NOVEL WEB 1.03 – The Beast, Dysphoria
NERV HQ, Tokyo-III, Hakone, Kanagawa. 14th August 2015.
“What’s the damage estimate from the encounter with the Third Angel, Ikari?”
The holographic projectors in the conference room snapped on, the twelve monoliths representing the twelve representatives of SEELE fading into existence above their respective plinths. Gendo Ikari sat in their middle, impassively staring straight ahead. He knew that the old men were out for blood, regardless of the fact that NERV had succeeded well beyond what even Gendo had predicted. He knew that they probably already suspected that he had his own plans for the future of the human race, even if they could not act on only whispering doubts. However, so long as they still thought him a useful servant, they still felt the need to put on this matinee of authority.
However, Gendo knew that one day, very soon, he would no longer have any use for SEELE. Or have any reason to obey their commands like a loyal dog. For now, however, he needed to play the role of the subordinate. If there was one thing he excelled at, Gendo was very good at masking his true feelings.
“You have my report, gentlemen,” Gendo said, his voice betraying no emotion, and his eyes impassive. “Evangelion Unit One successfully eliminated the Third Angel with minimal damage to the city, and with only minor damage to the unit itself. The Third Child proved to be much more capable that the Marduke Report would have suggested. There are no problems.”
There was a sound akin to a scoff from SEELE-02, although the electronic distortion that masked the identity of the representative made it sound more like a sharp crackle. “You put a fourteen-year-old boy in charge of a multibillion-dollar weapons system. Moreso, you put your-”
“A fourteen-year-old girl,” Gendo corrected, his voice sharp. He hadn’t even intended to fight SEELE on that point, but he had found himself unable to control himself. “And yes, my daughter was indeed the pilot. This was already to be the case, even if our intelligence on her appears to have been faulty. The Marduke Report had already selected her as the Third Children. There are no problems.”
“How dare you contradict a member of this council,” sneered SEELE-02, their venom carrying through despite the distortion. “That report you keep insisting on referencing says that he is a boy, and therefore he is. In my country, you would be imprisoned for such deviant-”
“Enough!” boomed SEELE-0. For once, Gendo was grateful for the interruption of the mysterious leader of SEELE. “Representatives will refrain from interrupting without good reason!”
“Yes, sir,” said SEELE-02, clearly abashed. “I was out of line.”
“We will discuss this later,” SEELE-01 said, their tone hardening. “Our focus, right now, is beyond the concerns of the flesh, and there is much we have left to do. Right now, we should be grateful that our resources were utilised well by Commander Ikari, and that we will not have to authorise another budget increase at this time.”
Gendo raised an eyebrow, the movement nearly imperceptible. “We still require additional funding for the development of Evangelion Unit-05. Construction has been completed on the torso unit and the cranial section is mostly completed. However, we have not received the funding necessary to continue development, and the unit has been sitting in cryostasis for a month now. Can I take this as confirmation that the council has decided to cease development on further evangelions?”
“The development of units three and four should be completed by the end of next month,” spoke SEELE-04. “The budget allocation that would have been used to finish off Unit Five will instead be used to speed up development. You will be receiving both units for synchronisation testing and final fit out in October.”
“As for what you have managed to complete of Eva-05, it will be redeployed to Bethany Base as soon as the transport team arrives,” added SEELE-06. “Your reports state that the unit is capable of being piloted as it is, and that it has the capability to generate an AT field, yes? It simply lacks limbs, and the sensory organs have yet to mature.”
“Yes, that is correct,” Gendo confirmed. “I assume it will be providing security on-site?”
“That is not your concern,” said SEELE-05. “But Doctor Akagi is to fit the unfinished limbs and the torso section with Type-C connection assemblies and fit it with one of the prototype entry plug units prior to transport. This needs to be completed within the next two weeks and should be your utmost priority.”
“As for the future units,” said SEELE-09, sounding almost gleeful. “Rest assured that SEELE has been working on Evangelion Mark.06 for quite some time. You and NERV have paved the way for the creation of the ultimate evolution of mankind, and for this, we give you our gratitude, Ikari. Mark.06 will be the culmination of the work started by Yui Ikari all those years ago.”
“Beyond that, well, there are plans for additional units, of course,” spoke SEELE-10. “The Mark.07 project has already been authorised but requires significantly less funding than the full-scale units require. The Seven series is, after all, intended to produce unmanned support units, and will encompass more than just one Evangelion. Mark.08 has also been given preliminary funding should we need to replace one of your lost units. Beyond that point, we do not expect to develop further Evangelions. Our timeline will not accommodate their deployment or their development.”
“I understand,” Gendo said. “Rest assured that NERV will perform our goal of defeating the angels and ensuring the fulfillment of SEELE’s goals.”
“All is good then. We have now started the fulfillment of our pact with Lilith, and the completion of the Human Instrumentality Project is nigh,” concluded SEELE-01. “The Fourth Angel is predicted to make its appearance soon, as prophesised in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
“We are already making preparations,” Gendo replied. “We have already begun repairs to Unit Zero, and we will begin training the Third Child for future engagements. There are no problems.”
“We will see, Ikari,” spoke SEELE-11. “There are still ten more Angels after the Fourth, and each must be destroyed so that our plan can come to fruition. Do not make us regret putting our trust in you and NERV.”
“We will be watching closely,” said SEELE-12. “Be sure of this, Commander.”
“This concludes this gathering of the Human Instrumentality Committee,” spoke SEELE-01, bringing the meeting to an end. “Deus in caelo suo est.”
“Omnes jus cum mundo,” Gendo echoed back. “I have my orders. I will obey.”
The monoliths disappeared silently, leaving Gendo sitting at his table in the middle of the pitch-black room. Behind him, the door opened with a whoosh, light streaming into the room, and casting a silhouette around the figure of Fuyutsuki. Gendo smiled slightly behind his hands.
“Ikari are you sure speaking up to the council was wise?” asked Gendo’s best and only friend. “We still require their cooperation to fulfill our side of the covenant. If they decide that you are oppositional to them…”
“Foolish old men will be as they are, Fuyutsuki,” said Gendo, getting up. “Regardless, the Third will play her role. My presence in her life, regardless of how she has changed, is…unnecessary.”
“She reminds you of her, doesn’t she?” Fuyutsuki asked, his voice betraying a small amount of concern. “She looks just like Yui. Even I found myself feeling taken aback by Aiko. What do you intent to do about her?”
Gendo waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll leave that to you, Fuyutsuki. I have no time to deal with children. There is much to do before the Fourth makes an appearance.”
“Indeed,” replied Fuyutsuki. “It will be…interesting…to see where the pieces fall.”
Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Memorial Hospital, Tokyo-III, Hakone, Kanagawa. 15th August 2015.
Aiko sat in the hard plastic chair, reading the novel she had brought with her in her suitcase. It was one of her old favourites, a book by an American author that her Sensei had given to her for her last birthday. She had been sitting in the waiting room at the hospital for nearly half an hour now, and she was beginning to regret her decision to come to Tokyo-III.
She had barely slept last night, after the battle. Instead of spending it in a bed, she had instead spent nearly four hours in the entry plug, waiting for the retrieval team to get the evangelion back into the cage. The armour around the plug socket had suffered some minor damage during the battle, and so she had been locked in until they could manually release the hatch and eject the plug. After that, she had spent most of the morning sitting in Dr. Akagi’s lab with electrodes stuck to her head as the doctor performed what she referred to as a “psychographic contamination test”, which she had apparently passed with flying colours.
She had finally gotten a couple of hours of sleep in one of the small bunkrooms NERV HQ housed for the use of employees during overnight shifts, before Misato woke her to get a medical examination at the hospital. She knew that the only reason she wasn’t a wreck right now was the fact that she barely had the energy to focus on the page of her book. Right now, she wanted to sleep the entire afternoon. She didn’t even know where she’d be living, or who would be looking after her. She certainly didn’t have high hopes that her father would want her to live with him.
Misato had driven her to the hospital, and seemingly was just as tired as Aiko. She was currently asleep in the chair next to her, snoring fairly loudly. Aiko was amazed at the woman’s ability to sleep in the ridiculously uncomfortable seats. She had checked Aiko in with the receptionist, who had experienced some difficulty understanding why Aiko’s name was different on the file that the MAGI- NERV’s central computer system that also ran the city- had provided to her. It had taken Misato threatening to complain about this to the hospital superintendent to get the woman to agree to change the local copy of Aiko’s records that the hospital had retrieved. Aiko sighed, and returned to her book, trying her best to keep her calm.
‘He soon perceived, however, that the battles which Sir Miles and the rest had waged against armed knights to win a kingdom, were not half so arduous as this which he now undertook to win immortality against the English language. Anyone moderately familiar with the rigours of composition will not need to be told the story in detail; how he wrote and it seemed good; read and it seemed vile; corrected and tore up; cut out; put in; was in ecstasy; in…’
“Shinji Ikari?”
She looked up from her book to find a man in a lab coat looking around the waiting room, which she shared with only a few other people, most of them NERV personnel. She noticed the receptionist who she had signed into the clinic with, a middle-aged woman who stank of cheap cherry blossom perfume, was staring at her gleefully, smiling nastily. She swallowed the feeling of nausea welling inside her, and got up, and walked over to the doctor.
“Young lady, can I help you?” asked the doctor as she approached. His tone was kind and respectful, which definitely endeared him to Aiko. “I apologise, but you’ll have to wait until I’ve seen my current patient, who doesn’t appear to be here.”
“Oh, I’m here,” Aiko said, staring daggers at the receptionist. “It appears that there was an error with the booking, however.”
“I apologize,” said the man, his tone genuinely apologetic. “I’m sure we’ll have everything sorted out, Miss…?”
“Aiko,” she said, smiling and extending her hand. “Aiko Ikari. Please, lead the way, Doctor.”
The medical test was over within the hour, and Aiko was about ready to drop as she emerged into the waiting room. She walked over to Misato and tapped her on the shoulder. The woman did not stir.
“Major Katsuragi?” Aiko said, shaking the older woman awake. “I’m finished with the examination, and I’d honestly like to find out where I’m going to be sleeping. I’m barely awake right now as it is.”
“Yes, that’s our next stop, in fact,” said Misato, yawning. “And stop with the “Major Katsuragi” crap already. I told you, Aiko, it’s just Misato to you.”
Aiko followed Misato out of the waiting room, shooting a glare at the receptionist as she went. She didn’t need this crap after having had a day like this one. She followed Misato out of the hospital, and over to the car, which was parked in the lot out the back. She noted that a section of the parking lot had been roped off and was marred with a massive footprint. A work team had already started to fill in the concrete. She climbed into the passenger seat as Misato started the engine. Aiko looked out the window as they drove away, passing the many empty concrete lots that most of the city seemed to be comprised of. For a major city, there were very few buildings taller than four stories, and many of those were clearly disguised defensive emplacements or ammunition dumps.
“I have to say, Misato,” Aiko said as they sped through the empty streets of the city. “This place seems pretty empty. It’s not much of a city, to be honest.”
“Oh, yeah, we’re still in lockdown while the damage teams finish their assessments,” replied Misato cheerfully. “We’re just going to head down to the administration block and find out where NERV has quartered you. Who knows, they might have stuck you in my building. I live a bit outside the city, in the residential quarter. Less change of being made homeless by an angel attack if you catch my drift.”
They entered a tunnel, which descended down for what seemed like forever, before reaching a large metal blast door with NERV’s logo. Misato keyed a passcode into a panel on the dash, after which the door opened up. Behind it was an underground garage, half of which was taken up by a massive battle tank, and which barely had room for Misato’s car to park in. Aiko undid her seatbelt as Misato killed the engine and got out. She couldn’t open the door on her side, as it was blocked by the track housing of the hulking armoured vehicle next to her. She had to carefully slide over to the driver’s seat of the car, and clamber out, smoothing down her skirt as she did so. Misato smiled at her as she straightened up.
“Sorry about the tight parking space,” apologised her guide, nodding at the tank. “These parking bays were intended for housing those big wastes of money. But this is the fastest way we’re going to access the admin block- unless we want to wait for the lockdown end; or take the express lift all the way down to NERV HQ, catch an elevator to the top of the Geofront, and walk across half the city to get back here. Now, follow me, we need to take a lift down past the first six layers of armour plating.”
“This is the fast way?” asked Aiko as she tried to keep up with the woman. “How long is it going to be before I can get some sleep?”
NERV HQ, Tokyo-III, Hakone, Kanagawa. 15th August 2015
“Dr. Akagi,” said Gendo Ikari, turning to face Ritsuko. “I hope you have good news for me?”
It was early in the morning, but she rarely slept a full night anyway. She had found Gendo in the ruins of the observation booth overlooking the synchronisation testing chamber. It had been mere days since Unit-00’s failed activation test, and there hadn’t been time to begin repairs to the chamber, not when they’d had other priorities to attend to. In the darkened room beyond, Unit-00 sat dormant, fists still clenched and raised above its head, its lower half trapped in the bakelite infusion that had stopped its rampage. The vehicles of the bakelite removal team sat quiet on the floor below, work having stopped for the night. The cross-shaped signal termination plug towered from its back, the red sealing glyphs that ensured its function glowing dully in the darkened space.
“Repairs to Evangelion Unit-01 have been completed ahead of schedule,” she said, walking up to Gendo and handing him a copy of her full report. “Work on installing the Type-C Prosthetic Assemblies to Unit-05 have been proceeding well, although I have doubts about the viability of the unit even if SEELE decide to install prosthetic replacement limbs.”
“Unit-05’s viability is not your concern, Doctor,” Gendo said, tucking the report into the recesses of his jacket. “How is Rei?”
“The First Children is recovering on schedule,” replied Ritsuko, adjusting her labcoat. “She should be ready to perform the second activation test within three weeks. Unit-00 will require at least another week to be freed of the bakelite, and another three days to perform repairs and system checks. We should have the repairs to the testing chamber done by the time the test is scheduled to begin.”
“…and the Third?” asked Gendo, sounding uncharacteristically unsure. “Is…she…settling in without difficulty?”
“Major Katsuragi vetoed the Subcommander’s decision to quarter her in Block-D by herself,” Ritsuko replied, slightly weirded out by the unusual display of uncertainty by her superior. “She decided to make a rash decision as per usual and took the Third under her wing personally. Her initial report says that Aiko has settled into her apartment well, and that there are no signs of any psychological damage resulting from the battle.”
“I see,” Gendo said, turning away. “Thank you, Dr. Akagi. I will see you this evening, as usual. Make sure that the modifications to Unit-05 proceed on schedule. Please inform Major Katsuragi that she has full parental authority over my daughter, and that she is to act as my representative for any administrative matters that may arise.”
“Yes, sir,” Ritsuko said, smiling. “I’ll…see you tonight. I have to go, I have work to do.”
The man that she called her lover did not respond, and simply turned back to the shattered window, staring down at the beast trapped below. As she walked away, she thought she overheard him whisper something almost to himself.
“Yui…did I make the right choice?”