Past, as it will be Tomorrow
Seven
Ritsuko Akagi knew she was dreaming, even as she lay on the massive feather bed. She had never been on a bed this large except for that time she and Mother had gone through a bed showroom and Ritsuko had jumped on one. The room around was also unfamiliar, hidden slightly be gauzy drapes that hung from the ceiling. With a odd sort of detachment she realized she was only dressed in a nightie, a much lighter one than what she would usually wear.
A figure emerged from the shrouds, flowing onto the bed but despite being so close Ritsuko couldn't identify him. A knowing hand cupped her breast then slid teasingly away before pinching a suddenly aching nipple. The touches and caresses stirred her body hbigher and higher as Ritsuko twisted languidly on the bed. The figure moved closer and the face finally revealed itself, a black haired woman gazing at her with amused eyes.
'Misato?!' Ritsuko thought as she felt a hand gently shaking her awake.
Blinking sleepily Ritsuko awoke on the futon laid out beside Misato's, both women in Misato's room. She was completely disoriented, her skin hot and her body tingling with powerful sensations.
"You okay?" Misato asked as she sat up, stretching tiredly. She wore just a t-shirt and shorts, her breasts bouncing with her movements. "You were moaning in your sleep, I thought you were having a nightmare," she noted.
"It... wasn't a nightmare, exactly," Ritsuko answered, aware that she had actually dampened her panties a bit. Her nipples were hard against her bra, and she prayed Misato wouldn't notice as she added, "It was a odd dream, though,."
Misato was clearly too tired to press, getting up as she tiredly scratched her side, in the process revealing the round curve of her breast. "Well, we had to get up anyway," she shrugged, stumbling out the room to head to the bathroom.
Ritsuko gulped, silently struggling to get her raging impulses under control. Firmly telling herself it was just a dream she changed out of her night clothes into fresh bra and panties, a pair of slacks and a nice blouse. Tucking herself in she headed for the kitchen, looking for some coffee to start the day.
Entering the kitchen she blinked as she saw Yui Ikari eating breakfast, as usual. What was not so usual was the blue haired young girl sitting at the table, possibly somewhere around Shinji's age, also eating some cereal with Yui. She wore what looked like one of Yui's shirts, sitting surprisingly still as she munched on granola.
Yui up as she entered and smiled. "Ritsuko, I'd like you to meet Rei. Rei, this is Ritsuko Akagi," she introduced them.
"Hello, Rei," Ritsuko smiled at the little girl, bending a bit so they were nearer eye level. She was slightly surprised at the red color of Rei's eyes, so striking in her otherwise pale face.
Rei looked into her eyes calmly, "Hello, Ritsukoakagi."
Yui hid a smile as she explained, "Akagi is her family name, while Ritsuko is her own."
"I see," the little girl nodded gravely. Rei looked at Ritsuko, "Hello, Miss Ritsuko."
"Nice to meet you," Ritsuko nodded as she went to get a cup of coffee.
Misato emerged from the bathroom in her usual street clothes, doing a similar double take as she took in the young girl eating cereal. After similar introductions Yui lead the girl into the livingroom and put on a popular child's cartoon, before returning to the kitchen with the young ladies.
"So who's the kid?" Misato asked bluntly.
Ritsuko wouldn't have put it quite that bluntly, but she wondered the same. "Did you and Mr. Ikari have another child we didn't know about?" she asked, "Rei could be your twin."
"It's more complicated and odder than that," Yui sighed. She then narrated a tale of exploring a sealed off section of GEHIRN, finding a lab hidden there and discovering the mysterious child within. "I took a blood sample while she was sleeping, the Magi are running it now. We should know more in a few hours."
"Wow," Misato blinked. "Gendo must have been off his nut."
Yui winced, "I wouldn't put it that way...."
Ritsuko's mind was racing, considering the implications from several directions. Ethically this was horrible, a violation of Yui's right to control her own DNA. Scientifically, however, this could represent a breakthrough of unbelievable proportions.
A thought occurred to Ritsuko, "How is it she can talk? I would assume right out of the tank she'd be a blank slate...."
Yui shrugged slightly. "I need to study that lab in more detail, but looking at the systems it appeared to have some kind of sleep training function. It taught her basic language skills, some cultural background and so on."
Misato nodded slightly, "Excuse me for a minute."
They watched Misato go in and sit beside Rei, talking to her. Deciding her friend wasn't getting into too much trouble Ritsuko looked back at Yui, "So what do we do with her?"
Yui bit her lip thoughtfully, "My first temptation is to send her off to my cousin and stay with Shinji. But I have no idea what Gendo has programmed into her, and I'm sure her unusual coloration would draw comments."
"Take her to GEHIRN?" Ritsuko offered. She shrugged as Yui looked at her, "Tell people she's your niece or something. Maybe we can even figure out what Gendo made her for."
Yui didn't like the idea of letting Naoko anywhere near the child, but otherwise she had to admit Ritsuko had a point. Clearly the child was intended to serve some role in GEHIRN and the only way they would learn what was having her there.
"Okay, I give up," Misato laughed as she and Rei walked into the kitchen. She looked at the two women, "I decided to try quizzing Rei on trivia, see what she knows, and she got every answer right." She looked a little sheepish, "I promised her a treat, in return."
Ritsuko looked down at the curious little girl and suggested, "Well, how about trying a bit of chocolate ice cream?"
"What's that?" Rei asked innocently.
"You'll see," Ritsuko laughed warmly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Rei still had a bit of chocolate on the corner of her mouth as Yui lead the little girl through GEHIRN, the child looking about with a odd mix of wonderment and familiarity. They had run into Naoko already, Yui introducing Rei as her niece visiting from the countryside.
"Hello, old lady," Rei had said calmly.
"Urk," Ritsuko had to choke back a laugh at the look on her mother's face.
"That's not a nice thing to call her," Misato managed to tell Rei, also fighting to keep from laughing aloud.
"That's what they called a lady that age on TV," Rei noted innocently.
"I'm terribly sorry," Yui told Naoko, desperately trying to keep a straight face too.
Naoko clearly realized the insincerity as she glared around her. "I'll be in my lab working with Miss Ibuki on the connection tests," she wheeled around to walk away, "you're welcome to assist when you're done playing with the children."
"Did I do something wrong?" Rei asked innocently once she left.
Misato knelt down beside her, "Not really. It's just that women that age don't like being reminded they're old ladies."
Rei nodded gravely, "I see."
"You're enjoying this too much," Ritsuko tried to be serious with Misato, but she couldn't fight down her smile.
"Look in a mirror," Misato shot back cheerfully. She chuckled, "God, I wish I had my camera-phone ready! I'd have loved to get a shot of the look on her face."
Even Yui had to chuckle at that thought. "Misato, you are a very evil young woman," she told the girl mock severely.
Misato poked her gently, "Look who raised me."
Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu was studying bio-mechanical data in one of the labs they passed, the statuesque redhead looking unusually dangerous. Privately Ritsuko thought the woman reminded her of some dominatrix from the past century, running around terrorizing lesser beings. Or maybe a lioness deciding whom she was going to chase down and eat next.
"Well," Kyoko noted as she got up, walking over to where they stood, "I see why you couldn't greet me yesterday." The woman in the tightly fitted suit looked down at Rei thoughtfully, "Who is this little darling?"
"Rei," the little girl look up calmly from Yui's side, not challenging the other woman but not giving up space either.
"I did try to meet with you yesterday as planned," Yui noted mildly, "but something unexpected turned up."
Kyoko tapped a finger against her leg, "Family, I presume?"
"My niece," Yui lied smoothly. But before any more questions could be asked, both Yui and Kyoko's cellphones rang, emitting a shrill emergency signal. Yui flipped her phone open and frowned, "Naoko's lab?"
Without thinking about it the group bolted, Misato sweeping Rei up as they ran along the hallway to the stairs then rushing down a floor to the right level. Ritsuko took the lead a bit as she slammed open the lab door, seeing Naoko studying terminals and readouts.
Sweeping the room with her eyes Ritsuko didn't see Maya, a sinking feeling chilling her heart. "What's happened?" she demanded of her mother.
"I...," Naoko looked like she wanted to evade, but the other women ran in and asked much the same question, more forcefully. "I was running a LCL immersion test, and attempted establishing initial connections to the Evangelion-simulation," she said flatly.
"And?" Yui asked grimly.
"The capsule is no longer responding to my commands," Naoko admitted, "and I can't get Ibuki out of her fugue state."
"Oh hell," Kyoko muttered as she and Yui hurried over to the other consoles, trying to determine what had gone wrong.
Misato looked at Ritsuko, "What's going on in non-geek terms?"
Ritsuko studied the readouts intently as she muttered, "Maya's been hooked into the computers mentally. Something's caused her to go too deep, and they can't get her out."
"Oh crap," Misato muttered. She walked over to the window of the lab out at the two test chambers, sitting side by side....
Ritsuko saw Misato's eyes widen and demanded, "What?"
"There's two test chambers," Misato turned to the scientists, "is there any way we can cross connect the two of them, load someone into the second one and have them lead Maya back?"
Yui looked thoughtful, while both Naoko and Kyoko looked intrigued by the idea. "Risky," Yui frowned, "the person sent in might be pulled down with Maya."
"We could program a virtual tether," Kyoko offered, looking at Naoko who nodded slightly.
"All right," Ritsuko said decisively, "get it rigged while I suit up."
"Why you?" Naoko looked at her daughter in surprise.
"I'm the only one with complete biometric and neural recordings, mother," Ritsuko said as she hurried to the locker rooms, "I'm the only person you got."
Ritsuko was yanking locker doors open, thankfully finding her plug-suit in one as Misato came in. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Misato asked as Ritsuko swiftly undressed.
Ritsuko fought down a blush as she felt Misato's eyes on her, trossing aside her bra and panties as she pulled the suit on. "I'm literally the only option we have if this plan is going to work," she hopped into one leg, then the other as she shimmied the tight material up over her hips, "and there's no way I'm leaving a kid like Maya trapped in there."
"No, I couldn't do that either," Misato admitted. She scowled, "But if you get hurt I'm never going to forgive myself."
Ritsuko did up the neck clasps and waist connections on her sky-blue suit as she said, "Trust me, they would have hit on the idea eventually." Fully suited up she walked over to Misato, "If I don't make it back, there's something I want to do."
"Don't talk like that," Misato said as Ritsuko stepped close to her, "and what...?"
"This," Ritsuko pressed herself against Misato and kissed her, slipping her tounge into the other woman's mouth at the same time. Misato was stunned for a second but soon returned the kiss, the two melting together for a few short minutes.
Misato finally broke away with a gasp. "Whew," she panted softly, "let's do that again!"
"Not now," Ritsuko laughed softly, "save it for when we get back."
"Spoil sport," Misato said, blushing as they headed inyo the test chamber where all three scientists were working.
Kyoko swept her red-orange hair back confidently as she said, "This is a bit jury-rigged, but I'm certain it will hold up. We'll be monitoring you from the test chamber."
Yui walked up to Ritsuko as Naoko was readying the test chamber, "If it gets too much, come back. We'll find another way."
"I understand," Ritsuko smiled at her as she walked over to the test chamber. It looked like a giant pill, standing up, the front opened to reveal electronics and the LCL vents.
Naoko looked up at Ritsuko, then away. "Please be careful," she said quietly, then suddenly hugged Ritsuko, "I couldn't bear to lose you."
Ritsuko patted her on the shoulder awkwardly, "I'll do my best."
Misato helped Ritsuko up into the tube as they made the final connections, Ritsuko settling into the seat. Finally it was time, the hatch closing as Misato murmured, "Good luck."
To be continued....