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This is a repost. Also, I finally thought up a title (which could be
replaced by something a lot better), and I also append a timeline I
intend the fanfic to follow.
BIG FAT WARNING: If you haven't watched Evangelion (I'm sure everyone
knows the plot of Robotech by now), then this contains MAJOR spoilers
(especially the timeline and notes). And mind you, trying to figure
out what the hell is going on in Evangelion is half the fun.
=====begin=====
The Instruments of Man
by Yoo C. Chung (wacko@laplace.snu.ac.kr)
Preface
This is a crossover of Robotech and Evangelion. And the title
should be replaced by something better.
Evangelion is copyrighted by Gainax. Robotech is owned by Harmony
Gold, Inc. Characters used without permission.
Prologue
A few months ago, there was an expedition to the South Pole. It
was pretty routine, except on the return voyage there was an area
in T [Must find area in Antarctica that begins with a T.] where
all the magnetic fields were screwed. A few decades ago, the expedition
could have been doomed since all the compasses went hairwire, and
compounding the problem no stars were visible because of the cloud
cover. Fortunately, there was little risk of getting lost thanks
to the use of GPS.
Back at civilization, analysis showed that the magnetic fields
were almost perfectly symmetrical around a certain point in the
area. The scientist who discovered the result was an Arthur C.
Clarke fan, so he dubbed it TMA-1 (T [Whatever the area was named
in above.] Magnetic Anomaly One).
A geological expedition was organized and sponsored by the UN
to investigate the anomaly. That was why Joseph Weber, a geologist
who specialized in magnetic fields, was setting up a magnetic field
detection grid in the freezing cold of Antarctica.
``OK, the instrument's set in. Base camp, is the data link up?''
he asked through the radio.
``Sure, it's working fine. We should be able to plot out the
center of the field in no time. Why don't you guys come in and
thaw yourselves out in the meantime?'' came the response.
``Sure, we'd be glad to,'' Joseph said, and switched off the
radio. Turning to Kaji Shuuichi, an explorer who was reasonably
experienced with Antarctica, he said, ``Let's get back in, I feel
like I'm going to freeze and crystallize if we stay out here.''
``Ha, this isn't cold. You should come to the South Pole more
often,'' Shuuichi said.
``Well, this *is* the first time I've been here.''
``True enough. I hope they have some hot choco ready.''
They headed back to base camp on their snowmobiles.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A few hours later, Weber and Kaji were out again and were at
the center of TMA-1.
``I don't see anything weird. But then again, I'm not a geologist,''
Kaji said.
``I don't see anything anomalous either. I have the feeling
that whatever is causing the anomaly is underground,'' Weber said.
``Better call base camp. I'm sure they'll want to call the mainland
to bring in more equipment,'' Kaji suggested.
``Right,'' Weber said, and switched on the radio. ``Base camp,
we're at the center.''
``So, did you find the black monolith?''
``The what?''
``Never mind, it's an old joke. What's there?''
``We don't see anything above ground that might be causing the
anomaly. I think the source is underground.''
``Understood. Set up the instruments and get back. Base camp
out.''
Weber switched off the radio, and they headed towards the snowmobiles
to start set up the instruments.
While setting up the instruments, Kaji asked ``What do you think
might be causing the anomaly?''
``I'm not sure. I don't think I've ever heard of anything like
this. It could be anything, from a giant lodestone, to a superconducting
cavity,'' Weber answered.
Kaji, feeling like he was being teased, turned towards Weber
and started to say, ``A super-'' But he immediately noticed where
Weber was heading, and shouted ``Joe, watch out!''
``Huh?'' Weber said, while not quite stopping. He immediately
regretted not having stopped immediately, since he felt the ground
give away moments later.
``Whoa!'' he yelled as he fell down. He saw Kaji starting to
sprint towards him just before the ground rose above him. `I'm
dead,' he thought, just before he hit a thick layer of snow.
`Wait, I'm not dead?' he wondered. He thanked the Lord that
he fell into a very shallow crevasse. Normally, a crevasse was
too deep for any rescue even if one was lucky enough to have survived
the fall. He groaned at the thought of being chided by Kaji for
being careless later on, but he was glad that he was still alive.
Up at the opening Kaji shouted, ``Are you OK down there?''
``Yeah, I'm OK! I don't even feel bruised!'' he shouted back.
``Wait a moment while I lower a rope to you!'' Kaji shouted.
Weber tried to sit up, but then he heard a crack, and the ground
gave way under him again. `Darn, maybe I'm going to really die
this time,' he thought. A split second later he hit the ground
again. `Geeze I must be really lucky,' he thought right after
he hit the ground.
This time the ground was hard, icy in fact, that it hurt a lot
when he fell down on his rear. He had closed his eyes in pain,
so he didn't notice it at first, but soon he realized that there
was light.
He slowly opened his eyes. What he saw shocked him. He was
in a chamber of ice. That wasn't particular strange. The chamber
was large and rectangular. That was somewhat strange, but wasn't
something to be shocked at. What did shock him was the large glowing
object in front of him.
He didn't know what it was at first, but with a little exploring
along the walls (there was just enough space for Weber to go through
the space between the walls and the glowing object), Weber was
even more shocked to realize that the glowing object was a *giant
of light*, lying horizontally in the ice chamber.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Soon after, everything about TMA-1 was put under wraps. It was
a miracle that something sponsored by a multinational entity like
the UN was able to have been swept into absolute secrecy. (Decades
later, it would become a legend for having been one of the longest
kept major secrets of all time with absolutely no leaks.)
A few weeks later, an investigation commission headed by Dr. Katsuragi
was set up to investigate the giant of light. The giant was dug
up from its resting place underground, and a major research base
was built around it. Luckily, civilian reconnaissance satellites
didn't observe Antarctica, so there was no need to raise suspicions
by banning surveillance of Antarctica.
Chapter 1
Second Impact
In the year 2000, a huge gravimetric disturbance was detected near
Earth. Telescopes were immediately used to identify the source.
The astronomers and the military were shocked when the source turned
out to be something that looked very much like a large spaceship.
An hour later, when the governments of the world were still discussing
on what to do, the spaceship entered the atmosphere. It entered
somewhere above Western China. It swept across the sky, heading
southeast. Everything on the ground below its path was destroyed,
which included several major cities.
Soon, it became major news that a spaceship was going to crash
into the Earth, with various satellite photos (visible and infrared),
photos that were taken from the ground (from the lucky and competent
few who had been close enough to photograph the spaceship properly
and survive) and other material becoming available.
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Meanwhile at the investigation site at TMA-1, Dr. Katsuragi was
busy directing an x-ray scan of the giant of light, when suddenly
his daughter, Misato, came out of the building next to the giant
and called to him.
``Dad, there's a spaceship entering the atmosphere!''
``Not now, Misato, I'm busy,'' he said absentmindedly. Why did
Misato have to bother him with something as routine as a spacecraft
reentry?
``Dad it's an alien-,'' Misato started to say, when the glowing
giant suddenly became a lot brighter.
``What the hell is going on?'' Dr. Katsuragi asked the sensor
room through his comm link.
``We're not sure, Doctor, but there seems to be a marked increase
in electrical and magnetic activity within the giant,'' came the
answer.
Just after the answer came, the giant started moving. Everyone
was so surprised that no one neither moved nor talked. But when
the giant was completely standing, it began to smash everything
around it. That's when the panic started.
Dr. Katsuragi didn't start moving until the giant smashed down
with one of its fists on the building right next to where her daughter
was standing. A lot of debris hit her and she fell.
He ran towards where Misato had fell. She was unconscious, and
was bleeding in several places, but was otherwise fine. He picked
her up to take her to safety. That's when some debris hit his
back and one of his legs. The pain only made him more determined
to get his daughter to safety.
He remembered that there were several escape pods scattered from
the base a couple of hundred meters away, just in case (no one
seriously thought that they would ever be needed). He started
to head towards one of them.
At first he ran, but the pain in his back and one of his legs
eventually forced him to start limping. Fortunately, they were
far enough away from the giant that there was little danger of
being further injured.
As he approached one of the escape pods, he could feel the pain
from his injuries steadily becoming worse. He started to think
that he couldn't walk anymore. But he forced himself to keep on
going. He had to get Misato as far as possible from the destruction
that was happening behind them.
Finally he managed to reach the escape pod. He opened the hatch
and gently laid Misato in the escape pod, which was large enough
for only one person. As he began closing the hatch, he saw Misato
wake up. He considered telling her something, but decided against
it and locked the hatch. He activated the launch controls, and
the pod launched itself into the air. It became too far away to
see in just seconds. Absently he thought about the tremendous
acceleration that would have been required, but he knew that the
interior of the pods were extremely well padded.
He fell down from exhaustion and the pain from his injuries,
and just lay there in the snow. He was too exhausted to do anything
else. He began to regret about not being a better father for Misato,
because he suspected that he would not get another chance. He
was right.
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At the same time, the spaceship was streaking through the atmosphere,
destroying everything on the ground beneath its path. Eventually
it crashed on a very large island near the coast of Antarctica
called Macross (an unusual island with an average elevation of
100 meters). The resulting explosion made thermonuclear detonations
seem puny in comparison.
Several minutes later, an explosion centered around TMA-1 occurred,
which dwarfed even the explosion caused by the impact of the spaceship.
It covered nearly the entire continent of Antarctica, melting most
of the ice. The explosion was so large that it actually managed
to change the tilt of the Earth significantly, caused hundreds
of powerful earthquakes around the world, and raised the sea level
by dozens of meters. The heat released in the explosion also managed
to significantly change the climate of the Earth.
The repercussions were so severe that global war broke out (later
dubbed the Global Civil War). And in just half a year, the population
of the world was reduced to half of what it was previous to the
explosion.
A year after the explosion, mankind had sufficiently calmed down
enough (though nowhere near what one would call stable) that an
investigation to the cause of the explosion could be started. Everyone
knew (or so they thought) that it was the spaceship that appeared
an year earlier that was the culprit. And that was what the investigation
commission announced.
The actual cause of the explosion was kept under absolute secrecy,
and the various governments encouraged the belief that it was the
impact of the spaceship that had caused the explosion. The explosion
was called Second Impact (with First Impact referring to the asteroid
strike that had wiped out the dinosaurs).
The world began to plan a reconstruction of the spaceship at
Macross island, recognizing that there were aliens in the universe,
and that they might attack Earth. In fact, it was considered that
they were *already* attacked, since it was determined that the
impact of the spaceship alone could not account for the incredible
amount of energy released in the Second Impact.
The project was called the Robotech Project, and the spaceship
itself was dubbed the SDF-1 (Super Dimensional Fortress One). A
large number of scientists and engineers were committed to the
project. Oddly enough, no one noticed the fact that the most brightest
and capable of scientists and engineers were not committed to the
project and were instead sent elsewhere.
Chapter 2
Zentraedi Attack
The events in this chapter is described in the beginning of Robotech,
up to the hyperspace jump of the SDF-1 to Pluto.
Chapter 3
Angel Attack
The events in this chapter are described in the first and second
episodes of Evangelion anime, with some differences.
Timeline
The timeline outlined here contains *major* spoilers for Evangelion
and Robotech, in addition to the great amount of stuff I made up
or speculated.
1998 Discovery of the `giant of light' and construction of major
research base at TMA-1.
2000 Times are since Zor's ship first enters the vicinity of Earth.
0:00 Zor's ship appears at vicinity of Earth.
1:00 Zor's ship enters Earth's atmosphere.
1:20 The `giant of light' shows sudden activity and starts
to wreak havoc.
1:30 Zor's ship crashes into Macross island.
1:40 An explosion engulfing nearly the entire continent of
Antarctica originates at the TMA-1 site.
2001 Construction of human-sized Eva-00, which had been progressing
for three years, is complete. Reconstruction of Zor's ship,
dubbed the SDF-1, begins.
2002 Classified military expedition to the previous area of TMA-1
recovers nearly intact remains of the `giant of light'.
2004 Reconstruction of the `giant of light' complete and is dubbed
Eva-01. Ikari Yui is absorbed into Eva-01 in an accident.
Human Instrumentality Project begins.
2006 Construction of Grand Cannons begins.
2009 Eva-00 is scaled up to full size.
2010 Successful flight of prototype Veritech. First Grand Cannon
in Brazil complete.
2011 Second Grand Cannon in Egypt complete.
2013 Third Grand Cannon in Alaska complete. Construction of Eva-02
begins.
2014 Mass production of Veritech fighters begin. Construction
of Eva-02 complete.
2015 Days are since completion of the reconstruction of the SDF-1
(which is sometime in January).
Day 0 Reconstruction of SDF-1 complete.
Day 30 Zentraedi fleet invades at launch ceremony of SDF-1.
SDF-1 makes hyperspace jump near Macross Island to Pluto.
Day 60 Third Angel appears. Eva-01, piloted by Ikari Shinji,
defeats it.
Day 80 Fourth Angel appears.
Day 95 Fifth Angel appears. Successfully destroyed with help
from the RDF.
Day 110 Eva-02 arrives at Nerv main base.
Day 120 Sixth Angel appears.
Day 140 An attempt to capture the seventh Angel in a volcano
fails. The Angel is destroyed.
Day 180 Eighth Angel appears. Eva-01 and Eva-02 fail to destroy
it. Shinji and Asuka spend the following week training
for an attack when it completely regenerates. The attack
succeeds.
Day 200 Nerv power supply is sabotaged. Ninth Angel appears.
Day 205 SDF-1 returns to Earth.
Day 220 Tenth Angel appears in orbit, and is attacked by nearby
Zentraedi forces. A sizeable portion of Zentraedi fleet
destroyed by the Angel. Eva-00, Eva-01, and Eva-02 manage
to stop Angel from destroying Nerv main base. SDF-1 crew
first learn of Angels.
Day 225 Eleventh Angel appears and infiltrates MAGI system.
Day 230 Twelfth Angel appears. US Nerv base destroyed along
with Eva-04 during test of S2 engine.
Day 240 Eva-03 arrives at Nerv main base. Taken control by
thirteenth Angel.
Day 245 Shinji leaves Nerv. Fourteenth Angel appears. Shinji
rejoins Nerv. Eva-01 obtains S2 engine by devouring the
Angel. Shinji aborbed into Eva-01.
Day 265 Shinji successfully recovered. Eva-01 put into deep
freeze.
Day 270 Fifteenth Angel appears in orbit. Nearby Zentraedi
forces attempt to attack the Angel, but become mentally
crippled by mental attack. Asuka also mentally crippled
by another attack. Lance of Lounginus used to defeat
Angel. Lance lost in the process.
Day 275 Sixteenth Angel appears and infiltrates Eva-00. Rei
self destructs Eva-00.
Day 280 Nagisa Kaoru, replacement of Asuka and the last Angel,
appears.
Day 280 SDF-1 arrives at Nerv main base. SDF-1 crew first
learn of Evas.
Day 285 Khyron attacks SDF-1 with small number of cruisers.
The large portion of the force is torn apart by Eva-01.
The continuous bombardment on the SDF-1's full size shield
eventually overloads it. SDF-1 leaves Nerv main base.
Day 300 Seele convinces governments that Nerv plans to ally
with Zentraedi. SDF-1 ordered to attack Nerv main base.
Dolza, mistaking the overload of the SDF-1's shields as
a powerful attack, orders entire Zentraedi fleet into
Earth orbit.
Day 302 Times are in JST.
09:00 Squadron of Veritechs makes initial attack on Nerv
base.
10:00 More Veritechs join ongoing battle.
10:15 Nerv defensive systems wiped out.
10:45 Infantry from JSDF enters Nerv underground base.
13:00 JSDF infantry reach Nerv operations center. Nearly
all Nerv personnel killed.
13:30 RDF begins attack on Eva-02, which is hidden in lake.
Asuka regains control of Eva-02.
13:35 Shinji boards Eva-01.
13:40 Umbilical cord of Eva-02 cut.
13:42 Nine unmanned Evas equipped with dummy plugs enter
battle.
13:45 Eva-02, which had barely been able to defend itself
against the attacking Evas, loses power. Eva-01 enters
battle.
13:55 Unmanned Evas defeated.
14:00 SDF-1 fires main gun on Eva-01, which is blocked
by its AT field. Counterattack by Eva-01 blocked by
SDF-1's shields. SDF-1 begins retreat. Dolza's
fleet enters Earth orbit.
14:15 Seeing the SDF-1 seriously weakened, Zentraedi sends
in forces to capture it.
14:30 Rei causes Third Impact. Humanity and Zentraedi
annihilated, with exception of Eva-01.
Characters
John Weber
Geologist who first discovered the `giant of light'.
Kaji Shuuichi
Explorer. Father of Kaji Ryouji.
=====end=====
Notes:
The timeline is still work in progress. You might notice that there
are a lot more Evangelion that Robotech in the timeline. This is
because Nerv is supposed to be an ultra-secret organization, so its
existence should hardly have an effect on the original plot of the
Macross part of Robotech. Consider that essentially the same events
occur until the SDF-1 returns to Earth.
I'm still thinking of a link between Zor's ship and the Evas and
Angels. Suggestions would be welcome.
The timeline includes a lot of speculation about Evangelion on my
part, so don't complain unless the anime directly contradicts
something.
The end I seem to plan for the fanfic is pretty depressing, huh?
That's because I have no idea what Seele's or Ikari Gendou's ultimate
intentions are. As far as I could deduce with the material I've been
able to access, both are trying to cause Third Impact, Gendou with
Ayanami Rei and Seele with Eva-01. I'm not sure what Third Impact is
supposed to be like (simple explosion? all the humans' minds becoming
one? mind control over humanity? resurrection of Ikari Yui? something
else?), so I chickened out and destroyed almost everything. ^_^;
Oh, I still need a place in Antarctica that begins with a T. (Should
go out and find a map...)
- --
Yoo C. Chung <http://plaza.snu.ac.kr/~wacko/>
School of Electrical Engineering, Seoul National University
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