Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Beast Inside
Written by abi2301
Chapter 01 (Prologue)
v.01: 10/16/2004
Official disclaimer:
The Neon Genesis Evangelion anime and manga series are the intellectual and material property of Gainax Studios, ADVision, Inc., Shonen Ace magazine, Hideaki Anno and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. All rights reserved. The 'NGE: The Beast Inside' is a purely fictional series based upon the original NGE and written for entertainment purpose only. No money is made out of it. All themes, polemics and ideas given throughout the chapters are not to be considered as the author's opinion of society, politics, world events, miscellaneous facts and other sensible matters but rather a well-meant attempt to add more to the NGE universe by adding new layers of reality and giving an impression of what modern life and historical could be in a post-Second Impact world. The author did not mean to shock or hurt anyone and denies any attempt to discriminate, scorn or insult any potentially offended readers and would like to retain a neutral status in every matter raised throughout the series. All comments are not subjected to the author's opinions but rather his vision of how the NGE universe could be and react to certain events - especially from the characters' point of view. The rating is dubbed 'Restricted' (R) just in case any eventually shocking or disturbing element, remark or subject would show up in the later chapters.
Chapter 01 (Prologue): Between Heaven And Hell / World Of Silence, A Fallen Messiah
Wer den Zweck will, will (so fern die Vernunft auf seine Handlungen entscheidenden Einfluss hat), auch das dazu unentbehrlich notwendige Mittel, das in seiner Gewalt ist.
Whoever wills the end, wills also (so far as reason decides his conduct) the means in his power which are indispensably necessary thereto.
Immanuel KANT, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics (1785) sect. 2 (translated by T. K. Abbott)
Beep-beep.
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Beep-beep.
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Beep-beep.
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Beep-beep.
If it weren't for the cold, electronic twin beep that made itself known every second with an irritating but nonetheless comforting punctuality, one could have mused over the perfection of the silence that reigned inside the white, spotless room. For some, it had become a refuge against the horrors of life and for others, a place dreaded because of what it symbolized. Something that many feared and that was called 'pain'.
Yet, the local atmosphere wasn't one of suffering, at least in its obvious form. No convulsing, no scream or moaning was to be seen or heard…yet it still was there, in its most evil form. Hidden under the mask of death and stillness.
That place still had become for some others a place of hope, for it represented healing and comfort. A shrine where one could protect itself against everything that could cause harm. Somewhere the people of Tokyo-3 have gotten familiar with, over the last two years.
Beep-beep.
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Beep-beep.
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Orange hues washed over the quiet room, the sunlight cleft asunder by the shades and thrown all over the immaculate walls, painting unnerving patterns of black and white, giving to a possible observer the clear impression of being inside a jail. Not that it would have been wrong to think about it; in some ways, it was a prison…something you could not escape from. A lengthened state, of which you know nothing at first sight, especially about its end. And that was true about the lone inhabitant of the room, who was completely oblivious of his surroundings. Which were as surprising and unusual as his current state…
Dozens of wires of all sorts were strewn across the ground, attached to enormous, rectangular, electronic towers that were set aside the single bed in the middle of the room. Screens and other high-resolution monitors showed a never-ending flux of numbers and medical acronyms scrolling down as they were constantly updated, setting parts of the room aglow with an eerie green light, that contrasted badly with the orange light from the outside. Yet, in the technological mess that invaded the area there was a subtle sense of order and of precision, one that was hidden by the obvious haste with which the whole life-monitoring network had been installed. Unknown to the human eye, the stillness that permeated all around the walls was a lie, for something invisible was actually moving from one place to the other, in a way one couldn't suspect. Hundreds of mega-octets of raw data were transiting all over the place per second, in a silent dance of electrons, traveling inside super conductive cables from processing computers up to high-capacity, holographic hard drives, where they were stored in a quantum state and sent again to another area, much better equipped than this makeshift laboratory...one that could put to shame the American NASA by the quality of its technology. Billions' worth of equipment were stored in this small room, for a single purpose…which could ultimately decide of Mankind's fate.
Ten or so high-capacity vials full of life-keeping fluids and other sophisticated control panels were to be seen, arranged all around it, as if to protect him against any further harm and provide him with a better hope of recovering from the ordeal he's been through. Ten hours ago, a flurry of doctors, nurses and emergency surgeons had flooded the area, in order to wrench him from the dark path to death, trying desperately to call him back to life. It had taken ten to twelve hours in order to stabilize him and fix his injuries, which were massive but not life-threatening. But the danger came from his weakened state that made him an easy prey for the extensive trauma he had suffered and which could easily shut down his body's resources. His heart had actually stopped for a couple of seconds on the scene of his accident, before the ambulance's crew, helped by Section-2 agents, were able to revive him by an earnest cardiac massage, followed by the more imperious calls of an electroshock treatment. He was then rushed, with great haste and zeal, deep into the bowels of the earth, into one of the world's most secret governmental complexes, in an emergency room where surgeons, assisted by top-of-the-art nanotechnology equipment, began the task of restoring his body. Nanobots immediately started stimulating his vitals, drawing hormons, fresh blood and other needed fluids into his blood circuit, in order to create a perfect environment for internal healing. A certain doctor by the name of doctor Akagi, could have related it to the primal 'soup of life', a mix of nutrients from where sprung the first forms of life, more than billion years ago.
Beep-beep.
Beep-beep.
The patient's marrow, 'encouraged' by electrical impulses and synthetic drugs, started pumping millions of white and red cells in his bloodstream, fighting back every little bacteria or microscopic intruder that could cause disease and irrigating his whole body with oxygen, source of life and power. Centiliters of serums, drugs and new vaccines were dumped in his innards, in order to make his organs work better without tiring them. In the end, when his vitals showed at last signs of recovery, he was plunged into an artificial coma, so that his body would become oblivious to the trauma it had just endured.
The doctors who had taken care of him couldn't but muse at the bad luck of their patient and perusing over his biological data, thinking as scientifics over his chances of total recovery. But in the bottom of their hearts, in fact, they were hoping to save one that could, in turn, save them back in the future...if life would ever allow it. The importance of their patient was of the utmost and nobody dared to prove the contrary...everybody knew who he was and what he was doing in life.
His name was lauded in countless countries, as though he was a new messiah; in others, spoken in contempt as if it was that of an antichrist's. But everyone recognized the power that, seemingly slept dormant within him...
Seemingly.
But today, reality had struck back, showing to those who had seen it directly, witnessed from afar the event or even remotely heard about it that might didn't mean invulnerability and that life...had a curious liking in showing the fragility of living beings, by shattering lives and good moods when they were the most needed or felt for the first time, breaking hopes and killing happiness in the blink of a new, without so much of an afterthought. The drama was seriously felt by the circle of friends and colleagues of this person,as they immediately felt sorry for him. A such thing shouldn't happen to him, they said. It was so unfair for him. He didn't deserve it, especially after everything he went through. He deserved much better.
And instead of walking in light and in glory, now, he was slowly creeping, in silence and darkness, towards death or, for the moment, drifting in an area between two states, one in which most reveled and the other, from which nobody ever returned.
Beep-beep.
Beep-beep.
In that small bed, covered in bandages and his body fed in various places by intravenous needles, surrounded by vitals' information-gathering equipment, laid, unconscious and unmoving, the lifeless form of Shinji Ikari...
To be continued...