[EXCLUSIVE] - Gaia Gear Ch.01 (Full)

CHAPTER.1 ON THE BEACH

1

　Does the wind carry the murmuring of a rising tide, or was it the rising tide that carried the sound of the wind?

　He no longer asked himself those kinds of questions.

　It seemed like only yesterday that he'd been in the habit of observing and analyzing phenomena of that nature. But, for now, all he did was feel the mixture of the sound of the surf and wind on his skin, accepting the pleasant feeling for what it was.

　That isn't to say he turned off his analytical processing. He was consciously bypassing an intuitive, logical approach to the phenomena he saw, so he didn't dam the free flow of thought with causal questions.

　As for where he had learned to do that...

　"Leaving things that aren't so clear-cut vague isn't a bad thing, nor is it something to feel anxious about. So, I don't feel so restless anymore."

　All he could see were stars.

　It was one of those rare, windless nights where the stars stretched across the sky, unobscured by clouds and haze.

　He lay on his side on the sandy shore.

　The ocean came in contact with that shore a few meters beyond where his feet lay, yet the waves were silent.

　Instead, the coral shells lining the shore's edge plinked and rattled as they clattered against one another in the faintly lapping tide, which could be heard over the water. The sounds of the tide came from the open sea, lapping at the coral reefs forming beyond the beach.

　When had it been that Affranchi Char started to feel ambiguity?

　Until now, he'd practically been programmed to collate all phenomena theoretically.

　He was now, if memory serves, 19 years old.

　The elder of the island and his adoptive parent, Gaba Suu, had told him so. Around this time, he'd become aware of ambiguity, though it was only recently that he'd truly begun to accept it.

　As he counted each point of sharp, piercing starlight, he suddenly felt a ticking sensation somewhere inside his body.

　"Ambiguity, huh?"

　*tick, tick*

　"That's a good thing."

　*tick, tick*

　*tick*

　Something that didn't seem like a sound was ringing as if rejecting what he was saying.

　He knew full well what it was.

　And that was also why, annoying as it was, he couldn't bring himself to reject it.

　It was the sound from the flood of cell chips in the deepest recesses of his memory web, waking up and resonating.

　Down came the rays of starlight into Affranchi Char's periphery, and he almost felt like he could hear the sounds of the light itself.

　Chaa...rrrr...

　Even on an island like this, it was rare to have a night where a star of the eighth magnitude was visible to the naked eye. The Earth's atmosphere was as polluted as could be, and the weather was fickle.

　But things were different now.

　As Affranchi listened to the sound of the light that fell from the stars, he felt a strange sensation and abruptly stood up. For a moment, he thought he'd heard something that sounded like a person's voice from among the stars.

　No, it sounded like it could have been the voice of some consciousness itself.

　"!?"

　The light from the stars suddenly grew brighter and more concentrated inside his body.

　"Ahh!!"

　*tick, tick, tick!*

　Was it a hallucination?

　His memory web was suddenly enveloped in a sharp, metallic sound as it tried to resolve the malfunctions of his hallucinatory and visual sensors.

　For a moment, he felt as though he'd seen a vast array of visual phenomena.

　He saw thousands upon thousands of people's faces. Their wills, the Earth and the nature that encompassed it, the extinction of the dinosaurs, the atomic structure of vitamins, the collision of metal particles, the creation of machinery, and more; a kaleidoscope of rushing images that numbered too many to put into words.

　It was a visual phenomenon amplified by the accumulation of memories. In other words, a collection of memories from the past, piqued by the light of the stars, and he'd perceived them all as a persistence of vision for a brief moment.

　Thus, his latent potential was understood.

　"Outer space is full of people... it seems that's a fact..."

　Affranchi Char recognized that.

2

　"A-ffranchi Chaaar!"

　Everly Key's exploding voice, one that could be heard even in the most violent of storms, made its way to Affranchi's ears. Except they were in an inland sea, and it was a sunny day.

　Her voice faded away like a flash between the sea and the atmosphere.

　Hearing it, he swam in the direction of her voice, cutting through the water with overarm strokes.

　She pronounced the initial sound of Char's name quite accented.

　"A-ffranchi Chaaar!"

　Everly Key was balancing on the diving board of the floating buoy. She was a girl who instinctively relished being seen. She knew exactly how to strike an alluring pose precisely in Afranchi's direction. However, there was no sign that she knew what she was doing.

　That's why it was so attractive.

　When Affranchi tried to grab her ankle on that floating board, she quickly flipped her body. In his eyes, her heels rose on the floating platform, and the toes on her long legs kicked and stretched out.

　"Eva!"

　Char called out to her.

　Her body vaulted over his head as he looked up like an arrow released from the bowstring, looking much longer because of the extension of her arms.

　The droplets were so tiny and light that the sound of her breaking the water's surface wasn't even audible as the water swallowed up her suntanned skin.

　Char dived as well, following after Everly.

　Beneath the water's surface, the translucent light crisscrossed unsteadily in vertical shafts, creating a hazy scene, and her limbs rotated gracefully across the blue expanse.

　Everly's body, already down on the coral reef, drew further and further away from Char. He chased after her legs as they bobbed up and down and the round, plump buttocks that supported them.

　The color from the tide cast a slight shade over her body, though the shadows that were highlighted were clearly visible. slightly but bringing it into sharp relief.

　The underside of the surface of the sea reflected her limbs in multiple fragments before fading away.

　Groups of small striped fish scattered in a flutter of brilliant colors.

　Crickle, crackle.

　As he followed after Everly Key, he could hear the sounds of the sea, the leftover reverberations from the ocean tide after it swallowed up the pulse that came up from the Earth, the seabed.

　Crickle, crackle.

　And a sudden flash.

　Even the tiny bikini Everly was wearing became a part of her body, accentuating her beauty more than if she were completely naked, as if she were a mermaid in a fairy tale.

　"!!"

　Is this love?!

　Love?

　What is love?

　This here was the symbol of eternal, absolute ambiguity.

　And it was beyond the form of his focus, Everly Key, where the colors from the tide looked like a wall, an abyss, symbolizing the existence of something absolute.

　Everly's black hair spread wide in the tide, drawing her closer to Char. Her teeth glistened like pearls in the tide.

　"Hehe... Hahaha!!"

　Affranchi could hear her laughter as the tide carried it. This time, it was Affranchi's turn to be chased. Then, in one go, he took a deep breath and sped up his escape.

　Blub! Blub!

　The bubbles created by his breath grazed past his ears and mixed in that sound, that sizzling.

　It was not the sound of water pressure but the pulse from the Earth that thrummed rhythmically on his eardrums.

　Then, Everly's hand touched Affranchi's skin. As he turned, her firm but supple breasts touched his chest.

　Thump! Thump! Thump!

　The heartbeats made Affranchi feel, with the touch of skin to skin, the pulse of the organ that gives birth to passion, the source of energy that makes the blood run.

　How warm the tides of the southern islands were to these two.

3

　It seemed like the heavy winds would uproot all the palm trees across the island. The spray from the tide erupted from the shoreline, becoming a white curtain as it assailed the island.

　Whump!

　The heavy thuds of falling coconuts punctuated the raging storm.

　"We have to hurry!"

　The shout came from the youth Carre Haw, a friend of Affranchi who always spoke respectfully of him.

　The two raced through the grove of palm trees with their upper bodies almost at ninety degrees. Still, the wind would push their bodies back if they weren't careful.

　Raindrops stung their shoulders, chests, and faces.

　The house, only dimly visible in the raging storm, looked like a person hunched low before the forces of nature. The house appeared to be made of wood, but it was made entirely of reinforced plastic.

　It would neither corrode nor would it age. It would look new for three hundred years, but beyond that, there was still no guarantee of how it would deteriorate.

　The scientists, or the companies that manufacture and sell the materials, say, "Even after a thousand years, there will be no material degradation. Worry not." They say that because they have perfect results from scientific durability tests.

　"Do they have the technology to condense time? Then maybe there is technology to lengthen time." Affranchi Char often thought as a child.

　That was particularly the case when he thoroughly enjoyed himself; the thought would arise: "If only time would move more slowly!"

　Now, as he got older, he no longer got as excited, nor did he think like that anymore.

　Instead, he thought, "Time itself must have its properties. How fantastic would that be if there were people with the technology to replace one property for another, but could that be possible?"

　Such thoughts ran through his mind now.

　"Gaba Suu!"

　Affranchi took the hand of the frail older man lying on the bed, tears unwittingly welling up in his eyes.

　Gaba Suu's skin, hardened by the sun and tides, was creased with deep wrinkles, and his once thick, strong fingernails had become brittle.

　The hand that had held Affranchi, beaten him, and fed him now felt oh-so-light as it sank into Affranchi's youthful hands.

　The entire structure rumbled as if terrified by the storm.

　A gust of wind blew in, causing the sun-baked lace curtains by the windows to flutter violently.

　Everly Key entered the room.

　"The Elder?"

　"Hush now."

　The elders gathered behind Affranchi chided her.

　Affranchi drew his ear close to Gaba Suu's moving lips.

　"You must go out into space... You are of this Earth... I was only entrusted with you, to raise you here... But... I know nothing of your origin. I never asked... But, I know, all I know is that the universe is waiting for you..."

　"To outer space?"

　Affranchi Char echoed.

　"Outer space?"

　Everly's voice trembled slightly, frightened.

　The termor in her breath rang clearly in Affranchi's ears, even over the sound of the storm raging outside.

　Long breaths escaped from her lips...

　When the storm passed at dawn, Gaba Suu was dead.

　"He lived a long life. Do not be sad."

　The older woman, now the eldest of the group, spoke.

　"Gaba Suu died of natural causes. He was born on this island, and there were times when he ventured from island to island. And after experiencing love a few times, Gaba returned to this island. I remember that time well... Gaba Suu returned to our island and married Kasan Mooth... I guess he had no love for me."

　That's when the older woman let out a brief chuckle. Yet, no one blamed her; instead, they listened cordially.

　"It has been twenty years since Kasan died, right?"

　"Twenty-three years!"

　There was some reproach there.

　The whole assembly looked at the man who got the number of years wrong, with some saying, "You've gone senile, haven't you?"

　"Gaba, he had many children, but Gaba's children were all strong. But because they were strong, they all left the island. Many of them liked to meddle with machines... So when you came, Affranchi, Gaba raised you."

　"And now, here I am, older..."

　The whole assembly nodded in agreement.

　"By Gaba's dying wish, Affranchi, go forth into space."

　So they said to each other.

　"But, I... I only know this island. I am afraid to leave here..." stammered Affranchi as he stared down at Gaba Suu, who now looked as thin as a sheet of paper.

4

　The lingering winds after the storm continued to batter the coast, thundering and rumbling. Another wild whitecap rolled in on the other side of the coral reef, creating a wall of white spray.

　"No! No, no!" Everly repeated as if those were the only words she knew.

　"I haven't made up my mind yet," Affranchi said firmly, standing against the wind.

　"Noooo!"

　Everly wailed, bent over, burying both elbows into her midriff. The wind whipped her rough dress around her, a fitting reflection of the storm within her.

　"That's why I said, let's talk about it!" shouted Affranchi, running after her as she fled. Everly ran as if she couldn't bear the thought of him getting any closer, her cries of "no" echoing in the air.

　Affranchi understood her pain.

　"But why, why am I chasing after her? Why am I trying to convince her?" he wondered to himself.

　Affranchi realized that he had already decided to go to space. But he couldn't bring himself to fully commit to it yet. On the other hand, he didn't dislike the idea of living with Everly, catching fish, tending to the sugarcane fields, collecting coconut oil, and making tools for daily life with coconuts.

　"I don't dislike that at all. I love it, in fact."

　Affranchi Char said, pausing in his stride. As he watched Everly run away, those words escaped his lips.

　The sun cast its blinding rays through the gaps in the drifting clouds.

　Her back against the light, Everly collapsed onto the coral beach with a thud, crying. Affranchi could see her back rising and falling, heaving as she sobbed, the sight strangely clear in his vision.

　"But Everly... she is convinced I will go to space..." he thought to himself, feeling a sense of discomfort wash over him.

　Others were already predicting and deciding for him what he was trying to avoid. It was an even more uncomfortable feeling than the ambiguity he had felt earlier.

　"I'll go, then..."

　That is what Affranchi wanted to say.

　That is how he felt.

　"...?"

　Beyond Everly's trembling back, a shadow loomed.

　"There shouldn't be anything that tall up there."

　As he tried to walk past the crying Everly, he looked down at her exposed shoulders, which were glistening as they shook.

　"...!?"

　Affranchi felt a pang in his chest at the sight.

5

　"Everly," Affranchi began softly, his hands gently grasping her shoulders, "I'm sorry, but I saw something strange, and I need to go check it out."

　Everly gasped, her face contorted in shock. Tears still stained her cheeks as she tried to process Affranchi's words, forgetting to stifle a cry. Affranchi's expression was troubled and complicated, something she had never seen before. Affranchi saw that her face was imagining all sorts of thoughts, but she would probably never be able to express them adequately.

　"Wha...? What?"

　That was the most Everly could muster.

　"Over there," Affranchi replied, gesturing towards the shadows as he helped her up, "It's... that."

　The shape of the shadow defied Everly's imagination, the sheer strangeness of it making her stand bolt upright. 

　Affranchi held her by the waist and moved closer to the shadow.

　*tick* *tick*

　Affranchi's memory began to click in place, steadily but surely.

　It was as if the shadow had awoken his memories. Affranchi tightened his grip on Everly's shoulder, feeling uneasy. 

　He wasn't aware of it… No, he was.

　*tick, tick*

　The machine had washed up on the rocks at the outer edge where the cape met the reef. 

　A violent spray caused the shadow to gurgle and shake.

　Despite its size, the machine seemed light. That was how it had managed to ride the waves over the reef and end up there.

　"Is it a machine?" Everly asked, standing still out of fear. The machine looked like a person's upper body as if a man had been cast adrift and was clinging to a rock.

　Affranchi approached it, moving over the rocky promontory, making his way in the lull between waves. 

　Its surface was covered with a thick layer of shells and seaweed. In some places, the machine itself could be seen. 

　It was a dark green surface that looked like a special metal.

　It was not a solid chunk but rather a complex construct made up of connected blocks of various shapes - round, square, pointy, and thick.

　"Affranchi! Come back!" Everly shouted, inconsolable in the strong wind lingering after the storm. 

　"Wait a sec, just for a little bit!" Affranchi said as he touched the surface of the machine that was cutting into the rock.

　Whoom!

　Another spray of foam shook its shadow, but it remained in place. He continued feeling up the machine's surface, not caring about how it shook. It was slippery and cold to the touch, like it had been at the bottom of the ocean for ages.

　Yet, despite that, it was as if the material itself had some warmth to it. He could feel how strong and hard it was.

　Skreeee!

　A high shrill noise followed…

　Affranchi looked up and pushed on a plate that was covering his head. 

　Creak!

　The plate rang and moved, sounding like it was breathing instead of the harsh sound it made as the waves rocked it.

　When he tried to let go, it stopped in the same position.

　A beautiful glass surface appeared to glow in the back, supported by the plate and the dimness of the machine's interior.

　It was filled by the tide, washing out the glowing thing, and Affranchi saw what looked like a seat.

　"..."

　Affranchi peered inside.

　A seat immersed in seawater appeared to be surrounded entirely by glass.

　"A machine in the shape of a man?!"

　*tick*

　Affranchi's mental circuits fractured, fires running along them.

　He noticed a book submerged in the water surrounding the seat.

　He retrieved it from the water and found it was made from a plastic-y sort of paper. 

　The machine shook violently from yet another strong surge.

　He held the wet book in his arms and descended to the rocky shore. 

　"Mobile? Machine…Gap…? I can't read this… It's filled with entries… Is this a maintenance manual?"

　Wiping the seaweed from the book, he found that the book was not suffering from any rot whatsoever, and it was as good as brand new.

　"A machine from over a hundred years ago…"

　Once again, Affranchi looked up at the shadow.

　The humanoid machine continued to sway from the spray.

　Whoosh!

　Suddenly, a supersonic wave hit the island and distorted the machine's shadow.

　"A pillar of fire!"

　Everly curled up on the beach; her hands clamped over her ears to block out the deafening wake of the space-bound shuttle taking off from the island's southwest end.

　The bright light from its tail nozzle flickered in the clouds.

　The islanders loathed the condescending sound, referring to it much the same as Everly.  

　Affranchi, too, found the islanders' expression of contempt unsatisfying. But this time, something stirred within him as he clutched the manual in his arms and approached Everly.

　"Everly, I… I am going where that pillar of fire came from." 

　At that time, those were words that Everly simply could not hear.