Moving On
by deckman1063
Chapter 4
The morning dawned cloudy and damp. Washu had moved the house back outside during the night, so that Noboyuki, who was staying behind, wouldn't be stuck in subspace in the lab. The pilots woke to the sound of what they thought was thunder.
"Huh? What's that noise? Baka! You awake? You hear that?" Asuka began groggily, but woke quickly as she continued, sitting up and leaning over the screen separating her from her roommate. Shinji made some grunting noises as he reached out to turn off the alarm in his dream, only to come wide awake as he grabbed something that definitely wasn't his clock. The resounding crash from outside was the only thing that saved him from the consequences of having violated the personal space of the now very awake redhead. She detached his hand from her shoulder and ran to the window.
The view spread before them was something that neither of them was prepared for: a fairly large spacecraft was buried nose-down in the pond in front of the house, with the remains of the wooden dock bobbing gently in the ripples. Washu and Ryoko were already outside, gesturing at a tall blond woman with a coppery complexion. The new arrival was dripping wet, bowing, and holding her pillbox hat in front of herself. A knock at the door and a "come in" from Shinji brought Mayuka in to get the teens for breakfast. "Don't worry about the commotion outside, that's just our resident Galaxy Police officer, Mihoshi. She's a First-Class Detective, and really nice, but she can't seem to stop crashing into the pond."
"Ohh-kayyy. She does this all the time? And no one ever noticed?" Asuka asked.
"Nope. Grandmother has always fixed things up quick enough."
"How often does she visit?"
"She lives here when she isn't on patrol."
"Oh. Hey, Shinji!" shouted the redhead as she turned to the boy, who was still at the window staring at the crash scene.
"Yes? What do you want?" Shinji returned as he looked over his shoulder at the girls by the door.
"PRIVACY! I need to change!" Asuka exclaimed, pointing toward the hallway.
"Oh! Okay. I'll get me stuff and change in the bathroom," the brown-haired Third Child offered as he started rummaging through the small pile of clothes next to his futon. Washu had given both teens several sets of clothing before they had gone to bed. "I'll see you downstairs."
"Yeah, yeah, get moving!" shot the Second Child, as she made shooing gestures and turned to go through her new wardrobe.
"I'll see you both downstairs, then," said Mayuka as she left the two newest members of the household to prepare for the new day.
---
By the time they sat down to breakfast, the dock had been repaired and the ship was nowhere to be seen. Mihoshi was introduced to the pilots, and everyone sat down to a good meal. After breakfast, though Mihoshi stood up and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "I have an announcement to make regarding the current situation on Earth," she began as she took out a small holo-sheet projector and began reading from it. "By order of the Galaxy Police, under section 42 paragraph 3.7 of the Galactic Code, Earth is hereby declared a quarantine area until the nature of the events which led up to the elimination of nearly everyone on the planet are investigated. I will be starting the investigation shortly, by taking statements from everyone here."
The resultant burst of questions and shouting lasted several minutes.
---
"Washu, for the record, did you have anything to do with this disaster?"
"NO, I did NOT! I barely saved the family as it was!" stated the angry red-haired genius, glaring dangerously at Mihoshi. The blond GP officer pushed a button on the recorder cube set on the table in front of her and continued, oblivious to the daggers Washu was staring at her.
"Washu, do you know what did happen?"
"No, not exactly, but I will transfer a summary of my data to you. The two people we rescued, Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu, may have more information. Tsunami knows, but good luck getting anything out of her."
"Tsunami is here? I didn't see her on my approach?" Mihoshi looked confused - she knew of Sasami's connection to the Juraian patron goddess, but no one else outside the royal family knew. To the galaxy at large, Tsunami was a legendary ship that had the same name as the goddess, nothing more. Washu had been truthful, but deliberately vague.
Sasami piped in, cutting Washu and Mihoshi off. "Yes, Tsunami is here. That is how Ayeka and I arrived yesterday. She parked herself in sub-space."
"Oh. Okay," the copper-skinned detective said, thinking for a moment and pressing more buttons on the cube. "She is subject to the quarantine too, then! Oh my!"
"Good luck stopping her, she goes where she wants to, you know that," was Washu's comment, as she winked at Sasami, who was trying not to giggle.
"That's right! I meant to ask before - Tenchi, why are there all these boxes and bags? Are we moving?"
The tall, dark-haired farmer, shrine keeper, and prince shook his head at his friend's apparent cluelessness. "Mihoshi, we were going to relocate temporarily to Jurai. With the GP quarantine, though, that isn't going to happen, at least not today, I don't think. Grandpa? Washu? What do you think?"
Washu responded first, Yosho was deep in thought, "this does complicate matters, no doubt about that."
Yosho, with his hand on his chin, gave his opinion, "while we could leave, and defy the quarantine order, doing so will give the GP the authority to add whatever planets or facilities we contact to the quarantine. I believe that the prudent course of action would be to honor the GP request, for now. With Washu's data, hopefully the quarantine will be lifted soon."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, considering the new situation, when a loud beeping from Mihoshi's wrist communicator interrupted the group's thoughts. A tinny voice from the device began, "Mihoshi! Mihoshi! Please answer!"
The detective fumbled at her wrist for a moment then spoke into the unit, which had projected an image of her main ship's AI above her arm, "Yes, Yukinojo? What is it?"
"Mihoshi, the quarantine sensor net you deployed has detected an object leaving lunar orbit. It is unknown, matching no recorded profiles. Shall I move to intercept it or track and wait for your arrival?"
"What is the object's course and speed?" Mihoshi was suddenly all business, which seemed out of character to the two EVA pilots as they watched the proceedings intently.
"It is accelerating steadily, and its course appears to be aimed at the fourth planet of this system. If present acceleration projections are followed, it will arrive at the planet in three days if it intends a flyby, and eight days if it decelerates to enter orbit."
"Track it, then, but inform me immediately if there are significant deviations from your projections. Oh, and, um, what does it look like?" ended Mihoshi, reverting to her earlier state of seeming absentmindedness.
"Transmitting image now, real time visual sensors."
The image of Yukinojo's interface module was replaced by a grainy, highly magnified image, but it wasn't too grainy for both teen pilots to instantly recognize the green and purple humanoid form of Evangelion Unit 01, holding what appeared to be the original Lance of Longinus. The artifact had been imbedded in the Lunar surface ever since the battle with the Fifteenth Angel. Only the soft thump of Shinji fainting to the floor disturbed the group's fixed attention on the ominous scene in the projection.