Treize, dismayed at a horrible translation
“The year After Colony 195 . The year of the most horrific battle ever seen by the humans of the Earth Sphere. The file dated from the summer of that year was in German and was not a diary nor a memoir, but an essay of sorts.
In the beginning of the file was a poem entitled “Fall” by Rainer Maria Rilke, an Austrian poet of the old world. It was a mystery as to why a file saved in the summer would have a poem about fall quoted within it. Even more baffling was the last two lines added to the end of the poem, handwritten and crossed out. It seemed to have some sort of deep meaning to it.
However, I couldn’t begin to fathom what meaning that could be. It was true that there was a Gundam pilot named Milliardo Peacecraft who played a role in this era. So then I could surmise that the creator of this file was probably Treize Khushrenada.
This is what the file contained:
—AC- 195 SUMMER
The leaves are falling, falling as from far
Where distant with’ring gardens grace the skies,
Theyr’e falling with a gesture that denies.
And in the nights the heavy earth falls by
Into the loneliness, from a far star.
We all are falling. This hand falls, as it extends.
And take a look at others. It’s in them all.
And yet there’s One, holding this fall
With endless gentleness in both his hands.
(Note: translation from this site)
R. M. Rilke “Fall” AD – 1902
That is my eternal friend,
Milliardo Peacecraft!
This era is enveloped within a desolate darkness.
I believe that out of mankind’s long history, we are currently in the most isolated and lamentable era that there has ever been and ever will be.
The Earth has been stranded in this vast, endless expanse of space; almost how you would describe a poor lost child who has lost any place to go.
Human beings took their first flight out of their nest into space at the end of the last era. That was the first time mankind realized he was alone. Even the moon, the closest foothold we had, was tens of thousands of kilometers away.
In neutral orbit between the sun, moon, and earth at the Lagrange Points, man placed his new habitat – the Space Colonies. Those Space Colonies were to be man’s new home, and as a symbol of this new home, man christened this new era as A.C. After Colony. And even though it has been nearly 200 years since that point, man still cannot break loose of this era of darkness.
The small number of governors and leaders of this era have fought meaningless battles for authority, flattering themselves by covering it up with a banner of keeping the peace, waged countless battles across the globe, and have brought poverty, famine, and the shedding of blood to many of their people all over the world.
We have tried to fly into space with our wings still fresh and powerless. You could say this is the reason we are still fumbling around in this darkness. But if you think of it another way, perhaps you would find that the reason humans have tried to get closer to space, a hostile environment to all biological creatures, is because we are still so steeped in this immature sense of loneliness.
Whatever the reason, we humans have continued obliviously fighting wars for the past century, losing our desire to explore space, our progress stagnating.
That stagnation will progress to a slow, dull decline. And the leaders of this era will howl that it is all because of this war, as they continue to remain in power.
Tears of pain and suffering are flowing from the eyes of our people.
Have we given up?
Fighting and battles will never end. Certainly, if you take a look at humankind’s long history, you will see that as the clear truth.
We continue these battles through force of habit, and we are impoverished by their continuation. The unnatural has become natural. It’s not an exaggeration to say that we have thrown away our small hope for peace in order to preserve the sanity of our hearts.
Humans always say that the sun is always shining radiantly in the back of their minds, but we are stuck on this insignificant planet, turning our eyes away from the light and forgetting that it even exists.
Do we need a revolution?
We need a savior who can show us a a ray of light, the end of this era of darkness and the way forward. Even if it’s the tiniest sliver of light, even if he is covered in blood, we need someone who can show the lost, crying child that represents mankind the way forward.
However, this savior cannot be a winner.
As soon as someone wins the battle, the battle to gain control of the winner begins, and once again the history of war will repeat itself.
-The man who changes history
will have to be the loser.-
sommer TK”
-Sumisawa Katsuyuki, “Gundam Wing Frozen Teardrop Part 1″
Oh gosh, guys, what a mistake. I had some hopes for Frozen Teardrop, but this thing reads like a history book. I don’t consider myself good enough at Japanese to be able to tell whether someone is a good writer or not, but I think Sumisawa should stick to screenplays. I’ve never seen a novelist completely ignore, “show, don’t tell” so completely before! How did this guy manage to write something so wonderful 15 years ago?
(the truth is, it probably wasn’t very wonderful!)
I just have a few more pages of this dreck before I start reading an actual book again, written by an actual author who cares about words and how you use them. Thank god!
