On the day of the ceremony marking the transition from the A.D. to the Universal Century calendar, the space station Laplace, official residence of the Earth Federation prime minister, is destroyed by a terrorist bombing. One of the terrorists, a young man named Syam Vist, is caught in the explosion but barely manages to survive. He obtains a forbidden box that will come to be known as Laplace's Box.

Almost a century later, in Universal Century 0096...
I pray the one who can be entrusted to
carry Laplace's Box is among them.
.أتمنّى أنّ يكون الشّخص الموثوق بحمل صندوق لابلاس من بينهم
Ich hoffe inständig, dass es jemanden gibt,
der die „Büchse der Laplace“ … 
Rezo para que entre ellos haya alguien
al que encomendarle la Caja de Laplace.
Rezo para que entre ellos haya alguien
al que encomendarle la Caja de Laplace.
Je prie pour que l’un d’entre eux
soit suffisamment digne
Spero ardentemente che la persona degna 
di avere tra le mani lo Scrigno di Laplace
Espero que surja entre eles alguém 
digno de carregar a Caixa de Laplace.