End of the Future, Part 10
Big Trouble in a Little Planet
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it).
Former Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment
In the future
Shinji wasn't sure what he had expected Asuka to do, but hysterical laughter was not in the list, that was for sure.
When he realized the cause was the presence of the new arrivals, Shinji had pushed everybody out, asking them to go to the next-door apartment; and sat down with her while her shoulders shook with each guffaw. Five or six minutes later, the German-raised Pilot finally began to wind down. She had the hiccups.
"Are you… are you Okay, Asuka?" he looked at her, worried that his only companion for so long could be losing her mind,
She tittered, shaking her hair away from her face. She had discarded the A-10 clip connectors long ago, and cut her hair short. Shinji wasn't sure why she had done that, when before Third Impact, both her long red hair and the A-10 connectors were such an inseparable part of her, she prided on both to an almost sickly degree. He couldn't fathom why she had left both behind, and long and bitter experience dissuaded him from asking.
"No. I'm not okay, you Baka! I just hallucinated more people! No one else had come out from the sea! And now not only three Americans appear here, right in Tokyo-3! Ayanami is back! Just like she was before detonating herself and somehow surviving that!" She broke into a new fit of laughter, she tried to say more, but couldn't form the words. "It's not enough for me to see Misato, and Hikari and the others, now I'm seeing people I don't know too!" she sobbed, pushing Shinji away.
At the Apartment Across the Hall
"Um…" Marty began, "what now?"
Jennifer looked in the kitchen, and found the stash the survivors had stored there. "There's water, instant soup, lots of cans of tuna and vegetables, coffee, tea, and jerky. Not the best diet, but I guess the perishables went bad without electricity for the fridges…"
Ayanami sat primly at the kitchen table, her left hand over the right, waiting patiently for Doc to finish pacing and mumbling. Her crimson eyes followed each of his movements.
Finally, Doc stopped.
"What exactly happened here, Miss Ayanami? I need to know the what, the how, the who, the where and the when; everything you know about Second Impact. The unabridged version, please."
"It is a very long story, Doctor Brown."
Hill Valley, California, USA
Wanda's Dinner (1)
Present Time
Dr. Egon Spengler waited at the bar. Not the kind of establishment he liked to frequent, but the man he was waiting for asked to meet him there, something about the lemon pie they served there. While he waited, Egon used his time productively, jotting down notes for possible projects to discuss later with Dr. Brown.
"Hey, You! Four eyes!" A gruff voice interrupted his train of thought. He turned around to face an older guy, with a pugnacious look in his eyes, short blond hair, crooked smile, and wearing a green sweatshirt and pants, the chest of his shirt, visible under the sweatshirt, was emblazoned with the logo of "Biff's Auto Detailing"
Brazenly, the guy took Egon's notes and examined them with dismissive air. "A brain, Uh? I'm looking for somebody to do my taxes, and guess what, butthead? You just got recruited."
'Great,' Egon though, 'A bully." It was clear the man had no idea of the differences between accounting and exotic physics.
"Keep on looking, I am not an accountant." He grumbled, and with a sharp movement, Egon snatched his notebook from the man's grip.
"You don't get it, butthead. You are gonna do my taxes, period. End of discussion."
Egon put his notes in the inside pocket of his jacket. "No. I won't. There is no discussion. Now go away." At this point, most of the customers were beating a strategic retreat. Egon noted this, and filed the fact in his mental analysis process
"Or what?" The man leaned threateningly over Egon, who was busy interpreting the clues his opponent practically oozed with each movement. 'He is one or two inches taller than me, but he is clearly out of shape. Clothes chosen for comfort instead of exercise. Used to get what he wants through intimidation of weaker people. Most probably a washed-out athlete, school thug, or both."
"Or I will be forced to recur to stern measures." Egon straightened up, planting his feet firmly on the ground, and surreptitiously moving his hand towards the plate that still had half a sandwich.
The thug laughed, "You are out of your deep, nerd. I'll have to make like a teacher and show you a lesson." He popped his knuckles in a threatening display.
'It's this guy for real?' Egon asked himself. "Be so kind to use the right metaphors, it's 'Teach you a lesson" not "Show you a lesson."
Predictably, the man lunged towards Egon. The scientist simply sidestepped to the right, grabbing the plate and hiding it at his back, while he kicked the man's back foot, making him stumble forwards. The guy managed to grab the seat Egon had been on, preventing his fall.
He turned around, with a murderous look in his eyes, "I'll make you eat those notes!" He growled, pushing himself off the seat.
Before he got completely up, Egon struck him with the plate on the side of the head, stunning him.
Still, Biff Tannen had some fight left in him, and threw a punch at -Egon, who caught the arm at the wrist, and pulled. Biff lost his footing, and fell heavily over a recently vacated table, his sweatshirt collected the scraps of food left in the plates.
Egon took two steps back, preparing himself for the next attack. Biff took a fork, the tines pointing downwards.
The former Ghostbuster took an empty serving tray from another table, and used it to strike at Biff's hand; on the return, he struck at his face, hitting him sideways. Enraged, Biff tried to tackle Egon to the ground, where his own weight would work to his advantage, but only received another two hits to the face.
Groggily, Biff still mumbled unintelligible threats against Egon, his eyes crossing. He stumbled back, one step, two, three, and crashed against a man entering the dinner. He was tall, his brown hair cut in a mullet, he wore a sleeveless shirt, with a drawing of a Chinese demon and a princess on the front, jeans, and soft leather brown boots, the handle of a knife clearly visible over the top of the right boot. "Whoa, man! You okay?" He asked, holding Biff straight by the shoulders.
"Shut up, you hippie." Biff mumbled, turned, and tried to punch the man. The new arrival caught the fist, twisted the arm, and put Biff in a painful headlock.
"Adjust your attitude, Buddy. As Jack Burton likes to say, "Don't start none and there won't be none." Now go home, and sleep it off." He pushed Biff outside, he stumbled a few steps until he missed the step at the end of the sidewalk, falling down like a log and promptly fell unconscious; his face directly over a dog's turd, and the rest of his body on a puddle of dirty, stagnant water (2) to the malicious glee of more than one passerby. A teenager had a Polaroid camera at hand, and snapped a few pictures.
Back in the dinner, Egon adjusted his glasses and clothes, and looked around, locating the waitress who had served his food. "My apologies, Miss. I'll pay for the damages." He reached for his wallet.
"Sure, Doctor Spengler. But it was worth just to see Tannen brought down a few pegs." She smiled happily at him. Egon cleared his throat, was she flirting? "I'll bring you a big slice of freshly baked lemon pie, on the house." She almost sang the last few words. The tone reminded him of Janine… maybe he should actually start a collection of spores, molds, and fungus? (3)
"Spengler?" The man in the white t-shirt asked, "Dr. Egon Spengler? Just the man I'm looking for!" The man had an easy smile.
"Mr. Jack Burton, I presume." Egon extended his hand, and the other man shook it with enthusiasm.
"The very same! I'm a big fan of your work! I wish you guys had still been in business at Frisco a couple of months ago. I got in a really big trouble at Little China (4), and you would have been a big help then." He sat next to Egon, and took a menu. "But as your friend Jack Burton always says, what's done is done. Anyway, I got your stuff, ready for delivery, all the way from beautiful Canada to sunny Hill Valley, California! You mind if I get something to eat? The road was long and tiring. And the guys at customs were real sticklers for paperwork."
"It's not a problem, Mr. Burton. Order whatever you want, Brown Enterprises will include it in your expenses."
"Music to my ears, Dr. Spengler!" Jack Burton smiled, and began to read the menu.
Tokyo-03
At the Apartment Across the Hall
In the future
"The Moon? The Moon? Your story begins with the planetary collision that created the Moon?! 4.5 billion years ago?" Once again, Doc paced around the room, gesticulating wildly with his arms.
"You gotta admit, Doc. That is a really long story." Marty observed, while Jennifer tried to contain a nervous laughter. Ayanami simply watched them patiently.
Doc turned sharply towards Marty, fixing him with a glare. "Oh, yes. Yes, it is." He breathed deeply, and turned back to Rei. "Please, go on, Miss Ayanami. I didn't expect to hear about alien life, but I'll reserve my opinion for later."
She continued. "The two Seeds of Life should have gone to different planets, not even in the same solar system. Due to unknown circumstances, both seeds crashed on the proto-Earth. Adamite life is incompatible with Lilithian life."
Doc nodded, encouraging her to go on, while he took notes. "Adam and his corresponding seed were neutralized by one of the Lances of Longinus. This stopped Adamite life forms, later known as Angels, from being created; the ones already created went into hibernation. So it was Lilithian life forms that spread over the Earth, once conditions allowed it to survive and evolve."
She paused, "You are Lilim. Children of Lilith. Gifted with Free Will and the capability to evolve, at the cost of a brief life; while the Adamites, children of Adam were functionally immortal, but entirely devoid of adaptative qualities. I trust you'll realize both are incompatible with each other."
All three time-travelers nodded grimly. Doc commented, "Life or Knowledge. No wonder they named them after the Biblical angels."
"Uh? What do you mean, Doc?"
He sat down, and rested his head on his hand, "If I remember my old Bible studies correctly, Angels lacked completely the ability to decide for themselves. They were like robots. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge gave humans Free Will, but at the cost of their immortality. All this seems like an allegory."
Rei commented, "Several creation legends were amazingly close to the truth."
"I see." Doc said, leaning forward and lacing his fingers, letting his hands hang down. "But what happened to release the Adamites?"
"Before World War II, a secret cult found a cache of artifacts of alien origin, along with copies of early or unknown versions of biblical documents. They studied the information, and were convinced the documents they found were a book of prophecies, and set to make sure those prophecies came to be, manipulating the events to their favor. Said cult was named SEELE, after the German word for Soul. After studying the documents, they staged the discovery of the human written scrolls they deemed safe for public release."
"When was that?" Doc jotted down another note.
"The staged release was effected in 1947."
"The Dead Sea Scrolls!" he exclaimed.
"Correct. The next decades, SEELE amassed power, both political and economic, pushing forward their agenda. Once they were ready for the penultimate stage of their plan, they sent an expedition to the Antarctic to awaken Adam, releasing the Angels from their hibernation."
"Second Impact, right?" Marty asked, grabbing Jennifer's hand.
"Correct. Awakening Adam, even for a moment, vaporized the Antarctic ice covering, altering the planetary axis, causing tidal waves, and the death of two billion human beings, plus uncounted animals and plants."
All three time-travelers paled. Jennifer looked sick, and Marty wrapped her shoulders in a one-armed hug.
Ayanami continued, "This series of catastrophic changes to the world caused several wars, of different intensity. By the time SEELE managed to manipulate events to end those wars a year later, half the human population of the world had died due to both second Impact direct effects, and the resulting wars. By then, SEELE was in complete control of the main governing bodies, and the UN gained unheard influence, turning into a de facto, planetary government, under SEELE's control."
Doc nodded grimly. "And they began the construction of this place, a fortress prepared for the enemy they themselves had unleashed on Humanity. Biblical plagues, made to order!" He grunted.
"The Secret Dead Sea Scrolls included the way to partially direct the Angels' movements. Their order of arrival was predetermined by the Scrolls, although the timing was unclear. The Third Angel, Sachiel, arrived fifteen years after, in 2015. The scenario proceeded almost as planned. I, or rather, the part of me known as Rei Ayanami Mark 2, was to face Sachiel in combat, but factors, unknown by me, caused my Evangelion Unit to enter in a berserk state, and I was grievously injured, incapacitating me for combat."
Marty waved his hand, "Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean Rei Ayanami Mark 2?"
"The entity code-named Rei Ayanami was a demi-clone of Yui Ikari, one of the scientists in charge of the Evangelion Project. She was absorbed into Unit-01 during the activation tests. Rei Ayanami was cloned from heavily modified human DNA, hybridized with Angelic matter."
"Man…" Marty wiped his forehead, "That's heavy."
Doc patted Marty's shoulder, "Yui Ikari? Like Shinji Ikari? Were they related?"
"Yes. Mother and son. The father was Gendo Rokubungi, who took his wife's surname."
"So…" Jennifer wondered aloud, "you are kinda like Shinji's mom?"
"Only in a very broad, genetic sense. I rather prefer to think of myself as a half-sister."
"Got it." Jennifer nodded.
"About that Mark 2 stuff? What do you mean with that?" Marty insisted.
"The original Rei Ayanami, Mark I, was set up by Gendo Ikari for a murder-suicide."
"WHAT?" The three Americans exclaimed at the same time, with a synch level that would have been very useful against Israfel, should they manage to use it at the controls of an Evangelion Unit.
Former Katsuragi-Ikari-Soryu Apartment
Meanwhile, Shinji had managed to calm Asuka a bit. The former pilot still alternated between calm and manic laughter, but the periods of calm were getting longer each time.
Of course, when he thought she was almost calm enough to talk, they heard three loud voices coming from the next-door apartment.
Author's Notes
(1) I had all the intention to do this scene at Lou's Cafe, but in 1985, the place is Lou's Aerobic Fitness Center! In the movies version of 2015, it is the Cafe '80s. So I made up a proper sounding name for a similar place.
(2) Sorry, no manure, but close enough!
(3) I'm of the opinion Egon only said that to diplomatically reject Janine's advances. He hesitates for a moment before mentioning his supposed collection.
(4) Couldn't resist to name-drop the movie our friend Jack Burton was in!