CHAPTER 12
A squat grey building of only four stories. Over the main entrance the words "UN Artificial Evolution Laboratory" and, in a shield, GEHIRN's Motto: "But I had so near made out the sun, And counted your stars, the Seven and One".
But the building went a long way down, down into the Black Egg that lay under Hakone, and in the heart of that subterranean world was a white-lit room. The Separation Experiment had failed. The Lilith creature was not cleanly severed, and stretched out in that white place she waited, seemingly without will or want.
Yui Ikari knew of that room. And that is why she had come to her old professor in his little office in Hakone. GEHIRN had him too, now, at least on paper.
But she had his mind. She had made sure of this.
"You know I don't trust SEELE," Kozo Fuyutsuki said. "Why do you trust me?"
"Because I don't trust them either," she said, eyes hovering over her watch. She couldn't be here for too long. "I've been involved with them for a long time - longer than you think. I suppose you could say I was born into the organisation."
"But Second Impact left you doubting?"
"Yes."
Fuyutsuki smiled. "Does admitting to such a human feeling shame you?"
"It makes me fear. To express such a human sentiment out loud is not safe."
The man nodded. "Ah." It fitted in with what he wanted to believe about her, and so he believed it. "What do you need?"
"The Contact Experiment is soon. It will be dangerous." Yui ran her hands through her hair. "The old men are moving faster than I want. The Separation Experiment should have succeeded before the Contact Experiment was permitted to begin. That was what all the plans were working towards. But the body of Unit 01 is still attached to the Second Angel."
"They are rushing you."
"They are."
"Can't you say anything?"
Yui shook her head. "No. They would find it easy to erase anyone who slowed them down. Even I am expendable, though I have a longer line of credit than most. Being hard to replace has its advantages."
"Do you know what will happen in the Contact Experiment?"
Yui steepled her fingers. "No," she admitted. "There are a range of possibilities, and I am only human. I have to try to make things work with the tools I have; my mind, my body and my soul."
"I will pray that it works out." Kozo Fuyutsuki reached out and grasped her wrist. "I trust in you and in your goals."
Fool. He trusted in what he believed her goals to be. Yui smiled a fake smile and allowed him to see that it was just a mask, so that he would misunderstand what she was hiding. "All I can do is hope. There is room for this to go wrong, and room for this to go right. It may kill me - or nearly kill me. But I can hope that my contingencies might save this world - and you are one of them. Can I trust you?"
"Forever and always," the old man said, leaning in.
"That's all I can ask for," Yui said, with a quiet smile.
"A glorious day is coming," said Dr Hood, leaning over the print-outs. "I can't wait to see the results of the Contact Experiment. Can you believe it? Long has man hoped to know the mind of God. Indeed, one might say that this has been the purpose of scientific research for all these years. And now we shall!"
"I don't believe we could describe Lilith as 'God'," Naoko Akagi said, folding her arms. "It is a sleeping alien monster - nothing more."
"And yet it spawned us," the man said, drifting over to the window. Staring down at the chamber where the Contact Experiment would occur, he reached out. His fingers met the glass, but he pressed against it as if he could touch the experiment - and the half-separated Evangelion. "Perhaps that is the true form of man. The human skin we wear is an illusion, something forced on us by a cruel demiurge. Well, perhaps we shall seize back this power and assume our rightful shapes."
Naoko shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like it much when her nominal superiors talked in this manner. Dr Hood was on the Human Instrumentality Committee, while she was merely the Head of Science for Project E. Still, she couldn't help but feel slightly off when he talked like this.
She understood the immensity of the power they were reaching out for, of course. A working Evangelion would be a weapon without compare, invincible to anything conventional and capable of slaying an Angel. But still, it didn't seem healthy to think about such a super-weapon in this way, even if genetically the Evangelions were human.
"Perhaps, sir," she said. "That'll depend on the results of the experiment."
"Well, of course," Dr Hood said, still staring down at the Evangelion. "This Contact Experiment is crucial. It must go as planned. Your input was crucial."
"Oh?" Naoko asked, smiling faintly.
"Yes. Very useful indeed. We were already looking to use Yui Ikari as the First Woman, but that she was also the ideal candidate was very convenient."
Naoko paled. "Convenient?"
"Did I say that? I meant 'convincing'."
She wetted her lips, suddenly feeling in danger. "H-have you chosen the Second Woman yet?" she asked.
"No. Not yet. There are still a few candidates under consideration. Depending on the results of this experiment, of course."
"Well, if something goes wrong here," Naoko Akagi observed nastily, "only a complete idiot would willingly climb in an Evangelion."
"And what do we do next when leaving the house?" Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu asked her daughter.
One hand in the pocket of her little gingham dress and the other clinging onto a rag doll, Asuka chewed her lip, deep in concentration. The three-year old's reddish-blonde hair was tied up in pigtails, and her fair skin slightly pink from the sun. "We put our shoes on!" she concluded.
Kyoko checked her feet. For once, she was wearing matching socks. "Well done! And where do we keep the shoes?"
A deep, focussed scowl. "Under the stairs!" Asuka eventually decided.
Kyoko checked, and then wrapped her up in a big hug. "Well done! You remembered! It's much faster for Mama to get dressed and go to work when you're here to help her with these things! Now Mama needs to go to…"
Asuka tugged at her mother's skirt. "Here!" she insisted, passing the rag doll to her mother. "She'll help you 'member things. You can ask her instead of me when you're at work."
Wrapping her daughter up in a hug, Kyoko sniffled. "I'm so lucky to have you," she whispered gently to her daughter. "You look after me. Not like your Daddy. He has his secretary - and it took me far too long to realise, as usual - but I have you."
The engineering staff of GEHIRN had been running overtime for three months straight to prepare for the Contact Experiment after the failure of the Separation Experiment. They were stressed, buzzed, and running mostly on a mix of caffeine and over the counter stimulants. And now Director Gendo Ikari had gathered them all for a motivational speech, which was time they desperately needed to get things ready.
Nerves were running tight in GEHIRN, and it must be said, Gendo Ikari was not a people person. Some of the senior staff had sworn that they felt like he was on the edge of picking them up bodily and throwing them out the door whenever they reported a new problem to him.
"I wish to say a few words with regards to our preparations for the upcoming Contact Experiment," Gendo said. "I will keep it short and simple."
He cleared his throat, and sipped at his water.
"My wife will be in there," Gendo said. "If anything goes wrong, and I find it was the fault of any of you - any of you at all - then I will hold you personally responsible. No matter your contacts, no matter how you got the job, no matter who you think will keep you safe. If something goes wrong, and I find out that your action or inaction caused it, I will blame you."
Gendo lifted a pencil. In the silence, he casually snapped it in three places, and let the pieces fall in a clatter.
"Is that clear?" he asked.
There was a mumbled chorus of shocked agreement.
"I don't hear a 'Yes, Director Ikari'," he said.
"Yes, Director Ikari!"
Gendo nodded once, and swept out without saying a further word.
But of course merely threatening the engineering staff, enjoyable though it was, couldn't settle his nerves. So to let out some stress Gendo set off to Malaysia, and started setting countryside on fire.
The fact that this revealed how out of shape he was only made him more disgusted. More disgusted with himself, more disgusted with this world and more disgusted with everything. Urgh. Look at him, he thought as he destroyed a village. Getting tired doing something as simple as blowing up a settlement of unarmoured civilians.
How had he let himself go to seed like this? Was it fatherhood? Was that why saiyans traditionally sent their children away - that being a father made you get soft and less good at wiping out people who weren't even fighting back? Well, they were shooting at him with guns, but that wasn't real fighting back. Even though the bullets were stinging more than they should have when they actually hit him.
It was the lack of a proper challenge, he thought sadly, as he blew up a small dam, flooding fields and homes. Well, that wasn't true. He knew there was something out there - the Adam creature and the Lilith creature. But he couldn't scratch either of them. Not in a million years. There was no way he could fight either of them on an equal footing, so there wasn't the drive to prepare. What'd be the point? He'd just spend years training, only to be squished like an insect by either of them. So he hadn't tried. There was another path to power here, but that involved a lot of sitting in offices, doing paperwork, and having secretive meetings.
Not that he didn't enjoy it! He did! Having power here over these squishy humans was wonderful! This was power he'd never have got in the Recon Corps - or even if he'd gone into another branch. He'd never been much of a saiyan compared to even the best of the low-ranking warriors. Here, he commanded people.
But this meant he was soft. Soft, flabby and out of breath. He looked around the burning landscape. Pathetic. It'd taken him far too long to do this. He was weak.
How could he keep his wife safe like this? How could he keep his weak pathetic son safe? Gendo did love his son - and he had the right instincts, because it warmed his heart to watch the little boy kick around toy cars and knock over dollhouses, even if that had got them shouted at by other parents when they took Shinji to play somewhere. But his power level was so low. Being weak was no defence, he thought, looking around the burning village. Weakness didn't stop someone like him from flying in and blowing it up to let off some stress. Weakness didn't do a damn thing. Because it was weak.
Why was Yui so attached to this weak world? Seizing the power of this 'synthetic Angel' she was building was admirable, but there had to be a better solution - one that didn't put her in danger! He could keep her safe! He had to keep her safe! So they could have plenty more children - and maybe one would inherit his full saiyan power!
But she wouldn't listen to him. He should have taken her away years ago, and there was no way she'd give in now. Damn SEELE and damn Yui's father.
Shoulders slumping, Gendo flew off, devastation in his wake.
Yui pushed the pushchair up the ramp to the private hospital. Someone swept by, and didn't hold the door open for her. Yui glared after him.
"You're lucky I'm in a rush," she muttered. "Or else I'd put some effort into finding out who you are. And set my husband on you."
She checked herself into a private room, locked the door, and lifted Shinji from his pushchair. "Hey, Shinji," she said gently. "How're you feeling?"
Shinji beamed at his mother. "'Kay!" he said happily.
"Good, good. And where are we right now?"
The little boy looked around the room. "Mama's work?" he tried.
"No, this is the hospital. What do you know about hospitals?"
"Doctors!"
"That's right! Now, come on. Just take your clothes off, and there'll be a lollypop for you in this."
He enthusiastically started pulling off his t-shirt, swayed by the bribe of sweets. When he pulled off his trousers, his tail unfolded from where it had been hidden, wound around his waist. The hair was still a little thicker than it had been when he had been born, but it was still the blond of human body hair and so it looked rather rat-like and pathetic. Yui sighed. It wasn't anything near as impressive as his father's had been. It was a shame, really.
"Don't worry, Shinji," Yui said, reaching out to stroke her son's cheek. "Mama just needs to take a little something from you. It'll just be a little cut, she promises. You won't even miss it. And she very much needs it."
"My lolly!"
"... no, Shinji, I'm not talking about the lollypop. I'm going to give this to you after this is done. But," she said, picking up a syringe, "you're just going to need to go to sleep for a little bit."
The light fell on a row of scalpels. There wasn't a chorus of shrieking violins playing, but there probably should have been.
Yui Ikari reminded herself that she was, speaking as a scientist, the world's best mother. It made what came next so much easier.
The office was on fire. The dead FAUST agents littered the ground.
"Ikari. The fuck?" croaked the lone survivor, pinned down beneath the wreckage. Captain Hakaze gasped for air. This was insane. This was mad. "Why?"
"Because I could," Gendo Ikari growled. His turtleneck was torn and his knuckles were bruised. Wait. No, those weren't bruises. It was soot. That was just unfair. "Because I want answers."
"SEELE will find out about this. What you did. They'll kill you."
Gendo laughed. "You're even more stupid than they are if they think they'll find out what happened here."
"There are cameras…"
"Cameras which rely on the building being intact."
The dying man tried to scrabble for his holdout. "How the hell did you do that? You just…"
Gendo picked him up by the neck, breaking his hand in the process. "I ask the questions here. So, question number one. What do you have planned for the Contact Experiment?"
"Huh?"
"The Contact Experiment! What are your plans?!"
"You're… you're the director of GEHIRN," Captain Hakaze gasped, each breath pain through his broken ribs. "You're the one running things there!"
"Am I?" Gendo roared in his face. "Am I? What are SEELE planning? What are FAUST going to do?!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Gendo ground his teeth together. "You know something. There's some plan. You're moving people in! Half the JSSDF soldiers around the facility are FAUST now!"
"We're… just… security! We're just there to stop people interfering!"
That wasn't the answer he wanted. He'd hoped there was a reason for this. He'd wanted a plot, something he could bring to Yui to dissuade her from going through with this. Of course, he didn't disapprove of the idea of his wife trying to steal the power of a god.
He just disapproved of her being the first one to try it. That's what people who were less expendable were for.
Taking off, he torched the site and headed home.
"I hear you've been worrying about me," Yui said, grasping Gendo's arm. Twas the night before the Contact Experiment, and a strangely quiet Shinji had been put to bed, where he had slept on his side.
"Of course I've been worrying," Gendo said stiffly, staring up at the ceiling.
"Violently worrying."
"Well, I wouldn't say…"
"What I mean is that you attacked a FAUST facility, burned it to the ground and killed everyone inside."
"I also killed everyone on the outside," Gendo pointed out.
"Well, that's good. You don't want witnesses," Yui said, lying on her side. "But that doesn't change my fundamental point that you can't just do that."
"I beg to differ. I can and did."
"... yes, dear, but perhaps you shouldn't. It's dangerous to attack FAUST like that. What if footage had got out?"
Gendo harrumphed. "Look, I do what I do and you do what you do. I don't tell you how to do science, do I?"
"I just want you to take more care," Yui whispered.
"FAUST are moving people in, disguised as JSSDF troops," Gendo said, reaching out to wrap his arms around Yui. "I had to keep you safe. I had to find out what they were really planning. I can't keep you safe from the Evangelion, but I can stop FAUST from interfering and I can make sure the engineering team are working their hardest."
"Yes, and I appreciate that even though there have been mutterings from some of the staff. They find you scary."
"Good. That's what I want."
Yui leaned in to kiss him on the lips. "You big lump," she said fondly. "Never change."
He kissed her back. "Yui," he whispered. "Why not come away with me? The three of us could fit into the pod. We could go elsewhere. Conquer another world. Make it safe for our children."
Yui said nothing. She merely kissed him again, hands drifting south.
And then it was the day. Yui Ikari stepped out of the cleansing shower, feeling profoundly exfoliated by the chemicals. Her immersion training in LCL had been deeply unpleasant, but it was important that she didn't gag or suffer excessive stress in this test.
Her immersion dive suit was waiting for her. She'd be wearing it in the entry plug. Reaching out, she ran her fingers over the blue and white material.
Checking inside the suit, she found what she'd made sure was there. She had gone to quite some lengths to smuggle in this 'foreign contaminant'. It wasn't meant to be in here. The protocols were very strict. Any contaminant in the test could potentially have catastrophic effects.
But of course, it wasn't foreign. Not exactly. Not to her. Her immune system was quite used to this cellular matter. It had tolerated it for nine months. Trace cells from it still remained in her bloodstream.
As she saw it, there were three ways this could go. Either things would go gloriously right, things would go horribly wrong, or things would go exactly as SEELE wanted them to. And she had sorted her options there from best to worst. This was her ace in the hole, something their scenario would never see coming.
Yui Ikari prepared herself, and went out to face death or divinity. Preferably divinity.
The lights were bright around the test chamber. Gendo sat at his desk and brooded over the top of his steepled fingers, glasses constantly feeding back the readings from the chamber. Down below, the prone half-figure of Lilith lay, its torso facing one side of the room. The torso of the to-be Evangelion Unit 01 lay with its waist connected to the god-monster, facing the other way.
A smile on his face, Shinji Ikari pressed his face against the glass, looking down at the funny shapes down below.
"Destrudo experiment will begin in 5 minutes," came the announcement over loudspeakers.
"Why is there a child in here?" asked Professor Fuyutsuki, waiting with humming nerves.
"That's Commander Ikari's son," Naoko Akagi said.
Fuyutsuki frowned. "Ikari," he said, glaring. "This isn't a daycare centre. This is an important event."
"I'm sorry, Professor," Yui said, her voice coming in over the speakers. She was down in the chamber below, sitting in the pod inserted into Unit 01. "I'm the one who brought Shinji here."
"But Yui, your experiment is running today," he said.
"That's why I brought him," Yui said. "I want to show him how bright the future will be."
