Space Monkey

Rei Ayanami sat calmly on her bed. Tomorrow, she would be attempting to again activate Evangelion Unit-00, and she was concerned that the part of her in her EVA would cause instability again, resulting, again, in a loss of control of Unit-00.

Rei had worked diligently to maintain her level of mental discipline, in order to prevent this from happening - while Rei knew she was easily replaced with one of the spare clones, damage to the EVA was time consuming and expensive to repair, and she did not wish to concern Commander Ikari, or make his duties more difficult because of her failure.

Having already disrobed in preparation, Rei lay down, pulled the covers over her head, and prepared to go to sleep. She soon found herself unable to do so, however, as the ambient light level in her room suddenly increased dramatically. Sitting up, she looked to the source of the light - an ethereal figure at the foot of her bed, hovering in midair, that looked very much like a glowing white squid. The figure coalesced into an unassuming man with sandy brown hair of above-average height. The stranger wore a sweater that was tan in color, and a pair of khaki pants. He looked, for all the world, like he was dressed to blend into desert sands, though the presence of the sweater made that seem a bit unlikely.

"Huh," he said, looking around, "this isn't where I was trying to go."

Rei merely stared at the stranger. She recognized that the man was speaking English, though her own ability with the language was relatively poor.

"Um, sorry," he continued in English. "Could you, perhaps, tell me where I am?" The man frowned, continuing to take in his surroundings, his eyes finally resting on Rei. He quickly turned away, blushing. "Oh, hey, sorry about that."

Considering the situation briefly, Rei decided on the only proper response. "I do not understand."

The man glanced back at her. She still hadn't gotten dressed, or even pulled the sheet to cover her nude torso. "Would Japanese be better?"

Rei simply nodded.

"OK, um, sorry." The man was still blushing, and attempting to both avert his eyes, while still converse with her directly. "I had said that this wasn't where I was trying to go, that I apologize, and then I asked if you could perhaps tell me where I am."

"You are in Tokyo-3."

The man turned and stared directly at her, the surpise clearly evident on his face. "Three? As in there are two others?"

Rei simply nodded.

"Wow. I really ended up off the beaten trail, didn't I? This must not even be the same dimension."

The mention of dimensional travel, combined with his unusual entrance, finally overwhelmed Rei's curiosity. Calmly, she asked the stranger, "Who or what are you?"

"Let's try this again. I'm Daniel, and I'm an archaeologist. You could also say I am a traveler of both time and space." Daniel smiled. "What's your name"

"Rei." The girl frowned. "Your initial appearance was..." Rei found herself at a loss for words when dealing with this confusing stranger, "...different."

"Yeah....that's because I've Ascended to a higher plane of existence." Rei could hear the capital letter in the word "ascended". Meanwhile, her confusion must have been readily apparent, as Daniel continued to explain. "I was formerly a normal human, but am now an energy being. I accidentally ended up here because I'm still learning the extent of the rules that Ascended beings operate under. For example, quantum mechanics is a bit different for us." Daniel chuckled. "Sam would be pissed."

Choosing not to respond, Rei continued to stare at Daniel calmly.

"Hey, do you mind, um, covering up, or something?"

Rei was puzzled. "Why?"

"Uhh...because you're not dressed?"

Still puzzled, the girl stated, "It is not a concern."

It was now Daniel's turn to be puzzled. "Why?"

Answering as honestly as she could without divulging confidential information, Rei responded. "Because my body is of little concern."

Daniel looked around again, taking in the apartment's state of disarray, finally settling on no particular point. "I presume your surroundings are not, as well?"

"Correct." Rei truly did not concern hersef with the state of her apartment. It had no bearing on her duties.

Chuckling, Daniel couldn't help but smile. "I half-expected you to say 'Indeed'." Daniel had turned to look at the girl, and, suddenly, Rei could sense his demeanour change, the concentration evident on his face. "Rei...don't take this the wrong way, but what are you? I can sense that part of you is human, but..."

For the first time in their encounter, Rei could feel a chilly, tingling sensation creeping up her spine, starting from the small of her back, and terminating at the base of her neck. 'Is this fear?' Rei asked herself? For a girl had never been concerned about herself or her own safety, it was a nearly paralyzing sensation, and she found herself shivering.

Rei barely registered the shift in Daniel's demeanour again, as concern overwrote his curiosity. "I'm sorry, Rei, I didn't mean to frighten you."

Finding her voice, Rei barely squeaked out, "How could you know that?"

Daniel simply shrugged before sitting down on top of her sheets, and resting his hand on hers in an effort to calm her. "I'm not really sure. I ...just could. Like I said, I'm still learning the rules of bing Ascended, and what we can and can't do. I just suddenly felt that there was something different about you....hey, is that your natural eye color?"

Rei nodded. She was attempting to calm herself, and, incongruously, found Daniel to be a comfort. "It is."

"Hair too?"

Again, she nodded.

"OK. So, you're aware that there's something out of the ordinary about you, then, and I suspect you know what it is."

Attempting to maintain the cover story Commander Ikari had developed, Rei replied simply, "I am an albino."

Daniel smiled, and said "OK." Rei found herself suspecting that he did not believe her, but did not want to say so. "Rei, there's something else worrying me. It's like part of what makes up you as an individual, a part of your 'soul', so to speak, is elsewhere. I can kind of sense a thread leading to it. If you like, I can..."

"Please," Rei replied, the sense of fear inexplicably returning full force, "do not."

Nodding, Daniel said. "So, you know what it is, then?"

Rei simply nodded, still shivering.

Pulling her into his arms, Daniel sighed. "What did they do to you, Rei, and why?"

Finding herself unable to respond to Daniel, Rei shook her head.

"Whether you're fully human or not, Rei, and, trust me, it's not something that worries me that you aren't, whatever it was that's been done to you isn't right. You're not complete, Rei. It's like a part of yourself is missing, isn't it, but you don't know what, right?"

Desperately trying to center her mind and calm her emotional turmoil, Rei could barely respond. "I...I don't know." She could feel a wave of calmness radiating from Daniel, and tried to draw off of that, for a lack of a better term, energy, and drew herself closer to him. It helped. "Why..." Rei paused, collected her thoughts, and tried again. "Why do you have your arms around me?"

Daniel drew back for a moment, his attention to his immediate surroundings, and her, seeming to fade. "Rei...you're alone here, aren't you?"

"Yes." Rei replied, frowning, her sense of unease returning.

"Why? Does it have to do with your unusual nature?" Daniel asked, taking her hand again, as he sensed her emotional turmoil.

Finding it difficult to speak, Rei simply nodded again.

"Huh. OK, let me think about this...you're part human, part not. You said you're an albino, you seem to be a teenager, but don't have parents around...Rei, you're a genetic engineering experiment, aren't you? Wait, your soul's divided...cloned, maybe? But, why would..."

Rei listened to Daniel continue to try to puzzle out her nature. Finally, inexplicably, she found herself compelled to speak. "I am also an Evangelion pilot."

"Ah." Daniel responded. "What's an Evangelion?"