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...
you know sometimes you look like
you're staring out into the distance.
.تبدو أحيانًا وكأنّكَ تُحدّق في الأفق
ich sehe manchmal, wie du
in das grenzenlose All starrst.
A veces parece que estás
con la mirada perdida.
A veces parece que estás
con la mirada perdida.
As-tu remarqué
que tu as parfois la tête ailleurs ?
A volte hai un'espressione assorta,
come se guardassi lontano.
Às vezes você fica distante, 
olhando pra bem longe...