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...
the nations of old were incapable
of offering effective solutions.
.لم تقدر الدول القديمة على تقديم حلول فعّالة
las naciones del ayer fueron incapaces
de ofrecer soluciones eficaces.
las naciones del ayer fueron incapaces
de ofrecer soluciones eficaces.
ces nations furent incapables
de prendre des mesures appropriées.
le nazioni del lontano passato 
non sono state in grado di offrire soluzioni efficaci.
as antigas nações eram incapazes
de prover soluções eficazes.