January 15, 2027 - Evangelion Center, Tokyo-3
"This is it," Yui mumbled, her stomach twisting with a nest of butterflies. "This is it."
They sat in Gendo's office, sharing a private lunch over the scattered contents of a sealed envelope that had been hand delivered by a military courier. Photographs lay across the table, detailing an object that had been discovered inside a cave in Afghanistan. It was non-terrestrial, defied normal analysis techniques, and seemed to have lettering on it. It was too unlikely to be discovering evidence of extraterrestrials now (in the traditional sense), so the only thing it pointed to without a doubt was the Others. Yui's assessment pretty much confirmed it; it was Other in origin.
"It's what Lilith showed you?" Gendo asked. Yui shrugged; it wasn't like Lilith had shown her anything, but this was ringing all the right bells.
"It's why we built the Evas," Yui explained. "This is what we were meant to protect." She was staring at the photograph, the vaguely pyramidal object displayed in the center with an American soldier and a Pashto fighter flanking it for scale.
"Well…what is it?" her husband asked.
"I don't know, except that it's what they're looking for," Yui said.
"They?"
"Whoever opened the portals," Yui explained. She shrugged, her train of thought leaving. "I wish I could say more, but those places are so disorganized. I don't know if it was an accident, or if Lilith intentionally kept things from me, but…it's blank in areas." She rubbed her scalp. "Can this be brought to Japan?"
"Unfortunately, no," Gendo said. "What you see is just the tip: it extends downward for an uncertain distance. It's rooted, and we can't pull it free." Yui sighed, rubbing her face.
"That means we're out of position," she said miserably. "This is, what, in Afghanistan?" She shook her head. "The Evas need to be there, not here. This isn't good. This isn't good at all."
Gendo nodded. "What you're saying is that, somehow, we need to obtain the property around this object, build a whole new Evangelion Center and fortification right on top of it, and do so quickly. Not to mention load it with enough troops and support personnel to ensure the success of the effort, right next door to Iran."
"Well, when you put it that way…"
"No, you're right, it's what we need to do…it's just…" Gendo shrugged. He toyed with his lunch, and glanced over at Yui. "We need pressure."
"Between China, Russia, and Seele, I don't see how," Yui said miserably.
"We have the North American countries, most of ASEAN behind us. Great Britain is in, France might be in…it's hard to tell. I think we can get support from Afghanistan itself, though it'll be hard, but they generally do what the US says and complain about it later. The Council of General's have been eager to boot them out for a long time." He leaned back in his chair, thinking. "The Pan-Arab Republic might be a good bet…"
"The Pan-Arabs? Can we trust them?" Yui asked. That newer country had a certain jingoistic attitude in the Middle East, tampered only by an aggressive and paranoid Israel and an equally aggressive and paranoid Iran.
"Why not? They're neutral. It means we can't necessarily distrust them either. They're up in the air." Yui thought to some of the men and women she had met from that country. To a tee, the women had been likable, witty, intelligent…the best products of a life spent proving oneself constantly against their gender. The men were hit or miss…some were charming and debonair, and others had barely tolerated her presence. And then there were the 'actors,' as she liked to call them. In her profession as a scientist, she had often bumped into many 'boys only' clubs, and the men there had treated her with polite tolerance. It was unseemly to be a mysognist in this day and age, and yet they couldn't eliminate their basic discomfort regarding a strong woman who was frequently smarter than the lot of them. The Arabs tended to have their own twist on that variant, looking at her as they would an especially impressive performing animal, or a beautiful mare. Something that deserved respect and admiration, but was merely an animal in the end.
This had much to do with the peculiar nature of the Pan-Arab Republic's history. It was one of the youngest countries on the map, encompassing the whole of the former countries of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, and the other smaller Arab countries with the exception of the United Arab Emirates in the east and Lebanon in the west. The movement had been led by a coalition of Western-leaning intellectuals and rabid, reactionary religionists, both unified in their dislike of Baathists and the ruling families that possessed, rather than led, their countries. Willing to overlook their general disdain and outright hatred for each other, the groups were able to work together to foment revolution and change throughout their countries.
In the end, against the general pattern of such things, the intellectuals won, expecting and planning for the eventual push by the conservatives. Even though large portions of their joint populations were religious, rural, and reactionary, sizable enough portions existed that wanted a modern, strong, and prosperous Arab state, and not necessarily an Islamic one…or at least, an Islamic state that wished to engage with the world, and not dominate or retreat from it.
The results, it could be said, were mixed.
"The Pashtun and Hazarah hate Arabs, but they're far more willing to work with fellow Muslims than Westerners," Gendo pointed out, "Or Oriental heathens." He gave a wry smile, and Yui shrugged.
"Do you have any contacts that could be of assistance?" Yui asked. Gendo nodded.
"I met Dr. Ibn al-Wazzi at a special summit held in Geneva three years ago. We had a generally good vibe in regards to each other."
"Isn't he a polygamist?" Yui asked, seeming to recall the name.
"Not this one, but I know the one you're thinking of," Gendo said. "I actually know one of his wives." According to some interpretations of Islam, it was acceptable for a man to marry up to four wives, provided he could support those wives. That stipulation still existed in the modern Pan-Arab Republic (with a much heavier set of legal actions and support on the side of women as a consolation to balance the arrangement).
"Where did you meet his wife?" Yui asked, leaning back in curious disdain.
"Same summit," Gendo said with a half-smile. "She was one of the keynote speakers. Remember? I mentioned it to you because I thought it amusing that there were two Dr. Ibn al-Wazzi's. We all talked with each other over that particularly amusement."
"Huh…" she said, surprised. "What was her name?"
"Dr. Fatima Zaid…she worked under her maiden name. Let's see: she is a chemist…two of her fellow wives are botanists, they actually work together, and the fourth one essentially manages the household."
"What does Dr. Ibn-Wazzi do with himself during all this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She was skeptical of plural marriages as a matter of principle, regardless of which sex was the plural.
"He's a neurosurgeon," Gendo said. "Our Ibn-Wazzi is one of the key leader's in the Parliamentary coalition that is running the Republic right now."
"What's his doctorate in?"
"He was a children's pediatrician."
"Any wives there?"
"Celibate."
"Hmm. I guess that evens it out," Yui mumbled. "What'll Iran think?"
"They'll be furious, of course. They'll say it's a military installation being constructed for a first-strike staging point into their territory, of course, and Kihl will be all over that. Expect the Iranian military to grow exponentially under Seele support."
"These cloak-and-dagger games give me a headache," she mumbled. "We face extinction, and we still have to beg for influence and trick our way through these…parasites."
"It's the new world we live in," Gendo said. "First it was the soldiers who ran things, then the merchants, then the lawyers. Now it's the scientists."
"Really? We're the ones running the world?" she said skeptically.
Gendo nodded sagely, and smiled. "Congratulations: you are the Empress of Asia. And tomorrow…the world!" She giggled, and shook her head.
"I don't know where you got an idea like that. As much as we have to network and beg and plead…"
"And all of that got us the Evangelion Center, a fully independent international body with a virtual blank check, and the Evangelions…our one hope against whatever is coming."
"And it still feels like begging and pleading."
"That's essentially what networking is, I find. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Give me enough cash to fuel a small national economy, and I will protect you from the awful things in the darkness. Anything can be halted with the right amount of funding and brainpower. We have the brainpower, and we just have to convince them for the funding. If you see it that way, it's really quite simple. And what's more, we're the ones who hold the power. We have the Evas, we have our collective brain trust, and we know the Others. The smart leaders are the ones who recognize that, and will do what they can to curry favor."
"You sound so devious when you talk like that," Yui said, distant. "I don't know if I like it. Sometimes, it's hard to recognize you."
Gendo felt hurt by that, but he let it slide. She had a point, because he had changed a lot in order to do what was needed. It was the nature of the beast, and if you didn't at least attempt to ride it, you would be trampled beneath it.
"I'm no Kihl," he said gently, and she nodded. Her smile returned.
"I'm glad for that," she said. She sighed. "I wonder who'll be next."
"Next?"
"Think about it, you said that different groups at different times ran the world. It's the scientists in the limelight now. So who'll be next."
"Probably hibachi chefs," he said. Yui stuck her tongue out at him.
"You don't want me to be honest right now, Gendo."
The sound of light conversation fluttered at the edges of Gendo's awareness, and it gave him something to focus on while allowing his irritation to drift up and away, This seminar could be going better...
"I do, in fact," he said, "Or I wouldn't have brought it up."
The Ambassador to Japan for the United States, His Excellency John Rhodes, shrugged. He wasn't really supposed to be speaking the the Director of Japan's Nerv Branch on these matters, but Gendo Ikari was a direct individual. He was technically under the Japanese government, and was certainly a loyal Japanese citizen, but he was also a problem solver. Regardless of what potential appearance it might present, he tended to locate those who could help him solve his problems and either befriend or bedevil them until what he needed got done. Before this, he and Gendo were friendly acquaintances. Rhodes suspected they were about to enter the 'bedevil' phase.
"The President is for it," he said, "For many reasons, not the least of which is putting a big piece of juicy bait out in front of Iran and daring it to do something. You didn't hear that, of course."
"Of course, but I suspected. He tends to wear his opinions on his sleeve," Gendo noted.
Rhodes nodded. "That he does. The military is for it as well, if simply because it will quiet the Afghans down if they know the Evas are there. They think they can spin it just so that the presence of those devices will make the region quiet."
"Assuming anyone believes that, and we will not perform demonstrations. The Evas are not to be used on human beings, nor are they to be used to further the goals for any one nation or group of nations. That is not their purpose," Gendo said, a bit more hotly than he intended.
"I didn't say that, just what the military was thinking, at least Joint Chiefs. They can't always focus on the Others…there's always the next war and all that."
"If there's any humans left for there to be another war."
"Gendo, relax and think on this for a moment. The Others have made random incursions here and there, they've made the Southern Hemisphere practically uninhabitable, but aside from the loss of resources and refugee influx…what? The First World is still doing pretty well for itself, and while we have our security cordons and military maneuvering and assaults, who do you think we've been watching through all of this?"
The scientist made a face, but said nothing more. To be fair, he couldn't be too judgmental. It was a soldier's job to prepare for war, even when in the midst of one already being fought. The world did not stop turning just because it had fallen off the table. Still, he wished they could be a little less blatant about it, especially in regards to the Evas. There was some doubt that they would live up to the promises of Yui Ikari, but those that knew Yui knew she never inflated the details. And if they were as truly terrible as she said they could be, then there was nothing on earth capable of standing against them. It was inevitable that there would be those desiring to use them to further their own national interests.
Rhodes continued: "The other side. The other players. Iran, Russia, China, Germany, it's been busy. That's the least of your concerns, though: the fact that the United States has been largely untouched, combined with the current situation on the globe, means that the President's party has broken with him on funding for Nerv."
Gendo blinked. He hadn't heard anything about that. "Explain," he said.
"The House and the Senate Budgetary Committees are tightening the purse. Nerv funding could be cut drastically, and more, there are leaders in the House that would certainly dig in their heels at the thought of expanding our presence in Afghanistan. They've had the biggest love-hate relationship with that region for the past thirty years, and if they can shrink our presence, they would."
"You know that the Others will head to that site when they locate it, and who knows what will happen then? I have theories, and none of them are good."
"Theories?"
"Mass terraforming of this world into something truly inhospitable to human life, a kill switch for all non-Other based lifeforms…who knows? It's not good, I can tell you that much."
"I don't disagree, but it is what it is," Rhodes murmured. "Politics is like physics. It's all about mass; either change comes with time, or a greater mass collides. What we need right now is a collision."
"Be careful what you wish for," Gendo murmured, sipping his water.