Neon Cognogenesis Omega
Chapter 7
A/N: This chapter is going to be one in a series of very strange, plot-heavy chapters. That's right, folks: we're finally getting into the meat of this new genesis of thought I like to call "Omega" ;-). There will, of course, be heavy SxR... waits for applause... there we go :D... However, there will also be a lot of lain-esque confusingness that won't get fully resolved for a while. I'm also borrowing ideas from a few other fics to incorporate into the plot starting in this chapter, namely the cross-syncronization one by Marine Brother Shran and another (whose author I have forgotten) in which Rei hears the voice of Lillith in her head. Also, Asuka is introduced in this chapter, though I will make her slightly more agreeable than usual until the plot dictates otherwise. Even so, she'll be a lot less antagonizing than in the show/manga -- an extension of a trend with this fic to make the characters a little more mature and confident.
Disclaimer: I do not own Eva. And if you say I do, I will have no choice but to kill you and give your severed head to Hideaki Anno to burn in a secret Otakuminatti (Otaku Illuminati) ritual. Nothing personal or anything; it's just in my contract as resident Gainax Lizardman-for-hire ;-).
--
Shinji walked into the Konbini, expecting a familiar sight. More precisely, he expected a sight he had recently grown accustomed to: a mop of pale blue hair, and crimson orbs that turned to face him, and in doing so, set fire to his soul. Unfortunately, there was no such thing to be found in the small shop. His eyes darted quickly from their resting place at the counter (where she had always been when he walked in), to the magazine section (where she presumably picked up her sudoku), to the energy drinks (she had no reason to be there, as she always bought 5 Hour -- right next to the counter, the small white out bottles unrefrigerated and poorly sealed, like a commission-payed health inspector's anti-nerd wet dream -- however, he felt like a Red Bull). He began walking towards the cold case when his cell phone rang, 8 Bit Weapon's cover of Enjoy the Silence buzzing loudly into existence and filling his pocket with SNES-inspired awe.
He picked up.
"Moshi Moshi? (Hello?)"
There was a pause. He could hear some noise in the background, and something akin to an American cop show playing on a distant TV.
Probably a prank call... He was about to hang up when...
"Shinji! Get over here! An angel is attacking!" Misato's voice sounded strained, and slightly angry.
"Hai, I'll be there as fast as I can."
He heard a static-drowned reply and he hit big red and ran towards HQ.
--
He barged through the door, out of breath and wheezing due to slight asthma. His surroundings were so busy no one noticed him come in. The holo screens were buzzing with static and artifacts, and the speaker systems were making loud hissy crashes. Misato finally noticed his presence, and turned to him.
"Get in your pod, quick! Rei's been waiting to go in so she'll have backup, but the angel is screwing with all our electronics -- if we don't destroy him soon there's going to be another network crash!"
Shinji nodded, and ran to his pod, sitting down and unbuttoning the top button of his white dress shirt for comfort before activating his system.
"Ikari-kun, are you ready?" Rei's voice was soft, yet firm.
"Hai."
Maya's voice, barely audible above the waves of static crashing at every arch of the wave, came through the speaker system. "Rezzing information space."
The portal popped up, however the only thing visible beyond it was a blank grid. "These things sure like to hide, don't they?" He thought he heard Misato's voice, but it was clear and without static, so he figured he was hearing things.
Rei's avatar carefully approached the portal, but the boy stopped her. "I'll go in first, okay? Ayanami-san has been ambushed too many times already. I don't want you to risk it needlessly."
"But..." Rei was about to object, but quelled it. "Ryokai," she said dutifully.
Shinji stepped into the portal cautiously, and looked around. The angel was nowhere to be seen. Another ambush? "Angel not confirmed on visual; continuing to look in preparation for an ambush, over."
There was no response.
"Do you read me?"
No response again. He turned around, facing the place from whence he came.
Oh god... The portal was closing behind him slowly, and he could see Rei's avatar reaching towards it. He reached back, and their fingers almost brushed each other as the portal closed completely and the overlap of Rei's hand on the other side was derezzed.
Shinji drew back, and looked around him. Nothing but a blank grid in all directions. He didn't know where he was. How far away from the base grid could I be? There should be teleport, but it's not working... Then, suddenly, he realized something.
I should be in the pod, sitting in front of a screen. Ergo, I should be able to just get up. But I can't. He looked around himself. I'm not in front of a screen... I'm in this world. How? He looked at his hand, held upturned in front of him. No keyboard... He looked around him, turning as he took in the nothingness of the empty grid, lime green lines expanding in perspective along imaginary increments, segmenting the endless black void. What is this place?
"Help me! Somebody, please, help me!" He felt the gridlines of his new and empty world spinning around him. He heard himself say, "This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"No!" He screamed, at the top of his lungs. "How can this be it?! How can this be what I wanted?" He felt dizzy with nausea, and fell to the ground, hoping that soon the spinning would stop, mumbling incoherently to himself. "How can this be... How can this be... what I wanted..."
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He felt a presence beside him.
He looked up. Rei?
"Shiji-kun, are you ok?" A stray lock of pale blue wafted the zephyric currents of air conditioning.
The world came into focus. He was sitting on his bed, his pajama shirt soaked with sweat. She was by his side, standing near the night table, wearing one of his button down shirts. He looked around the room. Numerous objects caught his eye -- objects from his past, and mementos of happy experiences. An award ribbon from his elementary school science fair. Photographs of himself and Rei-chan standing together on the edge of a cliff, on a hike three years ago. Cartoonish figurines of cellos that his mother insisted upon buying for him off ebay. His siamese cat, Innana, sitting on top of the idling monitor of the Navigator PC he got for his sixteenth birthday and never had the heart to throw out. He turned back to crimson, setting his eyes on the deep void center. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"What happened?" There was concern in her voice, and she rubbed his back gently as she awaited his response.
"Just a nightmare I guess."
Rei kneeled down in front of him and looked him in the eyes up close. "Do you want to sleep with me instead?"
He looked at her derisively. "I'm not a kid, you know. I just had a nightmare, is all. It happens to the best of us."
She looked at him sternly, as if she were Mesmer attempting hypnosis. "I wasn't suggesting that." Her face softened. "I get lonely sometimes, you know?" She bit her lip, and then continued. "We've been dating for three years now... yet we haven't ever been intimate." She saw the sudden tension in his eyes, and clarified. "I don't mean sex. What I mean to say is, we say we're dating, but we just act like good friends. We're both technically adults -- why can't we sleep in the same bed for once?"
She's making some sense there... "You have reason. Just let me change my shirt, and then you can sleep in my bed with me."
She nodded, and he proceeded to remove his shirt, taking a clean one off his dresser and donning it. He got back into bed, and held open the covers for her, to which she complied. Her head on his chest, he drifted off, and the world blanked itself to prepare him for a dreamless sleep.
--
"Senpai! There's odd activity on Shinji's psychograph!" Ritsuko looked to Maya in acknowledgement, and called up the graph data.
"This is strange..." She looked at the data, not believing her eyes. "His brainwave activity is all in the theta range, remaining constant at approximately 7.83Hz."
Misato looked at the blonde doctor inquizitively. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Senpai... Does this mean he's fallen asleep?"
"Well, normally theta brainwaves are representative of REM sleep, but he can't possibly fall into that deep of a sleep so quickly..." She bit her lip. "Perhaps a hypnogogic state?" She looked to the pods. "Rei, what's the status of Shinji's avatar?"
"It's... It's gone. He went through the portal, and it closed on the inside while the outside was still open." There was a barely noticable tinge of hysteria in her voice. Abnormal... The doctor decided to pursue this matter later.
"Huuga, what's the status of the angel?"
"It's gone. It seems to have moved to a different place entirely, outside of scan range."
Maya's eyes widened. "But... That's not possible... The whole of the earth is in scan range..."
Frames of glasses now being removed obscured the view of a mole as the left earpiece was chewed upon thoughtfully. "There is a possibility that Shinji destroyed the angel, but was memetically wounded in the process. But that doesn't explain the dissapearance of his avatar and the portal closing. Huuga, amplify the scan sensitivity, and use the better quality denoising algorithms. We can renice some of the other programs so that the MAGI have close to normal load. Shigeru, call to get Shinji into the hospital, but keep monitoring his brainwaves with the wireless monitor."
"Wait." All eyes were on Misato. "Will the wireless monitor even work? I thought there was major interference."
The bridge was silent for a few moments. Then Maya typed for a few seconds, looked up, and spoke. "It seems that the interference stopped at about the time Shinji went into theta mode."
"Maya." The girl looked up to her Senpai's face. "Investigate further the source of the interference, and patterns therein." She turned to face her old friend. "Misato. Call up President Ikari and inform him of the situation. Ask him to bring the spare pilot back with him."
--
The space was a dark expanse. The men, or rather their avatars, sat around the perimiter of a large, invisible rectangle, as if they were at a table. The man at the end opposite Gendou spoke.
"Ikari. We have entrusted you with not only the responsibility of the unconditional defeat of the Rakbu, but also that of the Planetary Instrumentality Project. We hope you shall not forget your dual regards."
A voice came from the side of the table. "Sou. Your 'organization' has successfully defeated two of the Rakbu with minimal damages. I am sure the Anuna-gods will be pleased." I'll bet you are... Ikari fought to keep his face. "However, when the time comes that one of them is fit for initiating the Omega point, I trust that you will take advantage of that."
"Too true. The NANSHE.b and NINKASHI.m viruses lack the versatility to mutate into something with the power of EA.a. However, the Me signify that NINURTA shall be coming next, which should prove a bit more... interesting." The man smiled to himself, every bristle of his scraggy beard rendered in perfect photorealistic real-time.
A phone appeared beside Gendou and began to repeat a soft, mellow tone. "If you will excuse me, gentlemen."
"But of course."
Gendou picked up the phone. "This is Ikari... I see... I see... I understand. It will be done." He hung up.
"I am sorry Ikari, but the rest of this meeting is only of concern to us. You shall be disconnected now." Gendou removed his goggles and dermatrodes as the space faded from view.
"Fyutsuki."
"I see you are finished with your meeting. How are the old men of IGIGI these days anyway? Do they still pray to their beloved Anuna-ke?" The old man chuckled to himself.
"Their alliegance to a dead race amuses me. Perhaps when my scenario is complete I shall reunite them with their petty Gods."
"Ah, mercy... Perhaps too much mercy, to spare those who wish to be Nephillim."
--
'Negeltu.' (Awaken.)
The sun was bright and blinding, and in the washed out light, Shinji could see nothing but white and pale blue. From the pastel characature of his room, he sat up in bed, noting that Rei was no longer inhabiting the small, head-shaped depression in the pillow next to him. I smell bacon...
"Good morning, sunshine." Rei was by the stove as he sleepwalked into the combination kitchen-diningroom. She wore the shirt from last night, with a powder blue apron over it with "DEAD:BEEF:CAFE" written on the front. It was a nerd hangout in Arizona they had stopped in at on their trip to the USA to see the newly opened Area 51 site, before they had found out that the site they visited was in fact Area 54 and that Area 51 was a good distance away. "Yui-san had to go into work early today, since she has a meeting with some foriegn investors, so I figured I'd fix you some breakfast. Your favorite, bacon and eggs."
"Where's my father?" He thanked her softly as she dished out thick wads of scrambled eggs onto his plate, and then proceeded to fish out the scrawny strands of bacon from the other side of the pan.
"He's off with Kouzo, like usual. I hear today they're going to get some banners for your mother's surprise party. I'm sure they'll look ridiculous, two grown men trying their hardest to look respectable while looking for paper ribbons in a party supply store."
"Ah, I had nearly forgotten about that... The party..."
"That's why I'm here to remind you. Yui-san is a good mom to you -- she let me stay with you guys just so I could remind you of stuff like this." Rei winked one crimson eye.
Shinji, overtaken by her charm, paused for a moment. When he noticed the space of silence, he hurried to fill it in. "You're not going to have any? You could at least have the eggs..."
Rei smiled wryly and shook her head. "No thanks. I try to avoid american cooking and chicken menses when at all possible."
Shinji chuckled inwardly, and then asked, "What are you having then?"
"Oh, ramen for me."
"You eat too much of that stuff. You're gonna get malnutrition."
Rei grinned. "Don't worry, I eat plenty of veggies too. Just be glad I don't raid your stash of beef cup ramen too."
"Just eat some mouchi or something every so often. You need the protein from the beans."
Rei giggled a response. "Hai, goushoujin-sama!" (Yes, master!)
--
"It's a coma."
"What?" Misato looked at the blonde-haired doctor in astonishment. "You mean he just went into a coma, with no provocation at all aside from having just defeated the angel?"
"Not exactly. It seems that the angel jumped inside of him as he entered its body."
"I don't understand."
Maya piped in. "It seems like the angel itself is another memespace, and that it opened a portal to itself right in front of the opening we made."
Ritsuko continued the train of thought. "We believe that when Shinji entered the space, the angel entered his brain and redirected his sensory and motor functions into its own memespace, putting him into REM sleep and acting as an environment in which to run his dreams indefinitely."
"I see." Barely...
"There is also something odd about his brainwaves. Maya,"
"H-hai. His brainwaves seem to resonate at more or less exactly 7.83Hz. This is not normal behavior for sleep or a coma, because in both cases there should be more fluctuation."
Misato rubbed her head. "What's so special about 7.83Hz?"
A voice came from behind them. "Schuuman resonance."
All eyes looked to the shadowy figure in the doorway. Ritsuko's eyes widened. Gendou...
"I see you are making progress, Akagi-hakase. Keep up the good work." The figure turned to leave, but paused and looked back. "The spare pilot is waiting in the lobby. I shall be in my office."
With the commander gone, the doctor turned back to the bridge crew and continued, aided by the shadowy figure's innovative suggestion. "Schuuman resonance is a radio frequency in the theta brainwave range at approximately 7.83Hz. It is the frequency which resonates inside the ionosphere, and it blankets the entire planet with something akin to ordered static. There have been some hypotheses based upon the ideas of telepathy and Microwave Audio Induction that this forms the basis of subconcious telepathic connection between humans, aiding some of the social games with cues even more minute than those of expression, tone, and body language."
"Hrm... Then aren't we exposing ourselves to a possible telepathic infection?"
"There is very little threat of that."
"Why?"
"Because..." Because roughly the entire city is immune... "Because although brainwaves are strong enough right outside the skull to be picked up by dermatrodes and EEG systems, they dissapate very quickly after that." Now I'm contradicting myself... I really should get better at this 'lying' thing...
Beneath purple bangs, a brow furrowed. "I'm confused..."
--
'Annu timatu wussuru...' (Abandon this abyss)
"Rei, did you say something?"
Rei looked back from her dishwashing, a puzzled look on her face. "No, why?"
"Nevermind." I must be hearing things, he thought as she went back to scrubbing congealed lasagna off of a plate made for sushi.
--
"The plan goes like this." Ritsuko stood in front of a large white board, holding a nearly dead marker.
"You have a plan?" Misato smirked. She loved teasing the woman.
"Yes," the doctor said, trying not to let it get to her despite the twitch making itself apparent in her left eyebrow. "And it goes like this. Shinji is trapped inside the angel's memespace, inside of his own head. This space is a dreamworld constructed of reverse-engineered rules from his own mind, likely modified in a dreamlike fashion. It is what is called a 'cartesian logic set', essentially a universe derived from a system of logical rules with no conflicts between them. This is what separates it from a dream. A coma is similar, except that in order to get out of a coma, one needs to make the entire dreamworld unbelievable. All we need to defeat this angel is one minor logical conflict, which Shinji would need to acknowledge."
"How do you know it would only take one logical statement."
"Because his... I mean, the angel's mind is very logical... The details are complex, so I won't get into it."What a copout... I'm getting better at this.
"So how do you plan on introducing this conflict?"
"I would have gotten to that already if you hadn't interrupted me, Misato." She paused a moment to let that sink in. Guilt trips too... Wow, I'm good... "The procedure is a little experimental, but..."
"Don't tell me it's surgery..."
"No, nothing of the sort. I was using 'procedure' in the more general sense. No, we are going to infect a pilot with a kind of memetic virus that is benign to humans, but that will weaken the angel. This is done by introducing a paradox into the pilot's brain subliminally, with instructions for it to spread memetically. Such inconsistencies do not bother humans for the most part, but they will weaken the logical fabric of the memetic universe. We will then insert said pilot into the angel's memespace, which we now know is located inside of Shinji's brain. To do this, we shall reconfigure the MAGI's space constructor to use the slight variations in his brainwaves instead of the slight variation in randomness. The pilot will become a part of Shinji's dream, and tell him the paradox. Once he admits that it is a paradox, the angel will self-destruct."
"And what if Shinji's having a good dream? What if he doesn't admit the paradox because he doesn't want to wake up?"
"At the same time, the backup will be waiting for us to find the angel's actual location in memespace. Once we do, said pilot will wait for our command, and if the other two pilots don't get out after a specified period of time, she will begin to fight against the angel there. Unfortunately, if she defeats the angel at that point, it is possible that Shinji may go into a real coma."
Huuga piped in. "Isn't that a bit risky?"
"We cannot allow a third impact to occur. In any case, he may wake up. If we don't do this, he will never wake up."
Misato sighed. "I suppose it's the best we can do." She returned to commanding mode, befitting of a tactical officer. "Assignments are as follows. Rei will be going into the cartesian logic thing, as she knows Shinji and would be better to convince him." She had a slight, barely noticable intonation difference on the word 'knows'. "Soryu-kun will be backup."
"Hai."
"Ryokai!"
"Good, get to your stations. Operation starts in ten minutes."
"Wait." Ritsuko motioned for the pilots to stop. "Before you do, I want you both to don something experimental we just hacked up. It's called a pod suit. It acts as a monitor for biological and cognitive functions, and it also acts as an assistive virtual reality input device in case syncro is low for any reason."
--
"I'll be right back."
"Okay, Rei-chan." Shinji lied back down on the couch and continued to watch the chess tournament on TV. Oh, commercial break. He flipped one channel up, and found the History channel was doing a program on Alan Turing and the WWII Nazi 'Purple' cypher.
He felt a presence beside him. He looked up. "Rei-chan? That was quick." He stared into cold red orbs, oblivious to the look of slight annoyance coming over her brow. "And you changed, too."
"Ikari-kun, there is something I need to tell you."
Shinji was taken aback. "Woah, what's with the formalities?"
"Formalities?" Rei shook her head, and continued. "Will you listen to what I have to tell you?"
"Sure, Rei-chan. What is it?"
Rei frowned slightly at the repeated use of that honorific. It was improper, but she supposed she couldn't blame him. "You are living in a dream world."
He felt a cold shiver creep over him. "What's that supposed to mean? Rei-chan is creeping me out."
"And another thing. What does this statement mean to you? 'Freedom is Slavery'." She stared back at him. This was not the Ikari-kun she remembered.
He furrowed his brow. "Uhm... Nineteen-eighty-four? I dunno. Is this some kind of riddle?"
"No."
"I give up. Tell me."
She was tiring of this quickly. "It is a paradox, is it not?"
"Uhh... not really?"
"It is."
"Nah, it's all pretty much explained away in the book. The idea is that the only way to have the perception of freedom is by having slavery."
"Admit it."
"Admit what?"
"That it's a paradox."
"No way. I'm right about this."
--
"Senpai, we have located the angel in memespace."
"Ok. It's about time... They've been in there for 20 minutes already. If she can't get him out by this point, I suppose we're ready to begin the backup operation."
"Ryokai. Opening portal now."
"Soryu here, portal rezzed."
"Are you ready, Soryu-san?"
"Yeah." Piece of cake... "If you mean, 'ready to kick that angel's memetic ass'!" She added enthusiastically.
"Ok, proceed."
"Readying to fire all my weapons at the portal entrance."
"Go ahead."
"Firing..."
--
"Why don't you admit it?"
"Because I'm right."
A female voice came from behind Rei. "Oh, you have company?"
Shinji looked up. Rei-chan... His eyes grew wide in horror. Two Reis?! "What the hell! W-Why are there two of you?"
"Do you see now?" Pod-suited Rei gazed upon the brown mop of hair, his hands on either side of his head. "Admit it."
"No! I don't want to! I don't want to leave this place!"
'Annu cuupu napahu!' (Break out of this cage!)
"No! I like it in here! I like this cage! Don't make me leave!"
"There will come a time in which you can return, but it is not now. You must break free, if only to bring about a world that is true, instead of just perfect."
"No..."
"Who are you, and what are you doing to him?" The other Rei was still wearing the dress shirt, and Rei had a feeling that the boy had a bit of a fetish.
"This is a delusion."
"No! I want to stay here! I want to..." Wow... He felt Rei's lips plant firmly on his own. It was just like last time, except now he could feel and remember it better. He let himself melt into the kiss, and after a few moments he began to break it.
"Now do you see?" She asked, as the world around them faded out of existence.
"Yes..."
--
"Yay, I did it!" Asuka watched as the false grid in the portal fragmented and the true grid was restored.
Ritsuko didn't have the heart to tell her that both Shinji and Rei had gone out of theta mode and back into very light sleep just moments before.
--
Shinji and Rei awoke in separate hospital rooms, and after normal checkout procedures, proceeded to walk home to their separate appartments.
--
Shinji walked into the Konbini, not sure whether to expect a mop of azure at the counter, as he had seen so many times before. When he looked, his hopes were realized. He stepped past an attractive redhead on his way to grab his habitual morning items. She's up early. He was in a good mood.
At the counter, the redhead who was directly in front of him in line put her purchases down to be scanned, and turned to him. "You must be Shinji."
"...Hai."
"I'm Asuka. Asuka Langely Soryu. And don't you ever forget my name, because I saved your ass last night!"
Two pairs of eyes darted instinctively to the items on the counter, and instinctively came to the same conclusion. Monster Energy and Word Find... What have I gotten myself into?
---
Ok, this chapter is finally done, after a rather long wait. I'm sorry to those of you who have been waiting patiently for it to come out, spoiled by my quick succession of releases of the past few. Luckily, however, this chapter I think has some meat to it. I believe it's the longest chapter on this fic thus far, and it gets into a lot of plot and (hopefully) character development.
Other fanfics I forgot to mention that inspired this chapter are the fic by Gunman in which Shinji goes into a coma, "The One I Love Is...", one of the fics by LADYTHEBEAST (a favorite of mine, though I can't remember the name... It has about 36 chapters, is rated M, and takes place in an AU where Shinji and Rei had syncro training instead of Shinji and Asuka).
Just general notes for those who are interested... DEAD:BEEF:CAFE is a joke on IPv6 addresses, which are written in hexidecimal (the digits allowed are 0-9 and A-F, so people often spell out simple words; ex: DEAD:BEEF:CAFE:CODE:FOOD:BABE:BOOB). If there's any detail in this chapter you want more info about, just message me and I'll tell you more about it.
I want to thank Red Bull, sleep deprivation, NECROMANCER's sumerian dictionary, and all the fanfictions that inspired me (to steal stuff). You accelerate me. :D
