Shin Kidou Senki Gundam W: Frozen Teardrop – Shokuzai no Rinbu Prologue

Prologue File
MC-0022 Next Winter

I chased after Master Chang. Though terraforming the Borealis Sea was complete, the temperature was still minus twenty celsius. The extreme cold froze everything and a white storm raged outside. It wasn't really a blizzard because it wasn't really snow blowing but rather like the particles of the air itself had frozen, like small hailstones like diamond dust hurtling through s.p.a.ce. Even now, as the hovercraft "Voyage" bounced wildly over the frozen ocean, that white dust beat the windows and all but obscured the view.

"Lieutenant Commander Kathy, we are five kilometers from the Preventer base, but it will take two more hours to arrive," announced Captain Tale Hicktory, who was steering the Voyage, with a grumble. Beside him, s.h.i.+p Captain Masakazu Sakai stood glaring at the charts projected by the holographic monitors. Below the charts were the weather maps, changing occasionally. Judging from his slumped shoulders, the captain was irritated with the changes.

"We will arrive five minutes behind schedule. I never imagined the North Pole would ever be so tempestuous."

"Roger. My apologies for your trouble."

My own voice probably sounded like I was just muttering to myself. My lips quivered and my molars refused to unclench enough to let me speak properly, that's how cold it was. But this place had once hit ninety below zero, so I couldn't really complain. We had to hurry.

"We have to hurry."

We had to smother the ember smoldering on this planet immediately.

I am Lieutenant Commander Cathy Po. I belong to the prevetners, the secret information department reporting directly to the President of the United Earth Nations. Preventers, alias "The Extinguishers," was a special agency charged with the duty of maintaining peace on Earth and to eradicate weapons. The microchip memory file I had was sent to me by the President herself, Dorothy Catolonia. I already knew that chip would be the start of Operation Mythos. I immediately sent that announcement to the North Pole Preventers base, but Master Chang instructed me to bring three files downloaded from the old base from the history band of the United Earth Nations catalogues.

"You are a member of Preventers, and as such, must see those files yourself. Review them before your arrival," spoken in my commanding officer's typical cold voice. What use could that data from the last century possibly be? I spitefully thought, it was just so much meaningless data.

Those three filed were dated from the summer of AC 195, Fall of AC 195, and Spring of AC 196. The language, the archivist, the location at which the files were saved, even the method in which they were saved all differed. The various relations and connections between them were few at best. In fact, the only thing the files did seem to have in common was the key phrase "Gundam Pilot." The brilliant pilots who flew the Gundam mobile suits made of Gundanium.

In the public history banks, their personal information was conspicuously absent, not even the Gundam names were recorded. They were referred to by an (inorganic) formal number starting with [x.x.xG] and after that, they were sent to Earth where their legacy has been pa.s.sed on by word of mouth.

No, it wouldn't be strange to call all that 'sealed history'; that public account left the impression of being unrelated to what actually happened.

In AC 195 , the people of Earth's war had reached its most bitterly extreme point. The first file was written in the summer of that year. It was written in German and not so much as a journal or a biography, but the contents was more like a letter or a short essay. At the beginning, there was a quote from an old Austrian poet named Rainer Maria Rilke's poem called "Autumn." It was strange that a poem ent.i.tled "Autumn" should head a letter written in the summer. It was more strange that the final two lines of the poem had been written, and then been crossed out and that harbored some kind of deep meaning. What kind of meaning, I could not say, but I did know for a fact that the Gundam pilot named Milliardo Peacecraft had been active during the same period. I could also surmise that that file had been written by Treize Khushrenada. It read as follows:

AC 195

The leaves are falling
Falling
Like your distant self
Like the heavenly paradise is withering
Even as they deny it, the leaves fall
And every night by Earth's gravity
From the glittering starlight
To the silent darkness they fall.

We lose everything
These hands, too
Just look around you
Everything and anything falls
But there exists
with untold kindness
one who can catch the fall

R.M. Rilke "Autumn" AD 1902 [This is my attempt at translating the j.a.panese. The actual poem in German, English translation of the German is much shorter that what is written in FT]

This is my lifelong (eternal) friend
Milliardo Peacecraft

We exists in a time of desolate darkness. In the long history of man, no other period could ever be said to be as isolated, as sad and painful, as this one.

You could say it's like the Earth left alone in the vastness of s.p.a.ce, or describe it like a lost child having nowhere to go.

At the end of the last century [era, as in AD versus AC], mankind left the proverbial nest for s.p.a.ce. Then, for the first time, we realized that we were alone. The basis for that statement comes from the closest heavenly body to the earth: the moon. It resides hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

Orbiting between Earth and the moon (lit: in the gravitationally balanced La Grange points between Earth and moon) there is habitable s.p.a.ce- the s.p.a.ce colonies. THey were at once the new world and the symbol of the new era which we called AC, After Colony. Although nearly two hundred years have pa.s.sed since, mankind has yet to shake off the dark era [has yet to come out of the dark ages].

Now, power is concentrated in few hands and those hands are engaged in a virtually meaningless power struggle. While they pay lip service to upholding moral law, they embroil their people in war, demanding their poverty and hunger and bloodshed.

I can believe the reason we continue to live in darkness is because we flew the coop before we had wings. Or, from a different perspective, s.p.a.ce, with it's absolute existence that completely refuses life, was a (physical or psychological) cause of our torture by immature solitude. [#1]

Either way, for close to one hundred years, man has continued [to wage] war blindly, and the will to go to s.p.a.ce has stagnated, time has stagnated. That stagnation has turned into sluggish decline. The current leaders have made big talk of [using] the war to somehow stay that [downward slide].

Tears of grief run endlessly down the people's eyes. Have they already given up? There is no end to the fighting, to the struggling. To be sure, that itself is painfully obvious. If you look back at history.

And in throwing away [any of our] few paths to peace, to the extent that it wouldn't be bombastic to say we do so to main balance in our hearts, the uncommon will become the common and the inert war and chronic impoverished state will continue.

Even as the sun s.h.i.+nes radiantly down upon the heads of men, they turn their gaze away from the dazzling brightness and are shut up in the sh.e.l.l of [their] little Earth-- as if they forgot the existence of the sun.

Is it not [therefore] necessary for a revolution? In these dark times, there must appear one who may s.h.i.+ne a ray of light upon the path these men should follow. No matter how small the light, no matter how b.l.o.o.d.y the action, someone must take the child weary of tears by the hand an lead him to the right path.

That, however, must not be at the hands of the 'winners.'

The rule of the winners but leads to further power struggles and only serves to pull us back into a state of war. Those who will change history...

Must be the defeated.

Sommer
T.K.

The word 'summer' was recorded in German and what with bearing the initials believed to stand for Treize Khushrenada-- T.K.-- and the special import placed upon the words 'the defeated,' there is reason to believe this was penned by Khushrenada imself. But... Treize and Milliardo did not have a point of contact at this time ((it's said that they first crossed paths during the Eve Wars)). However much they seem contemporaries, from a historical point of view, it is probably more accurate to contend that it is, in fact, someone else.

The next file, too, was enigmatic. The file wasn't text but rather a video. At the start of the new school term in September AC 195, a boy by the name of 'Duo Maxwell' had transferred to the State Gymnasium on the L-4 colony R09935. He was recorded reading a composition ((or, more accurately, it had the [distinct] feeling of an essay)) on the Earth-Colony relations. As it had been recorded by a camera situated at the very back of the cla.s.sroom, there was no way the youth's face could be shown clearly, but if that was the real 'Duo Maxwell,' it would mean he was the only gundam pilot we could see in the flesh and blood. [er, wasn't Duo captured by OZ in the TV series and bandied about ALL OVER TV for a very PUBLIC execution? Maybe the meant to compare this video of the speech to the TV appearances of detained Duo?] Mostly, according to the rumors precedent at the time, the pilots were young boys and in order to complete their missions, they often infiltrated schools and the like, and they repeatedly transferred schools. However, if that truly were the case, it seems like it would be impossible to use the name 'Duo.' If you want to coneal your ident.i.ty, obviously, you would a.s.sume a fake name. This is what the video contained:

AC 195 Autumn

"Earth: the planet in our solar system that is miraculously able to support life. With the advent of the colonies, man had abundant resources and with cultivated technology it became possible to possess new land-- s.p.a.ce. However, in the end, it cannot surpa.s.s Mother Earth. What was the meaning of creating the colonies, then? I've heard the main reason is to give Earth-bound men a more abundant life. I wonder if we didn't need this pseudo-s.p.a.ce because we had (impossible) demand for it. There were no predators (menaces to our life support) and so it was safer than the Earth. The development never ceased (lit: knew no bounds) and looked as if it promised eternal existence for the human race. s.p.a.ce allowed for a fresh start. It seemed like a merry time. But it's difficult to believe that the colonies... no, that people could forget the Earth. What did the technology used to develop the colonies give to Earth? The most sought after technology: military power. Destruction was something the human race could not throw away. Even now, the colonies still hold a militaristic disposition. Earth cannot be forgotten.

Earth has great beauty. The animal which possesses great power, whom we call 'man', has come to control the entire planet. [In the greater scheme of things] the existence of an animal is infantessimal. That's after the fact. After all, the things humans think of do not and cannot be changed. It was useless for man to go to s.p.a.ce.

Before reality, the ideal is nothing but a dream.

False living s.p.a.ce.

False Pacifists.

s.p.a.ce claims more lives.

That is a sadness man cannot forget, and yet he cannot stop fighting. The spilled blood and fallen tears will serve as no more than decoration for a ceremony [i.e. when the victors claim the spoils of war formally, ay]. Sometimes, war is the only way to move forward [#2]. All the (faded) big talk of fighting for the sake of peace were repeated time and again in the past; that was just a load of bulls.h.i.+t. For the sake of peace, the colonies bore arms. Just the same as Earth. Their will power seemed to grow in correlation to the amount of blood which was spilled."

The boy calling himself 'Duo' read up until that point when the teacher silenced him and indicated for him to go to the back [to his seat] in the very back. The report paper the boy was holding was recorded by the camera, and upon closer inspection, I realized there wasn't a single thing written on it. It was completely blank paper. He probably spoke his mind right there just as if he had been reading it. If that's the case, I could imagine how his thinking was critical of the trends of the time but he was so young-- I couldn'T help but admire someone who could, at that age, have such a wide (field of vision). Then, for just a split second, the final page was revealed by a gust of wind, and there I confirmed several lines of a paragraph that appeared to be the conclusion [of his report].

I tried to read that paragraph from the frame on screen, this is what was written:

"Then why does man fight? Perhaps fighting gives our existence significance. Those who fight feel a sense of fulfillment. And it's a fact that those who fight cannot see for their sins."

This is just my personal opinion, but I had the feeling that boy was not 'Duo Maxwell.' Couldn't he perhaps have piloted another gundam? It's unfortunate that there wasn't data to prove or disprove this idea but I was, for some reason, gripped by that thought and it wouldn't let go.

I had a sudden thought as the last file was downloading. That was because I was rather familiar with the person who had saved the file: Sally Po. That was my mother's name. It was AC 196 and my mother had been employed by the United Earth Sphere "Preventers." The details of her work weren't clear, as far as I could tell from the recorded voices, they were talking about security around the time my mother was serving as a guard for Relena Darlian, the vice Foreign Minister. Neither my mother's picture nor her voice were recorded. Nor could we tell who it was who was interviewing Relena Darlian. Either the interviewee was too important or the contents were too top secret, but for whatever reason, there was [almost nothing] but snow for the picture and only the voices could be heard [#3]. We didn't know where it had been recorded and like the other files, the exact date had not been noted. However, I could just barely make out that a rather elderly man was talking to Relena Darlian. In the file, Relena and the elderly man were speaking of "Heero Yuy"-- it was extremely confidential information that Heero Yuy was also a gundam pilot, but we in the Preventers were in the know. He was the boy with the code name of a legendary colony leader. That was the crux of the conversation in this file. As a supplement to this, in AC 196 Spring, it was a time of peace between the colonies and Earth and eight months before the Mariemaia uprising. The recording starts with the elderly man.

AC 196 SPRING

"We have two rather large sicknesses in our hearts. One is the cross-generational urge for revenge. The other is man's tendency to not look at each person individually, but rather to put a label on them"

"......"

"Surely your [note: it's a plural "your"] ideals have successfully, however temporarily, broken the chain of hatred which has extended over several centuries. However, the group advocating ideal pacifism cannot afford to show discord in any opinion."

"......"

"I think you know what that will lead to."

"......"

"I'm talking about him."

"... yes..."

I heard the old man's breath come as if he were laughing.

"He was the best. Exceeded expectations...... no matter what the barrier, he never [knew how to] give up."

"......"

"His name... yes, that was something I thought up."

"You mean Heero Yuy."

"Hm... pretty good for a (lit: bluff), isn't it."

"You've given Heero... I understand he's been given a new mission."

"Can I answer that question with one of my own?"

"... okay."

"Do you really believe you can achieve a perfect peace by throwing away weapons and writing off (lit: seal) the soldiers?"

"As long as the concept of fighting remains in people's hearts, real peace is impossible, isn't it......?"

"Has the human race actually come that far?"

"I think not, and it will be rough going from here as well."

I heard Relena sigh deeply.

"But, essentially, what people must turn their full power towards isn't an opposing enemy, I believe it's a firmly rooted hards.h.i.+p."

"So that's why there are plans for terra-forming on Mars."

"I'll thank you for not laughing. I sincerely believe that."

There was a sound of the old man swaying. It really seemed like he was really laughing.

"That's alright."

I heard the creak of a wooden chair being moved. 

"About Heero's mission to destroy the as-yet incomplete colony sized bean canon that was designed for [specifically for the purpose of] destroying Earth... in the shadow of the peace you've constructed, a deterrent [like (lit: named)] Heero Yuy is constantly necessary."

"......"

"In any generation, in any place, that's-"

This file was top secret even among Preventers. If Master Chang had not given me special permission, I wouldn't have been able to see it. At the time, the there was no record of there being a colony sized beam cannon (to be used to fire at the Earth). The boy code named Heero Yuy... his mission was probably to blow up that weapon, I think. When I think about the (contents) of the mission, it seems about the same as what present day Preventers are doing. It's strange the a.s.signment was given to my mother but I suppose that might have been because the then-newly inaugurated organization hadn't actually been up and running. In addition to the voice recording, there was other data attached to the file. There was the Human Hibernation Frozen Capsule blue prints and the user's manual. The plans were signed only with "J" so I didn't know who might have made them. There was an off chance it was possible that it was the old man to whom Relena had been speaking. Of the three files, only that last one seemed to have a significant connection to the files ordered by President Catalonia. But no matter how you slice it, I just didn't think data this old was necessary information for this mission.

"Lieutenant Commander Kathy, my apologies for the delay," said Captain Hicktory as he eased up on the Voyage's thrust[ers]. "We've arrived at the Preventer's Martian North Pole base. We managed to make our ETA."

"Thank you, that's a big help," Said Captain Sakai cordially. The white storm outside had pa.s.sed. Like a frozen teardrop in the dim sky, Mars' second moon Dimos was s.h.i.+ning on the other side of the rainbow colored Aurora Borealis.

Hurriedly, I dashed from the docking back to the base. Master Chang was working here all by himself. I cleared several layers of heavy security and after submitted to a DNA scan, I ran to the Branch Head's quarters. Mars only had one third of the gravity of Earth or the colonies. My stride were unexpectedly long and made for easy running. I opened the final door and there, in a deep navy blue [Chinese style] suit with a mandarin collar, Master Chang stood waiting [for me].

"Well met."

"Master Chang, we've received permission to carry out Operation Mythos. Please awaken the Aurora Princess."

'Sleeping Beauty' was now sealed in the human hibernation frozen capsule. That was when I heard a noise behind me.

"You really look just like your mother."

I turned around in surprise. Standing there was a man in early middle age wearing a priest's smock and a boy with a long braid of hair. The voice belonged to the priest. I turned round on the spot, minding my pistol.

"Who are you?" Tensely, I took aim. The man, however, didn't seem to sense any danger whatsoever. He was unperturbed, even as he looked down the barrel of my gun. I knew these were not your average blokes.

"You're Sally's daughter, aren't you" so saying, the priest and boy pa.s.sed in front of me. Master Chang [followed after]. The boy glared at me sullenly, revealing his distaste of having a gun trained on him.

"How long you gonna keep me in your sights?" His gaze flashed with fearlessness. "...... you wanna die?"

I might have misheard, but that's what it sounded like he muttered.

"I'm Father Maxwell."

Conversely, the priest never let up on his affable smile. "[I] may run and hide, but I cannot lie... and this [ray of suns.h.i.+ne #4] is my son, Duo."

Instead of an introduction, the boy snorted disparagingly at me. Master Chang remained silent but motioned for me to lower the gun. I reluctantly obeyed. The boy lashed out immediately with his sharp tongue, "That's a load off, might even make it to a ripe old age now."

When I realized that smart-aleck kid's name was 'Duo Maxwell' I thought it had to be a terrible joke.

Whatever possessed his parents to name him after a gundam pilot? I thought.

"By the way, have you brought the three files?" Father Maxwell asked as if to remind me. "To awaken the 'Aurora Princess,' the three songs of the prelude are necessary."

To Be Continued...

***

#1 WOW, that pa.s.sage was *harrrrd* So, Treize is answering the question "Why do we live in dark times?" Answer 1: we left Earth before we were ready (for whatever reason) Answer 2: living in s.p.a.ce isn't the escape it was supposed to be, it just brought us closer to the fact that we will not live forever and that p.i.s.ses us off. Well, that at least makes sense, as opposed to what I originally put down for that sentence: "in s.p.a.ce we were overly familiar with the complete refusal of life's absolute existence but this could also be interpreted as solitude, tormented psychological causes."

#2 literally, Heero says something along the lines of "there is history that can only be spoken of as eras being tied together by war." Which is, now that I type it out, not so bad... but still kind of long.

#3 ARGH, the j.a.panese says ONLY the VOICES could be heard. Later on, we KNOW Kathy cannot tell who the old man is. So HOW do we know this is Relena? (I mean, yes, it has to be relena, but... NOTHING indicates why we know this but why we DON'T know to whom she is talking... unless that was in the original series.)

#4 literally, the j.a.panese says 目付きが悪い whereas the first part means "look" and the second part means "bad" but I think sarcasm works better than the more direct "bad-looking kid"