Interlude I

In early 2011, a neutrino detector in Switzerland reported a measurement that appeared inconsistent with the maxim that nothing could be faster than the speed of light.

If it were real, it would have overturned a paradigm of physics that had lasted for a good hundred years.

But the researchers in charge of the OPERA experiment were reasonable people. They did not collect 200 dollar, they did not pass go, and they most certainly didn't dust off the spot on their shelf reserved for the next Nobel prize.

They instead assumed right away that this was almost certainly a measurement error, the same way that you would probably blame bad mushrooms or migraines if you suddenly saw floating colorful patterns in the air, or assume that your watch is broken before thinking of time travel.

Immediately, they began to rigorously search all their instruments for some fault or calibration error, until they tracked down a loose fiber-optic cable.

In early september 2014, the staff of the unofficial UN research organization GEHIRN found themselves faced with a similar conundrum.

Here are some excepts from the transcript of the recorded experiment log:

Lt. M. HYUUGA:

"Five-hundred percent? That's not possible? How is that possible?"

Lt. M. IBUKI:

"We didn't even rewrite the core yet!"

Jr. research director Dr. R. AKAGI:

"Even if it were possible – which it isn't – every single calculation we've undertaken so far would predict that even just 400% would be instantly lethal."

Ens. S. OII:

"And yet he can not only hold that value it indefinitely, but manipulate it however he wants… He could go down to a respectable 200 if that pleased us, or he could damn well give us six-hundred if he so pleases."

Sr. Researcher K. ZEPPELIN-SORYU:

"These results are bogus. Those are bogus numbers. These screens might as well be saying that two plus two equals fish. It's not just a number. Numbers mean things. And what this one means would be ridiculous."

Lt. S. AOBA:

"Bold of you to assume that the world we live in isn't ridiculous, Ma'am. Or that we understand this technology well enough to say with certainty what is possible and what'd not."

Lt. jg. H. KAGA:

"This has got to be some sort of measurement error... We just haven't found it yet…"

Ens. K. AGANO:

"But we've checked the whole experimental arrangement up and down time and time again! We've repeated it with every single set of simulation plugs we have in this facility…."

Lt. jg. H. AMAGI:

"This was supposed to be a one hour experiment, and now we have been here all afternoon and well into the night! The children must be exhausted…"

Ens. A. MOGAMI:

"Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth… or is it..."

That was when decisive voice of the director of operations (Cpt. M. KATSURAGI) rose above the din: "We must accept the results, and determine the cause."

Ens. Agano sighed deeply. "Looks like this will be another looooong night~"

"I'm surprised the Commander didn't come downstairs to chew us out.", mused Lt. Ibuki, hardly more optimistic.

But it would appear that the junior research director had a little more faith in the man: " He would know as well as we do that this isn't a simple instrument error…"

"It might still be a fluke." argued Soryu. "Even if everything's fine with the instruments, they might be calibrated wrong, or there's some confounding variable that we haven't accounted for, I still think this is basically an illusory result that will evaporate the moment we move that kid from the simulators to a real EVA."

"Well, that's not something we can rule out until one of our units gets finished – unless you want to try stuffing one of the kinds into some of those dusty old prototypes we've got stashed away." Lt. Aoba said this with half a suspicion that they might yet be forced to resort to just that.

It might come of some shock to some that the Chief of the research division, one Dr. Yui Ikari, had observed the debate of her subordinates with near perfect calm, or perhaps not. Her subordinates were quite used to it; Aside from a few significant exceptions, they relied on her as a warm yet experienced mentor. The fact that she was a mother, used to dealing with all sorts of messes and emergencies, certainly came through in her leadership style.

She was certainly everyone's favorite Ikari to have to deal with, though the more discerning might have noted that her husband was merely the stick to her carrot.

Especially the younger technicians, however, were often reassured to hear the chiefs' knowing, gentle voice even in the midst of chaos. "We shall all have a good look at our results in due time, but for now, I think our data collection is pretty much finished."

She didn't appear worried in the least.

"At this point, I doubt that repeating the experiment a sixth time is really going to tell us anything new. Let's call it a day and leave Akagi-kuns Analysis Algorithm running overnight. Soryu-kun, why don't you go collect the girls?"

…

Three silhouettes cast deep shadows, behind them a great window overlooking a vast expanse of landscape tinged with a hazy, gloaming light that was not the light of day.

On man sat at his desk. Another stood by the window. And there was a third silhouette, a woman, nonchalantly sitting at the side of the desk.

On her face was a smile.

"Well, that was not the least bit surprising."

"Not in the least. To him, to move that simulation body must be as natural as to move his own arm – no, more natural than to move the body he has now."

"Kyoko-chan isn't entirely wrong, though. It might well be different with a real EVA. The simulation bodies don't have souls."

"At least, his anomalous results give us an excuse to delay adding him to the official pilot roster just yet… though I wouldn't be surprised if the old men of SEELE had already hatched some plot to force our hands."

Then an older, wearier voice spoke up from the window:

"That boy was meant to be a bell around our neck. Could it be that the old men are already suspecting something?"

The man at the desk was quite cavalier about that possibility: "You worry too much, professor. They were going to send him to us sooner or later; It just so happened that they decided on 'sooner' instead of 'later'."

The woman sighed, as one might after a day filled with tiring but satisfying work.

"Everything will happen as it must."

...

At about the same time, many stories beneath, 'Soryu-kun' was just in the process of 'collecting the girls'.

Alas, 'the girls' were not all of a mind to be collected.

Sure, the first qualified candidate filed out like clockwork, just as expected, just like she had done it countless time before, as soon as she had gathered up her scattered clothes from where she threw them, and left the locker room without a word to find the her designated handler waiting outside the doors, a junior lieutenant who still kept his futile eagerness though he wasn't really responsible for anything but the most menial, logistical parts of her upkeep that the Ikaris could not be arsed to bother with. When he had his days off, it might as well have been Ensign Agano who was sent to ensure that somebody signed all her paperwork, showed up to the PTAs and made all the endless appointments of everyday life where sending a thirteen-year-old by herself would have raised to many eyes.

He had been chosen because he had once worked as a teacher, and perhaps because of that inclination, he had resolved to 'melt her icy heart' when he was first introduced to her.

His grand ambitions had swiftly come to nothing when faced with the reality of the silent girl, but once in a while, he still made some attempt at sparking conversation. "So I heard the new kid turned out to be really amazing… as expected from someone who was sent to us by the committee themselves!"

The new candidate, too, had left, though he wasn't a girl.

Of course, he would have come walking out of a different locker room, which, for this moment, was just his, and his alone, which was a step up from just gathering dust – with the many facilities here actually coming to be used one by one, one might almost lose the hope that all their efforts through the years would turn out to have been for their own amusement only.

The source of all this commotion had been contently stretching his arms as Soryu passed him by, wearing the same carefree smile that he had sported throughout all the procedures that had thrown her and her colleagues for a loop today.

At least one wouldn't have to worry about his motivation, though it did make her just a little bit mad to see him so unfazed despite all the grief that he had caused for herself and her fellow researchers.

She had expected her daughter to be following soon after, as soon as she would have had the opportunity to disentangle her long hair, but Asuka never came.

The closer that Soryu came to the lockers, the more did her eyebrows and her forehead knit themselves into a frown.

But at this point, that might have been largely because she didn't want Akagi to have all the fun with the data. Dr. Ikari might have declared the session over, but Akagi had this pesky habit of wanting to deal with those things within her jurisdiction all by herself. It was not that Soryu could blame her, she too didn't like any superfluous cooks spoiling her broth. Once she had been the one lecturing young Makinami about how there would always be a bigger fish and how it was no use to be comparing oneself to Ikari, but she couldn't say that she had always taken her own advice. And this Ritsuko Akagi was good. Much like her mother, but more objective, more detached, less likely to get caught up in her own ego.

One would not expect her to burden her greatest creation with her petty personal flaws.

There were moments when Soryu found herself envying that upstart's unspent youth and flexible mind, as well as the freedom that came with devoting all of one's life to one's career without having to split ones' attentions between that, relationships and family.

Like the infamous Doktor Faust, Soryu had always found herself with two souls living in her chest, each of them bound for different destinations, longing to tear itself off off the other.

In the end, she sometimes felt like she had only succeeded in mucking up all three without ever doing either quite right, and the spirit of that annoyance might have resonated with her voice when she found herself forced to pull out her own keycard to negotiate the door.

"Asuka? Are you here? What are you dawdling here for-"

All those thoughts were blown away like smoke the instant where she actually saw her daughter's form, long-since groomed and dressed but still sitting with her rounded back against the bench, hugging her knees to her little girlish face.

"I'm sorry Mama. I'm sorry I'm being a bother. I'm sorry I couldn't win at the test. I kept trying and trying. I put all my focus in concentrating, and I tried not to think of unnecessary things - but it was the same every time… I couldn't keep up with that other kid…"

"Oh, Asuka…"

It was quite possible that she had not even registered how her mother had carefully squatted down besides her.

"You know, I kept thinking- what's even the point, if I can never get any good- I keep working so hard, and still-"

That's when the precocious little tween got surprised by a big bear hug that she somehow didn't expect. Senior researcher Soryu tenderly stroked her daughter's face and hair.

"My poor, poor Asuka-chan. I'm so, so sorry. I never meant to put you under that much pressure. I know it's tough. It's okay if you hate it. You don't know how much I wish that I didn't have to make you do this. If I could somehow take your place, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I don't have that power. So all of this… the project, your training, and even my work here, is the best I can do to keep you safe. I know it's been hard of you – If I don't give it my all to make sure that our preparations for the battles to come are as perfect as they can be, I can't protect you, but then that same work that's meant to save you ends up keeping me away from you.

And we can only begin guess what sort of horrible enemies you'll have to face in the future... but even so, there is something you must never, ever forget: I am always, always here to help you, and I will always be there to protect you, and I will always cheer you on. Even if you become a big girl, or even a splendid young lady, you will always be Mamas baby, I will always, always love you, and you will always, always be in my heart. And don't you ever, ever wonder if you're not good enough, okay? We both know you've got what it takes, you are my baby after all!"

"I love you, Mama." said Asuka between sobs, reaching out her noodly arms to deepen the hug.

I felt the restrictions of choosing 1st person perspective immediately, but that seemed to be like a sign that I should probably keep practicing & learn to work with it, even if that makes it harder to, say, show the NERV staff interacting (I could barely get any of them to appear in the first act XDD)

I set the restriction for myself to have at most one or two short interlude's worth of non-Shinji scenes per Act so that I'd be made to focus on choosing one that provides the most extra flavor or information. With this one I considered having it take place at the Soryus' appartment, but couldn't get Shinji to overhear in a way that isn't contrived, and it's actually better if he's not present so that scene itself is just a private moment with Asuka & Kyoko.