MC-0022 First Winter

To a human, outer s.p.a.ce was dangerous (like sitting back to back with death). (In other words), it was the same as doing a tightrope walk; as long as we were sailing through, it is utterly obvious that unexpected things would occur (in succession). It was necessary to be able to judge things calmly and to have a sense of balance. This was one of those times.

It happened seven days out from reaching Mars" orbit. Once every several years, the sun produces an X-10 cla.s.s solar flare and aboard the small vessel "Phobos", to avoid getting bombed, we had to take refuge in a bed which doubled as a radiation shield. Direct exposure to X-10 cla.s.s radiation [invariably/instantly] lead to death for a human. As the long term forecast had predicted a solar flare to occur around this time, interplanetary travel was to be avoided. Additionally, [you] were supposed to travel in a large s.p.a.cecraft equipped with radiation shield (capabilities).

"Thirty six hundred seconds until the solar flare." In about six minutes, severe solar radiation would hit-- that was (when it happened). We received a rescue signal.

"This is the interplanetary transport vessel Kubrick."

It was the transport ship that, like us, had left Earth and preceded us to Mars. This was an omen of the coming flare. The video was snow[ed out] so all we could get was the audio. The voice sounded like a female"s. Their ship had, mid-flight, encountered a meteor shower (lit: meteorite stream) and the ship had sustained heavy damage.

"This vessel"s radiation shields are out of order (and don"t work). Emergency, please rescue [us]."

From a humanitarian perspective, you should save them, but in the provisions of s.p.a.ce navigation laws, it wasn"t a crime to ignore them. The possibility of both [parties] going under was [too] high.

"This is the interplanetary s.p.a.ce vessel Phobos. How many people [are there] on board?"

"Four including myself....."

Even if we rescued those four people, our ship only had two capsules and just one reserve [capsule] on board. I/we couldn"t just help just one person.

"Nearly all the crew was killed by a meteorite [hit]...... the only survivors are [regular] pa.s.sengers, myself included [#20], and no one has experience working out ship."

I looked to Catherine. She made a quick decision, "You have to go over there."

"Roger...... I"m going to board [your vessel] and repair the shield apparatus. Send me the circuiting map." Instantly, the circuitry map was sent. I confirmed three places where there were breaks in the lines. Also, from the out ship camera feed, I identified twenty four meteorite fragments (lit: shards which contained a lot of iron) in the vicinity. I predicted those shards were one of the causes the radiation shields weren"t operational. I would have to clear the fragments and replace the three broken circuits unit by unit.

"Do you have spare circuit units?"

"Actually, we already tried that and it didn"t work. The job was too delicate to be done with the out ship ROV pod."

"So the spare units are out ship, then?"

"[We"ve left them] in the pod"s manipulator [arms]."

If it was [such] delicate work, I"d have to take an astrosuit [so I could do it out ship myself]. 

"There aren"t even five minutes left, is it really possible to fix it?"

"I can"t guarantee anything but it"s best to believe there"s no alternative."

"It"s too dangerous! I couldn"t possibly let you do such a thing when I don"t even know you!"

"Don"t worry about it...... it might not seem like it, but [I happen to be] good at doing the tightrope walk."

There were three thousand seconds before the sun flare [came blazing in] with its radiation. We put on speed; it would take twenty seven hundred seconds to [synch speeds] with the Kubrick.

"[Once] the ships have matched speeds, I"ll need ten second to get over there, one hundred eighty seconds for the repairs and ten seconds for getting back here."

"We can only make [the two ships] maintain relative standstill for three hundred seconds. You"ll need at least thirty seconds to get over there."

"Even so, that leaves forty [whole] seconds to spare. If it"s just me, my predicted time [allotments] will be plenty."

"You plan on doing this job alone?"

"Catherine, I need you to monitor this ship"s speed."

"Nanashi...... you-- aren"t afraid of dying?"

"If I do this like my life depends on it, nothing is impossible...... you told me that, Catherine."

"......"

"Anyway, regardless of mission completion or failure, I want you in the radiation capsule two hundred seconds before the flare."

"...... fine."

***

The twenty seven hundred seconds pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye. Our ships reverse burners were already working to decrease our ship"s speed. I exited the planet hopper Phobos in an astrosuit and climbed on top from the port side. Though s.p.a.ce doesn"t have "up" and "down." I could see Mars far off in the distance [before us]. I also visually confirmed that the large transport ship Kubrick was coming closer.

"Arriving at the rendezvous point. Sixty seconds until mission commencement," Catherine"s nervous voice sounded over the wireless transmitter. "Three hundred thirty seconds until the radiation hits......"

"Don"t worry. A job as simple as this is nothing compared to your special training......"

"Roger. If you complete this mission-- no, when you complete this mission, I"ll give you a reward." It would probably be an orange or canned pineapple.

"Start the count down."

The transport ship Kubrick was above [me]. When I looked up, I could see deep inside the ship from the deep gouges [and the meteorites that made them] and, on the side, there was a spherical work pod. They appeared to be very close, but sat at a distance of roughly five hundred meters [from me].

"Five... four... three..." I held the ignition to a small propulsion pack (burner) I wore on my back, "two... one... zero!" [Our ships"] relative speeds synched and we reached [relatively static motion]. "Alright, here I go." I took off lightly. It was far easier than a trapeze. I went spinning to the Kurick. I did it in the alloted ten seconds. Just as Catherine had taught me, I faced the audience ((the out ship camera)) and bowed. Not that there was any applause. 

"This is Nanashi, I"ve made it to the Kubrick."

"Roger...... two hundred eighty seconds until the flare......"

I confirmed the location for the twenty four fragments. They were all sizes, but even the small ones were about one meter [in length?]. They made perfect targets. "The knife throwing (training) will come in handy......"

"Two hundred fifty seconds left!"

I looked around at the fragments then took my position in the midst of them and I took twenty four darts which I had equipped with drill tips into my hand. (Then, relying on the principles) of knife throwing, I sent [the darts] flying The darts each had a wire attached and were especially made for wire control (use) in s.p.a.ce. Each little drill hit hits target. And those bit deeply, getting a first fix [on the meteorites]. I pulled up on the wire as [I"d learned how] an animal tamer wields his whip and removed the twenty four fragments from the ship"s body. Upon pushing the switch in my hand, the rockets at the (shaft tail) of the rockets (opened) and the meteorites flew off into open s.p.a.ce.

"Bravo!" Catherine (transmitted) with a tinge of excitement. "That was beautiful, Nanashi! That was an excellent stage debut, no?"

I looked at the time stamp display in my helmet, "Catherine, we"re under the two hundred second mark. Go to the refuge capsule already."

"No! When you get back, who will open the hatch?"

"I"ll do it by hand from outside."

"It"ll take time to do it manually...... if there isn"t at least more than thirty seconds of leeway."

"If there"s less that thirty seconds left, I"ll take refuge on this ship."

"But......"

"All that"s left is changing the circuit units...... Catherine, please, I want you to do as I say." Even as I made the entry, I hurried to the out ship pod.

"Fine...... since when have you been so impertinent?" She slammed the off switch on the transmitter. In the manipulation [arm] of the work pod there were three circuit unit boards. Taking those, I headed for the internal section where the broken circuits were. I could easily penetrate the innards for the cracks gouged into the ship"s body. However, the internal construction was complex. I was down to one hundred fifty seconds. Finally, I arrived at my designated section. It took ninety whole seconds to find the broken unit among all the (similar) units and replace it with the spare unit board. I"d used a lot of my lost-time leeway.

"Kubrick, I changed the circuits...... please check."

"Understood...... I"ll check now."

I had to wait.

Ten, twenty, thirty seconds were wasted. This went against my estimates.

"Confirmed...... al green, shield system operational." I was [finally] released from my lengthy nervous [wait (lit: condition)]. "Thank you...... from the bottom of my heart, thank you (for your courageous actions)." My helmet display showed that there were [just] thirty seconds to the flare.

"Kubrick, I don"t have time to return to my own ship. I"m afraid I have to ask to take refuge on your ship." I waited for a response. I waited five seconds. A reply did not come. when their last transmission comes, it will probably be to add "[we] won"t waste [your] sacrifice" or "may you rest in peace." They kept on ignoring [me] and seemed to intend to leave me in a lurch. Even this situation was not a crime according to s.p.a.ce navigation legal regulations. There was no reason to believe it wasn"t possible for us both to go under [i.e. die]. That was the first time in a long time I"d felt like that. Betrayal was the prerogative of mercenaries like me. I thought about destroying the Kubrick"s shield system and taking them to h.e.l.l with me, out of spite. But me? I was raised like a dirty old rag: to be used and disposed of. I thought I was meant to die alone. This state of affairs had been brought about by my lack of imagination and so it was my personal responsibility to just accept the outcome. I had no regrets. My tears were as frozen as ever. I crept out of the ship with twenty seconds left on the time limit. Far above my head, our ship, the Phobos, was slightly out of synch [speed wise] and I confirmed that it was slowly leaving. Bizarrely, I worried whether Catherine had [really] gone to the (shelter) capsule. If I died like this, all her special training will have been for naught. That in itself was [something for which] no apology could amend and no apology could excuse. In the end, I thought I"d look at Mars one last time. As expected, I couldn"t see Phobos, but I wasn"t upset.

"Looks like there wasn"t a troisieme chemin after all. Doktor T"s and Katrine"s faces cut across my mind. It almost seemed as though I could hear the tones of "Scheherazade" from somewhere. It was calm, peaceful (auditory) hallucination. There was just ten seconds left. In infinite/limitless s.p.a.ce, time [marched] pitilessly on. As for me, I understood that I didn"t deserve to take up s.p.a.ce [anymore]. So I had no need for a past. No need for a name.

I turned around and looked at the sun shining [in the distance]. I planned on dealing with the flare radiation that was my "fate."

"!?"

I couldn"t see the sun. [Right] there before my eyes was the work pod and the spare refuge capsule that had been shot from and controlled by wires by the Phobos. Five seconds left. Inside the wide-open capsule hatch was a note written by Catherine:

IDIOT! Hurry up and get inside!!

Three seconds. I got in and hurriedly closed the hatch. Zero. The time display in my helmet was already in minus time. Since I was still in the astrosuit, it was really very cramped inside the capsule. But I wasn"t in a position to complain. Catherine had used the wire controls well to move the work pod and [use it to] bring the capsule to me. It was a surprising technique. I couldn"t hold a candle to [her performance]. Also, [all] the number of simulations [she had predicted] far and away outnumbered mine, no doubt about that. I was keenly aware of how much I didn"t measure up. 

The X-cla.s.s radiation (poured) nonstop for two days. There was no worry about respiration for the duration. Although the astrosuit only had a day"s worth of air remaining, by the fruits of Catherine"s training, I"d become able to withstand even half oxygen density. I didn"t have the faintest idea how I could ever express my grat.i.tude to her. No a moment after two days had pa.s.ses and the refuge capsule"s hatch was opened. That [happened] aboard the Phobos. There"s no doubting it was Catherine who had collected the whole shoot-n-match [pod and capsule]. I collapsed against her.

"Nanashi!" Catherine took off my helmet and let me breathe fresh air.

"S...orr...y... th... an... ks." I was [only] half conscious. Then, all of a sudden, Catherine"s fist was beating my face. It was more surprising than painful.

"Why you......" I was still dead on my feet when she grabbed me by the collar and brought her beautiful face close. "The next time you think about dying, DON"T! Because life isn"t cheap!!" Somehow, the scent of her sweat made (my sense of smell) intoxicated. "Dirty old rag! Disposable! Please, don"t make me laugh! You can give yourself a little more credit." There were tears in Catherine"s clear eyes. I was astonished that there was anyone who would shed a tear over me.

"O- okay......" I had the feeling i"d gotten that "place to go home to" that Doktor had talked about (from this [exchange with Catherine]).

"And another thing!" Said she as she smoothed my fringe upwards. "Your reward!" Catherine gave me a kiss on my forehead. It was the best reward I"d had yet.

The Kubrick sailed far behind us. There was a transmission apologizing [for their err]. This time, the picture was crystal clear. There was an elegant, middle-aged woman [on screen.]

"I am terribly sorry...... as soon as we [turned on] the radiation shields, we lost all ability to communicate."

[Ignoring me] hadn"t been intentional. Catherine and I chose to accept their apology. I probably learned to put a little faith in the human race.

***

When the Phobos reached Mars" orbit, we were contacted by Katrine.

"It"s been a long time, Mr. Nanashi." She was smiling as usual. "I"ll meet you at an unused station, so please wait for me." However, her old [tom] boyish airs had now, [from] behind those gla.s.ses, become downcast and fearful eyes of a young girl.

"What"s the status of the "Prometheus" and "Scheherazade"?"

"It"s slow going...... recently, I"ve been more interested in my brother"s completion of "Snow White."" There was a low tone in each word she said. Something was amiss with her.

"Katrine, is something bothering you?"

"Bothering? No, nothing"s wrong." She acted cheerful but I could (see) there was a dark shadow in her heart.

"But if it really looks like there is, I kind of fell in love, hahaha......"

Love? That was a sensation I didn"t understand well. However, I understood perfectly how she forcibly inhibited her emotions. I had an indescribably bad feeling about it.

MC-0022 NEXT WINTER

It was about three months later that Katrine and I parted ways. As for her dark mood, I"d never seen it after that [transmission after training]. Speaking [more] precisely, I didn"t really have the opportunity to see her. Prometheus and Scheherazade, like myself, were still incomplete. On the other hand, Professor W"s Snow White and Warlock seemed to have been finished. They seemed to be very top-secret machines and I didn"t know where they were being kept nor could I see them. Thus, my training had been done with MS Mars suits. Doktor T had always been my opponent in [our] mock battles and Katrine had never been in an MS. (Similarly), Katrine might have been such a good (lit: perfect) pilot that she didn"t need training, for she not once entered the simulated c.o.c.kpit nor took part in [our] mock battles. In the corner of the hall, I saw Katrine"s violin case, where it had been left to collect dust. For a girl who hated the Mars dust as much as [she] did, it sure was unusual [for her] to have left her beloved violin like that.

"......" I supposed I wouldn"t hear her play "Scheherazade" again. It felt a little sad. With my knit cap, I dusted off the case. I didn"t particularly mind [the dust in my hat], it was just a dirty old rag [of a cap] after all. When I"d taken off my hat, I noticed my fringe had somehow gotten rather long. It didn"t make any difference [to me].

Doktor T, Professor Q, and Catherine were having a discussion somewhere I didn"t know.

"Doktor, what"s Nanashi"s status?"

"Not bad...... he"s probably a little better than I was at his age, maybe."

"Really..... that"s good."

"Did something happen? You"re not your usual self."

"......"

"Is it Katrine?"

"Yes..... just recently, she"s been acting oddly."

"She probably just wants to [fly] Snow White. She just wants the new toy."

"I wish it were [so simple] but....."

"No, it"s better to a.s.sume Katrine has never been in Snow White."

"Why?"

"Father [Maxwell] contacted us..... it seems that Operation Mythos has begun."

"Well, what of Sleeping Beauty?"

"Yes...... he"s finally on the move."

"Personally, I don"t like that kid."

"Lieutenant Commander Kathy is heading to the North Pole base [now]...... she"s going on a delivery mission with Snow White and Warlock in tow (lit: on board the Voyage)."

The story [of how] Katinre had stolen the incomplete Prometheus from the subterranean hangar and headed to Relena City came out [well past] midnight.

"Did she betray us?"

I didn"t believe it at first.

"There"s hardly any doubt......" [He] had a grave expression (on his face). "Nanashi, would you go after her?"

I replied immediately without hesitation, "...... understood."

Catherine cut in, "No! He"s only been trained on the Mars suit, right?"

"It"s okay Catherine...... thanks to your special training, I"ve learned how to respond in any situation."

"But you still don"t have a name! Do you really understand the importance of life?"!

"[If you"re worried] about a name, [I"ve] already decided......" As ever, there was no no point in looking for value in the past (lit: no value in finding value in the past), but I believed I had graduated from being a disposable dirty old rag.

"Doktor...... is your "T" really for Triton?"

"Yes......"

I pa.s.sed my dirty old rag of a knit cap to Catherine, "Then my name is Trowa......" I a.s.sumed the name of the third choice, the third path. My long fringe covered half my face. "You can call me Trowa Phobos."

Going by the name "Confusion," that had been an admonition to my former self.

"Very well...... Trowa Phobos," said Doktor T, looking straight at me as he had done when we first met. "WIll you fight for us? [ALT: Fight for us.]

"Understood......"

***

Aboard the long-distance hovercraft The Grape [#21], Katrine [went from] the Chryse Sea to the western continent and sped towards the far away Mt. Olympus. Olympus was the highest peak in the solar system. It"s pinnacle was 2700 meters. On Mars, where magnetic inconsistencies occurred easily, it was [impossible to] get your bearings with a compa.s.s or navigation device. If Mt. Olympus served as your landmark, then you could maintain your bearings even in a sand storm. I (also) followed after Katrine in a similar hovercraft, the Odehaman [#22]. And the distance [between us] was closing. There, there was a vast desert of crimson. The morning sun dyed the sky a bright red. As I faced the sun, the eponymous moon jumped out. In the middle of the desert, Katrine stopped The Grape. Had she given up on running away? I immediately disregarded that thought. From [her ship] Katrine contacted me. Just like the first time I"d met her, she was wearing goggles.

"Hey, did you see Phobos, Mr. Nanashi?"

"You"ve got the wrong guy...... I"m not Nanashi. Actually, it"s just that I shouldn"t be Nanashi anymore. "I am Trowa Phobos......"

"Trowa?!" Katrine blurted with a guffaw. How rude. "Have you given Phobos a name on top of that?" She held her stomach as she continued to laugh.

"......"

"You are a unique one, aren"t you," [she said] brightly, like you would never think she would steal a mobile suit, made a get away, and betray you. "So? Did you give up [wearing] that hat, too? It looked really good but......" Yet behind her goggles, her eyes blazed with bloodl.u.s.t. "I liked that hat [a lot] you know." As soon as she said that, dozens of giant figures rose up from the sand in the desert surrounding me. "A lot...... a whole lot."

Mars suits, huh. No, these were mobile suits.

"Those aren"t Mars suits or mobile suits." I"d been completely surrounded. "They"re mobile dolls."

Mobile dolls?"

"But personally, I"ve been calling them "Maganac."" After a [quick] check, I learned that there were forty Maganacs. "You"ll turn a blind eye to me, yes?"

"I can"t agree to that......"

"I understand......" All the Maganacs moved as one. That"s when it happened. Two new machines appeared on the (enemy detection) radar.

"Two suits?!" It seemed that Katrine noticed the newly appeared blips (lit: machine shadows). "It can"t be?!"

Suddenly, the desert was. .h.i.t b a ferocious wind storm accompanied b magnetism. All the monitors shut off. The enemy detector radar also wasn"t responding. I immediately left the hovercraft"s c.o.c.kpit and stood upon the body. Katrine had likewise gone out. There weren"t supposed to be any machines that could move in a storm like that. The Maganacs, of course, had stopped. However, I visually confirmed the miracle of those two [machines] wriggling far off in the distance. They were two mobile suits wrapped in hooded cloaks. Not Mars suits. The two eyes glowing beneath the hood attested to that [fact]. Of course (I knew) they weren"t mobile dolls. Through the raging wind, those two machines were surly coming closer. Katrine looked at those figures and screamed loudly,

"Snow Whiiiiiiite!!" The machine in the white cloak dew its beam saber.

"Warlooooock!!" The machine in the black cloak leveled its beam scythe.

It was a puzzle how those two machines could move through the sandstorm. "It was for you that I......" Katrine took off the goggles and continued to scream, "...... have long been waitiiiiiing!!"

We heard a voice from the black cloacked machine, "Your the Winner girl, aren"t you?"

We heard a voice from the white cloaked machine, "I"ll check......"

The sandstorm got even more violent.

"Termagant [#23], are you really planning to go to Relena Peacecraft?!

"I am! I"ll turn all of Mars into the Cinq Kingdom!"

"In that case, Katrine," the white machine (invaded), its cloak fluttering, "I will kill you......" quietly p.r.o.nounced the boy with the cold eyes [as] he sat in the c.o.c.kpit of the machine called Snow White [#24].

To Be Continued

NOTES

#20 - Literally, it says "by an accident with a meteorite, almost crew members died.... I who survived and the others are all just pa.s.sengers...." I run into usage mistakes with "almost all" and "nearly all" at work every d.a.m.n day so I know that, in j.a.panese at least, using the word "almost" can IMPLY the "all" part whereas in English, it does not. That"s not the problem... the problem is, WHY does it say "almost [all]" the crew were killed if the only FOUR survivors are [regular] pa.s.sengers?

#21 - A google search of the j.a.panese word yielded no more than FOUR returns, three from the same blog about Frozen Teardrop itself and remaining one about a color of OPI nail polish...... !! The ship"s name is ザグレープ in j.a.panese.

#22 - Another fruitless search for the name of Trowa"s ship. The ship"s name is オデハーマン in j.a.panese.

#23 - This the all purpose derogative personal p.r.o.noun, but since I"ve been told it"s "un-Gundam like" to have swears in the text, this is the closest I could get in English. It"s pretty d.a.m.n close.

#24 - I think it"s r.e.t.a.r.ded Trowa Phobos is commenting on the coolness of Heero Yuy"s eyes when Trowa Phobos has presumably never SEEN Heero let alone met him, but *shrugs*