One day after the -3rd anniversary of the Second Impact, my third fic.
And, surprisingly, it's a take on the events surrounding the second
impact.
It's not _the_ take, but it's a take.
Your C&C is welcome. tom-cnc@tr.ml.org
Enjoy.
Tom
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Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.0
Second Time Around
Neon Genesis Evangelion is copyright GAINAX/Project Eva.
This assumes only the television continuity, and essentially ignores
the movies. (I haven't seen them yet.)
It may contain spoilers for the events surrounding the second
impact. IMHO, they are rather mild.
This was created using XEmacs and ISpell on a Linux 2.0.30 based
system.
Send your C&C to tom-cnc@tr.ml.org.
"September 13, 2000, at 04:32:09.73 GMT, the computers at Kyoto
logged the start of the final experiment of the Katsuragi
Expedition. Slightly over twenty seconds later, the same computers
logged the loss of the radio signals coming from the polar station. It
is the events of these twenty seconds that may point directly at the
cause of the second impact. Unfortunately, the information that we
know from these twenty seconds is so garbled it may be impossible to
know for sure."
- Prof. K. Fuyutsuki
"Report Concerning the Phenomenon known
at the Time as the 'Second Impact'"
"Synchronization rates have achieved normal."
Ritsuko glanced at the monitor that confirmed what the technician
had said. She looked out the glass that separated the control room
from the cage where the three evangelion stood. "Begin
cross-synchronization process."
-----------------------------
Inside Unit One, Shinji felt the nature of the synchronization
change. A smell, perhaps. Perhaps something more. He didn't know what
he would be feeling during the cross-synchronization experiment, so he
assumed that this was what was normal.
He could see the other two evangelion through the screens in the
entry plug. For a moment, he thought he could also see Unit one, but
that would be impossible.
-----------------------------
"Cross-synchronization increasing."
On one of the windows of the control room, the three pilots'
synchrographs were projected. The graphs moved ever closer to perfect
harmony. Watching the sine waves was almost hypnotic, Ritsuko thought.
"Anomaly!"
The lines on the synchrograph changed from perfect sine waves to
irregular waveforms. The waves still matched with each other, though.
Before Ritsuko could give the order to end the test, there was
another shout. "AT Field!"
"Abort the test. Break synch..."
-----------------------------
For a moment, the walls of the entry plug flared a brilliant
white. Just as suddenly, the light faded away, being replaced by
darkness.It took Shinji several seconds before his eyes became
accustomed to the darkness enough that he was able to pick out the
other two Evangelion.
Like Unit One, the other two were sprawled on some sort of field
of snow, extending as far as the eye could see. On the horizon,
artificial lights illuminated the base of the clouds.
With a thought, he opened a communications link to the other two
evangelion. Within seconds, the other pilots had done the same. "What
happened?" Shinji asked. "Where are we?"
Within seconds he remembered that he could display a window with
global positioning information, but it seemed that Asuka had beaten
him to it. "It looks like we're in... Antarctica? And this can't be
right. The time signals says that we're in the year 2000."
Shinji checked the same display on his system. It read September
13, 2000 04:28 am GMT, and also indicated that it thought this was
an illegal time. "Antarctica. September 13, 2000...", he wondered out
loud.
Rei finished his thought. "The Second Impact."
"How long do we have?" It was Asuka's voice, slightly
wavering. "Unit Two has four minutes of time left."
"Unit Zero has three minutes." This was Rei's voice.
Shinji checked the power indicator, then checked it again. "Unit
One... According to this, I still have five minutes of power left."
He checked it one more time, then spoke again. "But that isn't
possible." he said, unnecessarily.
There was silence for a moment, then Rei spoke. "I suggest we
investigate those lights."
-----------------------------
After the evangelion had moved closer, it became apparent what the
lights were. They emanated from a pyramidal building on the surface of
the ice. At maximum magnification, a sign on the fence made it clear
what this was: The "Katsuragi Expedition Base Facility".
"One minute left." Rei said. Asuka merely nodded at this.
"We have to attack." Asuka said this, deploying her progressive
knife. She sounded unsure of herself, however.
"But Misato is probably in there." It was the first thing that came
to Shinji's mind.
Asuka's voice came over the communications system. "Shinji, if we
attack, we can stop the Second Impact. Two billion people, Shinji.
A long pause ensued.
"If we attack... They'll be no second impact. No NERV. No
Tokyo-3. No... Us?"
"Stupid Shinji," Asuka said. Unit Two ran toward the base, only to
bounce off an AT Field that blocked its path. The evangelion fell
down, damaged by the impact.
"Shinji.... It seems that only you can..." Rei's voice was cut off,
and the communications window was replaced by a message reading "Unit
00 - Activation Ceased."
Asuka turned to face the remaining pilot. Shinji could see that she
was hurt, and that Unit Two was damaged. From time to time static
clouded the transmission. "Shinji, you have to stop them from what
they will do."
"But if I do that, Nerv... Tokyo-3... Tokyo-2... Everything will
change. I can't do that... Not to the entire world..."
"Shinji... Is your view of the world worth two billion lives?"
"But the world as it is... What gives me the right to change it?"
Asuka turned away. "I don't know. But somehow, you have it." Her
image turned black, save for the words "Unit 02 - Activation Ceased".
Shinji was on his own. He stepped forward, not knowing what he
would do. His evangelion easily passed through the AT Field that had
stopped Asuka. Unit One staggered forward. He held the progressive
knife, not knowing if he would use it.
Shinji warred with himself, trying to decide what to do, weighing
the options, weighting what he had been told, trying to decide what to
do.
He finally decided. The time was 4:32:02 am GMT.
-----------------------------
The time was 04:32:29 am GMT.
The progressive knife had landed on the snow when he had dropped
it. Shinji didn't bother picking it up. He had no more use for it. He
stared at the tattered remains of what was the main building of the
Katsuragi expedition.
He wondered if he'd made the right choice. He'd wonder for the
rest of his life, he was sure. The arm of his Evangelion was glowing a
brilliant white. Turning, he could see the forms of the other two,
also glowing a brilliant white.
He turned back to the ruins of the building. A man was there,
carrying the body of a girl. Misato, Shinji thought. Her father placed
her in an escape pod. She looked at the Evangelion's glowing form,
then back at her father. His face was the last thing he saw before the
door of the pod slammed shut.
Again, the walls of the entry plug flared a brilliant white.
-----------------------------
"Break Synchronization!"
"AT Field collapsing!"
"All Evangelion have reached a dormant state."
Ritsuko sighed. The synchronization anomaly was over.
1.0 14 Sep 1997
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Send your C&C to tom-cnc@tr.ml.org.