Prelude:
September 13, 2000
Katsuragi Expedition Base Camp, Antarctica
Katsuragi Kenji-hakase stumbled as he carried his semi-conscious
child through the ruins of the camp, but was caught before he dropped to
his knees by the young man who walked with him. Kenji didn't bother
wasting time thanking him.
"I wish ..." he heard the young man mutter in English as they both
headed towards the safest place in Antarctica.
"What?" Kenji asked in Japanese, his voice barely a rasp.
"I wish that I'd kept my camera with me," the Canadian answered in
the same language, flashing a strange, sad smile as he did. "I've got a
feeling whatever just happened would get me a Pulitzer ..."
For only a moment, Kenji paused as the wind whipped past him. The
young man was making a joke, while he shuddered in the cold -- there had
been no time to get him into a parka -- and waited for death.
Kenji started walking again. Shaking fingers tapped out a code on
the side of the cyllinder. With a hiss of escaping gas, the lid slid open.
He set his daughter down in the cushioned pod.
He did not meet her eyes as she regained consciousness, and
murmured "Poppa?"
Nor did he meet the young man's eyes as the Canadian began to
speak again. "Actually, that was a lie. I wish ... I really wish you'd
tell me what this was all about. I mean, I'm gonna die, so --"
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Davies," Kenji answered quietly. He heard
a sigh escape from the other's lips. "I'm afraid you're going to have to
live."
And with a devil's strength he turned, slamming his fist into the
Canadian's jaw. Kenji caught him before he collapsed completely, then
slung him into the capsule, pressing the codebar on its side once more,
cutting himself off from the sight of his daughter's eyes.
Katsuragi Kenji-hakase was very tired. He slumped beside the
capsule containing the hope of humanity, and waited, gazing at the ruin he
had made of his life.
A second later, it began in earnest.
His final thought was <Will it make a difference?>
* * *
Katsuragi Misato couldn't reach the buttons on the side of the
capsule her father had put her into. The big gaijin who had made her
laugh despite herself last night, the one she'd just seen her father hit,
was blocking her way.
There was a low boom.
And then a scream.
She cried.
But Misato was unable to open the capsule so that she could gaze
fuzzily at the sight of two firey wings stretching up from the barren sea
where Antarctica had been. She would see photographs from sattelites,
later, but they would never affect her in the same way that the naked eye
image of the thing that had destroyed her world might have.
It would make a difference, in years to come.
* * *
Christopher Davies, amateur film maker on a Greenpeace gig, was
unconscious. He dreamt of many things as he slept through the second
greatest disaster in human history. He saw his family, his friends, and
those he'd claimed as enemies.
But his mind kept returning, for some reason, to the image of the
man he'd seen leaving the Base Camp when he'd arrived, yesterday.
The man with the thick glasses.
The man who had been smiling as he got into the motorboat.
It would make quite a difference, in years to come.
Shin Seiki Evangelion:
Scenario no Kawari
An Evangelion Author-Insertion
by Chris Davies
Episode 1: Pilot
July 3, 2015
Tokyo-3, NERV Headquarters, Officer's Lounge
"-- and in foreign news, NorthAm President Kevin Karvonen --"
"Change the channel or shut it off."
Aoba Shigeru blinked and turned in the chair he'd pulled away
from the table to watch television, and looked at the Major, who was
sitting at the lounge's coffee table. "Sir? You don't want to hear about
news from your old homeland?" He wondered why Hyuuga Makoto was making
waving motions at him while the Major was obliviously reading the paper.
"Aoba. The political monstrosity which that idiot heads is *NOT*
my homeland. I lost my homeland almost fifteen years ago, when another
idiot decided that with the east and west coasts gone, the United States
needed lebensraum," the Major replied calmly. "I'd really rather not
discuss my opinions of the United States of North America, but if you'd
like --"
Makoto had scrawled the words "Do what he says," on a paper towel
and held it up to his face, making tears come from his eyes without
apparent effort.
"Uh, no!" Shigeru interrupted. "No, sir, that won't be necessary,
um -- where's the remote?"
"Here," the Major said off-handedly, and pointed it at the TV
without turning his face from the newspaper. Shin-CNN dissolved and was
replaced by the bright images of Pokemon W.
Shigeru stared at the Major for a second. "But ... sir, if you
had the remote, why didn't you just --"
The Major lowered his paper, and frowned at Shigeru. "Change the
channel while you were watching the news? That'd be a bloody impolite
thing to do, now wouldn't it?" asked Major C. Richard Davies, NERV
Japan Internal Security Division Head.
The fact that even when seated the Major towered over him by at
least ten centimetres was rather unnerving to Aoba, so he turned and
watched the grim, moody adventures of a pair of oddly bishonen would-be
Pokemon trainers and their annoying female companion.
Davies shrugged and went back to reading the news. As he saw it,
it was hardly his fault that he had that effect on people. Well, most
people.
"Good morning, Major," Ibuki Maya said cheerfully as she walked
into the cafeteria.
He favored her with one of his rare smiles. "Good morning, Ibuki.
How goes the struggle against technical obsolesence?"
"Pretty well," she replied, grinning. She was about to continue
when she saw that the electric kettle was plugged in. She paused, did
a brief mental calculation, and said, "Kettle's boiling," just as it began
to whistle.
Davies stared at her for a moment, then got up to unplug the
kettle. "I'm not going to ask how you did that, so you might as well tell
me," he informed her as he poured the boiling water into a white ceramic
cup, and added the bag of tea.
"It's just a trick," Maya replied, shrugging.
"Just a trick," Davies repeated, making the offer of a cup for her
as he did.
She shook her head politely. "Sure. Just observe the
evaporation, figure in the volume and the operating temperature, and
you've got it. Simple, really."
"I'll take your word for it," he replied deadpannedly, and added a
sugar cube.
"What I don't understand, sir, is why you don't drink coffee like
the rest of us."
Davies shrugged. "Because, Ibuki, any machine can make coffee.
But making the perfect cup of tea is an *art*." He sipped at the cup, and
flinched. "Ah well. Better luck next time."
He headed back to the table. "You were saying something about the
computers?"
"Oh, yes! Sempai and I were working on some old military codes to
test the Magi's code-breaking utility, and it went great. It took a few
hours, but all the while the computers ran at the same nice, even tone ...
we didn't say anything, we just sat there and listened to it ... together
... it was wonderful." There were almost stars in her eyes.
Davies decided to pretend he couldn't hear Shigeru's faint sigh of
disappointment. "That's good to hear. So, when are you going to ask her
out?"
Ibuki let out a little gasp. "Sir! I -- I couldn't do that! It
would violate Regulation --"
"That's to prevent a superior officer from asking a junior officer
out, Ibuki," he explained calmly. "Technically, Dr. Akagi can't ask you
out, but you are more than free to ask her out."
She blinked. "Really?"
Davies let out a sad sigh. "Maya-san, not only do I know the NERV
Officer's Manual backwards and forewards, I helped write the bloody thing.
Believe me, I made very sure that it can't be considered sexual
harrassment for a junior officer to permit fraternization with a senior
officer -- largely because I was hoping we'd get a pair of cute, slightly
destructive security operatives whom I could nickname the Dirty --"
"Excuse me?"
"Never mind. Before your time. Anyway, if you believe that she
wouldn't be adverse to a tete-a-tete, and you find her attractive, I
suggest that you go for it. What do you have to lose?"
She considered the question for a few second. "Sempai's respect,"
she said slowly. "But if she laughs, I'll know for sure that I was wrong
about her, won't I?" Ibuki nodded, sharply. "I'll do it." A brief
pause. "Eventually."
Ibuki smiled then. "In the meanwhile, I'd better get back to
work. Have a nice day, sir. Bye, guys!" She headed out of the lounge.
Davies waited a discrete minute and a half before smoothly asking,
"Is something you'd like to say, Ao--"
"Why, sir?" the lieutenant pleaded, tears flowing freely. "Why do
you encourage her in her perverse behavior? Why must you cause my heart
to suffer so?"
Davies sighed again. "Aoba, you must accept reality. I'm given
to understand that she's actually attracted to both genders, but right
now, she's fixated on Dr. Akagi. So, we should encourage her. Yes, some
lessons are harder than others, but the sooner that they wind up together,
the sooner that Maya realizes what a miserable, worthless, pitiful excuse
for a human being Ritsuko actually is." He paused as all the blood
drained out of Makoto's face while the younger man stared over the top of
Davies' head. "She's standing right behind me, isn't she?" he asked in a
vaguely bemused tone.
Makoto nodded once reflexively, then froze.
Davies turned and smiled up at the stoney-faced suicide blonde
scientist. "Good morning, Dr. Akagi, I didn't hear you enter."
"Obviously," she replied, her voice only a little warmer than
whatever bizarre substance was used to cool the Magi. "Mr. Davies, I do
not find this sort of behaviour appropriate or welcome. It is to be
remembered that --"
Davies let his voice overlap hers, and when she stopped midway
through the first sentence, continued without her. "-- `you are
technically a guest of the Japanese government, and should you fail to
behave appropriately you could be deported to the United States,'
etcetera, etcetera." He smiled. "The problem with that theory being that
my guest status was sort of *imposed* on me, fourteen years back, and I've
been trying every few months to change that status by applying for a
transfer over to NERV America. Rejection after rejection for that sort of
thing leads one to believe that someone wants to keep me in these parts.
Okay. If that's the way they want to play it, Barkus is willing." His
tone changed -- there seemed to be a note of genuine curiousity in his
voice. "Exactly what offended you about my --"
She scowled. "I do not appreciate being insulted, Mr. Davies, nor
do I appreciate being referred to as a `worthless excuse for a human
being.' Furthermore, I scarcely think referring to me in such terms in
front of subordinates is appropriate."
"Oh. Well, all I can say is that I didn't mean anything I said
seriously --" <Including this apology.> "-- and that I'm sure that Aoba
and Hyuuga were upset that I was speaking of a superior officer in that
manner. Weren't you?" he said, shooting quick looks at each of them.
They raced to agree.
"If you feel the need to request a formal apology, I'll have one
on your --"
"Davies," she interrupted. "One day you are going to go too far
... and whatever it is that you know won't save you then. Are you clear
on this?"
He studied her face. If she felt anything beyond vague
intellectual curiousity as to how long it was going to take, it wasn't
apparent there.
He couldn't place what it was that bothered him so much about
Akagi Ritsuko. When they'd first been introduced, she'd been just as
politely distant as almost all the other Nihonjin whose paths he'd crossed
during his first few days as NERV's "police chief", and she hadn't done
anything to either insult him or make him feel particularly welcome. Nor
had much changed over the years. She had her work; he had his. The twain
rarely met, except when Security was asked to supervise the transfer of
certain components to and from the Magi or other areas of the complex
under her supervision.
At least, nothing had changed superficially. But every time that
they had met, he had increasingly gotten a greater ... for lack of a
better term, *scent* of something foul coming off of her.
The Odor of the Ungodly, to borrow from Leslie Charteris.
Davies became aware that he'd been staring at her for a full ten
seconds. He shook his head just a nudge to clear it, and drew in a deep
breath. "You may be right," he allowed. "If so, I guess I'll just have
to get myself out without using that specific bit of what I know. Won't
that be entertaining to watch?"
Ritsuko shook her head just slightly. "Not really, no. I've
never seen the attraction of the sport hunting that was common in the
twentieth century either. It hardly seemed like an even contest."
With that, she turned on her heel, and strode out of the lounge.
Davies turned back to look at Makoto, who was staring at him in
shock. "Something on your mind?" he asked.
"How in the hell do you *do* that?" Makoto demanded. "Sir!" he
added belatedly.
Davies paused as he reached for his paper. "Do what?"
Shigeru slowly came up to the table, shaking his head.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Go right ahead."
"Sir, you routinely commit acts or say things that would probably
get either of us court-martialed, and walk away with a promise of a formal
apology, if that! Why? Why is this permitted?"
Davies considered. Should he tell them? Well, part of it
wouldn't hurt. "There's two reasons. The first has two do with my
position in NERV relative to Dr. Akagi's position -- roughly equal. She
has slightly more autonomy, I have more authority. So, in order to make a
complaint about something I'd done, she'd have to submit it to Sub-
commander Fuyutsuki -- who, depending on how assertive he felt that day,
would either ask me to make a formal apology, or kick it upstairs to the
Commander -- who would ignore it, being above such matters. So she can't
do anything to me through channels." He picked up the paper and scanned
over it.
"That makes sense ... so what about the other reason?" Makoto
asked eagerly.
"Oh. That ..."
They leaned in closely.
"... is my secret."
They leaned back with disgusted expressions on their faces.
"Secrets," muttered Makoto. "Why does it have to be secrets?"
"I take it that the two of you have run into more than your fair
share of them," Davies noted as he read an editorial talking about how
wonderful life was in Tokyo-3, the city of the future, and how anyone who
didn't like it should go elsewhere, fast.
"First day on the job," Shigeru began wearily. "I'm escorted into
that big command center and shown my terminal. They show me how to run
practically everything -- very intensive training. Whenever I have a
question about the equipment that I'm using, the answer is always the
same: 'You're not cleared for that.'"
"When they start saying 'Fnord', then you should start worrying,"
Davies advised him.
"What?"
"Never mind."
"All I know is that there is no way that I'm staying on here after
my term is up in six months," Makoto asserted. "They paid for my
education. Fine. Thank you, NERV. I paid you back with two years of my
life that I can never get back and enough stress to give me the beginnings
of an ulcer."
"What about you, Sir?" Shigeru asked suddenly. "I mean, you've
obviously been here longer than either of us have, but what are you
planning on doing after you get --"
"Doesn't work that way for me, Aoba," Davies interrupted with a
rueful smile. "I'm in for the duration."
Shigeru blinked. "The duration? The duration of what? We aren't
in the middle of any hostilities."
"I believe that the way they worded it on my contract was, 'the
duration that, in the opinion of NERV's commanders, your services are
needed for the defense of the human race.'"
"That's crazy, sir. There's no way that a contract like that
would stand up ... why did you sign it?"
Davies shrugged. "The alternative was murder." <Literally.>
"So you're never getting out," Shigeru commented, shaking his
head.
"Oh, theoretically I could. All I'd have to do is get so good at
my job that everywhere I go becomes essentially self-policing, and my
position becomes obsolete. Then they'd have no choice but to fire me."
<Out the muzzle of a railgun.> "But that would take a hellish lot of
effort, and it's not so hard working here."
He noted their disbelieving looks, and smiled again. "Ah, come
on, you two. You're soldiers in the defense of mankind against a
potential threat that may never materialize in our lifetime! What's not
to like?"
That was when the alarms began to sound.
"You really have it in for me, *don't* you?" Davies quietly asked
someone as he jumped to his feet and raced out of the lounge, followed
closely by the two deuce lieutenants.
<Please, please, let it be a false alarm. An unannounced drill. A
*headgame*, for God's sake. Just not another one of *them*.> The
thoughts whirled through his mind as he raced down the corridor to the
Command Center.
Maya was already at her station, her face tight and drawn.
Wordlessly, Shigeru and Makoto slid into their own stations. Davies hung
back, staring up at the seemingly normal sattellite picture of the eastern
Pacific that hung on the large monitor.
The only anomaly was the large dot moving towards Japan, much
faster than any man-made aquatic artifact could move.
"Confirmed," Maya said. "We have a confirmation of blue pattern."
<It's not a game anymore,> Davies thought, and, as he occasionally
did, regretted living this long.
A flashing light on Shigeru's board grabbed his attention.
"Automatic alert just went to the UN Command Center at Geneva, sir."
"We should probably be expecting guests, then," a weary voice
issued from above.
Davies looked up at the raised command platform to see Sub-
commander Kozou Fuyutsuki leaning on the railing and staring down at them.
His face was just as drawn as that of any of the bridge crew. The
Commander himself did not appear to be in evidence.
<Fortunate, wot? Man has a positive *knack* for not being around
when bad things happen,> Davies thought, and then suppressed the thought.
Now was *not* the time.
"Affirmative," Shigeru replied. "We've just received a coded
transmission ... they're issuing orders to the Strategic Self Defense
Force, and sending ... Generals Hirata and Koizumi, along with General
Reynolds of the United States Army as an official UN representative."
Davies' head jerked up at the mention of Reynolds' name.
"We're to comply with their leadership until they determine that
the situation demands the use of the ... of Project E," Shigeru concluded.
"Well ... not surprising. Insulting, but not surprising."
Fuyutsuki turned to look down at Davies. "Major Davies, you're to escort
these dignitaries from their point of arrival with all due speed."
Davies blinked. "But, sir ... isn't that Captain Katsuragi's
responsibility?"
"It would be," Fuyutsuki noted sourly, "if she hadn't been given
orders to escort the Third Child here from the train station. Unfortunate
timing." He paused, and seemed to be examining Davies' face. Clearly he
didn't like what he found there, as he frowned. "Major, I am aware of
your shared history with General Reynolds --"
<It's not shared history, it's shared geography. I used to live
there, and he wound up leveling the place, that's all.>
"-- but I expect you to behave with full professional conduct
towards him. We *cannot* afford to insult the United Nations at this
time. Is that understood?"
The terrible thing was that Davies *wanted* to respect Fuyutsuki.
When Misato had been studying for her an exam on biology, she'd drafted
him into quizzing her on a book the man had written in 1998. He'd found
himself interested despite the fact the subject matter of the book,
advanced theories on genetic engineering, was far beyond him. Fuyutsuki
Kozou had had a knack for making the incomprehensible seem simple, and the
same persuasive writing style that Davies had seen in the works of Carl
Sagan.
He would have liked to like the subcommander. He didn't.
"Understood, sir," Davies replied crisply. "I'll get right on
it. What's their ETA?" he snapped at Shigeru.
"Ten minutes, Sir."
"Right." He flashed a salute in Fuyutsuki's general direction,
and headed for the door.
* * *
Elsewhere ...
"Today at 12:30, a state of special emergency has been declared
within Kanto and Chubu districts, around Tokai district," announced the
pleasant, calm male voice on the radio. "Please take refuge in the
designated shelters. Repeat... Today--"
"How could I have missed him, now, of all times? What the hell am
I going to do?" There was a long sigh, and then, in faintly accented
English, "Jesus, Joseph and Mary ... why me?"
* * *
The helicopter landed on the rooftop, and the side door opened as
the rotors began to slow. The three generals stepped out with some
assistance, and headed quickly over to where the tall caucasian man in the
beige uniform was standing.
"I am Major C. Richard Davies of NERV, Internal Security
Division," the man said over the slowing noise of the propeller. "Under
the circumstances, sirs, I think it would be advisable to skip any further
introductions. This way please." He gestured towards the doors on the
roof.
The two Nihonjin both seemed serious, but the American looked more
annoyed than anything else. "So which way to this base of yours, son?"
Reynolds asked in a broad Southern accent.
Davies endured the insult. "NERV Headquarters is located inside
the Tokyo 3 Geofront, sir. We'll be taking this high speed elevator
there." The doors slid open, and they stepped in.
Reynolds was staring at him with an odd expression. "Your
accent's kinda strange, son. What part of the States're you from?"
Davies pressed the button to close the doors, and turned to smile
at the General who had ordered the massacre of his alma mater. "Edmonton,
Alberta," he said politely.
The elevator dropped.
"Time is of the essence, sirs," Davies said politely, speaking to
be heard over the panicked screams as they went into freefall.
For all of ten seconds. Then the aerobrakes cut in, gradually
slowing the descent of the car while ensuring that none of passengers
slammed into the floor.
"Very sorry, sirs, I would have warned you about the freefall
elements of the trip, but we *are* in a hurry."
The elevator reached the bottom of the shaft, and began to run
along a horizontal track.
"That ... that will be the only incident of freefall, I hope,"
General Koizumi asked, trembling.
Davies almost felt sorry for the guy. It wasn't his fault that he
had to work with Reynolds. "Yessir. Well, unless something goes wrong."
"Something ... goes ... wrong?" Reynolds gasped as the elevator's
course began to tilt.
"Yessir. For example, if the car falls off its tracks ... oh,
now, we'll probably plunge to our deaths," Davies said as the car emerged
on the wall of the geofront, revealing the panoramic expanse of the
subterranean city,
"But that isn't very likely," he added quickly. "I think."
He'd never actually *seen* the blood run out of someone's face
before this. It made the ride down the side of the wall that much more
amusing.
All good things must come to an end, however, and the elevator car
eventually arrived in NERV headquarters. Davies escorted the three
Generals to the command center, noting as he did that Reynolds never took
his eyes off of him.
<Good,> Davies thought. <Very good. Don't fuck with Canadians,
*sir*. We tend to be vindictive ...>
The door to the bridge whooshed open --
Ikari Gendou, Commander in Chief of NERV, was standing on the
bridge, his hands resting on the back of a chair as he faced out towards
the monitors. He turned to look at the doorway a few seconds after it
opened, noted the presence of the three Generals, quietly said, "Welcome,"
and turned back to the monitors, which had focused down on a display of
the Japanese coastline.
It was the closest that Davies had been to the man he viewed as
the incarnation of evil on Earth in nearly fifteen years. The temptation
to draw and begin firing the service pistol at his side almost overwhelmed
him.
Only the simple fact that, damn his bones, the *thing* that walked
like a man before him was *vital* to the continued existence of human life
on Earth kept him from doing just that.
"Welcome, HELL!" General Reynolds shouted. "*Mister* Ikari, I
want this man up on charges, NOW!"
Ikari turned and, adjusting his glasses with one hand, regarded
Reynolds with all the interest a biology student might show towards a
common bug. "Excuse me?" he asked mildly.
"This man! This ... this *loose* *cannon* tried to kill me!"
Fuyutsuki stepped out of the shadow of the tower, his face drawn
and weary. "Major Davies ... explain your actions."
<Okey-dokey.> "Sir, in accordance with your orders that the UN
representatives be brought to NERV headquarters with all due speed, and in
light of the situation, I utilized the emergency rapid descent elevators.
As these elevators have been tested repeatedly without danger to their
occupants, at no point were any of our lives in danger." <If they thought
they were, well, that's not *my* fault, surely?>
"And what if one of us had had a heart attack on the way down?
Huh? What then, you damn stupid Canuck?" Reynolds snarled.
It had been ages since anyone had called Davies a Canuck. He
basked in the term for exactly a second, before replying, "If that had
occurred, General Reynolds, I would have wondered how you managed to pass
the physical required of all officers of the United States Armed Forces
who might be assigned to a combat zone, which would surely have detected
any danger of a heart attack brought on by stress." <It must surely suck
to be a political appointee, some days.> "Likewise, the Japanese
Strategic Self Defense Force requires an examination of its combat duty
officers, such as Generals Hirata and Koizumi."
The latter two were both glowering at him, but neither with
anywhere nearly the intensity of hatred that was in Reynolds' gaze. "I
believe that my colleague would have appreciated a warning," Hirata said
quietly.
"I stated that time was short, General Hirata. That was all the
warning that I could fit into the time afforded." <Which is true, as far
as it goes.>
"Major Davies," Ikari said quietly. "Under the circumstances, I
do not believe that it would be appropriate to levy any punishment against
you ... however, it *would* be appropriate to ask you to apologize to
General Reynolds for not explaining the situation further --"
<I will do so over your dead body you bastard.>
"-- as you stated, we are short of time. Return to your battle
station. Dismissed."
And then, quickly and almost imperceptibly, Ikari smiled at
Davies.
The realization struck him like a blow to the gut. <He wanted
this to happen. He wanted that bastard Reynolds to be off balance, and I
played right into his fucking hands. He *approves*.>
<You *die*, Ikari.>
"Yessir," Davies said through teeth which did not *quite* clench.
He snapped a salute, turned on his heel, and marched out the doors to the
hallway.
He hadn't gone more than five steps before he heard the doors
behind him swoosh open and then close again. "Davies," he heard Ritsuko
say. He didn't look back, didn't slow down. "Davies, I'm giving you one
last warning. You go too *far* --"
"Shut your anus, you piece of dog shit," Davies said in Quebecoise
gutter French.
"Excuse me?"
"Old French saying. It means, I'm aware of that. Excuse me,
Doctor."
He ducked into the men's washroom, quietly praying that she
wouldn't have the gall to follow him. Manipulating the soap dispenser, he
filled his hands with soap, and began to wash them with an almost manic
intensity.
Finally, just before he rubbed them raw, Davies came back to
himself, and shoved his hands under the almost scalding water to get the
soap off. He breathed deeply for a few seconds, before lifting his head
to look at himself in the mirror.
The long scar on his left cheek had faded over the decade and a
half since it had been given him, but it was still clear, and the major
reason that he kept his beard trimmed to his chin. It was not, had never
been a handsome face ... but at least he'd able to look at himself without
hating the sight he saw before. Unconsciously, he reached up with one
hand to push his glasses up the side of his nose.
And then Davies realized what he was doing.
His fist arced towards the mirror.
* * *
Within a few minutes, the attack had commenced ... and it was
already clear that it was going remarkably poorly.
"Target is intact, and maintaining course towards Tokyo-3," Makoto
reported tersely.
"The air forces are reporting no effect from their firepower,"
Maya confirmed. All three of the deuces were currently patched into the
UN's communications net via Shigeru's board, reporting on the battle for
the benefit of the three generals.
The generals had taken up a position on the top of the Command
Tower, the location that Shigeru had once grinningly termed "The Throne".
It didn't seem as funny, now that there were actually people gazing down
at his back from up there.
It didn't help that the Commander was sitting right behind him, in
a folding chair that someone had dragged up from storage. His hands were
steepled in front of his face, and his elbows rested on his knees. He was
watching the SSDF get its tuckus kicked by the ... thing on the screen
without any real expression.
<Steady,> Shigeru reminded himself. <*Steady.* You can do this,
too.>
"Tell them to throw everything we've got at it!" Reynolds shouted
from above. "Have 'em send in all divisions at Atsugi and Iruma Bases!"
"Hold nothing back! We *have* to destroy that thing." General
Koizumi confirmed.
<What, you don't have enough losses today?> Shigeru wanted to
reply. He calmly relayed the message. Maybe a borderline psychotic
Kanadajin could get away with mocking UN personnel, but Shigeru held no
illusions about his own comparative impotency.
He looked up at the screen to see the impossible sight of the
creature *catching*, with one hand, the nose cone of a cruise missile --
and then the claws of that mighty hand shredding the missile casing, and
then the image being obliterated by the resultant explosion.
The creature continued to move.
"What?" Koizumi snapped. "That was a direct hit -- the explosion
should have --"
"Tank battallions wiped out," Reynolds commented tersely. "Guided
missiles and cannon shells have shown *no* impact --"
"In other words, conventional arms have been shown to be useless,
I have your point, General Reynolds," Hirata replied.
<So what are they planning on using instead?> Shigeru wondered.
He had a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach that he knew *exactly*
what they were planning.
Behind him, he could hear the Commander and Fuyutsuki discussing
the situation in rather calmer tones. "... AT Field, as we thought?"
Fuyutsuki said as Makoto began to listen in.
"Correct," the Commander replied. "Conventional weapons will have
no effect on the Shito.
"Everything is going according to schedule ..."
"Communications officer!" Reynolds suddenly yelled. "I want a
maximum security line to whoever's in charge of the Infantry right now."
<Oh dear lord. They *are* going to -->
* * *
Captain Katsuragi, or Misato as she preferred to be called, watched
through her binoculars as the SSDF air cavalry suddenly veered away from
the lumbering form of the Shito. "Wait a minute ..." she muttered. "Why
are they --"
Realization raced up her spine at frightening speed. "Oh, God,
they're going to use an N2 mine! Get down!" she shouted at the young boy
seated beside her in the car as she flung her own body down.
And an instant later the world turned white.
* * *
The exact workings of the N2 mine were heavily classified, and
only understood by a very few of the research scientists who had access to
that particular classification. The weapon was not a fission weapon, nor
a fission-fusion weapon, nor even a fission-fusion-fission weapon. It
worked on entirely different principles than any explosive which had been
used since the first crude nuclear weapons.
Not that such details mattered, in the end. An N2 mine blew up
real good, satisfying all the incendiary fantasies of the SSDF command.
"Youshi!" exclaimed Koizumi.
Reynolds stared down at Ikari's back and grinned savagely. "*So*
sorry that we've left nothing for you to do," he sneered.
Maya briefly closed her eyes, and thought more unkind things about
military personnel. "Shock wave inbound," she announced, and heard,
rather than saw, the monitor shut down.
<Well, now what?> she wondered. <If they're right ... then the
situation is over, I guess. And we really weren't necessary. Gods, what
that'll do to sempai. She's poured all her heart into this work -->
"Condition of target?" she heard Hirata ask suddenly.
"Undetermined due to radio wave interference," Maya replied. The
unusual subatomic particles released by an N2 blast interacted with the
electromagnetic spectrum in extremely eccentric ways -- observers had even
reported hallucinations of "grim reaper" type figures in the wake, due to
oddities in the visible spectrum. It generally cleared up after a few
minutes, however.
"With such an explosion, the thing was certainly destroyed,"
Koizumi stated forcefully.
<I wonder who *he's* trying to convince,> Maya thought idly.
"Sensors are back on line," Makoto noted.
And one of the sensors was stating that -- "Sir, we are reading a
strong reaction at ground zero of the explosion!"
"What the hell?!" Reynolds demanded.
"Visual image restored," Makoto replied to the Amerakajin quietly.
She didn't want to look up. The collective gasp of shock that
issued from the SSDF crowd only cemented her resolution to not look up.
"No ... no ... it's an N2, it's supposed to destroy anything, it
can't be ..." Reynolds murmured.
Maya looked up at the screen.
Regeneration had begun.
Maya looked right down again, and fought the urge to be physically
ill.
"It ... it's a monster ..." Koizumi muttered.
* * *
The phone rang. "Speaker mode," requested a quiet voice. A click
ensued.
"Hello, Security?" a female voice came through the link. "This is
Captain Katsuragi. I've secured the pilot, and am returning to base."
"Glad to hear it, Captain. Is the pilot in good condition,
considering the situation?"
"Yes! Don't worry. His protection is my highest priority,"
Misato's voice assured. "Please get a train car ready for us -- a linear
one, please."
"Will do. I presume that the boy has received full security
clearance?"
"Yes. And if ... well, it was my idea to go pick him up, so I'll
take full responsibility for anything he's seen."
"All right."
There was a brief pause. "Major Davies?" Misato's voice asked
with a note of concern. "Are you alright?"
"Just fine, Captain. Just a bit of stress."
"All right. Bye!"
The phone clicked dead. Davies continued to pick fragments of
mirror out of his knuckles.
* * *
"We have been instructed to turn over command of this operation to
you ... Mr. Ikari," Hirata said, never giving any indication of how much
the statement must have pained him. "We will be ... withdrawing to
observe your handling of the situation."
<Translation, running like hell itself was boiling up behind you,>
Makoto thought snidely. He risked a look over his shoulder to see how the
Commander was responding.
Typical. He wasn't doing anything.
"Mr. Ikari ..." General Reynolds spoke slowly and grudgingly.
"Considering that we have exhausted the potential of the most advanced
weaponry we have available ... I am forced to admit that the United
Nations --"
<Read, the United States,> Makoto annotated.
"-- has no effective means of dealing with the target. But you
are confident of its defeat."
"Of course," the Commander said in his typical quiet tone. "That
*is* why NERV was created, after all."
"We shall see, Mr. Ikari," Hirata concluded. "We shall see."
As one, the military men rose, and stepped away and out of sight.
It almost seemed to Makoto that the Commander took a deep breath when they
vanished.
"Target shows no change," Maya reported.
"Well, the U.N. troops will be withdrawing shortly, Ikari. What
are you going to do?" Makoto heard Fuyutsuki mutter.
"Activate Unit-01, of course."
<Of course.>
"But ... we don't have a ... pilot."
"The spare is on its way."
<The spare -- huh?> Makoto blinked. Damned odd way to be
referring to the pilot ...
* * *
"That's very strange," Misato muttered to herself as she consulted
her annotated NERV headquarters map. "I was *sure* this was the right
way."
"Major Katsuragi ... I think we're going around in circles," came
the soft, ever-so-slightly obsequious voice behind her in the hallway.
Misato drew in a deep breath, and restrained herself from yelling
at the child. They were *not* going around in circles. Or if they were,
it was a slowly descending spiral, and the posters on the walls were just
repeated. Really.
"All right ... I admit that I'm still not very familiar with this
particular area of headquarters," she allowed. "So ... let's use the most
important invention of all time."
She pulled out the cell phone, and dialled a certain sequence.
A moment of ringing, and it was picked up. "NERV Japan, Internal
Security Division, Office of Major Davies, speaking."
"Major Davies? This is Captain Katsuragi ... I appear to have
stumbled into one of the less used areas of headquarters. Could you
please give me directions to --"
"Hang on, hang on," Davies' voice came back wearily. She listened
to him breathing for a few moments as he started tracking the call's
location. A faint pinging noise could be heard after a moment, but his
voice was still silent.
"Misato ... I'll personally come and escort you out of there,"
Davies finally sighed.
"Oh, that isn't necessary," she assured him quickly, nervously.
"Don't take the trouble --"
A door shushed open behind them.
"No trouble," Davies said through the phone and aloud. "No
trouble at all."
Misato flushed for a second, then turned around prepared to stick
her tongue out of her mouth in the universal expression for "I'm just a
cute silly girl" and laugh off her mistake -- and then saw the bandages
around Davies' hand. "What happened to your hand, Chris?" she snapped out
the question before thinking things all the way through.
In response, he blinked, glanced down at his hand, and moved it
behind his back. "Nothing of importance," he replied quickly. "It got
banged up when the shockwave from the N2 mine hit."
<The shockwave ... hit here? Who do you think you're *kidding*,
niichan?> But she could tell from his face that he would stick to the
story. And he *seemed* mostly all right --
He turned to look at her `passenger'. "And this must be the young
man you went to pick up," Davies commented.
Shinji was staring at the tall, bearded Kanadajin with a bit of
surprise. In return, Davies gave the boy a look of mild interest.
"Um, Shinji-kun, this is Major Ch-- uh, C. Richard Davies, of
NERV's Internal Security Division," Misato introduced. "Major Davies,
this is Ikari Shinji, the `Third Child' of the Marduk Report."
Belatedly remembering his manners, Shinji bowed. "Ah, nice to
meet you ..."
Davies gravely returned the bow. "Likewise."
"I ... I was just a bit surprised to see that there were
Amerikajin working in NERV's Japan facilities," Shinji stammered.
Misato closed her eyes and waited for the explosion to pass.
"Well, yes, there are a few, but I'm not one of them. I am
Kanadajin, Ikari-san," Davies' voice echoed in the darkness.
Misato warily opened her eyes again. "He's a bit like his
father," she said weakly. "Neither of them are really good socially, are
they?"
She wasn't looking at Davies as she said it, and so didn't see the
flash of barely controlled rage cover his face.
Shinji did, though.
* * *
"I'll leave the rest to you," Gendou noted as he activated the
lift and descended out of sight.
Fuyutsuki nodded, and smiled faintly when the Commander vanished
into the floor. "And so they meet again, after three years ..." <And the
hell of it is, Ikari's not looking forward to it any more than the boy
probably is.>
"Subcommander, sensors indicate that the target has begun to move
again!"
Any trace of a smile dropped off the elderly professor's face.
"All right then," he muttered. He turned to look down on the trio of
lieutenants. "Go to red alert," Fuyutsuki barked. "All hands to battle
stations."
<There. Not bad for the first real orders you've ever given, was
it?> he asked himself, privately. <Not that it mattered.>
* * *
The siren began to flare as they stood in the corridor. Davies'
head snapped up and stared at the flashing lights. "Right," he snapped.
"Enough lollygagging, where's the kid supposed to go?"
"Bay One," came a tight, female voice from behind Shinji. He
turned to see a Nihonjin woman with dyed blonde hair approaching at a fast
walk. He blinked as he realized that she was wearing a wetsuit under her
lab coat.
"Where the hell have you *been*," the woman growled at Misato.
"Ah, well, I --"
"I've been distracting her and the kid with dirty jokes," Davies
said soberly. "My apologies, Dr. Akagi."
"DA--" the woman almost exploded, then reigned in her temper. "I
have no time for this. Come on, let's go --"
"All right," Misato agreed, looking nervously back at the
Kanadajin.
"I'll be at my crash position up here," he said quietly. "Get
going."
She nodded, and quickly started down after Dr. Akagi, if that was
what her name was, who hadn't waited to see if they'd come with her.
Shinji quickly bowed and headed after Misato.
"Hey, kid,"
Shinji looked back. Davies was looking at him with an unreadable
expression.
"Yes, sir?"
"Take care of yourself, okay?"
"... right" Shinji replied uncertainly.
Davies nodded, and headed into his office. Shinji drew a deep
breath ... and headed towards his destiny.
To Be Continued
Author's Note
Now I bet you're wondering a few things.
Why not show the battle? Well, for one thing, Davies won't be
observing it. Likewise, while he probably does have internal security
cameras in the bay where EVA-01 is being stored, he doesn't have any real
reason to spy there ... yet. Expect flashbacks next time.
Why "Shito" and not "Angel" as Gainax intended? Well, if a
certain someone can consistently mispell the Japanese word for "daughter"
throughout his work and not get called on it, I can certainly use the
original term for the kaiju that rampage through the first 23 episodes of
Evangelion. Also, "disciple" is less ... shall we say, less contextual.
There have been many kinds of disciples, after all.
If I get any flames about the "US invades Canada with atrocities
rampant" thing, I will respond with two words: Bite me. We don't hear
enough about the war that flourished between the Second Impact (13 Sep
2000) and the Valentine's Treaty (14 Feb 2001) to say with certainty what
happened, so you'll forgive me if I indulge my more paranoid fantasies.
I believe that one of our prime ministers once said that living next to
America is like sleeping beside a bear; no matter how pleasant the bear,
one is aware that when it wakes up, it will probably be in a very bad
mood.
Yes, the U.S. president is *that* Karvonen. If he won't be old
enough to run for President in 2012, they changed the rules. Or possibly
he's filling out a predecessor's term. I would find that very likely,
hint hint.
The two Nihonjin generals are named after Japanese actors who made
their careers in the kaiju genre -- both were in "Gojira" and "Mothra", as
well as several other films. General Reynolds was named after Burt
Reynolds.
"Neon Genesis Evangelion" was created by GAINAX and brought to
North America by ADVision and Viz Communications. This story, while
incorporating elements of motion pictures held under copyright by others,
is copyright 1998 of Chris Davies.
Nobody Sue Me Okay?
Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.
"You did well."
-- Katsuhiko Jinnai, The Wanderers: El-Hazard, Episode 26
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