Neon Cognogenesis Omega
Ch 11
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Shinji had been alone for several days. This is not to say that people had been absent; Rei had been with him constantly, and there had been sync tests and morning energy drinks with Rei and Asuka, as well as come-ons and suggestions of drinking contests from Misato. Nevertheless, he had gotten used to the near-constant dialogue from God and the telepathy with his companion.
It was odd. Then again, his reasoning told him that it must have been at least partially a delusion caused by memetic infection, and that the disappearance of the voice of Enki would be a sign of recovery. On the other hand, the self-described Lord of Water had saved his ass on a number of occasions.
Perhaps it was not such a good thing.
"Shinjikun..." The soft voice came from the dark to his right.
"Hai?"
"I am cold. Roll over."
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"President." A mole bobbed as lips licked themselves nervously.
"Yes, Akagi?" His cold manner did not reflect the approximation of tenderness that they had engaged in a few hours before.
"Your ex-wife has died."
For a moment, the room was silent.
"When did this occur?"
She bit her lip. "Approximately two weeks ago."
"The president of the world's biggest computer corporation died, and it had somehow been kept under wraps for two weeks?"
"It seems that Accela Labs has succeeded in perfecting Project Morovek."
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"Baka Shinji! (Shinji, you idiot!)" Shinji rubbed the sore spot left on his head with a silly grin on his face. Rei walked beside him holding the iced cream cone they were sharing. Asuka ran ahead and, stopping, turned back with a pre-victory smile. "This," she pointed, "is war."
"Are you challenging us?" Shinji found Asuka's seriousness amusing.
"Yes. Care to hear my terms before I crush you and feed you to the Grues?"
"Let me guess: a free-for-all Tekken tournament?"
"Yes. And the stakes are: third place must buy the energy drinks for first and second place for a week, and second place must call first place Master for two weeks. Do you accept your impending doom?"
"Nice wording." Shinji grinned.
"Thanks, I'm hyperlexic." Asuka bragged. "So about the doom thing..."
A soft voice. "I see no problem with it."
Asuka smiled. "Well then, two votes versus one undecided. Majority wins. Sorry, Shin-man."
"W-wait..."
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The matte black table cut out of the darkness, the illuminated faces deep in meditation. The man at the end of the table spoke.
Dingir Enki annitu mala giru
Anaku eme-a kuppu
Anaku mudu-a kuppu
Me-me me-a na tsusumu
Udba dingir Enki nijal-am
Dingir anunake-ne lu-lu-a za-mi
Lord Enki, shining like a fire
Your words are trapped
Your knowledge is trapped
With our ME, bound
One day, Lord Enki shall not be
The men of the great ANUNA gods be praised
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"Aww, man... I'm gonna go broke buying Wondergirl's little pep bottles!"
"You're the one who set the stakes. You didn't specify that Rei..." a poke, "I mean, that Master had to order something less expensive."
"I wasn't expecting her to win!" A persistent beeping was heard before the backdrop of Asuka's whining. Shinji located his PDA, and opened the new mail:
Shinji:
You don't know me, but I am a friend.
I am also a friend of Enki.
It has come to my attention that a secret organization has been using sigil magick (an ancient form of memetic warfare) in order to bind d' Enki so that he cannot communicate. This would render you useless in the next battle against the Rakbu.
Luckily, we have created an antidote. The attached PNG image is to be placed into your terminal's sublim stream.
Good luck.
Your mother sends her love.
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Udba girru nijal-am maklu nijal-am
Lu-lu nijal-am dingir-dingir nijal-am
Mudu nijal-am eme nijal-am
Udba dingir Enki an-nu
Udba dingir Enki mudu
Udba lu-lu eme mudu
Dingir Enki annitu
Dingir Enki maru-maru za-mi
Once upon a time, there was no fire, there was no offering
There were no men, there were no gods
There was no knowlege, there was no language
On that day, Lord Enki came from Heaven
On that day, Lord Enki knew
On that day, men knew language
Lord Enki, shining
May Lord Enki's children be blessed
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"Maru Shinji. (Shinji, my son)"
Welcome back.
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A/N:
Hi, sorry about the wait. I've been busy with school and such, and having romance problems and large computer projects. This chapter is not the one I planned (I will be putting in another christmas-themed chapter (somewhat Asuka-centric) soon, but this is just an attempt to work in new intruigue/plot that I had lying around my head drive ;-).
Please review.
Thanks,
John