"How do I look?" Manswell dropped his hands from his tie, causing his aide to waggle a hand. He groaned in irritation, earning a shrug next.

Despite its size the conference room felt crowded with him and four others present; three were part of a news crew, setting up a camera and mic at his desk, along with a teleprompter propped up beside it. They moved swiftly, their tasks made so much easier thanks to the colony's faster rotation. All the while the last stayed to herself out of sight.

"We're ready." The cameraman said with a thumbs up.

Banishing the shivers with a breath, Manswell took a seat; thanks to a mirror he adjusted his posture so he wasn't slumping, then back so he wasn't leaning into the camera. He tried one way, starting to plant an elbow before deciding that it didn't look serious enough. Shedding his jacket was no easy decision, he couldn't appear too casual for this moment.

"One minute Director Manswell."

Deciding on a rigid pose, he brought his hands together while the lighting guy adjusted the brightness, and the teleprompter displayed the first several lines of his speech. He dabbed at his brow as the cameraman held up an open palm, curling his thumb, then pinkie, down until his pointer was left. A pumped fist clicked the camera's light from red to green.

Throughout two colonies in the orbit of Io, every available station changed. Radio, television, everything that wasn't of critical importance relayed Victor's stony expression from the administration center. Crewmen busy checking the invaluable helium-3 skimmers' conditions, mechanics going over the refitted engines, farmers starting plots of land for the journey ahead, workers inspecting the rows of prototype machines to facilitate resource preservation, and everyone else. Nine million people, an eclectic mix taken from all over; from Earth, from Zeon's former Mahal colony, Luna and Jupiter, all of whom left everything behind two days ago. Only a handful didn't stop to listen to him.

A drop in the bucket compared to something like his old home Von Braun, never mind Earth. Manswell still shivered, feeling his dry mouth threaten to betray him; the numbers didn't matter, he was making history. Under the cool expression of the woman, he brought himself together.

"Good morning, residents of Texas and Banna. I am Victor Manswell, formerly of Anaheim Electronics colony development department, now the acting director for Project Exodus." He began, flicking sideways to ensure the recording equipment was working.

Manswell glanced down at his keyboard, silently hoping his projector wouldn't act up.

"This broadcast is an informational interview regarding the specifics of the Project. Everything I am about to tell you is restricted to Anaheim's executive board, not even the Federation Assembly is privy to the data. You all were brought on to form the first extrasolar colony, but the truth is different."

Manswell exhaled through his nose.

"Before I explain our real goal, I have a confession to make. It's in regard to the Alcubierre drive that allowed us to break the speed of light. Specifically, that it isn't one. That was a code name to hide what it really is, and where it came from."

Clicking on the projector, residents of two colonies were able to see a dusty red landscape. Rocky and bereft of life, the still images clicked, going through several before landing on a small excavation site.

"Eleven years ago, I joined an Anaheim sponsored expedition to Mars under the leadership of my mentor, Professor Silva. We went to determine its mineral resources, its viability to sustain future colonies, and to discover if life existed on the red planet. We… we found something else."

The images clicked to a wide tunnel, but while its walls were rough from boring equipment it ended at a smooth wall. Beyond was a flat surface, dark yet too smooth to be natural. Then the next clicked, showing a large square hallway.

"My team detected unusual magnetic fluctuations in the region called Deseado Crater. When we began excavation at the epicenter, we discovered a massive underground facility. It was enormous, tens of kilometers at least." Manswell braced himself. "It was not made by humans."

Even his camera crew froze. A part of him felt relief that he was no longer unique, the existential shock that once consumed him was now shared by millions.

"The Mars Ruins were abandoned, it had been for a long, long time. Preliminary data suggested that it was built anywhere from twenty to fifty thousand years ago, or more. We know very little about who constructed the facility, only that they were proportionally similar to us. Why they settled there, we don't know."

And they would never find out. Clenching his fists, Manswell smoothed out a grimace.

The greatest discovery of mankind's history, and he himself had to destroy it; that damn Zeon expedition gave him no choice, they demanded everything the Anaheim team had, or else. Executing Silva in the name of spacenoid independence, they then tried to cajole him to serve them, taking the alien secrets buried there to subjugate the Federation. Detonating their mining nuclear stockpile was his reply.

"Following the One Year War we took selected items back to Luna for study." All they could salvage before the Ruin's destruction, he didn't add here. "Among those was a small data cache, and several hundred kilos of an exotic material unknown to science."

Too quickly for people to entirely process, he clicked to new images; showing a collection of bizarre machines, with a core of glowing blue light. Very familiar light to those who saw outside two days ago.

"This material has the astonishing power to affect mass. When subjected to a negative electrical current, it creates a field that lowers the mass of whatever is inside it. A positive one increases mass instead."

Now a silent video played; around an isolated machine a faint sphere formed, lifting it off the lab floor on its own, with the researchers around it visibly recoiling. After that was a short montage, showing further experiments. Raising items, flattening them, making a small shuttle hover, then blackboards of incomprehensible scientific formulas.

"Needless to say this completely changes what we know about physics. Its applications are… I have no idea what all it can do. But its main focus, where we found it actually, is as a starship drive. By lowering mass, we can counteract the hard limit of the light speed barrier, allowing us to go faster than light."

Manswell leaned back, peeking at his comms panel; no doubt he was going to be bombarded with questions, and he hadn't even gotten to the main part yet.

"Anaheim withheld the findings from the Federation government. I was told the plan was to sell it to the highest bidder, at an unspecified time and to an unspecified party. The greatest discovery in mankind's history, withheld because of greed." Again his fists clenched. "Through back channels I learned Axis Zeon wanted to build superweapons out of it, of course. And two years ago, the Titans attempted to confiscate the material for their own purposes. Specifically to construct newer ships to hunt down dissidents. That was the wording their representative used. They had carte blanche from Dakar, so there was nothing I could do to stop them. That is why the Titans attacked us two days ago."

Manswell's tone began to rise. "The dawn of the Universal Century was meant to be a new start for mankind, when we were meant to leave behind our violent past. I have always believed in that promise, even through the worst times of the One Year War, such as the detestable colony drop."

Secluded in the captain's quarters aboard the Marie Dietrich, a woman drew in on herself with a haunted expression.

"This drive technology is the key to fully realizing that promise. A means to leave Earth behind, to truly become something greater. Under the guise of a reconstruction effort, I stole the materials and data to refit Texas into an interstellar ark. One with a destination." Manswell selected one image in particular.

Displayed on the projector was a blurry picture; at a glance it resembled an O'Neill cylinder, albeit with five arms instead of the usual three. Thanks to the low resolution not many details could be discerned, although after several seconds of staring it was possible to tell it lacked the primary tube of any human colony. Set against a purple tinted background, it stood out as something apparently grander than anything made by man; Manswell hoped it would be seen that way.

"This image was recovered from the Ruin's data files, I apologize for its low quality. What matters is that it is the alien capital." Manswell waited a moment, unsurprised at the panel lighting up more than ever. "I don't know if it's still inhabited or not, but these aliens constructed this place, made it the center of their nation. Take a moment to imagine what could be there. I've spent years chasing that thought, and now I have the chance to find out. Based on the telemetry data we've recovered, we know where it is. Thanks to the discovery of the alien's travel network, it's reachable within our lifetime."

This image was crisp, cleaned up from the archive data: it was shaped like a tuning fork, with two huge prongs and smaller antenna sticking out, emanating from a glowing blue orb in the center.

"Translators call these things Mass Relays, they were used to cross the vast gulf of space instantly. When we find one we can reach the capital station in months, perhaps even hours."

"With that said, locating one is no easy task. Resources such as water and food could very well run out before we do. Thanks to work performed on Banna colony there is a solution, cryogenic suspension chambers. Designed to keep a human alive for extended periods, it'll preserve much of our population, and reduce strain on what's left. However, despite extensive testing the procedure may still have risks." Manswell explained, smoothing a grimace.

He wasn't sure why the leaders of the Jupiter Sphere were developing these machines, but the possibilities were disquieting. Always insular, those people regarded him with suspicion even after he proved his intentions were genuine, forcing him to go through back channels to contact dissident groups.

He dismissed those thoughts to refocus. "Because of that, there will be no compulsion to go into hibernation. If you refuse you will face no penalties. To assuage your fears that this could be used to cull the population, I will be among the first to enter cryogenic sleep."

He peeked at the clock; almost done.

"I know this is a great deal of information to process. I also realize that you were deceived, which could raise the question of what else that I lied about. Therefore, starting today I will be publishing a full book disclosing everything."

Mackenzie choked on her coffee, surprising Wiseman and several other workers in a hangar breakroom. When she finished coughing she gave them an incredulous look. "He's serious?"

"All of the internal memos, our findings, technical data on everything from the drive to the cryo tech, all of it will be disclosed. And should it be decided that my goal is untenable, a plebiscite will be held to determine the future of the expedition. I ask only that you think carefully about what you choose. You represent the future of mankind, where we will go is up to you. Thank you." Manswell signaled for a stop, and with a click he was obliged.

When he was sure the camera was off, Victor slumped with a groan. Dabbing his sweaty brow helped, closing his eyes so the news crew could disassemble the equipment in peace.

There, he said it. Victor just made the greatest gamble of his life, not only was his future at stake, but so was mankind's; many within Anaheim were positively ecstatic about the new status quo following the OYW, slavering over the profit projections from weapon sales. Had he obeyed the executive board, those short sighted fools would happily turn the Ruin's findings into another toy that killed people. He had to run, it was the only way to prevent that scientific perversion from happening.

Of course, with only a fraction of Anaheim's resources Victor had his own troubles.

For a first trial run the drive worked beautifully, struggling past its reluctance against scaling up. That still left some very stark problems he had to manage; the static issue was the largest, all that electricity pumped into the core had to go somewhere. Now that the engineering team knew what they were doing it could be improved somehow, but even in the best case scenario they could only operate for twenty four hours at most before needing to discharge. Their route had to be planned carefully to find suitable planets, otherwise they risked frying the entire colony. If there was more time to experiment perhaps that problem could have been avoided, as things stood he had to settle for a crude reproduction of those alien drives.

That was just the start of their problems. Lack of habitable space. Acquiring quality Helium-3 fuel, never mind overall resources, from water to rare earth metals. Maintaining their eleven capital starships: four Salamis-class cruisers, two Musais, four helium skimmers, and a Zanzibar. Convincing people the cryo machines were safe. Social issues from having Federation, Zeon, and Jupiter residents rubbing shoulders-

Victor needed another breath. When he opened his eyes, he found his guest had left her wall to stare at him.

"Was that true?" Mass asked flatly, arms crossed.

Rather than answer Manswell reached into his breast pocket to draw a blank card, tossing it onto the desk. His heartbeat was slowing, stress levels lowering a small amount.

Frowning, Mass examined the gift to find a magnetic stripe. "What's this?"

"The access key to look into the records." He answered, taking a gulp from a water bottle.

"That's it? What's the angle?" She narrowed her brow in suspicion.

"No angle. Go ahead, nothing is locked." He gestured at a safe nearby, out of the camera's sight.

Mass didn't accept the offer, crossing her arms. "I find it hard to believe you would be so open, after betraying Anaheim like that. It's more likely you just wanted complete control over your discovery."

Though still shaky, Manswell smirked. "It's almost as if you believe everyone follows the same sins. I admit, I am a very greedy man. But."

"But...?" Mass repeated, backing away as he lethargically rose to his feet.

Victor planted his hands on the desk, sending her a small grin. "My Greed cannot be sated by material means."

Clicking the remote, he flipped through images until he landed on one of the sun. It was from a close observation satellite by the looks of it, showing various details normally invisible to the naked eye, from sunspots to bands of solar flares.

"Look at it. To you, this is nothing more than a hyper pressurized and condensed ball of helium and hydrogen, collapsed into a flaming ball of energy. What do I see?" He prodded.

Her flat look was the reply, though showing some curiosity.

"I see life. I see majesty! I want to see it all. Everything this universe has to offer!" Manswell all but shouted, stunning the retreating news crew. Not that his wide grin cared. "I want to be there in the cradle of a star's birth. I want to witness the edge of the galaxy, and wonder: What's more? I want to go, Miss Mass. I want to fulfill the dreams of a boy that I had thought long lost since the beginning of the War."

"You're naive." She replied, stepping out of his way when he strode to the safe. Reaching over his shoulder to waggle his palm, she reluctantly flicked the card back; a beep preceded a click, opening it so he could gesture at stacks of papers.

"I prefer to be called a romantic myself. Lies and pessimism have plagued the Earth Sphere ever since the War, it's high time someone injected some old school optimism back into mankind." He plucked a random stack to hand over, smiling at her distrustful look.

"So you style yourself as a wise philosopher king." Mass took the gift, skimming the titles; this stack consisted of the collected reports from Mars.

"A king? No. I am no monarch." Manswell shuffled papers onto the desk, arraying them in order. "When we find the alien capital, I'll explore it to the fullest. I want to see everything it has to offer. And then-"

"Rebuild mankind." She interrupted.

"Not at all. Mankind must decide its own destiny. When I've had my fill of that station, I'll set off for the edge of the galaxy, discovering everything on the way. If I'm still alive by then, I'll go to the next." He paused his retrieval to send her a calculating look. "If I wanted to be king, I would've set up a new colony cluster at Saturn, or Uranus, hell, even Alpha Centauri. I wouldn't be barging off with every intention of talking to aliens."

"I doubt you'll be speaking much, given your insistence on bringing warships and mobile suits." Mass countered.

"I'm an optimist, not a fool. It'd be downright negligent to forget to bring some weapons. But if they turn out to be unnecessary, I plan on turning them into foundations." He huffed at her dry look. "I'm being literal, there's enough metal in our mobile suit fleet to build a skyscraper."

"And if they're not?" She posed.

"Only if we force the issue." Manswell went back to retrieving papers.

She sent him a dark look. "That doesn't answer the question."

"Then we keep going. Away and away and away, discovering all that the universe has to offer. You're free to look at the data Miss Mass, enjoy." Manswell dismissed.

Sayla glanced askance at him, then left the room. She had a lot to do, perhaps too much; Manswell was naive, but he had the reins of this expedition. It was up to her to ensure that his foolishness wouldn't ruin everything, costing the lives of desperate millions who bought into his dream. Her new start had to be preserved, no matter what.