eyes that had such a deep impression on him were hidden under the long eyebrows.

There was a soft human smell and the smell of perfume coming out from her hair, floating into Banagher’s nose that was used to gasoline. His heartbeat started to accelerate at this moment. Banagher gently put the girl’s body away from him, checked that she was still breathing, and left her on the seat before climbing out of the cockpit.

It seemed that the ‘Torohachi’ seemed to have broken through the railing of the green park, dug some lawn and crashed into the hill. The short body was half buried in dirt. Even though it couldn’t be seen from here, the surface of the track should be rather defaced like the devastation caused by a landing of a meteor.

There wasn’t anyone around, and the morning brought some light amounts of mist in the park. It was so quiet that only the voices of sparrows could be heard. If it was on a bright day where many people were walking around…thinking about this, Banagher finally realized that he was in big trouble as his knees started to tremble. The police and the fire department would be here immediately, creating lots of commotion in this entire space colony, and he may be arrested. He wanted to save someone, but he drove a mini mobile suit around recklessly and destroyed the streets. Things weren’t going to be dealt with so easily, and he may even be expelled—

Suddenly, his ankle was grabbed and tugged at hard. Banagher, who was standing on the Torohachi, unexpectedly lost his footing, and fell before he could even shout out.

His face and stomach hit the bare ground, and the pain could be felt through his nostrils. He couldn’t breathe for a moment, but Banagher still used both hands to try and get up. However, someone pressed down on him, and Banagher’s face was buried in dirt again.

“How are you!?”

Banagher was held down on the floor by the person who let out this voice, had his head pressed down on the floor and his arms twisted behind his back. Unable to move, Banagher tried to turn around to see who was the one speaking, and shown in one corner of his eyes was those pair of jade-colored eyes.

The refined jade-colored eyes were giving off a cold stare as they looked down at him. Banagher moved his sandy mouth that was filled with dirt and murmured: “And you even ask how I am…”

“I saw you floating near the sun, so I…”

Banagher still couldn’t understand why this slender looking girl was using a hard militaristic tone to talk and hold him down. The girl still did not let her guard down. At this moment, Haro didn’t seem to understand what was going on as it spoke “Banagher, Banagher, are you alright?” and went about the head. The girl seemed to turn her head around, see the Haro that was bouncing around inside the ‘Torohachi’, and slightly removed the grip of her right hand on Banagher. “You’re a citizen of this colony?” Once Banagher nodded his head, she finally released Banagher on the neck before getting up.

Before Banagher could even regain his freedom and stand up, the girl had climbed into the ‘Torohachi’s cockpit, seemingly checking the control panel to see whether it was still powered. The girl didn’t apologize nor thank him as she merely said ‘this can still move’, causing Banagher to blink in a bewildered manner.

“I’m in a rush here. Can you send me to the entrance of the colony builder?”

The girl poked her upper body from the control panel and said that nonchalantly. “Space builder…you mean the ‘Snail’?” Banagher asked back, and the girl confirmed this with her determined expression.

“No way. That’s not allowed. And you have to get to the hospital first.”

“You caught me well, so I wasn’t hurt. Please, it’s urgent.”

“I told you I can’t! I’m already going to get punished for operating this. I may even get my license revoked!”

While Banagher tried to explain himself, the girl listened as she gave a doubting ‘Why must you resist me’ look, and it seemed that both of them lost it and in another world altogether. However, the girl still remained calm. She jumped off the cockpit and muttered: “There’s no time.” with her words obviously sounding a little anxious.

“I have to find someone and talk to him. The situation can’t be saved if we don’t go faster.”

“What? Is something going to happen?”

“A war. There’ll be a large-scale war again. We can still stop it if we move now.”

Banagher’s heart pounded as he looked at the girl’s eyes. The deep jade-colored eyes didn’t look like they lost their sanity, and neither did they look like they were hoping for any agreement. It’s just a strong will that showed that she had to do it. Banagher felt attracted to that strength of hers. He would have nodded his head immediately if not for the sirens of the patrol cars.

The sirens of the patrol cars weren’t coming from one direction, but from many. The girl turned around to look back before looking straight at Banagher in the eyes for him to quickly decide. He held back the throbbing in his heart and looked away from the girl, saying: “Sorry, I can’t do this.” The girl lowered her jaw and looked grim immediately, using this chance to give Banagher a cold stare.

“How spineless…!”

She muttered and ran off without looking back. That voice stabbed deep inside Banagher’s heart, and a pain that was even sharper and pronounced than his own injuries permeated throughout his entire body as he watched the girl go.

“What’s with her…”

As he casually left these words, Banagher remembered that he didn’t have time to ask for her name. As the girl’s profile vanished in the morning fog, what replaced them was the large number of patrol cars giving off blurry red lights through the fog as they entered Banagher’s eyes.

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KSGU:Volume 1 Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

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