Gendo watched over steepled hands, but his thoughts were elsewhere as he watched te evangelion rise on the screens over the bridge.
"And now your wager comes to fruition, will a gorean warrior be what it takes to save us all? And the existence of life on Earth is your stake. You never were one to bet small, Yui."
"Do you think she can hear you?" His Vice Commander and former teacher said from behind his right shoulder.
"I am sure of it."
Light.
Pain.
Crusted sleep made opening his eyes difficult. His arms were sore and tingling complaints reached from his shoulders to his hands when he raised them to wipe his face.
Opening his eyes fully just made it worse. As his surroundings came into focus he could tell that he was indoors and someone, and at the moment his most intense desire was to find and slowly kill them, had painted the entire room white. This was only increasing the glare of sunlight through a window on his left which had brought all the pain his eyeballs could register and was slowing filling his skull with the same.
Shinji covered his eyes with his hands and slowly opened his fingers. His head still hurt, but at least after a few moments he could see more clearly. A white room with white curtains pulled back to let the light in. A panel on the white ceiling glowed with dimmer and unnatural light. White bedding and a metal bed frame. To his right was a white table with drawers set in it down to the floor. It was on wheels. Upon it was a white carafe and a cup.
He sat up, garnering widespread complaints from his limbs. The last clothes he recalled wearing, the new tunic he purchased the day before Tarl and he began the journey that brought them here, was gone. In its place was a white, he was starting to see a theme here, gown that was closed in the front. If the rush of cool air along his spine as he lifted his trunk from the bed was any indication, it was open in the back.
He pinched the gown between his thumb and forefinger and rolled it between them. It was made of paper.
Shinji swung his legs to the right, off the bed and setting his feet to the cool tile floor. He picked up the carafe, removed the top, looked then sniffed. Clear and with no odor. He set the lid of the bedside table and dipped one finger tip-in before touching it to his lips.
Looked like water, tasted like water, did not smell unlike water. He looked at the door to the room. Lightweight, probably wood. This was not a prison. The door was not made to keep someone in, there were windows, it was clean. Tarl had told him that the color of physicians on Earth was white. Back home they wore green.
So he was in hospital. Or that is what someone wanted him to think so he could drink this poisoned water but if he was unconscious this hypothetical enemy could have done what they liked anyway.
Shinji replaced the lid on the carafe and poured a cup full. Now it was just waiting until someone came to speak with him. Or perhaps hospitals were different here and one was expected to go find the physician oneself. Tarl had never said anything about it.
Whoever had taken the liberty of undressing him had not replaced his hair tie, an annoyance that was making itself known as he settled with his elbows resting on his knees to take the weight off his burning back. And so he winced, with his dark hair hanging about his face as he sipped the tepid water.
His arms hurt too but the pain wasn't so bad spread around. At this point some hot paga and the girl who brought it was what he wanted. He got a knock on the door.
"Knock knock!" Came clarion from the hall. A young woman's voice. Why was she imitating the sound she had just made with her knuckles?
"Um, Tal?"
He could hear lock work clicking as the door handle turned and it swung open. A young woman entered wearing the tan military uniform he had seen before, though unlike the men who had escorted him to the Evangelion cage she wore white stockings instead of trousers. She had short brown hair and dark eyes. She was carrying a stack of items.
"Oh Right, Tal! That's a greeting, correct?"
"Aye."
"I'll remember in the future, thanks." She set her cargo down on the table by the water and his cup then held out her hand. "I'm Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, um, I was actually one of the people talking to you over the comm in the Eva."
Shinji shook her hand by the wrist. That was usually something between men, the gesture was different between male and female, and he had thought the captain being a warrior was the exception. Tarl had warned him repeatedly that Earth conflated the sexes though. So he would remember this, everyone shakes hands on Earth.
"Yes, there were… many voices."
"Yeah, with everyone on the channel I am sure it got confusing." He let go first and she followed. "Did I do that correctly?"
"Er, yes?"
"I'm sorry, I am sure I am going to be asking lots of questions that are going to sound strange. I've been assigned as your cultural liaison to help you integrate. Think of me as a resource, I am going to be giving you a lot of information and I can answer any questions you may have about life on Earth. I am also going to be the one handling getting you enrolled in school, setting up a bank account, basic things. At the same time I really do want to learn about you and where you come from. We will be meeting once a week, more if you like aaaaand I look forward to working with you."
Shinji put it to the fact he had only woken a few moments before. He knew the words, mostly. He understood, in the abstract, what they meant put together in the order she had spoken them. As a whole though, the statement was not forming into a cohesive thought. She had not really even spoken it as a separate clauses, it was all just one big rapidly spoken mass of syllables.
There was a silence for a while. It was difficult to really formulate a response to that. His head tilted to the left.
She was the one to break the tension.
"I'm sorry." She began, one hand hanging at her side, the other scratching at the back of her neck as her eyes avoided him. "I was up late practicing that and I guess I kinda blew it. Truth is I don't know why I was assigned this task but I am glad I am. I was only read in that your world even existed a few days ago and it is amazing to think there is a whole 'nother world out there with its own unique people and cultures."
"It is my job to be here for you, to make living on Earth as smooth a transition as possible for you. At the start that is just going to mean setting you up as a legal person, your identity, getting you started in a normal life. I don't know what comes after that and I am sure you are probably going to get tired of talking about your home or maybe it was boring to you, but I for one would love to hear about whatever you have to say. I hope we can be friends."
Shinji smiled. That was what had confused him so much before. She was speaking words but not meaning it. Then she had spoken earnestly and he had understood.
"That was how we shake hands, yes. When we say tal though…" The words were difficult to find, and Shinji raised his hands in front of his chest, moving his fingers as if he was manipulating a tricky puzzle. This concept was so natural, so native to him it was a challenge to find the words, even in his second best language, to express it.
"It is a greeting, we say it when one approaches another, but it is not on its own a welcoming. If we were to meet under different circumstances when I said tal, I would raise my hand…"
He lifted his right hand to shoulder height, with his palm facing towards himself and the back of his hand facing the lieutenant.
"To show you I hold no weapon."
"Oh… that is a very… um, practical thing. Hand up when unarmed, got it. Well, I brought some things for you." Maya moved closer to the bed and started grabbing things from the stack she brought in. "Now you have been unconscious since yesterday morning. What do you remember?"
"Er, very little. I remember the battle beginning, Captain Katsuragi said kill the angel, I had a knife and then… then… I'm not sure, give me a moment if I may have your favor."
Maya raised a hand and Shinji stopped.
"You know what? Don't worry. We will do a full debrief later, the commander wants to give you a couple of days to settle in before we start piling the whole world on your back. Now, this is just your school uniform, you will receive a stipend to purchase other clothing. We, um, took your measurements while you were asleep."
Shinji noticed Lieutenant Ibuki had color in her cheeks when she talked about taking his measurements. Well at least the women of earth weren't dead.
He looked at the clothing. It was folded up inside clear wrappers that made noise when touched
"Also got some, um, y'know underwear. We ended up having to cut off your, your uuuumm…"
"Loincloth I believe is the word in english, Lieutenant."
"Yes! Uh, right, so shoes, all we had was combat boots so, uh that's what you get. You know how laces work, right?"
"Aye."
"Oh my god, I just realized how patronizing that must have sounded I am sooo sorry."
"It is fine lieutenant, I am sure you meant no offense. I have worn laced shoes before."
"Uuuum, let's see, okay socks, underwear, shoes, shirts pants…" She said, counting off the items with a pointed finger. "oh a belt aaaaaand yeah. Right, okay, I am going to step out now so you can, you know, get dressed."
As the door slammed shut, Shinji thought about what Tarl had told him, that the people of Earth, so often conflicted and confused about their desires, were often mentally ill. These poor neurotic people.
The clothing itself was simple enough. He had seen all the garments before in one form or another though never brought together in this way. The clear wrappings were frustrating until he just drove his fingers through them and pulled until the hole was wide enough to extract the item.
There were two shirts, a close fitting one and a one that was looser and closed with buttons in the front. While he knew that buttons existed, it was only the third time he had ever done them up himself. Again, Tarl had told him that they were widespread on Earth but for some reason just not popular back home.
The snug undergarment was just strange feeling, but the inside of the trousers was a good deal coarser than he wanted exposed to skin, so he put it on. It was white and had a flap stitched into the front, he presumed for relieving himself. Which was odd in itself, why wouldn't he just pull them down?
The stockings were white cotton and came to his calf and the pants were grey wool. The belt, rather flimsy and he wondered how it was ever going to hold a sword up, was leather dyed black with a buckle so slight it may as well have been thick wire. The woolen trousers were grey. They were stiff, new.
The boots were also new, though well made from what he could see. The black leather was thick, smooth and even. A good tanner and a fine cobbler, invaluable allies to have. He would have to ask of them when he needed a new pair of sandals.
The whole fit well on his frame, though the button up outer shirt was a bit loose. He was tightening down the laces of the boots, his right foot up on the bed frame, when there was a knock on the door.
"Shinji? It's Maya, are you dressed?"
"Aye, Lieutenant."
"Glad we got your sizes right. You can call me Maya by the way, if you like I mean." The young officer said as she re-entered, leaving the door open. "Actually that brings up a good question. How do your people handle calling someone by name? Is it proper to use someone's title and a last name, or the first name, or just on or the other?"
"A free man or woman should address their superior's by their given rank and title. Family names, last names that is, are uncommon where I am from at least. If I had cause to, I used Tarl's and called myself Shinji Cabot."
"Not Ikari?"
"What is Ikari?"
"It's your name. You didn't know?"
Shinji just shrugged. "No. I suppose it is a fine name to have, but I did not suffer for lacking it."
"Well, once Captain Katsuragi gets here we can move on and get your documents sorted. She was actually supposed to be here so we could meet you together but I guess she is running late…" There was a pause as Maya exhaled and dropped her shoulders. "... again."
"Is this common?"
"The captain still has trouble finding her way around the facility from time to time, I am sure she will be here soon. Do you have any questions while we wait?"
"Yes, actually. These new clothes are very nice, my thanks, however I would like to retrieve my effects before anything else. I will admit, I feel under dressed in a new place without my sword."
"Uuuuuh, about that…"
She was doing that thing where she scratched the back of her head and avoided his eyes again. She was nervous.. guilty? Something of that sort. It did not bode well for having his things returned, he knew that much.
"Aye… Maya?" Shinji said, taking a step forward, towards the lieutenant. She actually gasped and took a long step back.
"Y-yes?"
"You were saying something about my possessions. Where are they?"
"Well um, we…" She stammered. Maya jumped when the young man with the long hair and the far too intense gaze jerked suddenly to look around her. He had heard a familiar sound. Heeled boots tapping on the hard tile floor. Dark hair and a flash of crimson confirmed it was the captain.
"I am so sorry, got…" Misato began, frustrated and tense.
"Captain Katsuragi can answer your question better!" Maya said, quickly stepping aside and putting Misato in the line of fire.
"I can what now? Oh, hello Shinji. Your uniform looks nice."
"Where are my things?"
"Excuse me?"
"Maya…" He said, waving towards the short haired woman. "Was just going to tell me where my things were, but then said you could answer the question better."
"Oh, well your clothes and stuff are in storage for safekeeping."
"Very well, there are just a few things I wish to retrieve."
"That can probably be arranged. We are going to be busy today but I am sure we can grab a few things if you need them."
"Jula, Jashi."
"Um, what?"
"A thousand pardons, I meant to say glorious, thank you."
"Well, let's be about it then. Follow me!"
The captain waved him out the door and he fell in behind her beside the lieutenant, Maya as she preferred. He wondered why they were following the woman who had trouble finding her way around but put it up to a rank and its privileges.
They had stopped for the third time for the captain to consult a map, he kept to himself his thoughts on how ridiculous having a map was when it was already written on the walls. Maya stepped a little closer to him and spoke softly.
"Your language is very beautiful. I heard some more when you were speaking it during the attack."
"My thanks."
"I don't mean to probe but you haven't asked about your teacher and…"
"Tarl has business of his own to attend to. I knew he was to leave shortly after we arrived, to return home. When you said how long I had slept I assumed he had left."
"Oh… Sad that you didn't get to say goodbye though."
"All that had to be said between us was. I will miss him but I will not regret unsaid parting words. It is a temporary separation if he does his duty and I do mine."
"That is a very nice way to think of it."
The first item was a haircut. Shinji objected, he liked his hair just the way it was. The women countered that his hairstyle would not fit in. And so an argument began.
"Because it doesn't even fit with the boy's dress code at your school."
"School? I completed my studies, I thought I was here to fight for you. Why did you give me a uniform if I am not going to be a soldier?"
"There are a lot of reasons okay? And it is a school uniform... Look, it is a battle strategy. You have like lists of rules and stuff, like an art of war?"
"Certainly."
"Then where is the best place to hide something? In plain sight. So you are going to look like all the other 16 year olds."
"Yes, Ma'am."
That had made sense and so he submitted to the barber's shears. The noise they made was quite off putting though, it made his jaw rattle.
The lieutenant, Maya as she preferred, took great care in explaining what a camera was and how there would be a bright flash but he did not need to be scared. Shinji let her go on for some time before speaking.
"I am curious. Tarl said the newer devices of this kind compiled the image as pure information instead of burning it onto a medium with chemicals, which sort is this?"
"You… You knew what this was the whole time?"
"Tarl told me much of earth."
"Then why did you let me… I must have sounded like I thought you were stupid!"
Shinji shrugged his shoulders and grinned at her. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself."
The captain had not been in the room and for the moment Shinji was pleased to find Maya as she had been in the moments after they met. Honest and free of pretense. And with a little fire in her this time.
"Ooooh, you just stand there and let me take the picture!"
Identity cards, documents among documents, a new and false history was created for him. It bore grains of truth. He was to be Shinji Ikari, estranged son of Commander Gendo Ikari. He had been living with a private teacher for many years. No mention of military training. It was intentional, he was told.
"Any sign you are the pilot of the Evangelion could make you a target. This is in your best interest, it is for your own good." The captain told him.
Shinji grumbled under his breath. Who were these Earthlings to decide his best interests without his input.
"What was that?" She asked.
"Yes, Ma'am."
So it went on. Walking from one identical office to the next. Put your mark to this, take this, read this, hold this, put this on. It was enough to make him light headed… Hold on that was only supposed to be a figurative statement.
"Er, Captain…"
"What is it Shin- Oh my god!"
And then things were dark.
When there was light again, his head hurt.
"Doctor Akagi!"
"Hey Rits, he's waking up." The captain said before leaning over him. "Hey there Shinji, you okay?"
"I felt dizzy, light headed.."
"Tired?" He recognized the voice. The blond in the white coat, the physician. Maya had said Doctor Akagi, that must be her name.
A pale hand pushed the captain out of his view and this doctor was looking down at him. Her very dark eyebrows were striking against her blond hair. He had barely noticed the cosmetics on the faces of the other women, but that only made this doctor's bright red lips and lined eyes stand out more.
"Yes, I felt tired."
"When was the last time you ate?" She asked, fingers feeling along his wrist. He did not attempt to stop her, he had been examined before.
"Before Tarl and I boarded the craft to come here."
"Did he tell you the gravity was higher here?"
"Yes, I could feel it as soon as we arrived as well."
The doctor nodded and stood up, stepping away from him. Without the crowd right over his head, Shinji took the opportunity to lift himself up on elbows. He was on the floor still, in the same hallway where he had blacked out. His head hurt.
The doctor was already walking away, not even looking at him to speak!
"You are going to feel weak, your muscles are not used to this gravity. Eat and make sure to stay hydrated."
The captain and Maya helped him rise. They took him to a dining hall, never straying from his side, as if he was going to drop again. They put him at a table and Maya asked what he would like to eat.
"I mean, I know you may not know what things are called, but would you like meat, fish, vegetables? Is there anything you are allergic to?"
"I suppose I should have what a soldier might eat. Meat would be well. I suppose I will be building new muscle too. Water would be best to drink but if I may be honest…"
Misato watched him push a hand back through his newly short hair and look up at them with a smile. His teeth were white and straight, and the way he looked at them was quite charming.
"I would love some wine or ale."
And suddenly Maya was doing that nervous thing where she rubbed at her neck again.
"Uuuh, Captain do you want to field this one? Please?"
"Alright. Shinji, could you have those things where you come from?"
What a bizarre question.
"Yes." he answered tentatively, nodding. "Tarl said they existed here, did I not use the right word? Wine is made from a fermented grape you see, and ale from…"
Misato raised her hand with her palm towards him, fingers spread.
"I… I know what they are, trust me. Okay, so it exists we just don't have it here."
"I see, very well. Perhaps later then, is there clean water?"
"Yes we have clean water. Clean water is not a problem here, we have it almost everywhere."
"That is very good."
"Yes. Soooo the other thing about alcohol though… So we have laws. You know what laws are, right?" Misato said, carefully choosing her words. She had seen this before and these conversations could go either way. She just did not know this kid well enough to tell which way he would go.
"Of course captain. I am civilized, I come from a city, I know what laws are. What is wrong, what is this about?"
"Well, one of these laws say you can't drink alcohol until you are a certain age or older."
"I… see. I am not of that age then?"
"Yes, by about 4 years."
"I see." There was a sharp intake of breath through his nose, and a long, slow exhale. "Then water, please."
"Ice?" Maya asked.
"Pardon?"
"Do you want any ice in it?"
"You have ice… to put in your water?"
"Yes!"
"Why...?"
"To keep it cool."
He looked at the both of them, as if they were the mad ones from an alien place. Which to him, Maya supposed, they were.
"Yes, I shall try this water with ice in it, thank you."
Earth foodstuffs, it turned out, was much like those back home. There were little details certainly, but the red meat was red meat, and the fish was fish, the fruit was fruit, and the greenery was greenery. Some of it was a little bland, but Shinji assigned the fault there to him and not the cooks. He knew his life had been privileged and spices for every person in a unit would be an extravagance. At least they had salt. He even made a small adventure and tried a local seasoning, a brown sauce in a little bottle with a red top. The top was tapped with holes to allow the souce to be poured with the container closed.
The flavor was quite agreeable and he felt refreshed after eating and several cups of the cold water. Maya had been charitable to call it cool. He had taken too much into his mouth once and the nerves from his jaw to his crown lit up like he had eaten fresh snow and bit down on a rock at the same time. What had Tarl said their word for it was, brain freeze?
The young lieutenant left them after the meal. The captain said she herself would be taking him to lodgings which had been assigned to him. They were not on site. As they walked away from the dining hall, Shinji wanted to show the captain not only was he civilized, but well educated about Earth.
"Will we be driving in a car to get there?" he asked, and in return was pleased by the somewhat surprised look from the captain.
"Yes we will. Did Tarl tell you about cars too?" What had surprised her had been the way he asked. He had seen and rode in the transport trucks without issue, he obviously knew what an automobile was.
"Yes, and I read of them in books."
"Well my car is very different from the trucks you rode in the other night. Some people are a little scared their first time in a fast car."
"Captain, I have walked this city as if a god and ridden tarns so quick you feel the blood rush from your limbs as they turn. Riding in a fast carriage powered by fire holds no fear for me."
"We'll see. They are actually mostly electric now, I had to convert mine."
"Electric, functioning on a charge like harnessed lightning."
"Exactly."
Twenty minutes later, as he was panting for breath and untangling himself from the seat restraint, lightning seemed a very apt metaphor. It was violent and destructive. And the captain, she was smiling, sometimes even laughing, enjoying herself as he had been thrown back and forth, right and left in his seat.
He had never been raised much for religion, and the Priest Kings were far away, but Shinji touched his fingers to his lips, then pressed his hand to the ground and thanked the sardar and all the spirits of this land and whatever gods may live here that it was over and he had survived with his body still whole.
"Oh stop being a drama queen. I only let the rear end out on the switchbacks to show you some fun."
"The Priest Kings take your fun!"
He stood up next to her and looked upon a short tower. Well short by the standards of Ko-Ro-Ba. Counting the windows it appeared to only be ten levels. The building nor the grounds were in good condition. They proceeded, carefully, inside and found it both unoccupied and the same state of disrepair.
"You know what, you aren't staying here."
"Where am I going to go then?"
He had watched quite interested as she took a small black device from her pocket, opened it at a hinge and, after pressing at tiles on one side, began to speak into it. And it spoke back!
Tarl had told him of telephones, but not something so small it was concealed in a pocket. The power such a thing held was mind boggling. To speak at any distance, instantly and clearly. What wonders these Earthlings had and used so casually. How did it work, he wondered, what gave it power, how did the message pass unseen through the air. He wanted to ask of this, and more.
In his wonder he had quite forgotten to listen to the whole of the conversation though…
"Don't worry, I won't put the moves on him! Bye Rits." She said and snapped the phone shut.
"Okay, you are going to come stay with me. We just need to do some shopping first and then we can head home."
"Does that mean more time in the car?"
"Yes."
"You know, this building is not so bad…"
"Get in the car!"
"Yes, Ma'am."
They visited a market next, at a thankfully more sedate pace. The captain called it a market anyhow, but Shinji was not so sure. It was a single merchant, inside and seated in front of his wares, with many different kinds of wares. Usually just one or two varieties of each which was just strange in and of itself, but it was all wrapped up in paper or more of those clear pouches like his clothes had been. How were you supposed to pick the best ones?
He was silent as he followed the captain through the strange little market. It was always better to observe a new place and their ways before acting too boldly. It was a real lesson from Tarl but he told himself that is what he had been doing with a divided heart.
In honesty, he was still wary of this place. The market had reminded him of his own failures to properly prepare. There were labels and placards everywhere, on the food and the shelves. Apart from the numbers he assumed to be a price, he could not read a word of it nor the labels on the items. He could only speak the Japanese language with some difficulty and he was glad nobody had yet called on him to. He could not read a symbol of it and when Misato spoke it with the merchant he could barely keep up.
Tarl had said English was like common Gorean on Earth, most everyone of any education spoke it besides the language of their people if they had one.
What if he was wrong?
On Gor to be able to read is not a universal skill so illustrations and common symbols are used. All of the signs he had seen here had been in Japanese symbols and only a few had english as well.
But Shinji had questions, and revealing a weakness to his new superior would not be prudent.
"Captain, would it be acceptable if I asked you questions I may have of Earth? Maya said it was among her duties to answer them for me however if we are too live in close proximity, I thought, for convenience…"
"Of course it's alright. Not sure if I can help you with everything but I'll try."
"My thanks."
"So what's up?"
"First, what is this material called?" Shinji held up the white bags he had been tasked with carrying. The material was everywhere but he had not seen it before coming here.
"Plastic."
"Plastic, thank you." Shinji put the things in a storage compartment in her car, in front of where they both sat. He entered and fastened the restraint belt and they were off again.
"When you spoke with the merchant, in the market…" Shinji paused, realizing his mistake.
"Yes?"
He had already begun the question without thinking, how stupid. There was no way to ask about her conversation without revealing his poor grasp of the language.
"Oh, didn't Mr. Cabot say something about you needing to practice your japanese?"
"I, uh… aye, that is yes…" Think think think, don't look like a fool…. Got it. She was doing what everyone does before giving their money to a merchant. It was so quiet thought, so short, and that was what he wanted to know more about.
"You did not seem to argue the price too much. Did he give you a fair price because you wear the colors of a warrior?"
"...What?"
"The price of the goods, you only bargained with him for a only a moment and it did not seem he took much convincing."
"Uh-huh… Oh! Ooooooh, I got what you mean. Do you not have stores like that on Gor?"
"Stores like what?."
"What are they like in, what did you call it… Cordoba?"
"Ko-Ro-Ba…"
It was pleasing how freely they spoke together, riding in this blue car among the green hills. It seemed one did not argue prices with merchants here, at least not in most cases. There were open air markets like the ones back home in other places, but not here.
Shinji shared stories of the markets of Ko-Ro-Ba. She was a powerful trading center and one could find food and goods from all over the known world in her markets. Even her name was a very old word for a kind of open air bazaar. To walk among the stalls was to breath many scents and hear every sound. The shops were divided by the sort of good being sold into streets. There was the street of butchers for meat, the street of farmers for grown foods, the street of tailors for clothes, metalworkers for the smiths and the iron mongers and the jewelers...
"The street of brands was my favorite, apart from the smell of course. But I am a man who was a boy not too long ago, I am sure you understand."
"Not really. I mean I guess it smells bad if stuff is getting branded, but what's sold there, livestock?"
Shinji snickered. Misato had seen him stare blankly a couple of times today, but now she felt like the situation was reversed. She was missing something.
"Captain, the street of brands is for… uh, what is that word. Our word for them is me'shan. We call the females kajira and the male kajirus. Though one does not see the male for sale in public often, that is usually done elsewhere. The female is displayed for all to see and the other merchants on the street of brands sell those things which go with her."
Misato had a bad feeling about this but asked, against her better judgement:
"Why would a young man be so interested?"
"Well, because most of the girls are naked and the smart ones doing their best to attract a buyer, so they are dancing, or just showing themselves off."
"Shinji… you are talking about human beings, right?"
"Yes, of course."
Bad feeling confirmed. Misato slouched her shoulders and groaned.
"The word for that is slavery."
"Slave! That was the word I could not remember, thank you."
He was way too excited about that, bad feeling was getting worse.
"Shinji, we don't do that here. It is up there with the worst crimes there are. Wars were fought to wipe it out. People died. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions I don't know. Anyone who buys, sells, even transports people being forced to work, it is all the same crime."
"A… I see."
It was a tense silence as she drove on. They were along a mountainside road on the outskirts of the city. Misato spoke first, wringing her finger over the steering wheel.
"Is that going to be a problem, Shinji?"
She glanced at him. He had drawn in on himself, His shoulders were forward and he had one arm up like he was shielding his chest. He had been looking towards her but when her sunglasses turned towards him he looked away, out the window. He said nothing.
"Is it going to be a problem?"
"Ki… No, Ma'am."
"Good. I want to show you something."
Misato pulled over at the crest of a hill. She got out and Shinji followed, stepping over the guide rail and looking out over the city. It was unimpressive to Shinji. The buildings were squat and drab compared to the towers of his own. Sunset was just beginning and the glare only washed out to muted colors.
"This is what you saved Shinji."
Before he could respond, there was a tremor through the earth and klaxons sounded. Where before he had seen only paved concrete, the ground opened up and high towers of steel and glass rose into the air. It was like nothing Shinji had ever seen before, and he struggled to understand what was happening.
The Earthlings built towers as tall or taller than any of the cylinders he had lived in on Gor, and they built them square out of steel and glass on a world whose gravity made everyday life feel like carrying around bags full of rocks. Then they dropped them into the ground only to raise them again, and only in a few seconds both ways. The expense, the physics, the skill and precision needed, everything boggled his mind. He was witnessing the impossible.
"We can drop the largest buildings underground to protect them. When everyone is evacuated this allows us to change the battlefield at a whim. Towers can be raised filled with weapons and equipment. NERV built this whole city as a trap."
"I fought for a ruse then?"
"No. People live here, lots of people. The angels want to kill everyone and everything on Earth. You stopped them. I don't know if you quite understand, but from what I read your people understand saving a city. Everyone here and across the world owes you their lives, all four billion of them."
The last tower ceased moving and there was silence across the valley. Light and shadows danced around the new structures as the glass shined in the evening light. It was beautiful and hard to look at.
Four billion people. The number kept swirling around in Shinji's head. He knew what it meant in an academic sense but he couldn't understand it. It might as well be infinite, like the fish in the seas or sand upon a beach. How could so many people even exist? How could they depend on him? He wasn't even a full warrior yet and everything rested on his shoulders.
The hill suddenly felt much steeper.
"You did good Shinji. You saved my city. Your city now too."
"My city?"
"Yep."
"I am a citizen then?"
"What did you think all that paperwork today was for? You are officially Shinji Ikari of Tokyo-3 now."
Shinji did not turn to look at her, keeping his gaze on the city below. Pieces of paper did not make a citizen. A bond between the man and the city, sacred and secret oaths upon the homestone, service and sacrifice, these things made a citizen. Shinji Ikari could be of Tokyo-3. He was Shinji Cabot of Ko-Ro-Ba.
"And a warrior?"
The captain looked at him then out at the city and the sunset. She set her hand on his far shoulder.
"Is being a soldier that important to you? That is really what you want to do with your life?"
"It is my life."
"You know at your age, we barely allow kids to start military training, and that is only in desperate times. Most times you couldn't start for another year or even two."
He grunted and she looked at him.
"Where I come from, many would say my age is too late to begin if one is to become a proper warrior."
"Harsh place."
"A place for the strong."
The implication did not need to be given voice. The captain lifted her hand and brought it down on his shoulder twice.
"Do me a favor and give us a chance, we might surprise you."
"Is that an order?"
"Naw, just a favor."
"Yes, Ma'am."
A final car ride for the evening brought them to another residential tower, this one in much better condition than the first. The first had been bare concrete but this one was painted a neutral brown. The upper levels were smaller, giving the top half of the building a slanted look, but it appeared such an arrangement gave those compartments more exposure to natural light in the beginning of the day. For now as the sun was beginning to set, red light fell on the rear of the building, which was open to the elements and, Shinji assumed, made up the hallways between compartments. He found his assumption correct after they rode the elevator up, provisions in hand. The hall was not unlike those back home.
In the cities of the North, Ko-Ro-Ba among them, the cylindrical towers of which they are made up follow a uniform style. This method is known and shared by the high caste of builders, even between cities which were normally enemies. It should be noted that knowledge considered vital, such as safely building high towers and certain medical knowledge, was always shared in this way. While one may think it advantageous to keep it a secret, doing so would transform such knowledge into a commodity, and any product which might be concealed in one's mind was impossible to properly secure in the long term. Thus, sharing such things was found to be agreeable. But that is a digression…
In the towers like those Shinji found familiar, there is a distinct absence of something those of Earth take for granted. The gorean builder does not make practice of installing handrails or other barriers on the precipice of high ledges. The difference, one familiar with both worlds might suppose, is cultural and a product of place. Goreans, with their world's noticeably lower gravity, do have less fear of falling however if one were to ask them about the danger they would likely ask why you, if you do not wish to fall, you would put yourself in a position to do so.
Shinji noticed when they had arrived and as they moved through the building, that there was little sign of occupancy. This was clearly a dwelling meant for many families, but there wasn't the noise of it, nor the smell, nor even the petty refuse and signs of coming and going such a number would leave. After the captain showed him how he might unlatch the door by moving his new identification card over a plastic panel nearby, he had a theory as to why.
"Wark!"
"Hey buddy, I'm home! Well come on in Shinji, don't just stand there."
"What... is that?" The gorean asked, quite content to stand outside the door and, he hoped, anything that might consider its territory.
"Oh, how rude of me not to introduce my other roommate. This is Pen Pen!"
She kept a tarn in her dwelling. Granted it was a small one and had strange little wings, but that beak and those talons were not anything he wished to be close to without knowing the temperament of the beast. And were those claws on ends of its wings? Whatever the case, she was either very brave or very reckless to keep such a thing indoors and his esteem for her rose because of it.
"Is it well tempered?" Shinji asked, maintaining his position.
"He's fine, come in. No wait! One thing first."
She came back to the door and took the bags from his hands and set them down on the floor.
"We Japanese begin all things with appearances." She said, hands on his shoulders. "Here, step inside."
"I'm not Japanese, you just told me to stop now you are telling me to step, do I look like a slave to you?"
"Oh just do it." She said and pulled at his shoulders. She did not appear strong, but yet Shinji stumbled forward.
"Now say tadaima."
"Tadaima?"
"Perfect. It means…"
"I am home, I know."
"Exactly." She slapped his shoulders and let go of him now. "This is your home. It is as much your space as mine."
He did not speak, but his head tilted on its own volition. What was this woman on about?
"Look, you seem the type to not talk about what's going on behind that big tough warrior outside but you are three hundred million kilometers from home. From everything you've said, where you come from is really different so I know you don't want to admit it, but it is totally okay to be a little scared. I know I would be. So just remember this is your home too. It's gonna be weird for me at first but you should feel like you can be yourself here. Don't feel like you have to lie to me or hide anything because I might get offended."
"Oh…" He replied, quite surprised. This was the invitation one might give a dear friend and not something he had expected at all.
"Think you can do that?"
"A-aye, I mean yes, ma'am."
"Come on, let's eat."
The small tarn was quite happy with fish, though Shinji was not sure about how it had looked at his digits. Dinner itself was something else Tarl had warned him about.
"It's safe to eat."
"Safe is a peculiar word to choose to ascribe to food purchased freely."
"Look if you don't trust the microwave we can look up how it works."
"It is not the machine that bothers me. Tarl told me packaged meals like this were made on Earth in a similar manner to which you make building material and about as nutritious."
"Well, can you cook?"
"Field provisions."
"Then the other choice is going hungry."
"I suddenly find this more appetizing."
"Thought so."
They ate without speaking for a while. The packaged meal was not too bad, if one put aside not knowing exactly what one was eating.
"So…" Misato began, reaching for something to talk about. She normally worked while she ate. "Got anybody waiting back home?"
"Friends. Tarl. My family as it is, is here."
"Girlfriend?"
"A what?"
"You know, dating anyone? Goin' a courtin'?"
"Oh… no."
"Boyfriend?"
"I am no man's catamite."
"Hey, just askin'. Nothing wrong with it."
"No."
"Fine, what about one of those slave girls you said you are so fond of?"
Misato found it curious the way he looked away, down and to his right before answering. "I owned no slaves."
People only looked away like that when they had something to hid. She pressed on. "I think you have a story."
His eyes were back, cold with his lips turned into a frown. "And how do you surmise that, Captain?"
"Call it a woman's intuition."
Shinji set his utensil down and took a breath, letting it out in a sigh. "There was one I was fond of. I had her in the house of another, a rich man. I grew fixated, I wanted her again, I wanted to purchase her."
"What was she like?"
"Hazel eyes, pale for a slave but not sickly looking. Her hair was… dark, but not as dark as yours. Her body was slight but she had fine curves and that beautiful ratio between her chest, her waist and her hips. You know, it is not the size as much as how it all flow together."
"She sounds beautiful."
"She was."
"What was her name?"
"Hm?"
"What was her name?"
"She was a slave."
"And? do they not have names? How do they know which one you are talking to?" Misato sat back in her chair and pointed off towards the window that made up one side of the quarters.
"You, slave! No not you the other one! No, that one!"
Misato had only heard Commander Ikari laugh once. She was not even sure what it was about, but despite his beard and severe bearing, his laugh had been an almost boyish snicker. Shinji was laughing the same way now.
"Hehehe… No, no, thankfully it is not that way." The young man said, still grinning. Misato noticed he had a nice smile. Somewhat surprisingly, all his teeth were there, straight, and pearly white.
"It is just that a slave's name does not carry the same importance. A slave girl especially, her name is whatever a master chooses to call her and that may change at a whim."
"Do you think of her still?"
"Yes."
"So what do you call her in your head?"
"When I had her, she was called Alice."
"Wait… Alice?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry, I was just expecting something… I dunno, not Alice."
He shrugged. "English female names are common slave names. It is my understanding that a place called America and Europe are where most girls brought from Earth are from and most speak that language."
"Woah woah woah, how do women from here get there?"
"Taken by slavers."
"How? You people don't have cars, much less space flight."
"And how did I get there, captain?"
"I…" Mistato stopped, frozen standing out of her chair with one hand flat upon the table and the other raised, finger ready to wag in the boy's face. After several uttered false starts, she sat back down.
"So what happened with you and this girl." Misato asked, more than happy to change the subject.
"When I had the opportunity to ask her price, her owner valued her as what was to him a pittance, but a boy like I could not afford. He was not one of his preferred, just another serving girl. He sold her."
"What happened to her after that?"
"I do not know. But I learned one cannot become fixated on such things. There was no connection outside my own mind. She was a slave and the first I ever had. I will have others, but she will be the last I make the mistake of feeling for in that way."
"Damn, that's harsh."
"It is the way of things."
"And you've never like gone out with a woman? Dinner, dancing, whatever you people do for fun?"
Shinji shook his head. He had returned to eating his meal. "Free women are cold and frigid. And they want to… discuss everything."
Misato giggled. "I don't know about that first part but the rest…" She titled her head side to side as if deliberating. "Yeah we are kind of like that. Okay so if the free women are all ice queens and you don't want to feel anything for a slave girl, where is the romance, what is the long term goal?"
Shinji shrugged. "Gorean men, as a whole, prefer slaves to free women for the purpose of pleasure. Then again it is said every woman, even free, has a slave inside her who will submit to the right master. A woman may be free and bound to a companion, but she will still submit to him."
"Uh-huh." Misato grunted incredulously.
"Do not blame me, I am merely quoting a well known aphorism. However the corollary to that for every slave, whether the woman believes herself to be one or not, there is an ideal master to whom she is his ideal slave. His love slave and her love master."
"Riiiiight."
"This situation is held as the most perfect of all relationships."
"And why is that?"
"Because a woman in excellent mastery is the truest woman and a man with the power to master her in such a fashion the truest man."
Misato sat back and crossed her arms beneath her chest. "We are not like that here."
"So Tarl said." His tone was not argumentative but it was certainly flippant. He took another bite and his time to chew it.
"Earlier I asked if this was going to be a problem. I believed you at the time, but it seems like this is so ingrained in your culture I don't see how it won't be a problem."
"I assure you I have no intention of enslaving your women or pillaging your villages. I am here to fight, not to find a companion."
"Uhuh, and what if you, just walking along…" Misato said, her chin resting upon her palm, her elbow on the table. "... Where to fall in love with a woman at first sight. She was your destined love slave, you just knew it. So you go to her and speak to her and she tells you to go take a long walk off a short pier. What would you do?"
"It is a pointless question. Such things do not happen outside over-wrought fiction. Free women should be shown all the respect one can. If they attempt to belittle you or insult you, all the more so because it is their right."
"That is a surprising idea coming from you."
Shinji grinned as he chewed. He swallowed and said:
"Give the gorean a chance Captain, he may yet surprise you."
In the form of the giant, Shinji charged through the dawn light, the knife turned up with the blade held against his right forearm. His steps felt heavy and too long. As if every footfall was a relief that it had landed true. Within a pace of the monster, Shinji drew the knife across his body and into his left palm and thrust in, hips pushing off the ground and his full weight behind the blow.
Light.
Fire.
Pain.
The hard shock of impact as he his back hit the street pulled him from whatever illusion had made him feel as if he was the giant. He was back in the cylinder filled with not quite blood. He could see the world outside, which at the moment consisted mostly of blue sky.
The Angels are terrible foes.
A voice, soft and feminine, but with a certain edge.
They are strong. Uncompromising and without mercy. Without weakness.
The beast's hand, three thin claws with a red jewel in the middle was above him. It filled his vision and no matter how he pulled and pressed at the handles and buttons that surrounded him, the giant did not move.
Each is totally self sufficient. They have one goal and have no capacity to think beyond reaching it. Their will is so strong it may bend reality to their will.
Shinji screamed when he felt the claws gripping his skull and squeezing, lifting him up into the sky. His neck burned with the strain even as he laid there in the seat within the cylinder.
One cannot be weak who meets such beasts. Only men who are strong, who can match them in will, in ferocity, and in terribleness may meet them and hope to triumph.
Suddenly his left arm seized, seemingly of its own volition and rose straight out to his side. It felt as though something of massive strength was trying to wrench it from his body.
And then it broke. He looked at his arm in horror. He felt the bone snap, felt it tear through his skin! But instead it was twitching uselessly in the darkness. Agonizing pins and needles ran through it and the veins bulged but it was whole and visually unharmed.
What manner of hell was this?
Is it not strange to love them? They will purge weakness from the earth, whether they succeed or die.
Light, dazzlingly bright, engulfed him before the pain stabbed through his right eye. Shinji had thought he had known pain. He thought it had hurt the time the knife had torn open his chest, when he had fallen from a Tarn above the city walls and broken several bones. This was worse than all of it put together in a single instant.
You do not know pain, not real pain. You cannot understand the fear of an entire planet about to be stripped of life.
The pain driving into his skull like a ram was gone. Now it felt as if his entire body was on fire as he flew through the air. Slamming back first into something upright, the coral light crashed over him, crucifying him in fire.
You cannot hope to even fight against it, if you are as men are here. If your will is conflicted against itself, bound by the hypocrisy of restraint. You know the words, but what are you truly: a boy scared of his own desires or…
"I am a man!" Shinji snarled around clenched teeth. "I am a warrior!"
Strong words and nothing more. Show me. Rise.
The cylinder was gone, he was the giant again. The world was red like blood and his right side was clouded by darkness.
Show me. Show me your ferocity, show me your united will.
He tried to open his mouth but it would not move. It hurt to force until whatever had restrained him broke and he roared at the angel. He charged, his arms trailing behind him, each step precise and purposeful. Every step carrying him one step closer to the monster.
The wall of light, the beast's will, arrested him. Searing pain covered him as he thrust his unbroken right fist into the pulsing wall of willpower. He felt as if he was trying to punch through a mountain strong as it was.
But then, just for half the blink of an eye, it flickered.
You are truly a man of Gor. You are strong…
His left hand had been broken and bloodied. He drew it back and rainbow light enveloped it. Just as suddenly as it had broken, it was whole again.
Now rip and tear.
For the first time, the monster reacted beyond attacking. His muscles seethed as he pulled and the field quickly flickered. The beast stepped back in fear. Its will was broken. The golden wall of light shattered like glass.
The angel swiped at him. Shinji caught both of its spindly arms in a single fist and crushed them like twigs. He twisted them, breaking them further and sending blood across the beast, himself, and the towers all around. The thing tried to pull away. Shinji pulled it back as if he was lifting a branch from the ground it was so effortless. To swing his opponent over his shoulder and bring it crashing to the ground was as if he was but stretching before exercise.
This was the power of a god.
Soft hands like flower petals touched his shoulders. He was standing over the monster, but he was also in the cylinder with his hand around the unfamiliar controls. There was hot breath on his ear, whispering, pleading.
Your power, my glorious warrior. Ja jula rastar.
The illusion was broken. He was sitting down in the not quite blood filled darkness. He could see projected on the walls images of the monster, the angel, standing beneath the giant. Those words…
No. He shook his head, wishing the thought gone as his long hair, now loose, swirled in the fluid that surrounded him. He had a thing that needed doing, he should not hesitate. But the moment had passed, the mistake had been made. The angel was dissolving and rushing to meet him all at once, enveloping his body, suffocating him, crushing him. There was no air, only putrid flesh invading his mouth, blocking his nose, and squeezing the life from him…
Shinji gasped for air as his eyes opened. It was dark, but not the total darkness of his dream. He was in the room he had been given in the captain's apartment, laying on a sleeping mat and nude beneath the quilted blanket. He was alive, the angel was dead. He had won. He was victorious. And yet it had been a great while before he could sleep, and now the thing had awoken him. He felt cold, yet as he sat up, sweat dripped down his body.
Jula rastar. Some glorious warrior he was, woken by night terrors after his first victory.
He heard the latch move and the door opened. The captain. There was light behind her and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. As soon as he could see he looked away. She was undressed, wearing only under garments. She was his superior, it would be at least disrespectful to look at her in that way.
"Hey Shinji, you okay?"
"Aye, yes captain."
"Bad dream?"
He nodded. "Memories becoming clearer. The battle was… most intense."
"Yeah it was. But you did good. Once you're ready, we have training for you and more weapons will be delivered soon. Next time the angels won't know what hit them."
"Aye, as you say."
"Sleep well."
"And you captain."
The door closed and darkness surrounded him again. He laid down, leaving the blanket off his upper body. The feeling of cool air across his sweat covered torso was pleasant.
The angel had not died by his hand. Surely he had dominant position and had injured it grievously but he had not struck the killing blow. When it had enveloped him, when it tried to choke the life from his body, that was a final attack of desperation. Something, exactly what he could not recall, had occurred after that. What had happened he did not know, but he knew the intent.
He had not killed the angel. The beast made a final attack by sacrificing its own life in the vain hope of killing the giant but had simply been unable. Shinji thought about this for a while, staring at the night sky through the window that occupied much of one wall of his chamber.
He did not match such a being. He gave it the opening when he let himself become distracted. The beast just lacked the means to take advantage of it. Has it been he and another warrior, he would be dead.
It had used whatever power it could muster against him and caused little damage. What damage it did inflict was healed in an instant, by the whim of the giant itself. There had never been any question of victory. It was not a battle. It was as if a common fowl attacked a tarn. A lower being attacking something so vastly superior that any injury was due to surprise at such a menial thing making itself a threat. Had it been stronger, he would be dead, along with four billion others. It was no victory, and certainly no credit to him.
Four billion people depended on a fraud.