February
Walking hand in hand, Erin and Diego strolled across the campus green as he walked her to her next class. For Erin the last few weeks had been blissful, filled with wonderful moments as she had felt herself treated like a princess once again by her courting prince, and she very much liked that feeling. For his part Diego had so far proven to be charming and attentive, almost too perfect in her view, but she had fallen hard for him.
The strolled together making small talk as she moved towards' Erin's work-study workplace at the campus computer center, a tall red and grey steel building not far from the science classrooms where they normally attended class. Once reaching the front of the building they stopped and Erin prepared to go to her shift in the MAGI control center.
"Will I see you tonight?" Diego asked her.
"Of course," Erin said with a smile. "I just got this for a few hours and then I can make it back home. Where did you want to go?"
"I feel like, something…special tonight," Diego said. "Do you know the Grand Hotel on Cambridge Bay?"
"I know about it, although I've never been there."
"Well," the boy invited, "they have a French restaurant at the top that is quite magnificent, with excellent food and spectacular views of the city and the bay."
"Sounds like you've been there already, did you take another girl there?" Erin pried.
"Ah, no. I simply do my research well," Diego answered with a broad smile. "As I want the best for you."
"Well, good food and an excuse to get dressed up are always good ways of bribing me."
"Then I will come and pick you up around 8 o'clock then?"
"I'll be waiting," Erin said with a smile.
"Yes, and, if you don't mind, please try your best to look stunning tonight. I want it to be special."
"Well, alright then, just for you I'll wear something…different."
"I look forward to it, my love," said Diego and he bent over for a kiss, which Erin promptly gave him. She had meant to give a simple love smack on the lips but Diego took over and make it wet and lingering, notwithstanding the sudden curious glares of other students and staff passing by them as they smooched in broad daylight. Erin found the whole thing a bit embarrassing.
"Diego!" she protested in a soft tone. "Not here!"
"Then I will save the rest for tonight, mon ami."
"Fine, I'll see you tonight," Erin told him, releasing her from his grip and making her way to the front doors of the computer center. "Bye," she waved just slightly and entered after using her security card to get through the entrance.
"Bye, my darling," he said in return, blowing her a kiss. But Erin didn't respond and instead just walked straight in to the building.
On her way to the computer center, Erin thought to herself. I like him a lot but sometimes he just overdoes it, be nice to tone it down for a change once we're more steady. On the other hand, it's five-star French food tonight, so I can bear with this act of his just a little. She allowed herself a smile and her thoughts went to exactly what outfit she would pick out for tonight.
Much later that afternoon in the student café, Rei was seated along with David Zumwalt, or "Zummy-kun" as he was now christened by her, studying together with the American boy in what was now a twice weekly ritual for the in-between classes. Zummy had his laptop computer set up on the table as they both reviewed their math assignments for the next class.
"So x=zy+34, and then co-signs like this," Zummy pointed at the screen with a stylus. "But I'm still not able to determine what the tangent of x is when multiplied by ab."
Rei concentrated on the screen, quickly reviewing in her mind the mathematical formula and running down the proofs. While mathematics wasn't a favorite with her, she was still highly competent at it nonetheless.
"It's here," she took the stylus from Zummy's hand and then marked on the screen along a chain of proofs. "Move c to pi times 3ab."
Zummy took a look and saw his mistake. "Oh, good catch! Here, I'll change that," he gently took the stylus from Rei's hand and made the change on the screen, and then adjusted so the entire chain of proofs for the theorem was correct and in order. "Great, that's all done." They both leaned back on their chairs and gave each other a slight smile.
"Glad to have all of that over with," said Zummy. "You're pretty good at that, ever think about switching your major?" Rei shook her head. "I'm happy where I'm at."
"Genetics seems like a very complex science."
"It is, but it's interesting."
"What do you want to do with it when you graduate?"
"Research scientist," declared Rei. "I already have an offer in Japan."
"Already?! You're just in your first year of school."
"It's the same project I'm already part of," she explained. "So It's desirable that I can continue."
Zummy smiled at her. "Wow. I'm impressed. I'd like to go to Japan too."
"Why?"
"Number one in the world for robotics," the boy explained. "They're building robots in places like Tokyo-2 and Osaka-2, not exactly in Wisconsin. I'm even learning to speak Japanese now! By the way, where in Japan are you from?"
"Hakone."
Zummy's voice went up with excitement. "Hakone! Are you serious? That means you lived right next to Tokyo-3!"
"I lived there once too." Rei said.
"Oh, wow. You didn't say that before! That means you saw them, you must have!"
"Saw what?"
"Well, the Evangelions of course! I mean, you were living so close to the action."
Rei thought to herself for a moment. I cannot reveal who I am to him, but I do not want to outright lie to him either, Zummy-kun is a friend that I am beginning to trust. How do I handle this?
"I did see the EVA," Rei finally offered.
"Cool. How up close were you?"
Rei had to admit to herself that this conversation was becoming increasingly ironic. "Close enough."
"That's great," replied Zummy, who was elated. "You must have some really crazy stories, right? I mean the war really tore up the city and all, but I think you're the first person I've met who's actually seen one up close. So did you see them in action?"
"Yes."
"Wow, awesome! I know that they're not quite robots but I've always been interested in the Evangelion ever since I found out what they were. Tried to read everything I could about them. Is it really true that the pilots were teenagers?"
"Yes, that was true," said Rei. "I went to school with some of them."
"Woah, even more awesome! Reiko, I'm so glad I met you!" Rei felt somewhat embarrassed at the attention, even blushing a little in front of Zummy. But she also felt something else at this moment, something that made her physically queasy.
"We've gotta talk about this," Zummy excitedly went to his laptop and started to open up a new screen. "Being as you've actually lived there, I want to confirm a few things I've heard. Is that okay? Reiko?" Zummy looked at her face and suddenly she seemed uncomfortable, her face paler than it usually was.
"Reiko, are you okay?"
She looked at Zummy, herself a little confused at what was going on with her body. Then suddenly she knew, even as it was a new sensation to her.
"Excuse me," she said to him suddenly. "I have to go." Rei quickly scooped up her bookbag and left in a rush, leaving behind her empty tea cup and plate. Zummy just watched her go out without even saying goodbye. I hope she wasn't spooked by what I brought up.
Erin stood in front of the bathroom mirror, adjusting her makeup and getting herself ready for what she hoped was a big night. She had done up her hair with aqua gel and then pinned it up, and then put on a new pair of drop-down jeweled earrings. Also she wore a new dress, a long-sleeved black lace mini-dress with a very off-the shoulder look. She was determined to pull off a sort of "sexy princess" look this night and not look too young for once. Putting on additional hairspray, she shook her head to be sure her hair was holding right, then touched up her deep red lipstick.
There. That ought to do. Erin puckered up and made a kiss. The doorbell rang.
Looking at her watch, she saw that it was only seven-thirty that evening. "He's here early," she said aloud. "Just can't wait to get going, can he?" The doorbell rang again.
"I'll be there in just a minute!"
Erin finally went to the door and checked the camera on her side of it. Standing in front wasn't Diego however, but instead it was Rei, wearing a cold weather jacket over a sweater and long skirt, and a wool cap on her head. She wasn't supposed to come by tonight, this is all of a sudden.
"Rei?" Erin said as she opened the door. Rei looked at her, her face paler white in color than usual.
"What's wrong?"
Without saying anything, Rei lifted up what at first looked like a large bandage and showed it to Erin. The bandage had a deep red spot on it.
"You're bleeding? Shouldn't you go to the hospital?" Erin searched around, trying to see where Rei was wounded. "Where's it coming from?"
"From here," Rei said quietly, and pointed towards her lower abdomen.
"We should….oh wait a minute!" Erin exclaimed, suddenly realizing what was happening. "Quick, get inside!" She pulled Rei in by the arm and slammed the door.
"Is that what I think it is?" Erin asked Rei. Rei nodded.
"Oh my God! Does that mean the surgery worked?"
"I think so," Rei told her, then said "I feel terrible."
"Don't you have medicine or anything?" Rei then showed Erin a bottle of pills. "Foch-sensei told me to take these." Erin took the bottle and read it. "It's for the cramps, but if this is your first time you're gonna need more than that. Here, sit down!" As Erin dove into the kitchen Rei found the couch and plopped down on it, her face expressionless.
In the kitchen Erin grabbed something from the pantry and then went about making a soup with it. "It's really hard that first time for some people," she told her. "Takes getting used to." Rei didn't say anything in reply.
While she worked on the soup, Erin grabbed her mobile phone and dialed a well-worn number, speaking on the phone as she cooked. "Hi, Dee." Diego's voice came over the line and they spoke in quiet tones as Erin worked.
"Yeah, um, about tonight. I've got to break our date I'm afraid." Rei could hear the conversation from the couch but didn't do anything but just listen to Erin speak on the phone.
"No, no, it's not anything wrong. It's just, well I've got a friend who suddenly got kinda sick and I've got to take care of her tonight. So she's here at my place now." Diego's voice was heard replying on the other end again.
"Yeah, sorry. I was really looking forward to this too but not tonight. Maybe we raincheck it and go again tomorrow night?" Diego's voice came back and Erin listened as he proposed something else.
"Mount Washington? You mean in New Hampshire? When?" Diego continued to explain his proposal as Erin listened further.
"Um, yeah, I don't have any tests next week to study so I should be able to leave tomorrow. I've gotta let my other friends, you know the ones who wear black suits and follow me around all the time know, but yeah I can probably do it."
"Yeah, I know it's really pretty with the winter snow up there, I've seen pictures. I'd love to see it." Diego then spoke further while Erin quietly listened.
"Two nights? Yeah, sure, I'm okay." There was some assurance from the other end and Erin then sealed the deal. "Okay, It's set. We'll leave tomorrow. Thanks!" Diego was thankful too.
"Yeah, we'll then I'll catch you later Dee. Love you! Bye!" Erin then hung up the phone and said softly to herself. "I hope I don't regret agreeing to that." Checking on her stovetop she saw that the soup was done and she poured a portion into a bowl, then took it and walked towards Rei on the couch.
"Here, try this!" Erin gave Rei the warm soup and Rei smelled it first before drinking it. She wrinkled her nose at the scent.
"It's chicken soup," Erin explained. Rei looked at her with surprise.
"Oh, it's not real chicken! It's just the artificial flavor! There's no actual meat in that thing, but it will work the same way." Reluctant, Rei nonetheless took a small drink from the bowl with both hands. Then came something Erin thought she was never see: Rei made a frown, looking as if someone made her drink sewage.
"I know it might suck but you need this. Drink up, okay?" Rei did as she was told and continued to drink the soup despite her aversion to the taste. Erin watched as she slowly finished the bowl, then took it from here and returned to the kitchen. "Sorry about that, but think of it as medicine," she encouraged. Erin then washed the bowl and walked to her bedroom to go fetch something for Rei. In a minute she returned, a large blanket in her hands.
"Here, keep yourself warm," said Erin as she spread the blanket over Rei where she sat down, then Erin sat next to her, tucking her in. Within another couple of minute Rei's face color became more normal and less pale, and she appeared more relaxed.
"How do you feel now?" she asked.
"Better," said Rei. "Thank you."
Erin smiled at her. "Don't mention it!" She patted Rei on the head, being affectionate as comforting as she could.
"Did I interrupt anything? You were going out tonight." Rei asked her.
"Yeah, with Diego. Anyway, please don't worry about it, I've got my priorities." Rei didn't say anything in return but simply gave Erin a slight smile and nod, and then settled into the couch snuggled under the large blanket Erin had put over her.
The two girls just sat there for a couple of minutes, and Erin watched as Rei became sleepier and finally succumbed to the sandman as she closed her eyes and tilted her head towards Erin. By the time she was fast asleep Rei was resting her head on Erin's shoulder.
"You really are something, aren't you?" Erin whispered as Rei slept, and she then gently spread the blanket over both of them on the couch. The night hadn't quite turned out the way she had expected, but just the same it was its own kind of wonderful experience Erin realized as she watched Rei's face while she slept.
Somewhere in the Canadian northern territories
The helicopter buzzed the treeline as it sped just over the forest of snow-laden green fur trees. The sky was a pale shade of grey and white clouds, with a strong wind carrying snow flurries that sprayed into the open doors of the chopper as it flew.
Inside of the cargo section of the helo were six men, all wearing winterized white combat fatigues and boots, and with bulky backpacks positioned in front of them. Each of the men had hard faces from weeks of intensive training but prepared themselves for what would be perhaps the toughest experience yet for them. Five of them had beards but one did not, and in fact had no facial hair at all.
"Good day, lads," said an older man in a white set of camouflage fatigues seated across from the six men. "Kind of you all to join us for our winter outing. Now, we're going to fly you a bit outside the training area to get you started," the instructor explained, "but this whole thing is rather simple. All you have to do is make it back to base in one week. That's easy, right?" There was some nervous laughter among the six training candidates.
"Did I mention that it hasn't snowed this much in this part of Canada in the last twenty years?" the instructor continued. "So I hope you like winter weather, as you've got plenty of it now." The men started to check their gear, making sure that they had everything needed for the exercise.
"Like I said, you've got one week to make it back," the instructor continued. "Those who show up on time pass the course. Those who don't, don't. But fifty kilometers through the snow and mountains shouldn't be too much for you given everything else you've survived up to this point. If you think it's not going to work out for you ladies, you've all got a flare gun with one shot, just pop it off and we'll come and get your sorry ass out of the snow. Only one shot, so don't cock it up!" Several of the trainees checked to be sure they had their flare guns, most of them having them strapped to their ankles or belts.
"Now, any last questions?" the instructor asked. He looked towards the trainee at the end of the row, seated next to the open bay of the helicopter who had raised his hand.
"What do you want, Mountain Boy?"
"I forgot my snowboard," said Patrick. "Can we go back and get it?"
"Forrestal, you're such a cheeky son of a bitch," the instructor replied. "How 'bout you go and fetch it yourself!" The instructor made a hand motion to the pilot to lower the helicopter, and the chopper maneuvered to just a few meters off the snow, stopping and hovering.
"First Stop!" the instructor announced. "Forrestal, you get off here. Hand me your rucksack!" Patrick did as ordered, and handed the instructor his backpack as he stood up and prepared to leave the helicopter.
Suddenly the instructor slammed the backpack over to the other side of the chopper and before Patrick could try and reach over to grab it the man gave Patrick a good kick in the shin, pushing him out of the open door and outside of the helicopter. Patrick landed on the snowy ground outside, his wool cap nearly being blown off by the rotor wake.
"Hey!" yelled Patrick at the instructor. "Where's my backpack?"
"That's the surprise I was saving for you," the instructor yelled back at him from the helicopter. "You get to go without it!"
"Fuck!" Patrick shouted. "Don't I at least get anything?"
The instructor tossed something at Patrick and it landed in the snow a meter away from him. "That's all you need, Mountain Boy! Now I'll see you next week! Cheers!" Before Patrick could say anything else the helicopter accelerated and took off, leaving him there in the isolated patch of snow as the instructor waved goodbye out the door opening.
"Assholes," he said under his breath as he watched his ride fly over the horizon. At least they didn't take my parka and boots while they were at it. Patrick looked around to see what the instructor threw out and found it with it's black handle sticking out of the snow. Picking it up, he saw it was a survival blade, an American-made Whestone, which he knew was a high quality steel knife. Patrick quickly checked the knife and discovered the handle screwed off, and inside he found matches, a compass, bandages, and fishing line and hooks.
Reassembling the knife handle and then strapping it to his belt. Patrick looked around at the barren but breathtaking snow-covered wilderness around him, on one hand glad to finally be in the remote wild, but on the other knowing that beneath the great beauty of the land around him was danger, danger that he needed to overcome if he wanted to stay alive.
Patrick drew a deep breath and watched as his exhale make clouds in front of him, knowing that it was bitterly cold where he stood. He needed to get moving, if nothing else just to keep warm.
"Well, I guess it can't get much worse than this," he said to himself as he started the long trek south. In the distance he then heard the distinctive howl of a timber wolf, followed by two or three more. He wasn't alone after all, but a smile crossed his lips as he began to hike out of the landing zone and into the wilderness. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt he was finally in his element and even despite icy cold, steep mountains, and carnivorous land mammals he was going to get through this and return to his angel waiting for him at home.
The following Tuesday Zummy sat in the student café, books spread out over a table and notebook computer switched on and studied while he waited for his lunch partner. He had welcomed the now-routine sessions with the girl he knew as Reiko Kaji and found her an interesting person as well as a highly efficient study mate who seemed to know the answers to nearly anything related to the sciences. Additionally, Reiko seemed not to care a whit about Zummy's social status and while she still was well-attached to her absent boyfriend, to Zummy it was nice to have a girl as a friend and a gracefully beautiful one at that.
Rei was late on that particular day however, and without a partner Zummy simply continued with his study while munching on chips and drinking iced coffee. At one point he got bored with it and then went switched on his IP-masking software, and then started up a new desktop screen for his main hobby outside of school.
"Hey, there!" Zummy turned around and saw Erin, wearing a bright red coat and white scarf along with a black skirt and black boots, she waived at him as she stood just a few feet away.
"Hi, Erin" he replied. "Reiko's not come in yet, I guess she's running late. Do you want to sit down?"
"Sure," she said and Erin dropped her bookbag on the bench as she took up a seat next to Zummy.
"Long weekend?" he asked, trying to make small talk as she unpacked a notebook from her bookbag.
"Um, you could say that," she said with a forced smile. "Kind of eventful." Zummy didn't think much on the answer and went back to his notebook computer while Erin opened her own notebook and turned it on.
While she waited for the laptop to boot, Erin took a look at what was on Zummy's screen and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What's that?!" she pointed.
"Oh! Oh, that? That is EVA-CHAN."
"EVA-What?!"
"EVA-CHAN. It's a members-only group cloud that exchanges info on Evangelion. Mostly rumors and stuff, inside information, that sort of thing."
"Wait, this is an internet group about Evangelion?"
"Not just any internet group," explained Zummy. "We only allow members who have information that's not in the public eye, or have something to contribute. They let me in about two years ago when I wrote my article about Evangelion during high school, because they thought I had a lot of insight into what it was and what we still don't know about it."
"So it's not a public group, then?"
"Oh, no. There's rumors and stuff about the program but sometimes the information might be sensitive, so we keep the board restricted to only those who can contribute. There's maybe like a hundred or so here, and it uses hyperdynamic IP masking to keep us out of the main Internet so the curious can't just barge in."
Erin was now quite interested. "But you're telling me about this…."
"Well, um, I've been showing it to Reiko, and she told me you were living in Hakone with her so I figured you're both sort of qualified."
"Wait, you showed Rei...I mean Reiko this? What exactly did she think?"
"She just said it was interesting what people though of it. She corrected some of my geography about the area, otherwise she didn't really say much."
Oh, boy, if you only knew who "Reiko" really was. "So, anyway, what exactly do you guys talk about?"
"All sorts of topics come up. Some people go through the Katsuragi book and find things are inconsistent or where it's not really clear, and it's vague about a lot of things. Other people talk about what happened After the Tokyo-3 battle between NERV and the UN, and speculate what happened with EVA. The Alliance keeps a lot of secrets about the period after the Battle of Tokyo-3, but it's known that they used Evangelions in China, Russia and even Norway, as well as in Japan, so they're still operational. Then there's what they're doing with them now. They say NERV is just a research lab now, so where did the Evangelions go? That sort of thing."
"Aren't you worried that you're going to get in trouble with the authorities with this stuff?"
"Well, I figure a lot of what we talk about is spitballing so it's just stuff we guess that happened, it's not like we actually know it. But there was this one source of info from when it was all happening that's archived there and it's gots lots of details that don't show up in the Katsuragi book. Here," Zummy said as he went to another screen window, "Let me show you."
Erin watched as Zummy went though several screens, at one point inserting a portable USB drive into his laptop in order to input an entry code. Erin noted to herself that this was very sophisticated security compared to what she thought most teenagers knew about computers.
"We keep this part of the site really under wraps, mostly because it's pretty shocking if it came out in the general public," Zummy commented. "But those of us in the member circle discuss this all the time, trying to verify this or that or find anyone else with similar stories. Lots of us think this guy was just making crap up but actually I think its pretty solid info. Here we are."
Zummy pointed to the screen as he ran a parallel translation window to the first window he had opened. The first window was nearly entirely in Japanese, and to Erin looked like an early-generation blog that was heavy on text and light on images and pretty presentation. But it was packed with information, even as her own knowledge of written Japanese wasn't all that great she could make out much of what it said and it gave her pause.
"I've got a translator open on it now, but actually this was so interesting it prompted me to start learning Japanese myself," Zummy chuckled. "Anyway, this is from a guy in Japan with the handle WARMASTER. WARMASTER apparently was very close to the Evangelion program, not only the EVA but also the pilots. Let me show you an example." Zummy clicked on a link and a video file popped up, playing a very short 10 second film, but what was on the film caused Erin to gasp in shock.
"See? This is the actual entry plug for an EVA, and he's there and there's this other kid there, and then there's the pilot right there," Zummy pointed at the screen, showing the backside of a boy wearing a blue and white plug suit. "You can't see the faces but it's clearly teenagers in this thing. So somehow WARMASTER or whoever shot this video got into an entry plug during an actual battle!"
Erin knew all too well the video wasn't fake. While she couldn't make out the faces, the silhouettes in the video clearly matched Shinji Ikari with his blue and white plug suit, and Toji Suzahara with his black tracksuit that he wore just about everywhere. She also knew the entry plug interior and doubted anyone without inside knowledge could make it look so real like it was on the video, wraparound holographic display and all.
"Where did he get this?"
"There's more than this," the boy continued. "Here's another video: do you remember the battle in Tokyo-3? This guy got close enough to get very good video on the Final Angel, or whatever they call that anomaly that grew over Tokyo-3 itself. If you watch just regular press video of that you can't make much out, but this guy's view was great and you can clearly see it!" Zummy played the video and Erin studied it, knowing perfectly well who it was.
Still trying to play along, Erin was determined to find out more about what Zummy knew regarding EVA. "It looks like a girl," she said.
"Exactly! This wasn't an Angel, at least not like the others. This one was human. Ginormously white. Huge boobs, but something very different. And then she just goes 'poof!' That's what I'm saying, NERV and the Alliance still hide lots of stuff about the program for whatever reason."
"Does anyone know who WARMASTER actually is?" Erin pried.
"Definitely Japanese, likely a student, and maybe was a pilot himself," said Zummy. "They think he's a pilot because he also fills in some details about what happened after the battle for Tokyo-3 with the EVAs and all. He's the one who said there were more EVAs that came after the bottle that fought for the Alliance, with American and British pilots. He's also the one that said that an EVA survived NERV-2 being blown up, although personally I think that's BS. No way anything got out of that alive."
Erin fought to control her emotions on hearing about the fate of her former home. He doesn't really know anything, she told herself, can't fault him for that. "So what happened to him?"
"Nobody knows. Most of us think that somehow he was caught putting out info and then they tossed him into prison. Or maybe he died or something. Anyway, we've archived the files here on a 'Need to Know' basis, which was part of WARMASTER's original conditions for the info."
Thinking about everything that Zummy told her, Erin pondered who WARMASTER could have been and a creeping realization formed in the back of her mind that left her cold.
What should I do? She wondered. This all seems important and considering that someone was after Rei and still might be it's possible this could be how they found out she was here at school somehow. Knowing how close Zummy and Rei had become friends made Erin even more suspicious of Zummy at that moment, but she continued to keep up her act.
"Could you show me more of this?" Erin asked him in an innocent tone as she batted her eyelashes. "I mean, do they talk about the other pilots?"
"Oh, yeah!" Zummy closed the WARMASTER screens and then opened a new set of windows. "There's a few things here. Of course most of the pilots' names are supposed to be fake, their identities secret but people know them as First, Third, Fourth Child etc. And then, of course, there's Asuka." Zummy opened another screen that contained a massive image library, with hundreds of photos of Asuka Soryu Langley.
"Holy smoke!" Erin exclaimed.
"Yeah, she's pretty hot," said Zummy as he clicked through images of Asuka, some of which were from press events that she attended when she first publicly came out as an Evangelion pilot two years before, but many of which were modeling photos from her somewhat successful side career. "All that and brains too. They said she had her college degree at twelve."
"Eh, she's pretty smart. I'll give her that."
"Did you ever meet her? I mean when you were living in Japan?"
"Uh, ah, well, sometimes you'd see a girl with red hair walking around Hakone and everyone would shout 'Hey, Asuka!' but it was just a girl with red hair. It was kind of the local joke." Erin smiled broadly, hoping Zummy would buy the story.
"I see. But now that EVA's been shut down there's very little about the pilots, and even Asuka's gone quiet now. I guess they're all tying to have normal lives."
"I think I would too if I was one of them…"
"Anyway, there's lots of stuff on the site, anything regarding Evangelion," said the boy. "There's all sorts of rumors too, or stuff that people think happened or maybe knew someone who saw something that happened."
Erin put on her best innocent look. "That all looks very interesting, actually. Do you mind if I check this out a little?"
"Oh, sure!" Zummy was happy to oblige, "just don't post anything please, we're logged into my own account. If you want I can set you up with your own account, if you're interested?"
"Do you think I'd qualify?"
"You work with the MAGI here at school and you lived in Hakone, so that's kinda sorta a connection. That kind of stuff is what gets you into the inner circle. So why not?"
"Cool," Erin scooted over closer to Zummy and took control over the notebook as he watched for a moment while Erin parused the site menus. "Hey, Zummy?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm kind of thirsty, can you do me a favor and get a cup of water from the service counter?"
"Oh, sure! Here, I'll go get it." Erin watched as Zummy went to go fetch the water and then quickly keyed instructions on the keyboard. She then turned her attention to paging through the different discussion topics, wondering if any one of them might have information on current pilot whereabouts.
Within the topics directory page, Erin found dozens of subjects that each had their own folder and messaging board. Given that the website was run entirely by people who were outsiders to the EVA program Erin smiled to herself a bit when she saw some of the discussion topics, some of which were wildly off the mark.
EVA WRECKAGE FOUND IN NEW YORK HARBOR TURNS OUT TO BE SUNKEN STATUE OF LIBERTY
I WAS AMOST AN EVA PILOT BUT MY MOM WOULDN'T LET ME SIGN UP
UNITS 00, 01, 02 AND 03 ARE REALLY FOUR BARONS OF HELL
COULD AN EVA UNIT ACTUALLY FLY IF IT WANTED TO?
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO NERV02? SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE?
EVA PROJECT IS ACTUALLY FAKE ENTIRE ANGEL WAR FILMED IN GODZILLA STUDIO
NERV IS DESCENDED FROM NAZI PROJECT TO TAKE OVER WORLD, ASUKA LANGLEY IS GIRL CLONE CROSS BETWEEN TOJO AND HITLER
MY BROTHER WAS IN UN FLEET SAW EVA ON ANGEL BATTLE IN THE OCEAN
FOURTH CHILD SPOTTED AT OSAKA-2 KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN
WHO WAS WARMASTER? PILOT? CREWMEMBER? OR JUST LUCKY KID?
GIANT ANGEL ANOLOMY OVER TOKYO-3 WAS VISION OF MASS HYSTERIA
I JUST BUILT MY OWN MODEL KIT OF UNIT-01!
YO HEY THE FIFTH CHILD WAS GAY
ASUKA SIGHTING IN PARIS DEUX CORDON BLEU
WAS SEELE CONSPIRACY ACTUALLY THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS ALL ALONG?
Erin had to really suppress giggles as she paged through the topics. They really don't know anything at all, do they? She opened a few of the folders and scanned the postings, which seemed to come from other kids like Zummy who were curious about EVA but just hung onto any rumor or "secret" that they heard, unsubstantiated or not. A couple of the folders had real info, such as telephoto shots of Asuka or Toji taken from someone's camera while they were going outside, but nothing that could really be considered truly secret.
If I ever need a good laugh I'll just go through this whole thing, Erin thought to herself. She kept paging through the topics.
HOW MANY EVA UNITS DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHT BULB? EVANGELION-RELATED HUMOR
MY CLASSMATE'S BEST FRIEND'S GIRLFRIEND ONCE MET A STUDENT WHO SAT IN CLASS NEXT TO EVA PILOTS IN TOKYO-3
SHIN-GHIBLI STUDIO DIRECTOR ANNO ANNOUNCES NEW EVA-RELATED MOVIE
I SAW EVANGELIONS IN CHINA – VIDEO FOOTAGE!
IT IS POSSIBLE TO ACTUALLY GO TO THE NERV HQ GEOFRONT NOW?
EVA UNITS POWERED WITH BLOOD TAKEN FROM GIANT ANGEL
I'M SLEEPING WITH A REAL EVA PILOT AND HERE'S PROOF!
That last entry focused Erin's attention, and she opened up the folder. The first posting was from someone with the user ID of "Senior Padrote." Erin knew enough Spanish to know that the meaning of "Padrote" was stud.
SENIOR PADROTE: I am attending school in America and found there one of the secret American EVA pilots that many of you have heard rumors about. She asked me to keep her identity secret but in return I physically satisfy her very well.
Upon reading the posting Erin became very sick to her stomach. It's not Diego. It can't be….
EVA UNIT-69: No way dude! Everyone knows all of the pilots are Japanese. Besides, she's probably some girl that just lied to you in order to get free dinners and nookie from you.
SENIOR PADROTE: I tell you this is on the level. I have proof!
SHODDYGELLION: Photos/video or it didn't happen. Did she show you her EVA unit? Did you go through the entry hole?
SENIOR PADROTE: She did live in Japan, that I confirmed. There are two other "secret" pilots that I met there as well. But if you want proof that she is legit pilot here it is:
Below the posting Erin saw a photograph, one that featured a set of A10 neural interfaces on a headband. She saw that the color of the headset was orange and gasped audibly.
"Are you alright?" Erin turned around and saw Zummy holding a drink for her, the one that she asked him to get for him so she could secretly check the website. Inside Erin felt more sick and very cold.
"Excuse me," she said as she suddenly got up out of the chair to go. With one hand she grabbed her bookbag and her coat and scarf, but with the other she snapped up the USB drive that was plugged into Zummy's laptop, and hoped her distraction continued enough to where the boy wouldn't immediately notice.
"I've got to go. Bye." Erin rushed out of the café, leaving a bewildered Zummy behind still holding her drink.
In less than fifty steps Erin was out of sight of the café and out of earshot of everyone else. She struggled to fight back tears, as she didn't just feel sick but dirty as well. She had given all of herself to someone whom she trusted, yet again, and had been betrayed in the worst possible way. Looking down at the stolen pin drive on her right hand, Erin made a fist and kept the drive inside her palm as she rushed to the campus computer center. I'll cry later but now "Mister Stud" you'll see what happens when you rip a girl's heart to pieces. Prepare to die in a fire!
Ah, finally another installment. I'm frightfully busy as usual with work and such. Hey, I've got a kid in medical school and writing EVA stories doesn't pay those giant invoices, but somehow I still find the time to do this. A lot happens in this chapter, and yes we've got drama of all kinds going on so please read and enjoy and we'll get to another installment soon. Cheers!