"We've yet to determine the measure of a man. So how on earth can we begin to determine the worth of a clone?" Sir Reginald Davis, professor of philosophy at Imperial College Winchester

XV

She'd been queried for roughly an hour when Ritsuko's phone pinged. Stopping mid-sentence, Ritsuko pulled it out of her coat pocket and flipped it open. She blinked in surprise, then shook her head and laughed under her breath. "Oh for heaven's sake, Misato."

"What is so amusing, Dr Akagi?" Rei said.

Ritsuko looked up from her phone and stifled her chuckling. "It's nothing Rei. Just an old friend up to no good. Please continue."

The sun shone fiercely into room 303, enough that some might have had to squint slightly. Not her though. Rei's ruby red eyes saw clearly, if not clearer than most.

"Movement has been semi-restored in my arms and legs. I believe my injuries have healed to enough of a satisfactory extent that I may be of use again." Rei said.

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. "Tenka-san would say otherwise. You have broken multiple bones, ribs included. You'll be able to walk around soon enough but active duty is off the cards for a few weeks at least."

"I can move. I can fight."

"In great pain. Which will distract you exactly when you don't want it to and diminish your capabilities." Ritsuko's tone did not broker disagreement, but it was tinged with a hidden sadness.

She is concerned with my wellbeing. With how I feel. She wishes to ask, but knows those questions are meaningless to me.

Rei's head rolled back onto her pillow. She blankly staired upward.

"You're bored, aren't you?" Ritsuko asked.

"What I feel is irrelevant."

"Well, I'm asking."

Rei mulled it over.

Whether I am bored or not is a direct question with a yes or no answer. Unlike 'how I feel.'

"Lying in bed is not a productive use of time."

"Perhaps." Ritsuko smiled a little. She walked over to the window and scanned the horizon. Distant columns of smoke still pierced the heavens. Her expression darkened. "Our first battle and it all went so wrong. Gods help us."

"There were unforeseen variables." Rei said. "Scientists are bound to make errors in unexplored fields. Gods have little to do with it."

Those who consider themselves Japanese are curious. Not so long ago they were an enlightened people who did not take myths their ancestors used to explain natural phenomena seriously. But after that H-Field storm sank the Chinese Navy, they believe again.

She pondered over that last thought.

Belief. Not a concept I know, especially without sufficient evidence.

Ritsuko folded her arms as she stared out the window, not responding. She looked tired to Rei's eyes, more and more as the years went by. Although she was only thirty-two, still in the flower of youth, her makeup only just hid her somewhat sunken cheeks.

As her hand brushed the folds of her arms, Ritsuko winced a little. She pulled her white glove back enough to look at her palm, and grimaced.

"Your hands have yet to heal." Rei noted.

"Hm? Oh." Ritsuko pulled the glove back down. "Still a bit sore, but I'm fine."

"Two days is not sufficient for full recovery from a second-degree burn."

"Neither is it for mending broken bones." Rei falling silent made Ritsuko's smile lift a little. "I understand you spoke to the CEO's son this morning."

"Yes." Rei said.

"…did it go well?" Ritsuko didn't sound hopeful.

"I do not know." She tried to put so many different thoughts together in a usually quiet mind. Ritsuko did not rush her of course. She never did.

"He was very interested in my current status." She continued. "I do not know why. He could simply have spoken to Dr Tenka for that information. It was an unproductive conversation."

Ritsuko closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Did he say anything else?"

"He has been made partially aware of my nature, as per the CEO's permission." For some reason, Rei's thoughts struggled to translate into words, still trying to make sense of the Third Child's meaning.

Of "family."

"He placed a great deal of importance on it, even though we have not met before this day. He does not know me, and I do not know him. We are nothing to each other."

"I presume you answered as such?"

"Yes."

Ritsuko sighed. "…that might have come off as a bit rude, Rei."

"Why?"

Ritsuko opened her mouth to speak, paused, then closed it. It were as if she deemed the endeavour useless, like so many others who'd tried to explain "etiquette" to the young clone.

"Dr Akagi, may I pose a question?" Rei said after a period of silence.

"Of course."

"Do you think he hates me?"

Ritsuko whistled at that. "Can't really answer that, Rei. I only just met him yesterday."

"But you have read his Marduk report."

"Not much in there I'm afraid. You're welcome to look at it yourself." She pressed her lips together. "I wouldn't think he hates you. He did jump into Unit 01 for you yesterday, after all."

"He did not know my nature then."

"Even so, Ikari-san doesn't strike me as vindictive or cruel." Ritsuko's emerald green eyes appraised her. "You don't usually ask this many questions. Do you actually want to get to know him better?"

"No. Whatever echo of his past he believes me to be is irrelevant. Current matters are more important. I was not created to be part of a family." Rei dismissed the idea,

I wish he had not spoken of it. It has complicated matters.

"Why is there such concern for me? If I die, I can be replaced." She said aloud yet to no one.

"Somethings…" Ritsuko wrinkled her brow. "Can't be replicated, Rei."

"I can."

Ritsuko opened her mouth to reply, then her phone rang.

"Damn it." She hissed. She pulled it out of her pocket ad held it to her ear.

She pulled it out her pocket and held it to her ear. "Dr Akagi speaking…yes, hello CASPAR, how are you?" Her expression flashed between irritation and amusement. "CEO wants me in, got you…"

She frowned.

"Ayanami-san? She still can't…video call, understood." She slid the phone back into her pocket. "CEO wants me in his office and you on video call. I'll get a laptop in here momentarily."

"Understood." Rei was already propping herself up as Ritsuko walked towards the door. "…will you visit me later?"

The blonde woman paused, hand on the half-opened door. "When I'm able to." She then walked on and closed it behind her.

Rei was alone again.

Her red eyes scanned the now empty room, then moved on to the outdoors. Why the open blue sky, green hills and thick forests seemed preferable to her apartment, she didn't know. An apartment had a roof and the great outdoors did not.

That was that.

So why do I waste time staring? Is this what some would call a hobby? Rei's gaze followed a flock of birds, carried by their wings and the wind. For a moment, she wished she could fly.

The door opened and a young-looking nurse walked in with laptop in hand. Rei had seen her before but didn't know her name.

It is not important.

"Good afternoon, Ayanami-san." The nurse nodded her head. "It's the usual password to log in. All the necessary software is already installed."

Rei didn't respond as the laptop was set on her bedside table. On account of her arm being in a sling, the nurse flipped it open for her. She left almost as quickly as she came, not another word shared between them.

Rei however, could feel faint ripples in the air, too warm to be comfortable, if not frustrated. The nurse clearly preferred seeing more talkative patients.

Conversation takes time that could be spent productively.

She hadn't meant to keep this a secret, her ability to faintly feel what another felt. No one had asked and it wasn't important enough to mention. She could rarely make sense of it anyway.

She typed in the relevant passcodes and clicked on the icon for a closed network, heavily guarded from cyber-attacks and such. Not nearly as much as Nerv's holographic comms room, but enough. She waited a good twenty minutes before a direct call to Gendo Ikari's office opened.

Clicking "enter call", she was immediately patched into the office's security cameras. Compared to the rest of Nerv, the CEO's office stood out. A red carpeted floor contrasted its overall darkness. Gendo Ikari's wooden desk resided at the room's rear, slightly raised off the floor so that even when he sat down, the CEO remained above others. On the desk sat a single plasticene cup of coffee.

An argument was underway. Standing just in front of his desk, were Captain Smith and Dr Tenka. Their raised voices crackled on the speakers, whilst Ritsuko stood silently behind them. The CEO and Chairman Fuyutsuki appraised them, expressions as unmoving as stone. As ever, the CEO rested his nose on laced together fingers.

"God damn it, did you want to watch your son die last night? Because Jesus Christ, sir, you did your best." Smith snarled.

"He's right. The lad had no chance." Tenka added.

"I assure you, there was no other option." Gendo countered.

"No other option? How about you tell me this kid exists and you wanted to use him as an Eva pilot. Hell, if you'd given me a few weeks, he might have been able to last five minutes."

"That was not need to know information for you at the time."

"This is need to know information, sir." Tenka interrupted, eyes narrowing into slits. "And information I need to know right now is why Shinji Ikari does not have a medical record."

"You're kidding?" Smith's tone turned from rage to disbelief.

"I'm afraid not."

"Gentlemen, please." Gendoraised a hand to placate them. "The situation was not desirable, but the need was truly dire. Dr Akagi, please explain the extent of the damage to Unit 00."

Ritsuko stiffened at the mention of her name. She was always rigid around the CEO these days, Rei noted.

"At 08:00 hours on the 4th of May, during a routine test, we lost control of Unit 00." Ritsuko said, momentary discomfort smoothed away. "During the minute between loss of control and shut down, it caused considerable damage to the facility. Its armour had also been compromised by some ninety percent. Disregarding the pilot's status, had we sent Unit 00 out against the 4th Seraph, it would have fared far worse than the Third Child did in Unit 01."

"Yeah, I get that, but that still doesn't explain why I wasn't told about the kid. Nice deflection by the way." Smith scowled.

"Neither does it explain why he doesn't have a medical history." Tenka's growl of a voice got deeper.

Gendo blinked nonchalantly. "My son was not to be summoned for some time yet, at least until Unit 01 was in sufficient condition."

"Looks to have been in pretty sufficient condition since I got here." Smith said.

Rei blinked in surprise.

Why will he not accept the word of his superiors? A good soldier must follow orders.

"We had hoped to make additions to its armour." Ritsuko said.

Smith snorted at that.

Gendo's lip curled microscopically. "If it is of any use to you, I have the First Child on video call to remind you of the extent of her injuries. Or, would you have made us use a badly injured teenager when a far more physically fit alternative was available?"

Ah. That is why I have been summoned. The CEO has turned their talk of morality back on them, to make them understand. Impressive.

Smith loudly exhaled and turned away, half storming off before he stopped himself. Tenka shook his head in disbelief whilst Ritsuko's grip tightened around her touch screen pad.

"All other active Eva pilots are abroad and in the process of preparing to ship over here. The Third Child was our only option yesterday. Perhaps now you may understand the suddenness of events." Gendo said.

Tenka sighed, resigned yet defiant. "Sir, with respect, myself and Captain Smith are charged with the wellbeing of the pilots and their training. We need their medical histories and time to work with them in order to achieve that goal. We need these things now."

"And you shall have them. I will launch an investigation into these worrisome irregularities with my son's health, but you are at liberty to perform a general examination."

"I'll want him for that within the week."

"Same here." Smith said. "Training needs to start as soon as possible. We don't know when one of those things will hit us again, but I'm guessing soon."

"We have no inclination of when a Seraph could strike next." Kozo said.

"Uh-huh." Smith raised an eyebrow. Tenka forced down a smile at that.

"It's settled then. The Third Child's life as an Eva pilot will commence in earnest within the next few days. You are dismissed." Gendo gestured with his hand.

"Sir." Smith and Tenka smartly clicked their heels and turned to leave, whilst Ritsuko merely gave a nod then did the same.

Gendo pushed a button in his desk, and the guards outside swung open the heavy wooden doors. The three walked through them, dissatisfaction etched into their features. A brief shaft of light poured into the dark office, revealing just how spartan and empty it was. Aside from desk and carpet, there was nothing.

Then the doors closed, and light was banished from Gendo Ikari's domain once more.

Rei moved the arrow on her screen to the "end call" button but hesitated. It were as if some invisible force had grasped her finger and wouldn't let it click.

What am I doing?

The CEO and his Chairman remained motionless. A deathly silence hung on the office, like a smothering carpet of discomfort.

"Why are you still here, Rei?" Gendo's gaze did not move.

"Sir, may I ask you something?" Rei said, surprised at her boldness. Kozo tilted his head but Gendo remained unmoved.

"What is it?"

"Why did you inform the Third Child of my nature?" Rei wasted no time getting to the point, unlike many in this strange culture. "Surely he would cooperate more if kept in the dark?"

"…It was his right."

"I don't understand."

"You don't need to. Rest now, Rei. You will need all your strength for the road ahead."

As if to make his point that the matter was closed, the video connection cut. Rei looked at the black screen of the laptop, confusion rolling across her mind.

Why? Why does that not satisfy me?

It was improper to ask more of her creator. In the past every answer given was a gift, so what was so different about this one? Why did Shinji Ikari's strange question claw and scratch at the back of her mind?

His right? As the Third Child, or as your son? She closed the laptop and flopped onto her back.

This fixation is useless. Focusing on the Third Child will only distract me from my duties. I must move on and swiftly. So why can't I? Her restlessness became all the worse. The boy's sagging posture sat there in her mind. It bluntly refused to be processed and filed away.

Why were you sad? Why did it matter so much?

"Family…" She thought aloud. "It meant much to you, but what does it mean to me?"