Tashi was doing better. It had been a month or so since he had first tried operating Unit-00. Since then, I had been doing all sorts of tests with him, mostly by throwing him into the entry plug and monitoring it on the computer. I had brought Unit-00 into the same space as Unit-01, so the "connection" between him and the Unit was a little more complete. And he was doing better.
It was just too bad that Unit-00 was stolen.
It happened the night before our "big test", where I would put Tashi and the entry plug back inside Unit-00. I had moved both the Unit and the plug back to it's original cage, though looking back on it, I can't see why I did that. So the next day, when we went to the cage to do the test, the Unit-00 was gone.
The thieves had left plenty of evidence as to where they had taken it, and how they had managed to do so. There was big tire tracks, a lot of rubble had been cleared away, and there were so many footprints...I was rather put out to find that Unit-00 had been taken. I had been all for going after them, but Tashi managed to convince me that all in all, it wasn't really worth it. So I sulked about the loss of Unit-00 for a few days, and then Tashi and I went about the rest of NERV, trying to find anything else we could use.
I had been all set to go searching through the other cages to find a useable EVA. Tashi said that it wasn't really top priority, and then he pointed out what else we could be doing. There was still the power source we were using to be fixed and set up properly, the computers to get running, not just my little terminal, an area where we could set up a proper living space for ourselves, plus we had to make another food run and get some more water. In light of all this, I had to agree, however reluctantly.
It was weeks before we could get back to the cages. Tashi and I spent many, many sleepless nights getting the main power generator back on its feet, as it were. It was disconnected for three days straight as we rearranged the wiring properly. Then it was back up and running smoothly. Tashi and I had cheered our success and then promptly fallen over and started sleeping.
Our next task was the computers, the main ones. One was already running, but on minimal levels. That took a bit longer than the generator, perhaps three times longer. Once the computers were back up, I had to spend another day or two weeding out all the corrupted files and fixing what I could. I just hoped that I didn't do worse damage to them than had already been done...
While I was working on the corrupted computer files, Tashi had gone out exploring and found some rooms where we could live, close to Central Control. There was a room with actual beds in it, though they would need some serious cleaning. They were covered in dust and pieces of the ceiling, and who knew what else. Another room was just outside with some dusty and almost unrecognizable furniture. When we cleaned it off, we found a table or two, a chair and a longer chair that Tashi called a couch. Then we found a closet with blankets and pillows, which was probably the biggest find of all, next to the Units. So for the first time in close to ten years, I slept in actual bed with real blankets and a real pillow, not some moth-eaten covering and a hard lump of what used to be a pillow. The only problem was, I was so used to sleeping next to Tashi that I found it hard to fall asleep without him next to me.
Our next mission was to find food, which I had to take Unit-01 to the surface to find. It took the better part of a day, but I finally found a dried goods warehouse, judging by the weathered and almost unreadable lettering on the side of the building, which still had it's walls intact. I got out of Unit-01 to gather what I could, because I wanted to leave it intact. In the end, I had taken enough to last us a few more months.
While I had been gone, Tashi had gathered more water and stored it in some wierd looking boxes. I didn't question it; water was a necessity, and however we could get it, as long as it didn't run out or spill, was a good thing.
After that we had to spend another week or two fixing up our living space. The ceilings were rather untrustworthy-looking and there was so much dust and mess everywhere....
Then, I could go back to the cages and search through them.
It was a fascinating search. I'd had the opportunity to go through them before, and I had found the other six EVA's that Unit-01 registered as there. I hadn't had time them, however, to check and see which ones were which. Now I had that opportunity.
But first, I had to clear away a lot of rubble.
The EVA bay, where I stored Unit-01 most of the time, was just covered in debris from the ceiling and the walls and from who-knew-what-else. I used Unit-01 to clear away the big chunks of rock and cement, and then I attempted to make doorways or at least door frames out of the holes I had bashed into the walls and EVA cages so long ago. Tashi had found some white powder that made up a wierd and sloppy-looking paste when it was mixed with water. It was supposed to make some sort of glue, I think...it didn't work very well, but at least it held the smaller pieces of the walls in place when I thumped around.
Once those were stabilized, I went to the covered lumps that were the other EVA Units and brought them out of their cages into the EVA bay. I waited until they were all there before removing their covers, even though it took two days and ate me from the inside out with curiousity.
And then, on the third day, Tashi and I woke up nice and early and went to the EVA bay to uncover the seven mysterious EVA Units.
| Previous | Home | Next |
Characters & concept: © 1997-2002 Katsura /\ Evangelion © Gainax