Crossing Orb: Newtype Commander

In CE50, Char Aznable was five years old.

He asked Uzmi to let him travel around the world.

"I need to see the world with my own eyes," Char said. "The knowledge in books is just abstract concepts. I need to know how deep the hatred between Naturals and Coordinators really is, to understand the root of the war, and to see with my own eyes those who suffer in the conflict."

Uzmi remained silent for a long time.

He understood Char's idea, but it was too dangerous to let a five-year-old child travel the world alone—even with secret agents protecting him.

"Ten years from now," Uzmi said, "when you're fifteen, I'll make the arrangements."

“Father,” Char’s tone turned serious, “ten years is too long. PLANT’s population will reach a critical point, at which point the political conflicts within the Coordinators will intensify. The radical faction within the Earth Federation will begin planning military operations against PLANT. I don’t have ten years to wait.”

Uzmi fell silent again.

He couldn't refute Xia's analysis—he had personally verified the data, the trends, and the deductions, and they were indeed logically sound.

"Alright," Uzumi finally relented, "but you must accept full covert protection. And you must report to me regularly from each location you visit."

"make a deal."

In the autumn of CE50, five-year-old Char Langlad Asgar embarked on a journey around the world.

Nominally, this is "studying abroad." In reality, it's an on-site investigation into the global landscape.

The first stop is the Equatorial Union.

This economic community, comprised of Southeast Asian nations, was relatively peaceful at the time. Char Aznable witnessed a common society where Naturals and Coordinators coexisted—though there were some frictions, it was generally harmonious.

He stayed there for three months, mainly studying the economic development model and resource allocation mechanism of the Equatorial Union. He also used this time to secretly investigate the local underground arms trading network, gaining a preliminary understanding of the basic structure of the global arms trade.

"The balance of the Equatorial Union is fragile," he wrote in his report to Uzmi. "The stability of the region can collapse rapidly once tensions rise in the surrounding area."

In the spring of CE51, Char arrived in the Kingdom of Scandinavia.

The situation in Northern Europe was far better than in the Equatorial Union. The social welfare system there was comprehensive, and the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators was relatively mild. Char Aznable was exposed to advanced biomedical technology there, which laid the foundation for his later understanding of Coordinators' genetic engineering.

That summer, he entered the Eurasian Federation.

The Eurasian Federation is one of the main member states of the Earth Federation and also a region where anti-Coordinator sentiment is relatively strong. It was here that Char Aznable firsthand experienced systemic discrimination against Coordinators.

In a Moscow café, he witnessed a Coordinator waiter being verbally abused by a customer—"Damn genetically modified monster, go back to PLANT!"

The waiter lowered his head and apologized without saying a word. But Xia Ya saw that his hands were trembling and his eyes were full of humiliation and anger.

"This is the cycle of hatred," Xia thought to himself. "One side inflicts discrimination, the other side accumulates anger. When the anger erupts, the violence escalates. Then the hatred continues to deepen, endlessly."

He spent six months in the Eurasian Federation, systematically studying the internal structure and decision-making mechanisms of the Earth Union. He discovered that the Earth Union was far from monolithic—the conflicts of interest between the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, and the East Asian Republic were very serious, and they were only temporarily united by the common goal of "fighting the Coordinators."

In CE52, Char was seven years old.

He arrived in the Atlantic Federation at the height of the activities of the extreme anti-Coordinator organization, "Blue Universe."

Here, he witnessed a scene he would never forget.

At a public rally, a speaker from the Blue Universe shouted on stage: "The Coordinators are a disgrace to humanity! They are monsters created out of thin air! They want to replace us 'real' humans! We must protect the purity of humanity!"

The crowd below cheered wildly.

Char saw a middle-aged man holding a child in the crowd. The child was about three or four years old and looked like a Coordinator—his unusual hair color and more handsome features were basic characteristics of Coordinators.

"Kill them!" someone shouted.

The crowd began to stir. The middle-aged man, clutching the child, desperately tried to run away, but the crowd caught up with him. Fists, feet, sticks—everything that could be used to hurt them was thrown at the father and son.

Char tried to rush in to save the people, but the Orb agents accompanying him forcibly took him away from the scene.

"Let me go!" he shouted as he struggled. "They'll be beaten to death!"

"Young Master, our mission is to protect your safety!" The agent's voice was cold and firm. "An evacuation route has been prepared in that area, but if we rush in now, you will also be injured!"

That night, Char sat alone in his hotel room for a long time.

He later learned that the middle-aged man had been severely injured, while the child had died from a head injury.

"This is the blue universe," he wrote in his diary, his handwriting trembling with anger. "They use the banner of 'protecting humanity' to commit massacres. They are no different from racists—no, they are worse because they disguise their atrocities as 'justice'."

That night, for the first time, Char seriously considered a question: if power can be used to stop such atrocities, then is the pursuit of power itself also a kind of justice?

In CE53, Char Aznable, at the age of eight, arrived at the African Community.

The situation here is worse than in the Atlantic Federation—not because of extremism, but because of the war.

The African Community was then embroiled in a civil war between a mixed force of natural persons and adjusters. The fighting had spread to civilian areas, leaving behind ruins and refugees.

Char witnessed an armed conflict here. His town was suddenly attacked; shells exploded in the streets, and people scattered in panic. A young mother carrying her baby ran past him, and a bullet struck her in the back. She fell to the ground, and the baby rolled out of her arms, crying loudly.

Char rushed over, picked up the baby, and hid in the ruins of a building. He stayed there for a whole day, listening to the gunshots and explosions outside. The baby in his arms cried until it was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.

"This is war," he thought, "not the strategies and tactics in books, but blood, death, broken families, and lost futures."

In 54, he arrived in Oceania.

Here, he witnessed a street conflict between Coordinators and Naturals. It started when a young Coordinator uttered an insulting remark to a Natural girl, and then the two groups began attacking each other.

The conflict escalated rapidly, eventually turning into a bloodbath. A ten-year-old Coordinator girl was beaten to death—she was just passing by but was drawn into the conflict because of her Coordinator characteristics.

Char rushed into the crowd to try to save people, but he was also severely injured.

In CE55, Char was ten years old.

Through the arrangements made by Uzumi and Siegfried Klein, Char finally embarked on his journey to PLANT.

This was his first time in the world of the Coordinators. The PLANT colony was almost perfect in its beauty—artificially controlled climate, meticulously designed landscapes, and an efficient social system. But beneath this perfect facade, Char saw a deep-seated anxiety.

"We were 'designed'," a young PLANT member told Char, his voice tinged with complex emotions. "Our genes were artificially selected, our abilities were artificially enhanced. But what are we, really? Are we the evolution of humanity? Or just tools of humanity?"

This identity anxiety, coupled with the discrimination and persecution of Coordinators by Naturals, fueled a growing radical sentiment within PLANT.

Char watched Patrick Zala's speech on PLANT. Zala stood on a high platform, her voice fervent: "The Coordinators are the chosen race! We are the future of humanity! Naturals cannot understand us, they fear us, so they want to destroy us! But we will not sit idly by! We will let those Naturals know that the Coordinators are not lambs to the slaughter!"

The crowd below cheered wildly.

Char stood in the crowd, looking at the burning anger and pride in the eyes of those young Coordinators, and a deep sorrow welled up in his heart.

"They're not bad people," he thought. "They're just blinded by hatred. Those in power have exploited their fear and anger, turning them into fuel for war."

The meeting with Siegel Klein took place in a quiet, private setting.

Siegel is the moderate leader of the PLANT Supreme Council.

“Young man,” Higel looked at Char, his eyes filled with curiosity and scrutiny, “I’ve heard some things about you. You started traveling the world at five, and by seven you had written an analysis of the political landscape of the Atlantic Federation. Why do you want to see me?”

"Mr. Klein," Char said, getting straight to the point, "I'd like to know if you think there's any possibility of a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators."

Higel remained silent for a moment.

"Yes," he finally said, "but only if both sides can put aside their hatred. As it stands, that prerequisite is far from being met."

"So, what conditions do you think are necessary to achieve this premise?"

Higel looked at Char, his gaze turning serious.

"We need a third party," he said, "a mediator who doesn't belong to either side and can be accepted by both. Someone who truly thinks about the issue from the perspective of 'humanity' as a whole."

"Does such a person exist?"

Higel smiled.

"Perhaps," he said, looking at Xia meaningfully, "perhaps I am talking to him."

That conversation lasted all night.

Higel was astonished by Char's insight and depth of thought. This ten-year-old boy possessed a more profound understanding of the world order than many seasoned PLANT politicians. What surprised him even more was that Char proposed some ideas on "how to break free from the trap of binary thinking"—though these ideas were still immature, they were on the right track.

"Uzumi has a remarkable adopted son," Higel said to his assistant after Char left. "Perhaps he is the variable this world needs."

Five years of traveling around the world made Char realize a harsh truth:

The conflict between natural persons and regulators is not a simple issue of "discrimination" or merely a matter of "resource competition." It is a self-reinforcing vicious cycle—discrimination leads to hatred, hatred leads to conflict, conflict deepens discrimination, and then the cycle continues.

What's even more frightening is that both sides are trapped in the mindset of "binary opposition".

From the perspective of natural humans, regulators are a "threat"—they are smarter, stronger, and better, and if left unchecked, they will eventually replace natural humans.

In the eyes of the Coordinators, Naturals are "oppressors"—they discriminate against Coordinators out of fear and persecute them out of jealousy. If Coordinators do not fight back before they take action, they will be eliminated.

Both sides see themselves as victims, and both sides see the other as the perpetrator. Under this mindset, there is no room for dialogue, no possibility of reconciliation, only a zero-sum game of life and death.

"This is what Amuro meant by 'an irreconcilable war,'" Char thought to himself. "When both sides believe that the other's survival is their own death, war becomes inevitable."

He recalled the scene he had seen in the spacetime turbulence—the Moonlight Butterfly of Turn A Gundam turning civilization into sand.

"If the world continues down this path," he thought, "it's only a matter of time before the Moonlight Butterflies are cleansed."