Observers: A study of the beings known as Children.

Chapter 5: Labyrinth

***

61:30:00 Subjects sleep. North route open.

The wall that the Second has thus far occupied is now open, and I await the awakening of the Children. I cannot even imagine what kind of discoveries both the Children and myself will find once they leave the cell.

***

Asuka's left eye reported to her brain that it was bright. He brain noted this and sent a message to her left eye to close and it would no longer be light. Her pupil lazily rolled to the corner of her eye, sweeping over the offending bright walls and observed a large expanse of darkness. Her eye closed. Ten seconds later both snapped open again and she sat straight up, gawking at where her wall used to be.

"The hell?" Her cry woke Rei, who's eyes opened and shifted from the floor to Asuka, to the gap in the wall. Shinji's mouth opened slightly to tell Asuka to be quiet, but his tongue lolled out and began drooling.

"It's a way out!" Asuka shouted wildly. She crossed the room and roughly nudged Shinji with her foot. "Wake up, idiot! It's a way out!" Shinji made a slurping noise and blinked quickly.

"What are you yelling about?" He looked to where she was madly pointing. "Huh? A way out!" He jumped up and took Asuka's hands. "We can leave! We're not going to die!" Asuka pulled her hands away.

"Of course not. Come on, let's get out of here." Rei stood and followed as Asuka and Shinji approached the breach slowly.

The darkness that emanated from the tunnel gradually turned to just dimmer obscured light as the Children's eye's adjusted after being used to roughly sixty hours of harsh florescent lighting. They could easily make out the hallway that led a good thirty feet until it suddenly stopped. On the right wall were two doors, a third on the left.

"It says Third Children." Shinji stated, looking curiously at the door which was obviously meant for him. "Should we go in?"

"I don't know, this one says Second Children, and that one over there says First Children." Asuka put her hands on her hips and thought. Whoever was keeping this sick trick going wanted them to split up and go into separate rooms. "They may want us to be alienated from each other." She looked at Shinji.

"Well, we could go into this one altogether and then the other two, or we can each go in our own." He offered a shrug.

Rei Ayanami stood and listened to the other two Children debate over what course of action was going to be taken. A tiny part in the back of her mind noted the fact that, had she been on her own, she wouldn't have delayed this long and already have gone through her appropriate door. She looked at the ground, wondering if she should voice her own opinion or just go along with what the Second and Third thought.

"Rei, I said what do you think?"

"I don't think she's listening, Shinji."

The First's head rose to look at Shinji, a worried expression worn on his face. "What...do I think?"

"That was the question, now that it's been repeated for the third time let's get onto answering it." Rei ignored the remark from the Second. "I think... that we should go into our separate doorways."

"Well, if we do that we'll need a way to signal the others if we run into trouble-"

Asuka broke in. "This isn't some lame detective anime, Shinji. I can handle myself, I would think Wondergirl can hold her own, and you're a boy. I don't see a problem."

Shinji stuttered about for a moment and organized his thoughts. "You were the one bent on convincing us we'd die. And you were certain the food was poisoned. If anything I'd think you'd want to have a way to tell Ayanami or me if you ran into trouble or a way out." He frowned.

"Fine," She said and turned, waving her hand absently. "go and make your stupid little plan."

Shinji shot a glare at Asuka's back and turned to Rei. "Uh. Yeah. How about if I knock twice on the wall I'm in trouble, and knock three times I found an exit." At this Asuka made a rude exasperated sigh.

"And if we are out of earshot?" Shinji blinked at Rei's question.

"Uh, well....Let's hope we're not...I guess." Still facing the other direction Asuka gave a loud snort to show how she felt about the plan.

"Come on, and here I thought you had at least some common sense. What can you use to reach someone if you can't hear their voice?" Two stares. "Uhg...vibrations. You can feel the vibration from an explosion even if you can't hear it." Two stares. "If you don't get a response from knocking try pounding the hell out of the wall, floor, your head, whatever."

"That sounds good." Shinji said, moving to 'his' door. "Okay..." He breathed in.

Asuka grimaced and flung the door knob to her own door open and stepped inside. Rei slowly turned the handle of the door marked with her designation number and she soon disappeared from sight. A second later both doors creaked shut, leaving Shinji alone in the corridor. He took one last look at the cell that had been his temporary home for so many long hours and entered his door into-

Another hallway, twenty feet in length.

A dead end. Shinji sighed, wondering if this was some sort of metaphor for his life. He turned and re-opened the door and stepped back into hallway just as he heard a deep resonating thud. It had come from Asuka's door. Shinji knew not what was so horrible that Asuka had to call for help only three minutes into her journey, but he knew he had to find her. He threw open her door and raced into utter darkness.

Asuka rubbed her forehead. It had been so dark in her room she had to walk at nearly baby pace to avoid running into anything. She had run her hand along the wall next to her as she walked, but in a matter of seconds it opened into a full chamber. She could tell she was in an alcove because the air pressure had changed dramatically, so much that she didn't notice the odd feeling she had just before she had run into a wall erected at a ninety degree angle. The crash had rung out through her room, no doubt due to the wall being hollow. She filed that note away for the time being and focused on mapping her way around. The ninety degree turn was an adjoining hallway that led to a larger, echoing cavern. If there was anything in the new room - or the old one, for that matter - Asuka did not know, but she held her hand to the wall and traveled slowly until she reached another ninety degree turn. She followed this on only to have it turn left again. She heard a hiss and the harsh yellow light assaulted her. Her hands flew to shield her eyes from the offending intruder, and her vision blurred as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

"The hell?" She knew full well she wasn't normally this sensitive to light. With one eye squeezed shut and the other pointed at the floor she stumbled to the wall and sank down. She managed to open both eyes after she cupped both hands over them, still being able to see cracks of light between her fingers.

Shinji was on the ground. The blow he'd sustained from sprinting into a wall was enough to put him on the ground, and make a large crater in the wall, which he assumed was hollow drywall. He pushed himself up and felt his way along the wall until what he thought was a door blocked his way.

"Great," He muttered, the sound echoing out and reverberating through him. "Now what?" He'd met two dead ends since leaving his cell, and for all he knew Asuka could still be in danger.

Maybe I should go find Ayanami and figure something out with her. He thought, turning back. He drug his hand along the opposite wall as he backtracked to where he figured the door was. All at once his wall gave out into an open space, and then the wall rose up again. It was another corridor, Shinji realized. He turned down the hall and forged ahead.

Rei Ayanami stood just beyond the doorway that she had first entered. The dimly lit walkway she was facing branched off into two other directions. She had long ago figured out what she and the other Children were in, and refused to be used in such a way. So she stood.

***

62:00:00 Children have entered labyrinth.

The Second and Third Children have already begun to sort their way through the maze, but the First seems to be remaining prone. I can only speculate that she is associating her denial of being 'a doll' with being 'forced' to run a maze. Some motivation is in order.

***

A hiss brought Rei's attention to behind her, where a metal grate panel had slid closed, cutting her five foot hallway into a three foot hallway. She watched calmly as another panel reduced the three feet to two. She took a step forward as a third panel turned the remaining two feet into one foot. Her eyes narrowed, she wasn't going to be herded through any maze, Commander's wishes or not. If she had to follow a course through the labyrinth then she would plot her own course. She stepped through the second branch as a panel was about to close down on it, and force her to take the first path. What she saw was a long corridor, brightly lit with three adjoining hallways. Crouched in the corner near the second hallway was the Second Child, trying to squint past the light. Rei deduced the light had affected the Second's vision. She turned and followed the first hallway into a twisting course of ninety degree angles and side-paths. An interval appeared and Rei decided to take the left, and made a note to explore the right when she was done down this hallway. Two ninety degree angles later she came to and 'L' shaped intersection. She took the left, once more making a note to explore the right. Two more twists later she came to another 'L' intersection. She looked back down the right interval and frowned. Just a slight frown, but it was visual evidence that she was annoyed. She had walked down the same hallway twice. She back tracked to the first ninety degree turn she'd made since the Bright Hallway. There was a smaller path just inside the entrance to the Twisting Hallway. She took it.

Shinji's side corridor had opened into a larger hallway, red light flickering around on what Shinji guessed was limestone walls. As he walked he noted that slots in the roof held inverted torches, which Shinji didn't even try to surmise stayed lit upside down. He stayed close to the wall, in case some other pathway presented itself, but a twinge of reflecting light brought Shinji into the center of the corridor. It was a ceramic bowl and a drinking glass. One filed with flakes of crisp wheat, the other a yellowy liquid. Cereal and orange juice, he smiled. Real food, at last! He took the bowl and held it close to his face, finding the source of the glittering to be a metal spoon. He took it and gulped down some of the flakes, which, to him, tasted as if a thousand chefs had all contributed the most rare secrets to its simple ingredients. The juice went down next, giving his taste buds a little dance. The acidy citrus tingled his throat as it sloshed its way down. He pocketed the spoon and set the bowl and glass aside, so the others would not trip on it if they so chose to follow that same path. With a renewed sense of liveliness, Shinji looked forward and proceeded , undaunted by the unknown.

Her eyes had finally accepted the overwhelming light. For thins Asuka thanked God, Allah, whatever Shinto gods that the people on early morning Channel Two kept ranting about and looked about her. There were three routes open, one which she had entered from, one that looked less bright, but lit nonetheless, and the last had a linked metal gate covering the opening. The second one it was, and Asuka set off down it, making an immediate left turn. She had made three more turns when a clattering behind caused her to freeze. She spun around and saw a metal army cantine settling onto the linoleum floor. She picked it up to discover it was full. A few sniffs and Asuka discerned it was full of tea. English tea, the very kind her father would make her for an afternoon snack. She frowned at the flask and slung its strap over her shoulder.

***

62:30:00 Children are moving about.

I am most surprised with the First, I would not have expected to see her take an alternate path than one that was so blatantly obvious. The blockades would have directed her away from the Second, but instead she chose to follow a similar course as subject 2A. While there was no trail of the Second's to follow, I am tempted to assume that all Level 4 candidates have a similar thought pattern.

***

Shinji saw a staircase. It led down to a mutedly lit turn, which he assumed was the staircase turning and then continuing downward. Muted cries of agony floated up to him.. The Third Children steeled himself and began to step down each step one at a time.

I mustn't run away.......

Asuka saw a cavern that reminded her instantly of Gothic cathedral's main hall. It was giant, with a vaulted ceiling, flying buttresses, and stained glass. Glass. That meant there had to be light to make the stained glass stand out, and that was an escape route if Asuka ever saw one. She stepped lightly into the Hall, glanced at the walls, and let out a horrified gasp.

Rei saw a room. Bare save for the ice box, the small cot and the pitcher of water. It was a room very much like the one she occupied, this was painfully obvious, but there was something different. It was a recessed panel that had not been previously there. She slid it open. A closet. She stepped inside.

Continued.....