Chapter 08 - Blood and Ice
Fifteen years ago:
"Shigen, are you mad?!" UN-captain Gendo Ikari, standing at the firing controlls of mobile three,
screamed.
"Keep firing!"
The running man was surrounded by a halo of light.
With shaking hands Ikari took the binocular and looked through the mobile´s front window.
Two large angel-like wings were spreading from Thomas Shigen´s back...
The light grew brighter...
His red eyes burned with unholy fire...
Directly in front of the arachnoid he stopped, shouted something.
Ikari heard the words via the radio link, but he did not understand them. They made his head
throb with each syllable. But he understood the meaning.
A challenge...
The answer was like a thunder roar, consisted of only one word, was clearly audible across the
distance:
"TABRIS..."
And a wave of fire came from the giant spider, moving towards its opponent who was a dwarf
compared to the creature. The fire hit him, moved over him...
Shigen still was standing, fists clenched, protected by a glowing force field. He prepared
his counterstrike, threw a sphere of pure destructive energy, followed it by jumping upwards
with beating wings.
"Keep firing!" Gendo ordered the gunner. "Aim at the legs!"
The icy waste turned into an inferno when the sphere of energy hit the aranoid´s force field,
when the energy blasts pierced the weakened field, cutting of the legs on the left side, when
Thomas pushed a glowing hand into the Matriel´s belly and started a chain reaction.
An explosion made the earth shake, the following lightning blinded Ikari for a moment.
For a second he thought to see a giant humanoid within the firestorm.
Then everything blurred, on the plain only layed the arachnoid´s carcass. A single human figure
was slowly walking towards the vehicles, his body covered with heavy burns, a wound at the skull
that would have outright killed an ordinary human, blue blood seeping from the wound...
***
Now:
Shinji and Rei each sat in front of a large potion of ice-cream and had a good time while talking
about this and that, preventing the topic of the surfacing memories.
Rei told him about Osaka, her mother and her grandmother while Shinji told several stories about
his uncle who had a farm where he had spent several summer hollidays. Most probably they would
have talked for hours hadn´t the wiatress suddenly appeared and asked if you wanted for anything
else, after they had finished the ice-cream.
So they walked home, near the school their paths parted, but they stood at the corner for a while,
still talking before each of them went his way.
Meanwhile Ryoji Kaji sat behind the wheel of his car and waited.
"Ah, boy, tell her goodnight, or give her a kiss... or walk her home... just start to move!" he
mumbled since he felt the urge to empty his bladder.
Of course the two didn´t hear him.
"So, see you tomorrow, Rei-chan."
"Yes. And just in case you had a... vision again... stay calm... wait a moment..."
She pulled some paper and a pencil out of her bag, wrote something down.
"Here, my address and my number, if anything happens, call me."
"Uhm, Rei, that..."
"It does concern both of us."
"Yes... just a second..."
He got a piece of crumbled paper from his pocket, asked her for the pencil and wrote down his
number.
"You already know where I am living."
"Yes."
"How did you come to know it?"
She smiled.
"It´s writen down in the class file, available for everybody."
"Oh", he said and looked sheepish. "Eh, it´s getting late..."
"Yes."
Suddenly she moved forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. It took a moment until he realized
that she had just kissed him.
"Ah... I..."
"See you tomorrow!"
She waved, then she turned around and ran down the street.
Shinji was that confused that he did not notice the dark car that started to move and slowly
rolled down the street.
And she didn´t even pinch my nose...
There is was again, the feeling of deva vu.
No... not she... but who? Red... red hair... Asuka! Asuka did kiss me?
The memory was accompained by the impression of suffocating.
More a try to murder me...
His confusion grew bigger with every second.
But why did she kiss me?
´Shinji, I´m bored...´
Boredom... that would suit her... Rei kissed me because she likes me... and I just stood there...
I´m such an idiot!
At the same time he asked himself what he should have done - should he have embraced her like in
the movies?
He was still thinking when a small green car stopped in front of him, behind the wheel Yui Ikari
sat.
"Can I drive you home?" she asked.
He raised his head.
"Mother...?"
Then he noticed her.
"Come on, jump in!"
She open the other door.
"Yes."
He walked around the car and took the assistant driver´s seat.
"Is your shift already over?"
Shiji looked at his wristwatch.
"Not really, but we were unable to do our work with all the policemen at the institute..." she
sighed.
"Police?"
"Yes, somebody broke into the building, we noticed it just at noon and I had to stay to check
the archives."
"And, what did they steal?"
"Several tissue samples from the cooling room. And something that´s part of a project of mine.
It´s a shame... without my datas the material´s completely useless."
"And if... if the thief already has your data?"
"What? That would be..."
They drove home in silence.
The finger and the samples - gone... Keel´s visit... may there be a connection? But what´s the
meaning of the finger and why is somebody interested in it after all the time?
She nearly missed the entry to the parking lot in front of the house.
Gendo Ikari arrived about an hour later, reading the newspaper during dinner.
Shinji sensed his father´s gaze resting on him again and again when he turned the pages. Gendo´s
gaze was full of sorrow...
***
Rei met her mother at the apartment they shared when she came home.
Ritsuko Akagi was cooking dinner with the cat moving around her legs.
"Hello, Mom!" Rei shouted happily before vanishing in her room to change.
Ritsuko looked up.
"Rei, you seem to be quite happy, what´s up?"
"Ah, everything´s alright!" Rei answered.
"And your little friend, Shinji Ikari?"
*rums*
"Rei, what has happened? Are you hurt?"
"No, Mom", she replied offended. "The chair´s fallen down."
"Ah... So, what´s new?"
Rei came into the kitchen, her face red like a tomato.
"Shinji´s not my ´little friend´, Mom."
"So... then maybe he´s your big friend?" she kept teasing her daughter.
"No, that... Mom, how does it feel to be in love?"
Ritsuko stiffed, turned around slowly, scanned Rei from head to toes.
"Tell me, when did you grow up that fast? I remember telling you goodnight-tales... like it was
yesterday. And now we have arrived at such topics..."
She sighed
"I guess it´s time for a long mother-daughter-talk, eh?"
"Uhm..."
"Well... hm, when one is in love... Rei, when you are thinking of this boy, what do you feel?"
"It´s... a strange crawling within the stomach..."
"Like butterflies?"
"Butterflies? ... that might be correct... yes, like butterflies beating very fast with their
wings."
"And you are nervous?"
"Yes."
Rei looked down.
"It´s difficult to stay in controll."
Ritsuko sighed again.
"Controll... you are alway trying to stay calm, keeping controll of your emotions... Rei, I´ll
tell you something, since I do not want you to make the same mistake I did, yes?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Okay... You know this Shinji just for a few days now..."
She thought to see something like protest on her daughter´s face, noticed her opening the mouth,
but closing it again without speaking.
"... so it´s a good thing that you are in controll of yourself. Well, you must know, I barely
knew your father for three hours before... well, before it happened. You do know what I am
talking about, don´t you?"
Rei nodded in silence.
"Good, so at least I don´t have to tell you that, it´s quite an awkward topic, isn´t it?"
Again Rei nodded.
"And the next morning he was gone... I haven´t seen him again... I guess he doesn´t even know
about the consequences of this night..."
"How was my father like?" the girl asked shyly.
"Hm, difficult to say... I barely knew him... it was a wild time, I just had finished school and
applied to university... just old enough to drink in public... I had a good friend at this time,
Misato, we met at the campus, we had quite a good time... and one evening I met your dad, I
remember quite clearly that he was sitting alone at the bar... I wouldn´t tell you today how he
looked... but you have his eyes... I guess he was just as drunk as I was... well, one thing led
to the next and nine months later..."
She walked to her daughter and embraced her.
"But I don´t regret it."
"Thank you, Mom." she replied softly.
"But I have to tell you to take care. You all are at an age with hormones running crazy and..."
"Misato-sensei says that´s puberty."
"Yes, right... wait, Misato-sensei? Your teacher has the same name like my old friend I shared
a room with at university...?"
"Misato Katsuragi."
Ritsuki did a step back.
"Yes... Rei... about that height, purple hair and quite... well, revealing clothing?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Well, that´s a conincident!" Ritsuko mumbled. "After your birth we lost contact. So, that will
be a surprise! When´s the next teacher-parents-meeting?"
"Wait, I go and get my notebook, there..."
Rei broke off in the middle of the sentence, pressed both hands against the temples and bend down.
"Rei, what´s going on?" Ritsuko shouted and caught her when she lost consciousness.
***
Deep below Tokio, within the Geo-sector, Selene Shigen experienced the same. The sector´s
commander sat in the commander´s seat writhing with pain.
"Chief, what´s wrong with you?" Makoto Hyuga asked who had just brought her some reports when
it started.
Selene groaned.
"Thanks, Lieutenant... it´s okay..." she replied weakly.
A thin stream of blood came from her nose and her eyes seemed to swim in blood due to some
burst veins.
"Could you bring me a glass of water?"
"Of course, chief, I´m back in a second."
Selene got up, supporting herself at her desk.
A single drop of strangly coloured dark-red blood splashed on the metal, forming a surrealistic
pattern.
"Any activities at the gateway during the last minutes?" she asked with all the power she had,
but still her voice was weak and low.
Two level deeper captain Shigeru Aoba hectically was checking the readings of his terminal.
"Sir, we´ve lost contact with base Antarctica... an extreme strong radio-signal seems to... ah,
a moment, we are regaining contact!"
The large screen brightened, showed the image of a bald black man wearing the uniforn of an
UN-major.
"Fortress calling headquarters, please answer!"
Selene adjusted her headset.
"Here´s headquarters. Major Banks, what happened?"
"The portal´s energy increased without warning, then we got a radio-signal that strong that
our systems went down."
"Did something pass the gateway?"
"Negative. The energy-output´s normal again now. MELCHIOR thinks that we have gained two additional
days before it reaches full strenght."
Selene nodded, noticed the Lieutetant who had brought her the glass of water.
"Thanks, Major. Tell me at once if anything changes!"
"Of course."
Selene sat down and reached for the glass.
"Shall I call for a doctor..."
"That´s not necessary."
"Yes, Chief."
"Captain Aoba, was the signal recorded?"
"Confirmed."
"Have the MAGI decrypt it, if our ressources should prove unsufficient you can also use the
three backup-systems at Osaka."
"I´m already working at it!"
Aoba turned to the metal flight of stairs that led down to the level of the Tokio MAGI-system.
While the main system was placed at the fortress, the supercomputers SOKRATES, PLATON and
ARISTOTELES had been placed at headquarters. Other systems existed at Osaka and the dockyards
of Wilhelmshaven and the northamerican westcoast.
Selene activated her com-device, calling her brother.
It took several minutes before she got an answer and a small hologram appeared in front of her,
showing Thomas who looked far worse than she did.
"You felt it, too."
"Yes, what happened?"
"A strong impulse from the portal´s other side."
He took a deep breath.
"An activation signal... so they know where we are..."
"Are you sure that it was an activation signal?"
Thomas nodded.
"I thought to hear the Imperatrix´ voice inside of my head..."
"So we have to be prepared... the MAGI are decrypting the signal, maybe we get to know more."
"Probably some Angeloi stayed behind..."
"Yes... How are you?"
He grinned, his face resembled a skull.
"Bad", he said with monotonous voice.
"Shall I send doctor Takanawa? She could be at Beijing within an hour..."
"No, not necessary. Premiere Lau´s quite in a good mood."
"If you say so..."
"Any news from Germany?"
"The ODYSSEUS´ ready to take to sea. We´ll get an UN convoi."
"Good... that´s another step foreward... and any news from Antarctica? Did anything else happen?"
"No. Except that we´ve won two additional days since the portal´s strenght has decreased a bit."
"Lets just hope that we´ve truely won time and not additional trouble..."
Fifteen years ago:
"Shigen, are you mad?!" UN-captain Gendo Ikari, standing at the firing controlls of mobile three,
screamed.
"Keep firing!"
The running man was surrounded by a halo of light.
With shaking hands Ikari took the binocular and looked through the mobile´s front window.
Two large angel-like wings were spreading from Thomas Shigen´s back...
The light grew brighter...
His red eyes burned with unholy fire...
Directly in front of the arachnoid he stopped, shouted something.
Ikari heard the words via the radio link, but he did not understand them. They made his head
throb with each syllable. But he understood the meaning.
A challenge...
The answer was like a thunder roar, consisted of only one word, was clearly audible across the
distance:
"TABRIS..."
And a wave of fire came from the giant spider, moving towards its opponent who was a dwarf
compared to the creature. The fire hit him, moved over him...
Shigen still was standing, fists clenched, protected by a glowing force field. He prepared
his counterstrike, threw a sphere of pure destructive energy, followed it by jumping upwards
with beating wings.
"Keep firing!" Gendo ordered the gunner. "Aim at the legs!"
The icy waste turned into an inferno when the sphere of energy hit the aranoid´s force field,
when the energy blasts pierced the weakened field, cutting of the legs on the left side, when
Thomas pushed a glowing hand into the Matriel´s belly and started a chain reaction.
An explosion made the earth shake, the following lightning blinded Ikari for a moment.
For a second he thought to see a giant humanoid within the firestorm.
Then everything blurred, on the plain only layed the arachnoid´s carcass. A single human figure
was slowly walking towards the vehicles, his body covered with heavy burns, a wound at the skull
that would have outright killed an ordinary human, blue blood seeping from the wound...
***
Now:
Shinji and Rei each sat in front of a large potion of ice-cream and had a good time while talking
about this and that, preventing the topic of the surfacing memories.
Rei told him about Osaka, her mother and her grandmother while Shinji told several stories about
his uncle who had a farm where he had spent several summer hollidays. Most probably they would
have talked for hours hadn´t the wiatress suddenly appeared and asked if you wanted for anything
else, after they had finished the ice-cream.
So they walked home, near the school their paths parted, but they stood at the corner for a while,
still talking before each of them went his way.
Meanwhile Ryoji Kaji sat behind the wheel of his car and waited.
"Ah, boy, tell her goodnight, or give her a kiss... or walk her home... just start to move!" he
mumbled since he felt the urge to empty his bladder.
Of course the two didn´t hear him.
"So, see you tomorrow, Rei-chan."
"Yes. And just in case you had a... vision again... stay calm... wait a moment..."
She pulled some paper and a pencil out of her bag, wrote something down.
"Here, my address and my number, if anything happens, call me."
"Uhm, Rei, that..."
"It does concern both of us."
"Yes... just a second..."
He got a piece of crumbled paper from his pocket, asked her for the pencil and wrote down his
number.
"You already know where I am living."
"Yes."
"How did you come to know it?"
She smiled.
"It´s writen down in the class file, available for everybody."
"Oh", he said and looked sheepish. "Eh, it´s getting late..."
"Yes."
Suddenly she moved forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. It took a moment until he realized
that she had just kissed him.
"Ah... I..."
"See you tomorrow!"
She waved, then she turned around and ran down the street.
Shinji was that confused that he did not notice the dark car that started to move and slowly
rolled down the street.
And she didn´t even pinch my nose...
There is was again, the feeling of deva vu.
No... not she... but who? Red... red hair... Asuka! Asuka did kiss me?
The memory was accompained by the impression of suffocating.
More a try to murder me...
His confusion grew bigger with every second.
But why did she kiss me?
´Shinji, I´m bored...´
Boredom... that would suit her... Rei kissed me because she likes me... and I just stood there...
I´m such an idiot!
At the same time he asked himself what he should have done - should he have embraced her like in
the movies?
He was still thinking when a small green car stopped in front of him, behind the wheel Yui Ikari
sat.
"Can I drive you home?" she asked.
He raised his head.
"Mother...?"
Then he noticed her.
"Come on, jump in!"
She open the other door.
"Yes."
He walked around the car and took the assistant driver´s seat.
"Is your shift already over?"
Shiji looked at his wristwatch.
"Not really, but we were unable to do our work with all the policemen at the institute..." she
sighed.
"Police?"
"Yes, somebody broke into the building, we noticed it just at noon and I had to stay to check
the archives."
"And, what did they steal?"
"Several tissue samples from the cooling room. And something that´s part of a project of mine.
It´s a shame... without my datas the material´s completely useless."
"And if... if the thief already has your data?"
"What? That would be..."
They drove home in silence.
The finger and the samples - gone... Keel´s visit... may there be a connection? But what´s the
meaning of the finger and why is somebody interested in it after all the time?
She nearly missed the entry to the parking lot in front of the house.
Gendo Ikari arrived about an hour later, reading the newspaper during dinner.
Shinji sensed his father´s gaze resting on him again and again when he turned the pages. Gendo´s
gaze was full of sorrow...
***
Rei met her mother at the apartment they shared when she came home.
Ritsuko Akagi was cooking dinner with the cat moving around her legs.
"Hello, Mom!" Rei shouted happily before vanishing in her room to change.
Ritsuko looked up.
"Rei, you seem to be quite happy, what´s up?"
"Ah, everything´s alright!" Rei answered.
"And your little friend, Shinji Ikari?"
*rums*
"Rei, what has happened? Are you hurt?"
"No, Mom", she replied offended. "The chair´s fallen down."
"Ah... So, what´s new?"
Rei came into the kitchen, her face red like a tomato.
"Shinji´s not my ´little friend´, Mom."
"So... then maybe he´s your big friend?" she kept teasing her daughter.
"No, that... Mom, how does it feel to be in love?"
Ritsuko stiffed, turned around slowly, scanned Rei from head to toes.
"Tell me, when did you grow up that fast? I remember telling you goodnight-tales... like it was
yesterday. And now we have arrived at such topics..."
She sighed
"I guess it´s time for a long mother-daughter-talk, eh?"
"Uhm..."
"Well... hm, when one is in love... Rei, when you are thinking of this boy, what do you feel?"
"It´s... a strange crawling within the stomach..."
"Like butterflies?"
"Butterflies? ... that might be correct... yes, like butterflies beating very fast with their
wings."
"And you are nervous?"
"Yes."
Rei looked down.
"It´s difficult to stay in controll."
Ritsuko sighed again.
"Controll... you are alway trying to stay calm, keeping controll of your emotions... Rei, I´ll
tell you something, since I do not want you to make the same mistake I did, yes?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Okay... You know this Shinji just for a few days now..."
She thought to see something like protest on her daughter´s face, noticed her opening the mouth,
but closing it again without speaking.
"... so it´s a good thing that you are in controll of yourself. Well, you must know, I barely
knew your father for three hours before... well, before it happened. You do know what I am
talking about, don´t you?"
Rei nodded in silence.
"Good, so at least I don´t have to tell you that, it´s quite an awkward topic, isn´t it?"
Again Rei nodded.
"And the next morning he was gone... I haven´t seen him again... I guess he doesn´t even know
about the consequences of this night..."
"How was my father like?" the girl asked shyly.
"Hm, difficult to say... I barely knew him... it was a wild time, I just had finished school and
applied to university... just old enough to drink in public... I had a good friend at this time,
Misato, we met at the campus, we had quite a good time... and one evening I met your dad, I
remember quite clearly that he was sitting alone at the bar... I wouldn´t tell you today how he
looked... but you have his eyes... I guess he was just as drunk as I was... well, one thing led
to the next and nine months later..."
She walked to her daughter and embraced her.
"But I don´t regret it."
"Thank you, Mom." she replied softly.
"But I have to tell you to take care. You all are at an age with hormones running crazy and..."
"Misato-sensei says that´s puberty."
"Yes, right... wait, Misato-sensei? Your teacher has the same name like my old friend I shared
a room with at university...?"
"Misato Katsuragi."
Ritsuki did a step back.
"Yes... Rei... about that height, purple hair and quite... well, revealing clothing?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Well, that´s a conincident!" Ritsuko mumbled. "After your birth we lost contact. So, that will
be a surprise! When´s the next teacher-parents-meeting?"
"Wait, I go and get my notebook, there..."
Rei broke off in the middle of the sentence, pressed both hands against the temples and bend down.
"Rei, what´s going on?" Ritsuko shouted and caught her when she lost consciousness.
***
Deep below Tokio, within the Geo-sector, Selene Shigen experienced the same. The sector´s
commander sat in the commander´s seat writhing with pain.
"Chief, what´s wrong with you?" Makoto Hyuga asked who had just brought her some reports when
it started.
Selene groaned.
"Thanks, Lieutenant... it´s okay..." she replied weakly.
A thin stream of blood came from her nose and her eyes seemed to swim in blood due to some
burst veins.
"Could you bring me a glass of water?"
"Of course, chief, I´m back in a second."
Selene got up, supporting herself at her desk.
A single drop of strangly coloured dark-red blood splashed on the metal, forming a surrealistic
pattern.
"Any activities at the gateway during the last minutes?" she asked with all the power she had,
but still her voice was weak and low.
Two level deeper captain Shigeru Aoba hectically was checking the readings of his terminal.
"Sir, we´ve lost contact with base Antarctica... an extreme strong radio-signal seems to... ah,
a moment, we are regaining contact!"
The large screen brightened, showed the image of a bald black man wearing the uniforn of an
UN-major.
"Fortress calling headquarters, please answer!"
Selene adjusted her headset.
"Here´s headquarters. Major Banks, what happened?"
"The portal´s energy increased without warning, then we got a radio-signal that strong that
our systems went down."
"Did something pass the gateway?"
"Negative. The energy-output´s normal again now. MELCHIOR thinks that we have gained two additional
days before it reaches full strenght."
Selene nodded, noticed the Lieutetant who had brought her the glass of water.
"Thanks, Major. Tell me at once if anything changes!"
"Of course."
Selene sat down and reached for the glass.
"Shall I call for a doctor..."
"That´s not necessary."
"Yes, Chief."
"Captain Aoba, was the signal recorded?"
"Confirmed."
"Have the MAGI decrypt it, if our ressources should prove unsufficient you can also use the
three backup-systems at Osaka."
"I´m already working at it!"
Aoba turned to the metal flight of stairs that led down to the level of the Tokio MAGI-system.
While the main system was placed at the fortress, the supercomputers SOKRATES, PLATON and
ARISTOTELES had been placed at headquarters. Other systems existed at Osaka and the dockyards
of Wilhelmshaven and the northamerican westcoast.
Selene activated her com-device, calling her brother.
It took several minutes before she got an answer and a small hologram appeared in front of her,
showing Thomas who looked far worse than she did.
"You felt it, too."
"Yes, what happened?"
"A strong impulse from the portal´s other side."
He took a deep breath.
"An activation signal... so they know where we are..."
"Are you sure that it was an activation signal?"
Thomas nodded.
"I thought to hear the Imperatrix´ voice inside of my head..."
"So we have to be prepared... the MAGI are decrypting the signal, maybe we get to know more."
"Probably some Angeloi stayed behind..."
"Yes... How are you?"
He grinned, his face resembled a skull.
"Bad", he said with monotonous voice.
"Shall I send doctor Takanawa? She could be at Beijing within an hour..."
"No, not necessary. Premiere Lau´s quite in a good mood."
"If you say so..."
"Any news from Germany?"
"The ODYSSEUS´ ready to take to sea. We´ll get an UN convoi."
"Good... that´s another step foreward... and any news from Antarctica? Did anything else happen?"
"No. Except that we´ve won two additional days since the portal´s strenght has decreased a bit."
"Lets just hope that we´ve truely won time and not additional trouble..."