Chapter 7.1 (1/2)
MC File 3 (Part One)
”This device shows the pilot the future of both himself and his opponent...... the future I ought to have chosen didn't exist. If, when you use it (lit: ride it), you see the same result as I did, then lets bid farewell to this world together......”
”Why was this made?”
”I believed continuing to fight was the significance of the human existence. However, I couldn't find the answer there [ALT: that wasn't the answer]. My 'fight' has finished but the solution must be found in the act of battle. As a mobile suit to do so, a {gundam} is thought to be most suitable. I want the best for the 'victors' and the 'defeated.' This is the machine that will make that possible.”
”You intend to make a G.o.d?”
”Perhaps...... as long as the soldier possesses an unadultered/pure will/volition, this machine is capable of eliminating indecision/delusion...... a soldier with no indecision is a sublimely beautiful [thing]...... In a way, (you could say) that [kind of] existence is the closest to being a G.o.d.”
AC 195 Luxembourg
Treize & Heero
***
”There are [certain] conditions [that must be fulfilled] to bring about complete peace. One [condition is] the elimination of all weapons. Another is to remove the will to fight from the people. And yet another is---
AC 195 EVE WARS
Miliardo
***
MC-0022 Next Winter
My name is Father Maxwell. Father Maxwell who may run and hide but doesn't lie. At the Preventer base at the Martian north pole, Sally Po's daughter Kathy was wearing the virtual visor and experiencing the past of 'Zechs Merquise.'
”Hey......” called Master Chang, the head of the Preventer's Mars branch and commander in charge. ”We've received a report from your son...... seems as though they succeeded in making off with Prometheus......”
”Huh, that's not good...... should have expected as much from Quatre's sister.”
”...... they're bungling idiots,” Master Chang clucked his tongue as he muttered. Times like that were made for cracking jokes.
”Maybe it would have been better to have whipped our old bones into action.”
”We should have......”
”But there's just your mobile suit here at this base, right?”
”Yes...... I haven't used it yet but I'm confident I can pilot it.”
”Gimme a break...... this isn't our battle.” And now, the PPP ((Perfect Peace Program)) had been put into motion, we couldn't make any rash actions 215/3/7. The only one who could stop it now what Heero Yuy. ”But 'Cyrene Wind' is fighting.”
”That guy can't forgive himself (for the crime he committed). Let's just do it how we want to do it.” I thought of the guy who was going by the name ”The Wind of Cyrene.” How many years ago was it when I had met up with him again---
***
MC-0017 First Summer
Around that time--- I was with my partner, a 150cc (large scale) bike and touring Mars to my heart's content. I wasn't the kind of guy to stay in one place. Among the hoverbikes and tricling [note: just a transliteration of the j.a.paese] that were popular, I still preferred a two-wheeled vehicle for tackling the rough roads, and if they called me a crazy son-of-a-gun, well, so what? Under the small, glaring sun, I cut across the (dilapidated) Mars terrain and the wind, gritty with sand, was blowing in from the West was just to my liking. I cal myself 'father' but I've yet to do a single thing like a [real priest] and I had no desire of going to a moldy, old church. Concealed under my black clothes was my shotgun and I can't remember just how many rowdy outlaws I've killed. To be frank, it might be better to say my occupation was 'bounty hunter.' I wore a ten gallon hat low over my eyes with bravado and coming to a little town smack in the middle of the desert 明るい内から and had a bourbon or tequila and pa.s.sed the time playing crooked cards; that might I bought a girl but when I made a couple jokes, she dumped me [and I went to the bar?]. Mars was, to me, the best place to get your fill of [both] freedom and ruin. One day, I dropped by 'Cyrene,' a small para-terraforming town in the big desert to the north of Marineris Gorge. My air clean oil filter was on its last legs. Obviously, riding through dust storms for five hours has the [filter's] intake all clogged up. Since my partner was a two-wheeler, I had to take good care of her 216/1/1<>
”So this is Cyrene......”
Even though it was enclosed in a dome, the town was a lawless wasteland where dust clouds roamed. I parked my partner in front of the bar, went inside and took a seat at the counter.
”Bourbon...... if you got Turkey [#1], I'll buy you a [gla.s.s], too.” As soon as I'd ordered, a shot gla.s.s of 'fire water' came sliding down the counter top to me. ”I heard there's a colonel in town......”
The bar tender drained his tequila and, turning pale, indicated a table in the back with a shaky finger. At a round table there, four men were (besieged) in a game of poker. I knew [at a glance] that the 'colonel' was the one with his back to me. Ever since I'd entered the bar, I could feel as air of impending violence and [how he had] consciously not shown a single unguarded moment to [me at the] counter. I knew there was a gunman called Laphraig Pete [#2] in town. I put my money on the counter and got up from my stool. He was a former/crooked serviceman and [the folks round here] nicknamed him 'Colonel.' Actually, he'd been something like a sergeant. I stood to the side of their table and used my fist to gently nudge the fat, stupid looking guy sitting way in the back out of his seat.
”You!”
Fatty McStuperson tried to object after I'd done him the kindness [of taking his seat]. His voice was just as annoying as I'd imagined it would be, so I aimed my shotgun at him and had my finger on the trigger, but I didn't intend to kill him. But since I hated [a lot of] noise, I thought I'd blow his head off if he [so much as] tried to speak again. He was a fat, stupid, horse-voiced man but he [knew enough] to stay quiet. He left the joint quiet-like as I lit a cigarette. Sitting right in front of me was the one called Colonel, Laphraig. All the other poker players left in a big hurry.
”F-Father Maxwell?”
Guess my nickname was known even out here in the sticks. Seems I'm a little famous. Laphraig glared at me with blazing eyes. (But) it was my style to answer a question with a question. I blew out a large amount of smoke and asked, ”You know about the Cyrene School?” Looking at the cards lying on the table, I saw that every hand was s.h.i.+t. Well, the pair of fours and fives were better than what the fat-a.s.s who had been sitting here had had. ”In ancient Greek philosophy...... it's a kind of hedonism derived from Socrates. It's related to utilitarianism and seems it was called 'Pig Philosophy' for a time.”
”Wh-what are you on about?...... you want to give me a sermon?” He asked another question. I decided to (quit my style) and ignore it. As I pressed my cigarette into the ashtray, I continued speaking.
”In Cyrene-ism, pleasure is akin to good, pain is apparently evil...... I don't now for sure, but I hear a certain philosopher of the Cyrene school put out the ultimate pleasure conclusion 217/1/16.
”I have no idea what you're talking about.”
Just then, a man stood up behind Laphraig. He had short, blonde hair and sungla.s.ses, a jack on his shoulders and his unshaven, self-depreciating smile (lit: face) were familiar.
”......!” The man in sungla.s.ses pressed his rifle to the back of the other guy's head [Laphraig, I believe].
”I'd say pleasure is the decreasing of pain.” I knew that man's face well. ”In other words, the ultimate pleasure would be the complete absence of pain...... meaning 'death'......”
”Wh-who the h.e.l.l are you......”Laphraig put both hands up, ”Are you another friend of the Father?”
”No...... I'm a friend of a man you killed: Elv Honneger.” We could see his face turn deathly pale. It looked like he remembered something. I then said to my old acquaintance:
”Hold up, this guy's mine.
”I'm not after the reward for this guy...... I'm just after something he had had with him......”
Laphraig's teeth were chattering. I felt a twinge of sympathy for the poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d; so I gave him some advice, ”Hey, Colonel...... you're wanted 'dead or alive.' It's for your own good to speak your peace and do it honestly.”
”Th-that......”
I [decided to tell] the gibbering guy just how dangerous the [blonde] man holding the gun was, ”I ain't got nothing on that guy, he's seriously dangerous...... if he's killed a man, he's killed a hundred, easy. Hundreds of thousands that is [#3].” That was a little exaggeration, but so what.
”Alright...... I'll talk!”
[The blonde] pointed the rifle to the ceiling and waited for Laphraig to talk, ”......”
”Neuenheim Konzern [#4] bought it......”
”Who in Neuenheim......”
”One of the executives, I don't know who! And killing Lt. Commander Elv, that was commissioned by the guys at Neuenheim!”
”......”
”That's it, that's all I know...... I don't know where the thing is now!”
”Really......” as soon as he said that, he blew Laphraig's head off. I watched the bullet shoot out of his forehead spinning and covered in blood.
”Whoa!” If it had been anyone else sitting there, theY'd have bit the dust but I, being me, managed to avoid [getting shot, too]. ”You meant to do that (lit: you want to kill me too)!”
”I can't help it if you sat across from him [ALT: I couldn't be so lucky].”
I spared a pitying look at Laphraig, sprawled face down and dead on the table and said, ”The reward would have been the same even if you hadn't killed him.”
”I already told you but, I'm not after a reward.” An ocean of blood spread across the table. ”Ever since he killed Elv, [dying] was his only option......”
”You're just as dangerous as ever, huh......”
”Hn...... you should talk, gundam pilot.”
”Yeah...... since Luxembourg on Earth.” That man was once called the Lightening Count, Zechs Merquise; [and now?] he was going by Miliardo Peacecraft, stateless heir, and code-named Preventer Wind---
We returned to the counter and drank to our reunion; we drank to our lives [now] being free of that off-putting sod.
”Is it really okay if I take the reward?”
”Yes...... I've heard rumors that you donate that money to the Schbeiker Orphanage.”
”Well I've heard, aren't you the one who declared Mars' independence from Earth?”
”You [ought to] know that that Miliardo Peacecraft wasn't me at least...... for the most part, I'm not interested in politics.”
”But the Relena Darlian inside the Little Prince [frozen capsule] is the real deal, right......”
”That's a hostage...... that's why Lucretia, no, Noin is going to the Presidential center, as a guard......”
The [bottle of] Wild Turkey was quickly drained empty.
”Shoot, I'll bite..... just who is the president of that Federal Government?”
”Dixneuf [#5] Neuenheim..... Neuenheim Konzern's managing director.” My whole body got burning hot; I'd hear the name of a man I hated.
”So that's that...... thing, right?”
”There's a [big] gap, but he's Noin's blood brother.”
”......”
We switched to tequila.
”So he's running a profit-making business and politics simultaneously.... strictly speaking, that's unconst.i.tutional.”
”That's why he's going by the name Miliardo...... and Peacecraft for the publicity.”
”Wow...... Neuenheim's up to his same old dirty tricks.” The tequila burned down my throat as I finished off my gla.s.s. I tucked that tidbit away (in my heart). [Wind] was just as good and drunk. [He] seemed far more talkative that before.
”Well......”
Well what? I wanted to ask but didn't. Just as lightning is fast 218/2, here was a man who would act more logically than anybody else. So if that meant fighting [at] his beloved wife's parents' home, he had the faith to see i through to the bitter end (even if it cost him his life). I thought it would be a tough row to hoe.
”Well...... what should I call you now?” I asked after downing my fifth tequila. ”Maybe 'Wind' is better?”
”This town is called Cyrene, isn't it....”
”Yeah......”
”Then call me 'Cyrene Wind.'”
”You gonna be a hedonist from here on out?”
”No...... I'm sure that, in Greek mythology, [Cyrene] was the name of the dauntless sprite who got rid of the lion [#6].”
”Father, let's get going.”
Standing behind us was a cute little girl about seven years old. Although [she wore] the clothes of a farmhand, she had an impression of refinement. She had well-formed facial features, but her long, unusually/unruly blonde hair hung in a braids over both her left and right [shoulders] and the freckles all over her face left a stronger first impression.
”Allow me to introduce you...... this is my offspring [#7], Naina Neuenheim.”
”Nain Peacecraft! I will carry on mother's wishes as one of Relena's knights!”
”So, she's yours and Noin's?”
”My daughter, for better or worse [#8].” Naina gave a slight bow. If I had to choose, I'd say she reminded me of Relena when I'd first met her [when Fat. Max. first met Relena, that is].
”Are you an acquaintance of my father's?”
”I'm the Father..... Father Maxwell.”
”He looks old, but he's younger than me.”
”Blame it on Mars......” It was the price I paid for my wanderl.u.s.t. I still wasn't used to the Mars Calendar, but in the two to two and a half measly years since I'd come to Mars, I'd become no different from that scruffy [blonde]. We didn't yet know what caused the rapid-on-set aging that was endemic to Mars. It seems to affect eople differently [based on] the individual and the area. I'm pretty sure that, in AC years, I'm only just in my thirties [#9]. At any rate, while wandering all over Mars, the difference in my age ended up not mattering a lick.
”Meeting here is some kind of fate...... but I do have a request to ask of you.”
I snapped out of my alcohol buzz, ”I'm not looking for trouble, yo.” That's what yo get when you drink the cheap stuff 220/1/18. ”Well, unless it [comes with] a reward.”
”Could you arrange for Naina to stay at the Schbeiker Orphanage?”
”What! Why, father?”
”This is the end of the line...... my next trip isn't going to be like the others.”
If he really was going to take on Neuenheim Konzern, it would be too dangerous to take his daughter.
”I'll do it. It'll be a long trip, but I'll get her to Hilde.”
”I wont go. I will go wherever you go, father!”
”I am the wind of Cyrene...... come what may I will come back for you.”
”But......”
”Have I ever broken a promise to you before?”
”No.....”