A young boy who grew up looking at a sky covered by walls
had feelings in his heart with no outlet.
While living a nomadic life,
he longed to one day carve his own path.

A future where generations have passed since the days of dreaming
of the vastness of space as a place to settle.
Half a century since emigration into space, brimming with hope.
Even if you tried living in the countryside,
the countryside was becoming a thing of the past.

But the boy was too helpless.
He didn’t even know what his weapon was.

Then one day, he sees a white light.
Convinced that the light will guide him, the boy starts running.

Three Major Revolutions: Particle Accelerators (Aura Road)
A huge living space (space colony).
And the space worlds built by humanoid weapons (machining skin).

At dawn, the war begins.
At dawn, the boy is there.

character.design: SHIGETO KOYAMA
mechanical.design: JUNJI OHKUBO
establishment: MASAKI APSY
editorial director: GICHI OHTSUKA

SERIALIZATION INSTALLMENT.01
Prologue: Forecast End – Death of a Forecaster

　A horrible chill suddenly came over me.

　The chills hit me not once, not twice, but three times in succession, gradually breaking my senses. From my head to my neck, my lips trembled, and my knees shook as the chills descended. I tried to raise my voice, but the grime from the maintenance facilities clung to my throat. I couldn’t catch my breath. The palpitations in my heart increased in intensity. My beautiful, silver hair, wiry from the oil and polluted air, spreads out in the sewage of the caved-in floor. Even though my consciousness was fading, I knew this wasn’t a mild case of the common cold. 

　Luna II, the forward base of the Earth Federation Space Forces Space Command, is located on the asteroid Juno, which has a maximum diameter along its equator exceeding 80km and is fixed in orbit directly opposite the Moon across from Earth. This base is home to hundreds of thousands of military personnel and civilians engaged in related businesses. 

　Several months ago, a refugee girl named Fraw Bow, who escaped from her hometown aboard the Earth Federation Forces state-of-the-art “Pegasus” by chance, was taken off the ship under the protection of the Earth Federation Forces and housed here on Luna II after a difficult life adrift. 

　The lack of gravity was not suitable for a long-term stay, and the living conditions weren’t very suitable, as most of the facilities were military, industrial, and mining ones. 

　Still, Fraw thought, it was better than the Pegasus. I’m sure I breathed in much dirtier air compared to the Pegasus. Still, she felt that it would be so much easier to just get far away from the unconscious self-confidence that person exuded. 

　It wasn’t the smell of this ship that made Fraw want to crawl out of her own skin or the crude conversations between the male crew members that made her life adrift in space difficult. It was that person. 

　Sayla Mass. A woman who was also a member of the Pegasus crew. A woman with short-cut, sheer blonde hair and a cocky, cold voice. 

　The self-confidence she felt in being able to unconsciously perform gestures that would slip into men’s physiology stimulated Fraw’s complex, who had never been able to grow up in a healthy, sunny environment. What is more, the jealousy she felt at having the first man with whom she ever had sex with taken away from her, and the feeling of defeat at this other woman ended up in her removal from the Pegasus.

　And yet, Fraw pursed her lips together. 

　She felt as if Sayla’s own light reached the other side of the Moon. Every time, Fraw hated her ugly, twisted mind and hated Sayla for still tormenting her from so far away. 

　Just before the chill hit her, Fraw had felt the glow from Sayla’s confidence. 

　The entire southern block of Luna II had been converted into a refugee camp, where most of the detainees were sent to conduct logistical support. Fraw, like the other refugees, had been assigned a variety of menial tasks. Her eyes were on the cylinders of the electric-powered motor vehicle Elec-car, which she was running through an oil cleaner while watching over fellow refugee children, the war orphans Katz Howan, Letz Kofan, and Kikka Kitamoto. 

　Fraw still did not have any love for the three children that adored her. Every time they endearingly called her “mommy,” she felt as though she were drifting further away from her dreams of love and ordinary happiness. 

　”If it weren’t for these children, if only someone else had taken care of them, I could have gotten men off just like Sayla!” 

　As Fraw felt her heart twisting inside of her as she gazed into the powerfully assertive yet lovely eyes of Kikka clinging to her feet, she saw the light. It was a light that was unbearable to Fraw. 

　”Again! Again with that damn light!”

　But behind the light, there is yet another. A white and distant light that Fraw had never seen before.

　”Ling! Ling A-bao!”

　She was already calling out the boy’s name when she realized that the light belonged to the boy that she had been thinking about. Just then, the light reached her from an area of space far, far away from Luna II, and slammed into her entire body. 

　Sitting inside the center of a small cockpit with instruments like some kind of laboratory, he found himself feeling unusually calm. The gentle huffs of his breathing echoed inside his helmet. Ling A-bao was biting his lip as he realized how little life he had left. 

　A few moments earlier, Hayato Subayashi, who was also a member of the Pegasus crew, had been killed by the enemy’s humanoid weapon known as a Machining Skin. The beam weapon mounted on the Machining Skin’s arm enveloped Hayato’s C109 Gunboy Orville, aka ‘Cannon Boy,’ like a shower, and its skeletal silhouette collapsed in an instant, vanishing in the middle of the attack. The light from the explosion swirled in the vacuum of space, steadily increasing in gravity. To Ling, it looked as if a huge circle of light had blossomed. 

　He wasn’t upset. He felt frustrated and sad, though. In the end, he couldn’t even have a simple conversation with him. Still, even though he couldn’t say much to him, he felt like he was getting closer to him during this war. When he thought about it, he felt a burning in the depths of his soul. The screams from C108, the pilot of the same Cannon Boy, Koo YC Teng, were still ringing in his ears, and it hurt. 

　But, still. Ling swallowed hard and stomached Hayato’s death. 

　”If this is fate, then so be it! Right, Hayato?!”

　 The newly prepared Machining Skin G3, otherwise known as ‘Ghost,’ replaced the wrecked Gunboy Wilbur and had taken to Ling’s ever-increasing reaction time. Based on the basic movement system common to the Gunboy series, it consists of three portions: a lower body seat that is completely fastened to the pilot to follow the mobility of the Machining Skin, a moveable waist seat that provides directional support for the suit, and a fixed upper body seat. The cockpit of the Ghost, equipped with additional state-of-the-art sensory devices that corresponded to the pilot’s specialized abilities, is a fierce match with Ling, who had saddled Hayato’s death and steeled himself. 

　”It’s got some moves! Guess I played right into the palm of your hand, isn’t that right, Dad?!”

　The dilemma over piloting a suit designed by his own father had already faded away. He was sure he’d be glad to know that now. The picture that had been flickering in his mind, but had never taken shape, was starting to fall into place and tell Ling of the future. It was a forecast, one of those abilities that only Ling and a few other people, Newtype’s, were prepared for.  

　”Tch! Just because it’s war doesn’t mean you can do whatever the hell you want!!”

　Ling maneuvered the pilot suit and the lower body seat with a flick of his hips, which seemed to float around his locked waist, changing the posture of the Ghost, and then raced off towards the flash of light where Hayato was. 

　”Pegasus, this is Ghost! It’s Ling! A laser attack is targeting this sector of space! We’re all going to be killed! We need to get out of here, now!”

　But that was it. 

　The next thing she knew, children were surrounding her, looking worried.

　”Are you alright?” “Are you okay?”

　”Mommy, let me see your face!”

　Fraw couldn’t help but cry when she heard their voices. For the first time, she thought of the children who touched her with their alluring and energetic touch. That made her happy. I’m sorry, Katz, Letz, Kikka… I couldn’t love you. I’ve been a hindrance to you…”

　And she felt she was still sorry.

　I’m so sorry, Ling. I couldn’t accept you as someone special, and I had to run away from you.

　Please forgive me, Ling. 

　We won’t see one another again, Ling.

　Farewell, my only Ling.

　The rays of light emitted by the enemy’s machining skin hit the Ghost directly. Ling, who had already foreseen his own passing, should have been prepared to die unwaveringly. That’s why he intended to entrust things. The way he looks. The plans he would be unable to fulfill. 

　”Have a good look, everyone. The sorry death of somebody who was thought special! To those here, on this battlefield! To all those in this airspace! And to that boy!”

　And yet, and yet…

　To be continued

Note: This isn’t a new project. Someone translating Gunbuster novels or whatever is working on this. This was just to show people how different they were from the originals.