Tale of a Mother
Germany, 2004
"Verdammt…" Said a voice, hurriedly trying to catch an elevator out of the facility.
The voice belonged to one pissed Kyoko Sohryu, who was running as fast as she could to catch the main elevator, hoping to make her way out of the gigantic complex of the Third Branch of GEHIRN. She had to get home early today: it was her beloved Asuka's birthday.
She managed to catch the elevator in time. Once inside she took a deep breath and regained her composure. As she waited for the elevator to start ascending, she took one last look at the complex: it was rather dark, only illuminated by the artificial lights on the ceiling. The hallways were endless passages of steel walls and heavily plated doors. Every couple of meters an emergency phone was placed, commonly accompanied by a UN soldier guarding the facility and it's treasure: the soon to be completed Evangelion Unit 02.
"This is place is nothing like I was told" She thought, remembering when she was offered to be head of the project: it had only been last year, when she had visited the Japanese facilities of GEHIRN in Hakone (soon to be Tokyo-3), where she had seen it the first time: the Evangelion. Mankind's greatest creation: the Evangelion (Eva for short) was the last link of the chain that joined man and machine: a synthetic giant robot that would do exactly what the pilot intended to do, for human and robot were joined through the use of neural connections that truly made them one single entity.
She remembered the first time she had seen it, Unit 01. There was this man, Fuyutski or something like that. He was giving her and other scientists a tour through the facility, but she had had enough: they had been exploring the whole GeoFront for almost a whole day now, and yet they hadn't really seen anything interesting: only the great space of the GeoFront and a couple of inner sections. Perhaps the MAGI had been worth the tour, but her attention was just waiting for one thing: the Evangelion.
Hakone, 2003.
"As you may see, the laboratories and containment cages start here: they are currently in expansion process, so we won't be able to see them for now" The old man said.
No way.
"I didn't cross half the world for some crappy excuse" She slowly and silently walked away from the group, making her way towards the laboratories. The first two seemed abandoned, but a machine like noise could be heard from the third. She entered through the door, only to find herself in a walkway suspended at least 50 meters over the ground level. But that didn't really matter.
Not with a purple and green monster in front of her.
Her first reaction was to scream, but she held the noise in her throat. Then, she analyzed it: lots of platting, a humanoid design, save for the head. Two shoulder blades that made for a third of the Eva's size. But the whole on its back called her attention the most. Some docking bay of sorts…
"(In Japanese) it's amazing, isn't it?"
Walking towards her was a dark red haired, mid thirties looking woman: she was tall, something she hadn't seen in any Japanese woman until now. She wore a lab coat over civilian clothes.
"You are…?"
"Naoko Akagi, current head of the E project"
"And what do you want?"
"Something tells me I should be doing the questions, Mrs. Sohryu"
All right, she knows me. That isn't enough.
"Maybe. But after a day of senseless touring of this place, I feel I'm the one with the question right."
"Fair enough"
That was easy. Okay…
"Is this Unit 01?"
"I believe you have skipped the first question: is this an Eva? It could easily be a cover up. Something to show for those who can't keep their curiosity at bay, like you"
"But…"
"But that would too convenient for me, right? You have guessed right, this is Evangelion Unit 01, the Test type"
"Test Type? Looks like a prototype to me…"
"Oh really? Why is that, Mrs. Sohryu?"
All right, if she wants to test to me, here I am…
"The platting looks rather disorganized: like if there was no designing in the middle, rather an attempt to make the plates fit the machine… The construction overall seems too complicated, meaning it won't be easy to reproduce… And some modifications could be made to make the Unit more battle ready"
"Like?"
"Well, when I heard that these machines were meant for combat, I expected them to carry some amount of weaponry"
"A walking arsenal, perhaps?"
"Maybe, but it seems to carry no weapons"
"Not currently, but many weapon plans are being elaborated as we speak"
"Yet I insist: this machine can not defend itself, it has no weapons attached, meaning it will face a sever disadvantage in any combat, depending heavily on it's supplies rather than itself."
"How would you like to build one?"
Akagi caught her there: build one? She had just seen an Evangelion for the first time, and this woman was asking her to build one.
"I… well, I don't know. Maybe if I got to understand this thing…"
"All you require, Mrs. Sohryu. Anything you need to know will be clarified to you"
"But, I would have to work here…"
"GEHIRN already owns a facility in the outskirts of Berlin: it would be a matter of reallocating the materials for the constructions of the next Unit"
"The next Unit?"
"Evangelion Unit 02, the first production model: as you have noticed, Unit 01 lacks what we would call the "industrial" touch. It can't be easily replicated. Yet you not only noticed this, but also started solving the problem."
"I…"
A week later, I was sent back to Germany with a clear order: create a production Evangelion, of simple construction, battle suited and mass production capability.
But not before meeting her.
It was rather odd, how I meet her: I had been attacked with a pile of information about the Evangelions, perhaps too much. I think they expected me to postpone so much reading, but I read it all in three days. By the end, I was ready to start my work, but my orders arrived that day, leaving me with a big, unanswered question. They read something like this:
Create a functional Evangelion Unit, based on the following principles:
Combat efficiency
Simple, efficient construction methods.
Approved pre designs.
The rest was mainly useless, save for one part:
"…the neural and synchronization components will be constructed and installed with the personal overseeing of an approved technician from the Hakone laboratory…"
Why?
I must have questioned half the staff of the laboratory, looking for answers: what was so important about this system, to the point I would be supervised? I thought that when they offered me to build this thing, I was given full control of the project. But apparently, there was something fishy about this…
No answer came to me until the last day, when a woman named Yui Ikari came for me, saying she was ordered to escort me to the airport.
"I'm not leaving until I get my answers"
"That's what I'm here for: I will answer all of your questions, but for now, we must leave"
A car was waiting for us outside: I packed my bags in the back and entered the car, only to see Ikari in the driver's seat.
"You are driving?"
"We are currently a bit short on the staff"
On the way, she explained me what this was about: she had been the first one to think of the human-machine connection through neural systems, to the point where even the machine would be an organic being to a certain point. However, it still sounded impossible.
"But, how is this really going to work? Attempts to create artificial life forms have failed most times: the odds of this Unit working must be incredibly low, particularly if you think you are trying to go from living being to machine using only neural connections and a control pad"
"It isn't like that. The gap between both is rather large, but there are ways to shorten that gap"
"Like?"
"Making them both similar: instead of human to mecha, we make the mecha as human as possible"
"What? Exactly how do you do that?"
Why not tell her? Perhaps Sohryu will be able to escape this if she knows.
"The Eva is living being without a soul: it's only logical the first human to connect with it will be the natural complement to it"
"A soul?...wha/"
"It means the pilot will give his soul to the Unit, and turn it as human as possible. Only then will it be safe. I…"
"You…?"
"…"
"You will be that pilot, right?"
"I…"
"That's why you are the only one approved to get this working, right? That's why they want a technician from this place to supervise it: you put that in the orders, so…"
"So I could make sure it fails"
"Why?"
"No one else must carry this horrible fate"
"Could you just make yourself a bit more clear?!" Screamed Sohryu, irritated.
"So what? So you can satisfy your curiosity? You are already in quite the mess, I tell you. If I actually intended to explain, I would take years! You don't know anything about the inner workings of this organization: after all, what could you know about the old men? Or their plan for this Evas and their scenario for mankind? What I do, Mrs. Sohryu, is the only way to prevent the Evas from turning into their tool, to keep mankind blissfully ignorant of another Impact!"
The sudden outburst of Yui Ikari leaved her speechless: it was true, she could barely understand half of what she told her, but she had built one conclusion after her little outburst.
"Will you even be there to make sure I fail?"
To this, Ikari gave no answer: Sohryu had found a clear mistake in her plan: how could she stop her, trapped inside Unit 01?
"You must understand: the old men... they will use anyone. My own son's life may be in the line here"
Sohryu never answered. She didn't even understand how she could put her own soul at risk. It was too much.
They got to the airport, said their goodbyes and never saw each other again.
A couple of months later, word got to her that the first test in Unit 01 had failed. When she asked about Yui Ikari, a lame excuse was given to her.
Clearly, Yui had succeeded.
Germany, 2004.
She stepped out of the elevator and made her way out of the complex. Security was pretty tight, so it took her a while to leave the place.
Once she got home, she found her husband and her now four year old daughter waiting for her.
"Momma!" Her daughter cried, jumping into the arms of her mother.
"How's my little daughter today?"
"I'm big now, Momma! I'm four already!"
"Now, aren't you a big girl!?"
They celebrated that night, their small house filled with joy. When her mother brought her birthday cake, the little Asuka only had one wish.
"I wish to be the best pilot ever!!!"
That night, her husband explained her that her daughter was being considered by the Marduk Institute to become the potential pilot of Unit 02.
The next day, Kyoko Sohryu demanded to be the first one to pilot Unit 02.
Till that day, Kyoko had never understood Ikari's sacrifice, but the second Asuka had made her wish, she understood completely.
Only two months later, Kyoko Sohryu piloted Unit 02.
As she synched with the Eva, a smile crept her face: her Asuka would be safe.
Little did she know, her daughter would suffer at the hands of her own empty shell, who would never again recognize her daughter
First one of the bunch: I'm trying to fill the gaps of those fifteen years between seond impact and the NGE series.
R/R