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...
Mr. Bancroft, it's the shuttle again...
...أستاذ بانكروفت. إنّه المكّوك مجدّدًا
Herr Bancroft.
Profesor Bancroft,
es el transportador otra vez.
Profesor Bancroft,
es el transportador otra vez.
M. Bancroft,
la navette est de nouveau…
Professor Bancroft, lo Shuttle si è di nuovo...
Prof. Bancroft, o ônibus 
quebrou de novo...