The Sins of the Fathers
Chapter One
Something ugly this way comes
Through my fingers sliding inside
All these blessings all these burns
I'm godless underneath your cover
Search for pleasure search for pain
In this world now I am undying
I unfurl my flag my nation helpless
Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds
Black Black Heart 2.0, David Usher
On the edge of Tokyo-3 was a lake. The lake was a relatively new feature as geological
time scales run, as it was only some fifteen years old. Its appearance coincided with the
destruction of Evangelion Unit-00 and the sixteenth angel. The manner of Unit-00's
destruction was what made the event memorable. That of course is not to say the
destruction of an Evangelion unit is a common event, it was just that this was a
particularly selfless act. Rei Ayanami the pilot of Unit-00 detonated the engine; the
result was the destruction of the angel, the formation of this lake and the death of the
pilot. Two of these facts are public knowledge.
On the edge of this lake stood an apartment building. Actually the lake was ringed
with apartment buildings. In the fifteen some years that had passed since the end of the
angel invasion Toyko-3 had undergone a miraculous transformation. Under direct
control of the UN it had become an international center of research and technology. If
necessity is the mother of invention, then Tokyo-3 was the weird aunt that helped raise
the children. While the human population of the earth was fighting for it's very right to
exist, it was at its creative peak. For the last fifteen years the fruits of that creativity
were being harvested and distributed to humanity. It was generally accepted that the
innovations that NERV had created were the property of all humanity. From the
outside it would appear that NERV's sole function was to oversee the distribution of it's
accumulated knowledge, and lead the way for research in new areas. But that was
from the outside.
In any case the apartment building in question had a particular occupant. This
occupant was sleeping the deep sleep that can only be brought on by the excessive
consumption of alcohol. That sleep was about to be disturbed.
"God I hate that noise" She thought to herself.
Even thinking that hurt more that it should have. This morning's hangover was
shaping up to be extraordinary, and she hadn't even silenced the alarm yet. The noise
continued. The alarm itself was not so much your average buzzing, but incessant
mechanical bird song. Which of course matched the device itself, a small blue plastic
bird she'd been given as a gift after she had punished her previous timepiece
"Tweeeet, tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet"
Abruptly she sat up, and instantly regretted it; nonetheless she to the edge of the bed
towards the dresser at the foot of the bed, which was currently keeping the bird off the
floor. With her left hand she reached out and ran her fingers over the top, hunting for
the small heat sensitive disk that would shut the damn thing up.
"Ah"
The silence however was not all that she had hoped for. It was that weightily, grating
kind of silence that only came as a result of the worst kind of hangovers. She rested
there wedged between the dresser and the bed, the heel of her hand and the backs of
her knees supporting her. A couple of deep breaths followed. It became apparent to
her that now awake this was the kind of hangover that would not get better without
medical intervention.
She stood up and balanced, having almost 45 years of practice standing it was easy.
Her right hand went up and pushed the hair back from her face as she looked down at
the clock.
"5:30, what idiot decided that a 7:00 teleconference was convenient for everyone?" She
spoke aloud in tone of voice that indicated that she was is a considerable amount of
discomfort, and yet would elicited no sympathy had there been someone there to hear
her.
Not waiting for an answer she moved towards the door. She looked up to the
bathroom then proceeded instead to the kitchen. As she opened the fridge she thought
to herself 'who'd of thought that one day half of my beer fridge would be filled with
bottle water?' She grabbed a bottle, opened it and tossed the cap in the sink, which she
instantly regretted. The cap somehow managed to ricochet off every glass and empty
beer can in the sink, which of course filled the entire kitchen with a hideously mind
wrenching noise.
Once in the bathroom she set down the now half empty bottle and after a couple of
exceedingly painful moments of fumbling with the child proof cap popped two
capsules into her mouth. That much done, she turned on the shower and stepped in.
After she'd stepped out and toweled off she leaned over the sink and looked in the
mirror.
"More gray", she muttered as she proceeded to carefully grab a hold of one at a time
and pull.
"Ow"
After a dozen with no appreciable difference she gave up, hoping she'd remember to
pick up some dye before it got too bad. As she was thinking this her right hand,
seemingly on it's own accord, started tracing the scar that started between her breasts
and ran down to the edge of her ribcage. As she became aware of this her facial
expression changed to one of frightened confusion. Both hands immediately shot
behind her back as she turned and stormed out of the room.
Back in her bedroom she was thinking to herself, 'gee maybe I'll wear the back dress
and the red jacket', with no small amount of sarcasm
Opening the top drawer of the dresser she saw only one pair of panties. She grabbed
them and leaning one shoulder against the wall put them on. Her balance was
apparently not that good just yet.
She looked around the room and spotted the bra she had worn only the day before. She
picked it up and gave it a quick sniff.
'Well that takes care of today, I guess tomorrow I'll wear the long skirt and the tight
jacket and then I'll have to do laundry.'
The rest of the dressing maneuver passed without incident, due in no small part to the
fact that the wall upon which she was leaning remained motionless.
Back to the bathroom for a couple of quick strokes of her hair with a brush, and her hair
was securely fasted in the back with a wide silver barrette. The barrette had been a gift
from a former roommate.
"I should really call him, maybe go visit at the cabin."
One more quick visit to the kitchen for another bottle of water and a protein bar and she
was out the door. The protein bars were relatively new to the morning routine; carbs
went straight to her hips.
About 20 seconds after she'd left the apartment she returned. Her expression was even
more sour that it was before she had left. To a casual observer it might seem like she
was about to give up on the day and go back to bed. She stood inside the doorway as
she let her eyes run over the room. There were several empty beer cans on the coffee
table in front of the television. To the left of the television was a galvanized steel
garbage can, which looked quite out of place indoors, particularly in the living room. It
was however strategically placed. She could on all but worst of nights land an empty
can in it from anywhere in the apartment. Her eyes tracked to the right, across the
television and then narrowed. The expression on her face lightened then as she
walked over to the corner by the TV and pick up what appeared to be car keys.
At 6:04, she nudged the car into the queue for the train. Traffic had been light and she'd
only had to threaten one person's life. Nothing spectacular just some idiot that tried to
jump the green as she was flying through a very stale yellow light.
The light at the top of the queue turned green and she inched forward. Seconds later an
attendant appeared and ushered her into a bay on the train. Once the car was in place
she cut the engine, and leaned over to open the glove box. She reached in and
produced a blister pack of sublingual B12. She popped one out and put it under her
tongue. This was a trick she learned in college during Oktober Fest. Alcohol tends to
flush some vitamins out of the body, B-12 in particular. A little pellet of B-12 under the
tongue consequently does wonders for a hangover, since as it dissolves it goes directly
into the blood. The pack went back into the glove box; she dropped the seat back and
immediately fell asleep.
+++
The woman behind the desk looked up at the man standing in front of her. He was tall,
at least 6'2", brown hair, green eyes. There was a hint of military about him but it was
very subtle. It was almost as if her was trying very hard to be non-descript. He was
wearing a dark flannel suit not quite black but darker than what would be considered
charcoal, it could almost be considered light black if such a colour existed. On his left
arm was a bright blue armband, and stenciled in white were the letters UN.
"I'm afraid she's not in yet sir," the woman said, trying very hard to sound apologetic in
the hope that it would mask her contempt.
"I can see that." he spoke slowly," are you sure she knows about the teleconference?"
"Sir, I was sitting right here when you talked to her yesterday. You said 'I'm sure I
don't have to remind you about tomorrow morning's conference' and she said 'If you're
so sure why have you mentioned it 4 times in the last 2 hours'"
"Oh yes of course" he said.
'Bitch' he thought to himself, 'damn NERV people are so still full of themselves.'
The receptionist cleared her throat. The man lifted his eyes to look at her only to see her
pointing at the door behind him.
"Ah, Commander Misato, and almost on time."
Misato tried to give him one of her patented paint peeling glares, but she was still to
hung over, and it came out looking like a confused 'I have bad gas face' instead.
"We need to go over some things before the meeting."
"You can have 15 minutes, in 15 minutes."
"Ah, well", he paused, "I'm afraid that may not be enough time Commander"
"What part of what I just said wasn't clear," she spat.
'I am so not in the mood for this', she thought to herself.
"There is quite a bit of material to go over."
'He dropped the commander that time,' Misato thought to herself.
"Let me put this in a way that will be easer for you to comprehend, I'll give you a
choice, 5 minutes now or, 15 minutes later."
All this excitement seemed to be making her feel better, nothing like a little
confrontation early in the morning to get the blood flowing. It's quite amazing what a
little extra oxygen in your brain will do for you.
Misato tried again for the 'paint peeling' look and managed to pull it of this time. The
effect was almost instant, as evidenced by the change in the man's posture.
"15 minutes then, in your workroom?"
Misato thought for a moment, thinking her office might be more appropriate. After all
these years she finally was beginning to think of it as her office, and not Ikari's. She
vividly remembered every time she was in there standing at the end of that massive
empty room, facing off against the man that many now considered to be the devil
himself. A thought she herself used to share. She wondered if it was the time that had
passed that softened her view, or was it, as she occasionally feared, that she was in fact
becoming him.
'That's ridiculous, I could never, ever do what he did'
"No," she replied, "I'll be in my office."
"Ah, very well then." he managed to speak with a measured calmness.
Misato then turned to face the receptionist, having already emptied her mind of the
man's presence.
"Coffee?"
"On your desk in the workroom, Shall I bring it to your office?"
"No that's fine" she said already walking thought the door she just opened, "actually I'll
need your help in here for a moment please"
"Yes ma'am," she said as she stood quickly.
"Close the door please"
Misato walked right to her desk and sat down. As promised there was a stainless steel
decanter, which was filling the room with the aroma of fresh coffee. She smiled
knowingly, that was her first decision after being appointed Commander. She called
the head of facilities and had him change the coffee supplier. It was almost double the
price but she was quite sure it was worth it, especially on mornings like this. It had
been a running joke for years now with some of the staff that had been here from the
beginning. The first change any one noticed was a week after she took over the coffee
got better.
"Oh, come in, sit down please... uh …"Misato suddenly realized that she didn't have a
clue what this woman's name was.
"Julie ma'am" she said quietly.
"I'm sorry, coffee?"
"Yes ma'am, please"
The ritual of pouring and cream and sugar was at this point quite welcome. It helped
covered the awkwardness of not remembering Julie's name, which of course made her
pause.
'How many assistants is that now? Am I really that hard to work for?'
Julie finished, one sugar two cream and sat carefully on the edge of the chair facing the
desk, almost as if she didn't want to look too comfortable, which incidentally she didn't.
She took a sip and looked expectantly at Misato.
Misato was watching the little bubbles swirl around in her cup. After a moment she
looked up and remembered that Julie was probably scared to death.
"Oh ya, nothing really, I just didn't want to leave you alone out there with him. He's
probably pretty pissed."
The assistant managed to look both relieved and confused at the same time. Which
really isn't that difficult a task. It's a face most people manage to create everyday. It's
usually precipitated by something failing to end in disaster, and having no idea why it
didn't.
"Yes ma'am, he did seem rather upset."
"Julie?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Stop calling me ma'am"
"Yes ma'am"
"Hello? Any one there? You just did it again. Please call me Misato, at the very least
when we're in here by our selves."
Julie was now confused, bordering on terror. This couldn't possibly be the same
Commander Misato that the previous temp had warned her about.
"Yes, Misato," she breathed hesitantly.
"So Julie, your Japanese is very good, I'm assuming that with a name like Julie you're
not from around here?"
"No ma'…'" she caught herself, "No, my mother was Japanese, I grew up in Canada,
Yellowknife mostly. I just transferred in from Elsmere. My mom insisted that I learn
Japanese. It's kind of funny now that I'm in Japan she won't even speak to me in
English on the phone. Dad still tries to speak Japanese, but he's really not very good"
Misato found herself smiling, always happy to find people who still had both parents.
"How do you like it here so far?"
"I really like it a lot everything's so, so high tech, like my apartment. Elsmere is still a
little rough around the edges, you know Quonset huts and construction crews."
"mmm," Misato was far away, lost in her own thoughts.
"He's probably gone by now, I'll go make sure the office is set up, if that's ok?" Julie
said.
"Yes, thanks, I'll be over in a couple of minutes." Replied Misato.
Misato was intently watching her coffee again. She resolved to herself to try and keep
this assistant, and at the very least discover what it was that she was doing that seemed
to be scaring them away.
Eugene Morris, the UN Special Observer of the NERV Executive Office, stood in front of
Commander Misato Katsuragi's desk. He was standing since there was only one chair
in the room and it was otherwise occupied. He was a good 3 meters from the desk. He
would have taken up position closer but that scale of the room didn't seem to allow for
it.
'This isn't an office it's an interrogation room, or possibly a dance hall if the raised the
ceiling a bit,' Morris thought to himself, 'this room is obviously designed to intimidate
people, and I would say it performing admirably.'
He started to open the leather folder he had tucked under his left arm, but the
commander cut him off.
"Don' t bother opening that," Misato cut him off, "I'm about to hijack what ever agenda
you had."
"Ah, commander, I really must protest we meet in less than half an hour"
"Whatever," she said actually waving her hand in dismissal.
"I'm going to talk and you are going to listen," she continued, her voice had changed
form her normal easy going tone. It was even different from the somewhat heated tone
she'd used earlier. The words were coming more slowly allowing for the weight of
each one to be felt over the distance between herself and Morris. One of the effects of
this room that she was becoming more comfortable with was the effect that it had on
her, particularly her tone of voice. She would occasionally wonder if that was
something Ikari designed into the room, to not only intimidate the guests but also
harden the owner.
"Ah, well," he was looking for words, "As you wish Commander." He carefully closed
the leather folder, taking care to slowly zip it back up. He was stalling, trying to delay
what he surmised was a whole load unpleasantness headed his way. This wasn't new
to him, but it had been some time since anyone had dared to interfere with his own
agenda. He had risen through the ranks of UN observer Corps quickly and he was well
respected by many of his peers, and even feared by a few. It had been some time since
he'd encountered any real resistance in the course of carrying out his duties.
"Mr. Morris, I know you've been here for about two weeks now, I apologize that I
haven't made time for you earlier. Had I done that we'd have had this conversation
already and would have probably avoided that bit of unpleasantness earlier. Mornings
are almost never a good time for me." Misato continued.
'That's cause you're a drunk', Morris thought to himself, careful to keep his mien from
showing any expression what so ever.
"I am the Commander of NERV." She paused, "You are the UN Special Observer for
the NERV Executive Office. I run NERV. You watch me do it."
Misato paused for a breath, and took a sip of her coffee hoping it looked like a dramatic
pause. She watched Morris carefully to see if her word were having any effect.
"You may ask me questions, and if I want to I will answer them. If you have a problem
with that you may contact your direct superior. Counselor James will then send me a
bottle of Scotch and say something like; 'be nice to the kid Misato, he's not really a bad
guy.'"
"I have had a UN Observer of some level 10 feet behind me for the last 15 years. I have
read thoroughly all the Act governing your conduct, and I have read the Terms of
Reference regarding the Executive Office, in fact I helped to write those terms. I am
intimately familiar with what you can and cannot do, and what my specific obligations
to you are." She paused to breath and quick resumed so as not to give him an opening.
"As I'm sure you are aware there are still three forensic investigation teams wandering
around the Geofront as we speak. One of them is solely responsible for forensic
accounting, just trying to figure out where all the money came from to pay for all this."
She idly waved one hand around over her head. "The point being that there is still stuff
in this facility that you have not been cleared to see. For that matter there are still
things in here that have not been given a classification yet. Now you're a young guy,
you're obviously on the fast track, and this is a pretty high profile assignment. You
don't need me to tell you that if you do well here you will pretty much be a made man.
In fact it's not unreasonable to think that in 5 or 10 years you'll be sitting on the
committee that I report to." Misato stopped again and drained the last little bit of coffee
from her mug.
'You'll regret this day when that happens'
"And when you are sitting on the committee, and if I'm still here I'll probably regret this
day. But whatever." Now she really paused to think, wishing she had more coffee.
'Where was I going with this again?' She though to herself.
"mmm"
"Ah, pardon me Commander"
"Sorry, coffee grounds." The cold hard tone of her voice was softening. She silently
wished she could keep that up. This was probably the reason people though she was a
bitch, she could only stay cold and hard for so long, so when she couldn't keep it up she
cut the conversation off. Any time she had to play the bad guy she had to keep it short,
come in raise hell and run before she burst into tears.
'OK' she thought to herself, lets get this done.
"So any way I know you're nervous 'cause you've been here two weeks and you
probably haven't got much to report yet. I'd bet you probably just figured out how to
get here with out getting lost only a day or two ago"
He almost let his expression change, 'is she having me watched? Probably, I would if I
was her'
"Relax, it took me a while to figure this place out, I keep finding new places and rooms.
And no I'm not having you followed, I was guessing"
At that point he slipped and his eyes opened just a little bit larger, in a very muted look
of surprise.
"You probably wanted to go through some of the questions the committee is going to
ask, try and get my answers so you can send off a quick message to show that you're on
the job here. I felt it fair to warn you that I am probably not going to be much help to
your career aspirations, but I promise I will do my best not to ruin them either, I may
even give you a heads up before I do something tremendously stupid."
"So here's how the committee meeting is going to go. They are going to ask about
releasing some of the class 6 genetic materials for licensing early and they are they are
going to ask about delaying putting the class 2 material in the public domain. They are
going to ask about increasing some of the staffing level, particularly in the admin areas.
They are going to ask about outsourcing some of the prototyping labs, namely robotic
and structural engineering. They are going to ask about the rail launcher. And the G2
series."
She stopped, and silently wished she had more coffee.
"Well, am I far off?" she asked looking straight at him
"I think you got all of them, they may also ask about staffing of the Elsmere facility"
"Maybe, it depends on what I tell them about the progress of the rail launcher"
Silence Morris stood there waiting for the commander to continue, but she didn't.
'Does she want me to ask her?'
'Come on, I'm not going to tell you if you don't ask me dumbass' Misato thought to
herself.
More silence, not even echoes, which in a room this large and this empty is quite
surprising. It was moments like this the room asserted itself. With a little imagination
you could almost hear the walls screaming, "Fear me, for I am big and empty." Which
of course was quite childish, in that rooms like this didn't need to scream at you to get
their point across. You intuitively knew what the room wanted to tell you the moment
you walked into it.
Morris finally broke the silence, "Ah, so what are you going to tell the committee?"
"I thought you'd never ask. Well the class 6 genetic material is going to be split in to 6a
and 6b, some of the genes have some unpredictable interactions with the both class 4
and class 8 genes. 6a will be released early and 6b will remain classified. The class 2
material will go to the pubic domain as planned. I will review the staffing levels but no
promises. The prototyping labs will not be outsourced, but I do have a plan to
construct prototype labs up on the surface, which will eliminate some of the security
constraints on staffing and allow the use of term and contract labor. The current
facilities inside the Geofront will be converted to research facilities for the
superconductor groups. How that?"
"And the G2 series?"
"The children are fine" her voice changed again indicating that this was not a line of
questioning he should pursue.
"So," she continued, "I'll do my job, without your help, and I will try very hard not to
interfere with your job. Are we agreed?"
"Ah, yes that will be satisfactory commander." Morris said, realizing that he really had
nothing to add or to argue. He also realized that he had pushed a little too much too
soon, but he promised himself he would find out what he wanted to know, with or
without Commander Katsuragi's co-operation.
"Great, then I will meet you in the conference room in, "She looked at her watch. It was
6:52, "five minutes, that should give you plenty of time to get your message out."
Misato swiveled in her chair and flicked on the terminal to her right, hoping he'd
realize that he was dismissed. To make sure he got the message she picked up the
phone. Morris was a pretty quick guy he figured out it was time for him to leave. He
also knew that if he hurried he could make it to a terminal to get he message out before
the meeting started. Without a word he turned on his heel and started the long journey
to the door.
'God dammit this room is big'
As soon as the door slide shut she touched a button on the phone.
"Julie?"
"Yes Ma'am"
"Call Comms and have them delay all outgoing messages from Mr. Morris 15 minutes."
"Permanently or just the next little while?"
Misato thought to herself, 'devious one this Julie, I like her already'
"Ma'am?"
"Just the next hour is fine, thanks."
"Yes ma'am, anything else?"
"When Mr. Aida gets in have him meet me in the workroom when I'm out of the
conference."
"Yes ma'am."
Misato hit the release key on the phone before Julie could say ma'am again.
+++
About 60 km to the north west of Tokyo-3 was a small village. Village by Japanese
standards, anyone living in Europe, Asia or America would probably consider it to be a
small city. The village, well let's call it a town, has in disproportion number of former
NERV employee's.
The short story is that the UN locked down NERV and as the people retired or quit they
came here, to this small town in the mountains. Some people called it a prison; some
people called it a retirement community, either way people that came here tended not
to leave. Most of the people that lived here didn't care one way or the other.
This town is important because just slightly to the west of it there was a small lake. This
lake had four cabins on it, one of which was currently occupied by Shinji Ikari.
He was lying in bed. The morning light flooded in through an open window on the
south wall of the room. A light breeze was breathing life into the normally inanimate
drapes. The sunlight was entering through the window at such an angle that now
living curtains were casting a rapid succession of shadows across Shinji's face.
He stirred slightly, obviously approaching wakefulness. He breathed in deeply though
his nose. He could smell the lake; consciousness was rapidly approaching now. He
watched the patterns of light play across the insides of his eyelids. The images cast by
the light took him back to a time in his past when he was Pilot Ikari.
At times he even missed it, the warm safe feelings that he would occasionally feel while
in the entry plug. Those memories were rare. Most his memories of that time were of
terror and hopelessness, and the smell of blood.
Soon after the Failure he learned where those feelings of safety had originated. It still
seemed unbelievable, wishful thinking even, but he knew it was true. At one point
after learning the truth he used to go down to the cage and talk to Unit-01. He'd sit
there for hours, particularly after his father was shot. He knew, in his heart, that she
was listening.
The memories that came flooding back had finally pushed Shinji into full consciousness.
'Well I might as well open my eyes now," he thought to himself.
With almost deliberate slowness Shinji's eyes opened and focused on the ceiling.
'I really should paint soon, that water stain is really starting to bug me.'
He stretched his arms and propped himself up into a sitting position. He turned his
head to consider the window. The fact that the window was still open amused him
somewhat. Asuka had a habit of running around at night and closing all the windows.
He immediately came to the conclusion that there was only one of two possible reasons
for the window being open. One Asuka had forgotten, which seemed unlikely, or she
had left it open for the sole purpose of giving her a reason to leave him a nastygram,
complaining about his childish need to have the window open while he slept.
He looked around the room carefully judging the length of the shadows, trying to judge
the time. After a moment he gave up and looked at the clock. 7:04.
'Well then time for some tea' he thought to himself.
Shinji had always been a creature of habit, but since he had moved up here to the lake
some 10 years ago with Asuka and Rei he had really taken habit to new heights. When
he woke on his own it was invariably within 5 minutes of 7:00 am. The first thing he
did was put on a robe, wander out into the kitchen and put on a kettle for tea. This
morning was no different.
As he picked up the robe he gave it a quick sniff.
"I guess I'll do laundry today" he said to himself, then looked around guiltily.
'I really have to watch that, people are going the wonder, me living here by myself
constantly talking to myself.'
Shinji managed to maneuver his feat into some slippers and made his way to the
kitchen. With no real regard for his surroundings he went right to the stove, picked up
the kettle, filled it with water and put it back on the stove. Then the awareness
returned.
He took a moment to survey the kitchen. It wasn't so much the kitchen as the rest of the
cottage. It was the kitchen, living room, dining room, and dining room. Something
Americans liked to call the great room. He'd gotten that from Rei, who for some
strange reason was still fascinated with American home renovation television shows.
She always seemed to be repainting something or sewing slip covers for the chairs. She
seemed to do a lot of things like that.
'Well as long as it keeps her busy, I just wish she'd paint the ceiling in the bedroom.'
The kettle began making that distinctive per boiling noise. The one that sounded like
ants with little lead soled shoes running around on an aluminum pie plate. That was
the cue to rinse out the teapot and put in a fresh scoop of tea.
That done Shinji leaned back against the counter and once again looked around the
room, expecting to see a note form Asuka saying something about the open window.
There it was on the edge of the counter.
"Shinji,
I hope you noticed that I left the window open for you. NOW YOU OWE ME A
FAVOR! Don't forget to stretch.
Asuka"
The kettle was boiling. Shinji turned off the stove, picked up the kettle and poured
water into the teapot in one smooth, practiced motion. He set the kettle down and
headed back to the bedroom to change into his exercise gear.
Moments later he returned, with an exercise mat tucked under his arm. He went
directly to the kitchen to collect the teapot and a cup. From there he moved toward the
front door. As he stepped out he paused and inhaled deeply through his nose. Then he
waited for the various odors living in the air to make their way to his brain.
The lake had it's own distinctive scent, and it continued to evolve and it's ecosystem
matured. When he first came here it was essentially a large pond with some coy and a
couple of plants. Now it was a lake with may different species of fish, frogs, newts,
birds and an astonishing variety of plants. Apparently there was even talk of
introducing herons here, now that the seasons were beginning to return. It was
theoretically late spring, but some said that was merely wishful thinking. A slight drop
in temperature and a bit of extra rain did not a winter make. But Shinji found it
astonishing having never seen winter, or anything other than summer ever.
Shinji, Asuka and Rei had asked about traveling some years ago, to go and see the
world but the UN watchdogs had put an end to that. He could always ask again but
the three of them had become quite comfortable in their little cottage.
Shinji walked to the corner of the porch with the best view and dropped the mat. He
gave a nudge with his toe and let it unroll, then carefully stepped out of his slippers and
sat down on the mat.
As he sipped his tea he looked out over the lake and continued to breath deeply in
anticipation of his stretching beginning. He always liked having the morning shift; this
was his favorite time of day, sitting by himself on the porch with his tea watching the
sun begin its ascent into the sky. He idly wished he could share it with his friends, but
Rei, while she would sit attentively, he could never be sure she was experiencing the
same thing he was, and Asuka just wouldn't be able to sit still.
'I wonder if Kouzou would like to go fishing tomorrow,' Shinji though to himself
finishing off the last bit of tea.
He sat the teacup down beside him and began stretching the still tight muscles in his
back. Training with Asuka was never without its price.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes to Self and Passers by,
This is obviously the beginning of a multipart story. How many parts I don't know yet.
I do in fact have a plot line whether or not I can stick to it is another matter altogether.
We are obviously in the future. I have gone from the end of the regular series and I'm
not using the movies. Why is that, you're asking? Well it is because I've only see the
moves once and there're not on DVD yet so I can't reference them. As to what has
happened in the intervening years, you'll have to come back and find out for yourself.
The next chapter will fill in a lot of history and you'll see some more familiar characters.
Anyhoo, if you have something you absolutely have to tell me I'm gholaboy@yahoo.ca.
Actually any comments at all would be welcome, so write away to your heart's content.
And finally big, big thanks to Chesed and Weltall Elite for helping me turn the output
of my horde of typewriting monkeys into what I hope you'll find a palatable narrative.
Later Days,
Ghola Boy
Chapter One
Something ugly this way comes
Through my fingers sliding inside
All these blessings all these burns
I'm godless underneath your cover
Search for pleasure search for pain
In this world now I am undying
I unfurl my flag my nation helpless
Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds
Black Black Heart 2.0, David Usher
On the edge of Tokyo-3 was a lake. The lake was a relatively new feature as geological
time scales run, as it was only some fifteen years old. Its appearance coincided with the
destruction of Evangelion Unit-00 and the sixteenth angel. The manner of Unit-00's
destruction was what made the event memorable. That of course is not to say the
destruction of an Evangelion unit is a common event, it was just that this was a
particularly selfless act. Rei Ayanami the pilot of Unit-00 detonated the engine; the
result was the destruction of the angel, the formation of this lake and the death of the
pilot. Two of these facts are public knowledge.
On the edge of this lake stood an apartment building. Actually the lake was ringed
with apartment buildings. In the fifteen some years that had passed since the end of the
angel invasion Toyko-3 had undergone a miraculous transformation. Under direct
control of the UN it had become an international center of research and technology. If
necessity is the mother of invention, then Tokyo-3 was the weird aunt that helped raise
the children. While the human population of the earth was fighting for it's very right to
exist, it was at its creative peak. For the last fifteen years the fruits of that creativity
were being harvested and distributed to humanity. It was generally accepted that the
innovations that NERV had created were the property of all humanity. From the
outside it would appear that NERV's sole function was to oversee the distribution of it's
accumulated knowledge, and lead the way for research in new areas. But that was
from the outside.
In any case the apartment building in question had a particular occupant. This
occupant was sleeping the deep sleep that can only be brought on by the excessive
consumption of alcohol. That sleep was about to be disturbed.
"God I hate that noise" She thought to herself.
Even thinking that hurt more that it should have. This morning's hangover was
shaping up to be extraordinary, and she hadn't even silenced the alarm yet. The noise
continued. The alarm itself was not so much your average buzzing, but incessant
mechanical bird song. Which of course matched the device itself, a small blue plastic
bird she'd been given as a gift after she had punished her previous timepiece
"Tweeeet, tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet"
Abruptly she sat up, and instantly regretted it; nonetheless she to the edge of the bed
towards the dresser at the foot of the bed, which was currently keeping the bird off the
floor. With her left hand she reached out and ran her fingers over the top, hunting for
the small heat sensitive disk that would shut the damn thing up.
"Ah"
The silence however was not all that she had hoped for. It was that weightily, grating
kind of silence that only came as a result of the worst kind of hangovers. She rested
there wedged between the dresser and the bed, the heel of her hand and the backs of
her knees supporting her. A couple of deep breaths followed. It became apparent to
her that now awake this was the kind of hangover that would not get better without
medical intervention.
She stood up and balanced, having almost 45 years of practice standing it was easy.
Her right hand went up and pushed the hair back from her face as she looked down at
the clock.
"5:30, what idiot decided that a 7:00 teleconference was convenient for everyone?" She
spoke aloud in tone of voice that indicated that she was is a considerable amount of
discomfort, and yet would elicited no sympathy had there been someone there to hear
her.
Not waiting for an answer she moved towards the door. She looked up to the
bathroom then proceeded instead to the kitchen. As she opened the fridge she thought
to herself 'who'd of thought that one day half of my beer fridge would be filled with
bottle water?' She grabbed a bottle, opened it and tossed the cap in the sink, which she
instantly regretted. The cap somehow managed to ricochet off every glass and empty
beer can in the sink, which of course filled the entire kitchen with a hideously mind
wrenching noise.
Once in the bathroom she set down the now half empty bottle and after a couple of
exceedingly painful moments of fumbling with the child proof cap popped two
capsules into her mouth. That much done, she turned on the shower and stepped in.
After she'd stepped out and toweled off she leaned over the sink and looked in the
mirror.
"More gray", she muttered as she proceeded to carefully grab a hold of one at a time
and pull.
"Ow"
After a dozen with no appreciable difference she gave up, hoping she'd remember to
pick up some dye before it got too bad. As she was thinking this her right hand,
seemingly on it's own accord, started tracing the scar that started between her breasts
and ran down to the edge of her ribcage. As she became aware of this her facial
expression changed to one of frightened confusion. Both hands immediately shot
behind her back as she turned and stormed out of the room.
Back in her bedroom she was thinking to herself, 'gee maybe I'll wear the back dress
and the red jacket', with no small amount of sarcasm
Opening the top drawer of the dresser she saw only one pair of panties. She grabbed
them and leaning one shoulder against the wall put them on. Her balance was
apparently not that good just yet.
She looked around the room and spotted the bra she had worn only the day before. She
picked it up and gave it a quick sniff.
'Well that takes care of today, I guess tomorrow I'll wear the long skirt and the tight
jacket and then I'll have to do laundry.'
The rest of the dressing maneuver passed without incident, due in no small part to the
fact that the wall upon which she was leaning remained motionless.
Back to the bathroom for a couple of quick strokes of her hair with a brush, and her hair
was securely fasted in the back with a wide silver barrette. The barrette had been a gift
from a former roommate.
"I should really call him, maybe go visit at the cabin."
One more quick visit to the kitchen for another bottle of water and a protein bar and she
was out the door. The protein bars were relatively new to the morning routine; carbs
went straight to her hips.
About 20 seconds after she'd left the apartment she returned. Her expression was even
more sour that it was before she had left. To a casual observer it might seem like she
was about to give up on the day and go back to bed. She stood inside the doorway as
she let her eyes run over the room. There were several empty beer cans on the coffee
table in front of the television. To the left of the television was a galvanized steel
garbage can, which looked quite out of place indoors, particularly in the living room. It
was however strategically placed. She could on all but worst of nights land an empty
can in it from anywhere in the apartment. Her eyes tracked to the right, across the
television and then narrowed. The expression on her face lightened then as she
walked over to the corner by the TV and pick up what appeared to be car keys.
At 6:04, she nudged the car into the queue for the train. Traffic had been light and she'd
only had to threaten one person's life. Nothing spectacular just some idiot that tried to
jump the green as she was flying through a very stale yellow light.
The light at the top of the queue turned green and she inched forward. Seconds later an
attendant appeared and ushered her into a bay on the train. Once the car was in place
she cut the engine, and leaned over to open the glove box. She reached in and
produced a blister pack of sublingual B12. She popped one out and put it under her
tongue. This was a trick she learned in college during Oktober Fest. Alcohol tends to
flush some vitamins out of the body, B-12 in particular. A little pellet of B-12 under the
tongue consequently does wonders for a hangover, since as it dissolves it goes directly
into the blood. The pack went back into the glove box; she dropped the seat back and
immediately fell asleep.
+++
The woman behind the desk looked up at the man standing in front of her. He was tall,
at least 6'2", brown hair, green eyes. There was a hint of military about him but it was
very subtle. It was almost as if her was trying very hard to be non-descript. He was
wearing a dark flannel suit not quite black but darker than what would be considered
charcoal, it could almost be considered light black if such a colour existed. On his left
arm was a bright blue armband, and stenciled in white were the letters UN.
"I'm afraid she's not in yet sir," the woman said, trying very hard to sound apologetic in
the hope that it would mask her contempt.
"I can see that." he spoke slowly," are you sure she knows about the teleconference?"
"Sir, I was sitting right here when you talked to her yesterday. You said 'I'm sure I
don't have to remind you about tomorrow morning's conference' and she said 'If you're
so sure why have you mentioned it 4 times in the last 2 hours'"
"Oh yes of course" he said.
'Bitch' he thought to himself, 'damn NERV people are so still full of themselves.'
The receptionist cleared her throat. The man lifted his eyes to look at her only to see her
pointing at the door behind him.
"Ah, Commander Misato, and almost on time."
Misato tried to give him one of her patented paint peeling glares, but she was still to
hung over, and it came out looking like a confused 'I have bad gas face' instead.
"We need to go over some things before the meeting."
"You can have 15 minutes, in 15 minutes."
"Ah, well", he paused, "I'm afraid that may not be enough time Commander"
"What part of what I just said wasn't clear," she spat.
'I am so not in the mood for this', she thought to herself.
"There is quite a bit of material to go over."
'He dropped the commander that time,' Misato thought to herself.
"Let me put this in a way that will be easer for you to comprehend, I'll give you a
choice, 5 minutes now or, 15 minutes later."
All this excitement seemed to be making her feel better, nothing like a little
confrontation early in the morning to get the blood flowing. It's quite amazing what a
little extra oxygen in your brain will do for you.
Misato tried again for the 'paint peeling' look and managed to pull it of this time. The
effect was almost instant, as evidenced by the change in the man's posture.
"15 minutes then, in your workroom?"
Misato thought for a moment, thinking her office might be more appropriate. After all
these years she finally was beginning to think of it as her office, and not Ikari's. She
vividly remembered every time she was in there standing at the end of that massive
empty room, facing off against the man that many now considered to be the devil
himself. A thought she herself used to share. She wondered if it was the time that had
passed that softened her view, or was it, as she occasionally feared, that she was in fact
becoming him.
'That's ridiculous, I could never, ever do what he did'
"No," she replied, "I'll be in my office."
"Ah, very well then." he managed to speak with a measured calmness.
Misato then turned to face the receptionist, having already emptied her mind of the
man's presence.
"Coffee?"
"On your desk in the workroom, Shall I bring it to your office?"
"No that's fine" she said already walking thought the door she just opened, "actually I'll
need your help in here for a moment please"
"Yes ma'am," she said as she stood quickly.
"Close the door please"
Misato walked right to her desk and sat down. As promised there was a stainless steel
decanter, which was filling the room with the aroma of fresh coffee. She smiled
knowingly, that was her first decision after being appointed Commander. She called
the head of facilities and had him change the coffee supplier. It was almost double the
price but she was quite sure it was worth it, especially on mornings like this. It had
been a running joke for years now with some of the staff that had been here from the
beginning. The first change any one noticed was a week after she took over the coffee
got better.
"Oh, come in, sit down please... uh …"Misato suddenly realized that she didn't have a
clue what this woman's name was.
"Julie ma'am" she said quietly.
"I'm sorry, coffee?"
"Yes ma'am, please"
The ritual of pouring and cream and sugar was at this point quite welcome. It helped
covered the awkwardness of not remembering Julie's name, which of course made her
pause.
'How many assistants is that now? Am I really that hard to work for?'
Julie finished, one sugar two cream and sat carefully on the edge of the chair facing the
desk, almost as if she didn't want to look too comfortable, which incidentally she didn't.
She took a sip and looked expectantly at Misato.
Misato was watching the little bubbles swirl around in her cup. After a moment she
looked up and remembered that Julie was probably scared to death.
"Oh ya, nothing really, I just didn't want to leave you alone out there with him. He's
probably pretty pissed."
The assistant managed to look both relieved and confused at the same time. Which
really isn't that difficult a task. It's a face most people manage to create everyday. It's
usually precipitated by something failing to end in disaster, and having no idea why it
didn't.
"Yes ma'am, he did seem rather upset."
"Julie?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Stop calling me ma'am"
"Yes ma'am"
"Hello? Any one there? You just did it again. Please call me Misato, at the very least
when we're in here by our selves."
Julie was now confused, bordering on terror. This couldn't possibly be the same
Commander Misato that the previous temp had warned her about.
"Yes, Misato," she breathed hesitantly.
"So Julie, your Japanese is very good, I'm assuming that with a name like Julie you're
not from around here?"
"No ma'…'" she caught herself, "No, my mother was Japanese, I grew up in Canada,
Yellowknife mostly. I just transferred in from Elsmere. My mom insisted that I learn
Japanese. It's kind of funny now that I'm in Japan she won't even speak to me in
English on the phone. Dad still tries to speak Japanese, but he's really not very good"
Misato found herself smiling, always happy to find people who still had both parents.
"How do you like it here so far?"
"I really like it a lot everything's so, so high tech, like my apartment. Elsmere is still a
little rough around the edges, you know Quonset huts and construction crews."
"mmm," Misato was far away, lost in her own thoughts.
"He's probably gone by now, I'll go make sure the office is set up, if that's ok?" Julie
said.
"Yes, thanks, I'll be over in a couple of minutes." Replied Misato.
Misato was intently watching her coffee again. She resolved to herself to try and keep
this assistant, and at the very least discover what it was that she was doing that seemed
to be scaring them away.
Eugene Morris, the UN Special Observer of the NERV Executive Office, stood in front of
Commander Misato Katsuragi's desk. He was standing since there was only one chair
in the room and it was otherwise occupied. He was a good 3 meters from the desk. He
would have taken up position closer but that scale of the room didn't seem to allow for
it.
'This isn't an office it's an interrogation room, or possibly a dance hall if the raised the
ceiling a bit,' Morris thought to himself, 'this room is obviously designed to intimidate
people, and I would say it performing admirably.'
He started to open the leather folder he had tucked under his left arm, but the
commander cut him off.
"Don' t bother opening that," Misato cut him off, "I'm about to hijack what ever agenda
you had."
"Ah, commander, I really must protest we meet in less than half an hour"
"Whatever," she said actually waving her hand in dismissal.
"I'm going to talk and you are going to listen," she continued, her voice had changed
form her normal easy going tone. It was even different from the somewhat heated tone
she'd used earlier. The words were coming more slowly allowing for the weight of
each one to be felt over the distance between herself and Morris. One of the effects of
this room that she was becoming more comfortable with was the effect that it had on
her, particularly her tone of voice. She would occasionally wonder if that was
something Ikari designed into the room, to not only intimidate the guests but also
harden the owner.
"Ah, well," he was looking for words, "As you wish Commander." He carefully closed
the leather folder, taking care to slowly zip it back up. He was stalling, trying to delay
what he surmised was a whole load unpleasantness headed his way. This wasn't new
to him, but it had been some time since anyone had dared to interfere with his own
agenda. He had risen through the ranks of UN observer Corps quickly and he was well
respected by many of his peers, and even feared by a few. It had been some time since
he'd encountered any real resistance in the course of carrying out his duties.
"Mr. Morris, I know you've been here for about two weeks now, I apologize that I
haven't made time for you earlier. Had I done that we'd have had this conversation
already and would have probably avoided that bit of unpleasantness earlier. Mornings
are almost never a good time for me." Misato continued.
'That's cause you're a drunk', Morris thought to himself, careful to keep his mien from
showing any expression what so ever.
"I am the Commander of NERV." She paused, "You are the UN Special Observer for
the NERV Executive Office. I run NERV. You watch me do it."
Misato paused for a breath, and took a sip of her coffee hoping it looked like a dramatic
pause. She watched Morris carefully to see if her word were having any effect.
"You may ask me questions, and if I want to I will answer them. If you have a problem
with that you may contact your direct superior. Counselor James will then send me a
bottle of Scotch and say something like; 'be nice to the kid Misato, he's not really a bad
guy.'"
"I have had a UN Observer of some level 10 feet behind me for the last 15 years. I have
read thoroughly all the Act governing your conduct, and I have read the Terms of
Reference regarding the Executive Office, in fact I helped to write those terms. I am
intimately familiar with what you can and cannot do, and what my specific obligations
to you are." She paused to breath and quick resumed so as not to give him an opening.
"As I'm sure you are aware there are still three forensic investigation teams wandering
around the Geofront as we speak. One of them is solely responsible for forensic
accounting, just trying to figure out where all the money came from to pay for all this."
She idly waved one hand around over her head. "The point being that there is still stuff
in this facility that you have not been cleared to see. For that matter there are still
things in here that have not been given a classification yet. Now you're a young guy,
you're obviously on the fast track, and this is a pretty high profile assignment. You
don't need me to tell you that if you do well here you will pretty much be a made man.
In fact it's not unreasonable to think that in 5 or 10 years you'll be sitting on the
committee that I report to." Misato stopped again and drained the last little bit of coffee
from her mug.
'You'll regret this day when that happens'
"And when you are sitting on the committee, and if I'm still here I'll probably regret this
day. But whatever." Now she really paused to think, wishing she had more coffee.
'Where was I going with this again?' She though to herself.
"mmm"
"Ah, pardon me Commander"
"Sorry, coffee grounds." The cold hard tone of her voice was softening. She silently
wished she could keep that up. This was probably the reason people though she was a
bitch, she could only stay cold and hard for so long, so when she couldn't keep it up she
cut the conversation off. Any time she had to play the bad guy she had to keep it short,
come in raise hell and run before she burst into tears.
'OK' she thought to herself, lets get this done.
"So any way I know you're nervous 'cause you've been here two weeks and you
probably haven't got much to report yet. I'd bet you probably just figured out how to
get here with out getting lost only a day or two ago"
He almost let his expression change, 'is she having me watched? Probably, I would if I
was her'
"Relax, it took me a while to figure this place out, I keep finding new places and rooms.
And no I'm not having you followed, I was guessing"
At that point he slipped and his eyes opened just a little bit larger, in a very muted look
of surprise.
"You probably wanted to go through some of the questions the committee is going to
ask, try and get my answers so you can send off a quick message to show that you're on
the job here. I felt it fair to warn you that I am probably not going to be much help to
your career aspirations, but I promise I will do my best not to ruin them either, I may
even give you a heads up before I do something tremendously stupid."
"So here's how the committee meeting is going to go. They are going to ask about
releasing some of the class 6 genetic materials for licensing early and they are they are
going to ask about delaying putting the class 2 material in the public domain. They are
going to ask about increasing some of the staffing level, particularly in the admin areas.
They are going to ask about outsourcing some of the prototyping labs, namely robotic
and structural engineering. They are going to ask about the rail launcher. And the G2
series."
She stopped, and silently wished she had more coffee.
"Well, am I far off?" she asked looking straight at him
"I think you got all of them, they may also ask about staffing of the Elsmere facility"
"Maybe, it depends on what I tell them about the progress of the rail launcher"
Silence Morris stood there waiting for the commander to continue, but she didn't.
'Does she want me to ask her?'
'Come on, I'm not going to tell you if you don't ask me dumbass' Misato thought to
herself.
More silence, not even echoes, which in a room this large and this empty is quite
surprising. It was moments like this the room asserted itself. With a little imagination
you could almost hear the walls screaming, "Fear me, for I am big and empty." Which
of course was quite childish, in that rooms like this didn't need to scream at you to get
their point across. You intuitively knew what the room wanted to tell you the moment
you walked into it.
Morris finally broke the silence, "Ah, so what are you going to tell the committee?"
"I thought you'd never ask. Well the class 6 genetic material is going to be split in to 6a
and 6b, some of the genes have some unpredictable interactions with the both class 4
and class 8 genes. 6a will be released early and 6b will remain classified. The class 2
material will go to the pubic domain as planned. I will review the staffing levels but no
promises. The prototyping labs will not be outsourced, but I do have a plan to
construct prototype labs up on the surface, which will eliminate some of the security
constraints on staffing and allow the use of term and contract labor. The current
facilities inside the Geofront will be converted to research facilities for the
superconductor groups. How that?"
"And the G2 series?"
"The children are fine" her voice changed again indicating that this was not a line of
questioning he should pursue.
"So," she continued, "I'll do my job, without your help, and I will try very hard not to
interfere with your job. Are we agreed?"
"Ah, yes that will be satisfactory commander." Morris said, realizing that he really had
nothing to add or to argue. He also realized that he had pushed a little too much too
soon, but he promised himself he would find out what he wanted to know, with or
without Commander Katsuragi's co-operation.
"Great, then I will meet you in the conference room in, "She looked at her watch. It was
6:52, "five minutes, that should give you plenty of time to get your message out."
Misato swiveled in her chair and flicked on the terminal to her right, hoping he'd
realize that he was dismissed. To make sure he got the message she picked up the
phone. Morris was a pretty quick guy he figured out it was time for him to leave. He
also knew that if he hurried he could make it to a terminal to get he message out before
the meeting started. Without a word he turned on his heel and started the long journey
to the door.
'God dammit this room is big'
As soon as the door slide shut she touched a button on the phone.
"Julie?"
"Yes Ma'am"
"Call Comms and have them delay all outgoing messages from Mr. Morris 15 minutes."
"Permanently or just the next little while?"
Misato thought to herself, 'devious one this Julie, I like her already'
"Ma'am?"
"Just the next hour is fine, thanks."
"Yes ma'am, anything else?"
"When Mr. Aida gets in have him meet me in the workroom when I'm out of the
conference."
"Yes ma'am."
Misato hit the release key on the phone before Julie could say ma'am again.
+++
About 60 km to the north west of Tokyo-3 was a small village. Village by Japanese
standards, anyone living in Europe, Asia or America would probably consider it to be a
small city. The village, well let's call it a town, has in disproportion number of former
NERV employee's.
The short story is that the UN locked down NERV and as the people retired or quit they
came here, to this small town in the mountains. Some people called it a prison; some
people called it a retirement community, either way people that came here tended not
to leave. Most of the people that lived here didn't care one way or the other.
This town is important because just slightly to the west of it there was a small lake. This
lake had four cabins on it, one of which was currently occupied by Shinji Ikari.
He was lying in bed. The morning light flooded in through an open window on the
south wall of the room. A light breeze was breathing life into the normally inanimate
drapes. The sunlight was entering through the window at such an angle that now
living curtains were casting a rapid succession of shadows across Shinji's face.
He stirred slightly, obviously approaching wakefulness. He breathed in deeply though
his nose. He could smell the lake; consciousness was rapidly approaching now. He
watched the patterns of light play across the insides of his eyelids. The images cast by
the light took him back to a time in his past when he was Pilot Ikari.
At times he even missed it, the warm safe feelings that he would occasionally feel while
in the entry plug. Those memories were rare. Most his memories of that time were of
terror and hopelessness, and the smell of blood.
Soon after the Failure he learned where those feelings of safety had originated. It still
seemed unbelievable, wishful thinking even, but he knew it was true. At one point
after learning the truth he used to go down to the cage and talk to Unit-01. He'd sit
there for hours, particularly after his father was shot. He knew, in his heart, that she
was listening.
The memories that came flooding back had finally pushed Shinji into full consciousness.
'Well I might as well open my eyes now," he thought to himself.
With almost deliberate slowness Shinji's eyes opened and focused on the ceiling.
'I really should paint soon, that water stain is really starting to bug me.'
He stretched his arms and propped himself up into a sitting position. He turned his
head to consider the window. The fact that the window was still open amused him
somewhat. Asuka had a habit of running around at night and closing all the windows.
He immediately came to the conclusion that there was only one of two possible reasons
for the window being open. One Asuka had forgotten, which seemed unlikely, or she
had left it open for the sole purpose of giving her a reason to leave him a nastygram,
complaining about his childish need to have the window open while he slept.
He looked around the room carefully judging the length of the shadows, trying to judge
the time. After a moment he gave up and looked at the clock. 7:04.
'Well then time for some tea' he thought to himself.
Shinji had always been a creature of habit, but since he had moved up here to the lake
some 10 years ago with Asuka and Rei he had really taken habit to new heights. When
he woke on his own it was invariably within 5 minutes of 7:00 am. The first thing he
did was put on a robe, wander out into the kitchen and put on a kettle for tea. This
morning was no different.
As he picked up the robe he gave it a quick sniff.
"I guess I'll do laundry today" he said to himself, then looked around guiltily.
'I really have to watch that, people are going the wonder, me living here by myself
constantly talking to myself.'
Shinji managed to maneuver his feat into some slippers and made his way to the
kitchen. With no real regard for his surroundings he went right to the stove, picked up
the kettle, filled it with water and put it back on the stove. Then the awareness
returned.
He took a moment to survey the kitchen. It wasn't so much the kitchen as the rest of the
cottage. It was the kitchen, living room, dining room, and dining room. Something
Americans liked to call the great room. He'd gotten that from Rei, who for some
strange reason was still fascinated with American home renovation television shows.
She always seemed to be repainting something or sewing slip covers for the chairs. She
seemed to do a lot of things like that.
'Well as long as it keeps her busy, I just wish she'd paint the ceiling in the bedroom.'
The kettle began making that distinctive per boiling noise. The one that sounded like
ants with little lead soled shoes running around on an aluminum pie plate. That was
the cue to rinse out the teapot and put in a fresh scoop of tea.
That done Shinji leaned back against the counter and once again looked around the
room, expecting to see a note form Asuka saying something about the open window.
There it was on the edge of the counter.
"Shinji,
I hope you noticed that I left the window open for you. NOW YOU OWE ME A
FAVOR! Don't forget to stretch.
Asuka"
The kettle was boiling. Shinji turned off the stove, picked up the kettle and poured
water into the teapot in one smooth, practiced motion. He set the kettle down and
headed back to the bedroom to change into his exercise gear.
Moments later he returned, with an exercise mat tucked under his arm. He went
directly to the kitchen to collect the teapot and a cup. From there he moved toward the
front door. As he stepped out he paused and inhaled deeply through his nose. Then he
waited for the various odors living in the air to make their way to his brain.
The lake had it's own distinctive scent, and it continued to evolve and it's ecosystem
matured. When he first came here it was essentially a large pond with some coy and a
couple of plants. Now it was a lake with may different species of fish, frogs, newts,
birds and an astonishing variety of plants. Apparently there was even talk of
introducing herons here, now that the seasons were beginning to return. It was
theoretically late spring, but some said that was merely wishful thinking. A slight drop
in temperature and a bit of extra rain did not a winter make. But Shinji found it
astonishing having never seen winter, or anything other than summer ever.
Shinji, Asuka and Rei had asked about traveling some years ago, to go and see the
world but the UN watchdogs had put an end to that. He could always ask again but
the three of them had become quite comfortable in their little cottage.
Shinji walked to the corner of the porch with the best view and dropped the mat. He
gave a nudge with his toe and let it unroll, then carefully stepped out of his slippers and
sat down on the mat.
As he sipped his tea he looked out over the lake and continued to breath deeply in
anticipation of his stretching beginning. He always liked having the morning shift; this
was his favorite time of day, sitting by himself on the porch with his tea watching the
sun begin its ascent into the sky. He idly wished he could share it with his friends, but
Rei, while she would sit attentively, he could never be sure she was experiencing the
same thing he was, and Asuka just wouldn't be able to sit still.
'I wonder if Kouzou would like to go fishing tomorrow,' Shinji though to himself
finishing off the last bit of tea.
He sat the teacup down beside him and began stretching the still tight muscles in his
back. Training with Asuka was never without its price.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes to Self and Passers by,
This is obviously the beginning of a multipart story. How many parts I don't know yet.
I do in fact have a plot line whether or not I can stick to it is another matter altogether.
We are obviously in the future. I have gone from the end of the regular series and I'm
not using the movies. Why is that, you're asking? Well it is because I've only see the
moves once and there're not on DVD yet so I can't reference them. As to what has
happened in the intervening years, you'll have to come back and find out for yourself.
The next chapter will fill in a lot of history and you'll see some more familiar characters.
Anyhoo, if you have something you absolutely have to tell me I'm gholaboy@yahoo.ca.
Actually any comments at all would be welcome, so write away to your heart's content.
And finally big, big thanks to Chesed and Weltall Elite for helping me turn the output
of my horde of typewriting monkeys into what I hope you'll find a palatable narrative.
Later Days,
Ghola Boy