Chapter 9

"Even after everything that's happened here, the Geofront never ceases to amaze me with its beauty."

As Asuka gingerly carried Shinji over the gnarled and twisted metal of the light rail tracks, even she had to agree with Maya's remark.

When the Geofront had originally been created, every effort had apparently been made to create a scenic piece of the surface over a kilometre underground. A lake had been dug, while trees, plants, and even wildlife had been transplanted into the Geofront. Asuka felt her spirits lift at the sight of nature as she gently deposited Shinji under the shade of a tree on the hill nearby, before sitting down next to him.

The chirping of birds was something none of the group had heard since before Third Impact. Any wild creatures near Tokyo-3 had either been outright killed by the JSSDF's N2 mine, or had been driven away. Deep below the surface however, the animals had nowhere to run and merely cowered in their dens as the end of the world happened all around them. Now they had emerged from their hiding places, unaware of what had transpired.

Leaning back against the tree, Asuka looked down at the sleeping face of Shinji.

'Even when he's asleep, he doesn't look peaceful,' she thought as the boy's face twitched slightly. She brushed some hair out of his eyes, before holding the lock of hair up and noting how long and dirty Shinji's hair was. Asuka's cheeks reddened slightly at the thought that he really needed a bath. She prayed that that was something Shinji could do himself.

The sound of feet moving through grass drew her attention away from the boy. Shigeru was walking towards the pair with his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like a man going for a leisurely stroll in the woods.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he remarked as he stopped near them. "I used to relax at a place like this whenever I had time to spare. I'd strum on my guitar, look out across the Geofront, and for a moment I could pretend that the world wasn't going to shit."

Asuka said nothing. She withdrew a bottle of water from her backpack and handed it to the man, grabbing one for herself as well. Shigeru nodded his thanks. He tilted his head back and drained half of the bottle at once, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"The others are off seeing if they can scrounge up a working vehicle to take us the rest of the way," he continued. "I thought they could use a little time alone." At Asuka's raised eyebrow, he continued. "Makoto's held a torch for the major for a while. Always picking up her laundry and such whenever she asked."

"What about Kaji?" Asuka mumbled, not really interested but paying attention out of politeness, and possibly boredom.

"Oh, Makoto knew about Kaji and Misato. He was quick to step out of the way when it was clear they were restarting their relationship. Maybe he thinks he has a chance now. It won't work though, Misato's got too much to deal with to worry about something like that right now." Shigeru chuckled sadly. "Poor sap."

The two of them fell silent for a while, and listened to the forest. Asuka's hand dipped into her bag again, withdrawing the object she had retrieved from her desk and idly twirling it in her hand. A narrow black bento box.

Shigeru spoke up after a moment of watching the girl. "You know, if you're hungry Maya's still got some soup left over."

"That's fine, I'm just remembering a meal I once had," Asuka said, eyes focused on the box.

"Oh... um... a good meal I take it?"

Asuka voice rose slightly in anger. "It was the best damned meal I had in over ten years and I have no idea how the hell he did it."

Shigeru rubbed the back of his head as he tried to formulate a response. Asuka went on before he could come up with one.

"I mean, he's not even German! How the hell does someone suddenly cook something new and get it so bloody right?! He only ever did Japanese meals before this. Was he sneaking out and doing night courses in German cuisine?"

"Uh-"

"Did Misato help him?" Asuka interrupted. "No wait, that's stupid. She doesn't even know how to boil water."

"Help who?" Shigeru finally managed to say. A confused look crossed Asuka's face as she lost momentum and turned to face Shigeru, as if only just realising the man was still there.

"What? Oh... right. Shinji made this bento for me. He did all our meals back at the apartment, and no matter what he cooked, it was wonderful." She didn't know why she was talking so freely to someone who was very nearly a stranger, but she continued regardless. "The lunch he gave me in this bento? It was two kinds of German sausage and potato salad, along with pickled cabbage and beets."

Asuka had only eaten a meal that... wonderful once before, back in Germany. Her mother had still been alive then. She would always remember that day as one of the best ever. Kyoko had always applied herself fully to whatever she worked on, and cooking was no exception. The dinner had been sublime, and she had even surprised a young Asuka with her very first Black Forest cake for dessert.

After her mother's death, Asuka had constantly tried to get that meal again, whether from going out to eat or making it herself, just to try and get a taste of a better time; every attempt always falling far short of her expectations. As her pilot training got more intense, she was forced to abandon any further efforts.

But then Shinji had come along, and given her what she had failed to find for so long on his first attempt. The meal had tasted just as she remembered. The only reason Asuka hadn't thanked Shinji for the meal was because she knew that she would have started yelling at the boy, demanding to know his secret.

Shinji had likely believed that Asuka had thrown the entire meal away, judging by the look on his bruised face when she had seen him again at the end of the lunch period. For several days afterwards, Asuka had kept the box in her bag, occasionally sneaking it out to sniff at it and remember the wonderful meal, until she eventually had to wash the container out in the bathroom at school. The box had then been stashed in her desk and forgotten about until today.

"How? How did he do it?" Asuka asked as she finished. Shigeru shrugged helplessly at the question. She bent over Shinji and cradled his head, staring into his closed eyes as if she could find the answer in his face.

"Because Shinji put his heart and soul into his cooking," came a voice from behind. "If you had paid any attention to him when he was making dinner, you would have realised that."

Misato was standing on the other side of the tree when Asuka looked around. At the base of the hill, Makoto stood next to a battered JSSDF jeep. Ritsuko and Maya were already climbing in.

Asuka barely stopped herself from simply letting go of Shinji as her cheeks lit up. "Um, Misato? How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough. Now let's go," Misato said. "We've got transport again, so we'll get to NERV HQ in no time." She turned around and walked down the hill.

"Sheesh, I don't know what came over me," Asuka remarked to Shigeru as she picked up Shinji. "Talking like that to someone I barely know."

"It's no problem, Asuka. Sometimes it's easier to speak to a stranger about something you can't tell a friend."

'Once this is over,' the girl decided as they headed towards the jeep. 'The first thing I'm going to do is thank Shinji for the meal.'

It was a tight fit in the vehicle with seven people. Maya ended up sitting on Ritsuko's lap, something neither of them seemed quick to complain about, and the two Children shared a seatbelt. Misato was driving, so Asuka was taking no chances.

Nobody noticed the slender arm curled around Shinji's midsection.


The massive hole above them showed that it was late afternoon. There was actually so little of the Geofront roof left that Asuka idly thought that it no longer deserved to be called a roof. She remembered that there was supposedly an array of mirrors that redirected natural sunlight down to the Geofront. Now it seemed like they would no longer be needed.

The vehicle they were in had been knocked around during the Geofront battle. It coughed and sputtered, and Misato kept having to wrestle the vehicle back into a straight line, but it was faster than walking

It was around the time that the jeep was manoeuvring around the wreckage of the NERV pyramid when Asuka finally noticed that Shinji had woken up. There had been no physical movement to alert her, his eyes had simply been closed one moment and open the next. It was as if a button had been pressed to switch him on. Asuka shivered slightly as she recalled the 'robot' comment made much earlier.

She didn't remove the arm from around his waist, however.

Maya was quietly explaining to Misato what had happened to cause the pyramid to explode. The major's hands tightened on the steering wheel and her face was an unreadable mask as she forced the jeep to change direction, heading towards an alternate entrance to NERV.

Ritsuko hugged the female technician a little closer as tears began running down Maya's face. The last moments of the battle between NERV and SEELE had been truly horrifying, and Asuka turned to stare out the window, fighting to keep the memory of her own death at bay.

This was helped somewhat by the JSSDF wreckage. While there was no sign of her final battle, the shattered husks of the army's attempt to stop her still remained. She smirked a little as a piece of the destroyer that had once been in the lake appeared. The mystery of how the ship made it down to the Geofront lake had died with it.

Another distraction quickly showed itself as the jeep pulled up to a cargo door, just as the engine died. It was simply too large to open manually, but the side entrance next to it was wide open. The group got out of the vehicle and went inside, stopping suddenly as their flashlights revealed what lay beyond.

Old blood coated the walls, floor, and even the ceiling in some places. Weapons laid wherever they had been dropped when the soldiers had been swept up. There were no bodies, but that small concession was not enough to stop Maya burying her face in Ritsuko's chest and crying openly. The doctor quickly walked her past the grisly scene as the others followed, pale looks on all their faces.

Misato appeared to be the most affected by the carnage in the hallways. She abruptly stopped in front of one corridor, before shaking and slapping a hand over her mouth. Makoto quickly rushed to her side, but Misato batted away the arm reaching for her before running off down the corridor. Undeterred, Makoto rushed after her, leaving the others behind.

While Ritsuko and Maya continued on, Shigeru and Asuka looked at each other in confusion. Shigeru opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and wrinkled his nose. He raised one hand and tapped his nose, then pointed down the corridor Misato had stopped at. As Asuka drew closer to the corridor, a sickly scent greeted her nostrils.

Despite the absence of bodies, the loss of power meant that the ventilation system had shut down, and this far away from fresh air meant the smell had nowhere to go. Asuka suddenly felt sick, and not entirely because of the stench.

Burnt flesh.

Oh.

And she had joked the previous day about Misato wanting a flamethrower. Asuka felt like slapping herself.

"I see..." Shigeru calmly stated as Asuka told him this. "You couldn't have known, so don't beat yourself up. Just apologise to her; she'll understand."

They quickly caught up to the rest of the group outside a bathroom, where the sounds of retching could be heard. Makoto was gently rubbing Misato's back as the major sat hunched over in a stall. She eventually managed to climb to her feet and stumble to a sink, where she washed her mouth out and splashed water on her face.

"I'm okay now," she panted, wiping her mouth and walking out into the corridor. "How close are we to the medical wing?"

"We're about ten minutes away," replied Ritsuko as she analysed a map on the wall nearby. "But we need to get the generators running first." In her arms, Maya had recovered somewhat once they were past the worst of the attack, but was still unwilling to let go.

"Asuka and I will head to the medical wing," Misato said. "There's no point dragging Shinji all the way over to the generators and back, and you don't need whatever little help we could offer."

Ritsuko inclined her head slightly. "Then I'll take the others with me and we can restart the fusion reactors. Our radios most likely won't work down here, but once we have power again we'll be able to re-establish communication. It should take us approximately half an hour to reach the generator room and get the power running again."

"What about the MAGI?"

"We'll have to do that later. It's going to take quite a while to boot them up, and Maya and I will need to monitor them for any problem." She glanced at Shinji before continuing. "For now though, Shinji comes first. Wait for us in the lobby, I'll contact you there."

Misato nodded and left with Asuka and Shinji in tow. They reached the medical wing, and sat down on a couch in the lobby. Asuka squirmed in her seat for a moment, before turning to face Misato.

"Um, Misato?" The woman made a questioning noise, and Asuka looked back down at her hands in her lap. "I... I'm sorry for what I said yesterday."

For a moment, Misato looked as if she were unsure of what the girl was referring to, before realisation dawned.

"Oh. Oh. No, no no." She scooted across the couch and wrapped an arm around Asuka's shoulders. "Don't try and blame yourself for that, Asuka. There was no way you could have known what I went through."

The girl looked up at her guardian and saw the grimace on Misato's face. "The long-haired guy said the same thing."

"Well, as you could see, the fighting down here was brutal. The JSSDF were under orders to kill everyone, regardless of whether they surrendered or not. While I was looking for Shinji, I passed one corridor and-"

Asuka interrupted Misato by forcefully returning the hug. The major's grimace slowly turned into a sad smile, and she gently squeezed Asuka and rested her head on the girl's. The memories of that corridor faded away as the two of them sat like that for a few minutes, drawing comfort from each other, before Misato relaxed her grip.

"So," she said. "We've got some time now. Do you feel like talking about what happened back at the apartment?"

"I..." Asuka began, before trying to extricate herself from the embrace. Misato's response was to tighten the hug once more. The girl sighed and gave up. "It's... something else my mother told me, that I decided not to mention to you right away. I know you and the doctor are best friends and as much as I hate her, I didn't want to drive you two apart."

Misato let out a small chuckle. "Trust me Asuka, while I'll still call Rits a friend, we are most definitely not best friends right now. She did a lot of bad things, only some of which I know about. You're afraid that whatever you tell me now will split us up permanently, aren't you?"

Asuka continued to stare at nothing, but gave a small nod. "I may not have liked Wondergirl very much, but Akagi deserves so much more than a slap for-"

"Wait." Misato pulled away slightly. "Rei? You made Shinji slap Rits because of what she did to Rei?"

The redhead looked up at Misato, confused at her response. "Well... yeah. Mama told me about her role in Rei's upbringing. Not to mention that whole disgusting... clone tank... thing."

A chuckle turned into a burst of laughter. Misato attempted to stifle it with a hand over her mouth while Asuka's confusion only grew worse.

"Oh man, I shouldn't be laughing at this," Misato said when she finally got herself under control. "Asuka, you were afraid of telling me something that I already knew!"

Asuka blinked stupidly. "What," was the only thing she could say.

The story of Ritsuko revealing the truth behind the First Child to Misato and Shinji came out. Asuka's confusion became shock, then rage as the woman spoke. Kyoko had only told her daughter the bare minimum of details.

In a burst of anger, she ripped herself away from the couch, and would have run straight out of the lobby if a strong hand hadn't caught her right arm and dragged her back.

"Asuka, stop." Misato let go. Asuka rubbed her arm and scowled at her. "Sorry. Look, I was just as angry at Rits as you are. But now is not the time to get violent. She won't be able to help Shinji if she's out cold just because you wanted to get some payback."

A sigh left the girl's mouth as she took this in, staring at the boy in question. Asuka's fists were itching, but her guardian was right.

"Fine. I won't give the blonde bitch what she deserves. Can I at least give her one more slap for trying to nuke Shinji when he got taken by the Twelfth Angel?"

"No, because I already did that for you."

"Thanks... I think."

A few minutes later, the lights above them turned on and bathed the lobby in a welcome glow, bringing with them some much needed fresh air as the ventilation system also started up. As soon as their eyes adjusted, a console near the reception desk began beeping incessantly. A jubilant Makoto was on the line, informing them that Ritsuko was heading back to the medical wing while the technicians stayed to run diagnostics.

The doctor soon arrived, and walked past them without a word. Asuka got up and dragged Shinji with her, but Misato hung back for a moment, observing something interesting. When Asuka turned back to look questioningly at her, she shook her head and trotted to catch up.

After all, there would be time to tease Asuka about holding Shinji's hand later.


Misato was glad that the examination room had a window. It gave her something to look at besides her boy on a hospital bed yet again. Although she was capable of administering first aid in the field, there was currently nothing she could do to help Shinji besides stay out of the way.

And wonder if there was a hospital loyalty card that could be stamped for Shinji's many visits.

The few wild animals Misato could see appeared to be utterly unconcerned about the addition of several hundred tons of metal scrap to their habitat. Misato watched as a large bird landed on the tip of a bent turret, before cleaning itself and taking off again.

Asuka, however, refused to move from her place by Shinji's side, to the exasperation of Ritsuko. The angry, distrustful looks were starting to annoy the doctor, but she held her tongue.

On the bed, Shinji stared blankly upward at the ceiling. His complete lack of response to Ritsuko's poking and prodding was unnerving to say the least.

"Alright, my physical examination is complete," she eventually said "Shinji is malnourished, but we've already started to remedy that. The fingers on his right hand are broken in several places, and since they were apparently broken before you found him, without support they have begun to heal badly. This may be problematic, as I'm not an orthopaedic doctor, but I'll do what I can. Hopefully some people with more specialised medical expertise than me will... return soon."

She brushed some of Shinji's unkempt hair away from his face. "As for the head wound, his current state is not because of any physical damage there. There are signs of blunt force trauma but the skull is undamaged. Was there any loose rubble nearby when you found Shinji? Something that could have knocked him out by falling on him?"

"No, nothing of the sort," Asuka said, batting Ritsuko's hand away. The wound had almost completely healed by this point. Only a ragged scar remained. "So if it's not a head injury, what the hell is causing his... catatonia or whatever?"

"I haven't given up on figuring that out yet," Ritsuko replied as she stepped away from the bed. "We'll need to run some scans to see if there's anything wrong with his head that we can't see from the outside."

Asuka sarcastically waved an arm towards the door. "Fine, then lead the way, Frau Doktor."

A swift shake of the head from Misato as she turned away from the window was all that stopped Ritsuko from snapping back at the German girl. Instead she sighed and walked out into the hallway, leading them to another room, but stopped in front of the door.

"This will take a couple of hours at least. The tests I am about to perform are extremely delicate," she announced. "For that reason, I must ask you both to remain outside. I cannot afford any interruptions."

Misato was fast, clamping a hand over Asuka's mouth before the girl could even begin to protest. "Alright, we'll go to the cafeteria and have something to eat. I'm starting to get a little hungry again anyway."

"But-" Asuka tried to speak, but Misato's glare silenced her.

"We are going to the cafeteria, Asuka."

After directing the boy to the bed, Asuka managed to shoot one final plaintive look at Shinji's expressionless face before she was dragged out of the medical wing. Misato didn't let go until they reached the cafeteria, dropping the struggling girl into a chair before sitting in front of her.

"How the hell can you trust her so easily?!" Asuka immediately shouted. "She's part of the reason why Shinji's like that!"

Misato cupped her face in her hands. "I trust her because I have to. Because there's nobody else that we can turn to. I want Shinji back just as badly as you, but I can't do nearly as much as Rits can. I also trust her because I know she wants to make up for what she did. If you can't trust her, Asuka, then trust me."

There was a soft thud when Asuka's head made contact with the table. She sighed and said, "Alright. If you can still have faith in that bitch after what she's done, then I'll trust you. But if she hurts Shinji any more than she already has..."

"You'll have to beat me to the punch, Asuka. Ritsuko may be my friend, but Shinji..." Misato stopped and took her hands away from her face, revealing a sad smile. "At this point he may as well be my... my son now."

Asuka made a muffled snorting sound before sitting back upright. "With the way you act, you're more like a big, drunken sister than a mother."

"Hey now, I haven't touched a drop of alcohol in ages!" Misato lost the smile and mock-glared at Asuka.

"Only because Shinji threw away that swill you call beer."

The grumbling of their stomachs reminded them of why they had come here. With their mood lifted somewhat, Misato and Asuka began checking the kitchen stores. As expected, there was nothing edible. There was most likely a storeroom somewhere filled with preserved food, but between the maze-like layout of NERV and the Bakelite, it would be difficult for Misato and Asuka to quickly find.

"Guess we'll have to rely on what we brought with us for now," Misato sighed as they sat back down. "Good thing we brought enough for a couple of days."

Asuka nodded and began unpacking her bag. A couple cans and water bottles were produced, along with the bento box from her desk. With power restored, it would now be much easier to heat their food up in the kitchen rather than relying on a primitive campfire.

Seeing as Asuka didn't want Misato anywhere near a stove, she decided to heat up the meals herself. When she returned to the table with two steaming bowls of soup, she noticed Misato examining the bento box.

"I guess Shinji managed to make that meal after all," Misato remarked as she started eating. She looked up and smirked as Asuka started choking on her own mouthful.

"Y-you knew about that?!" Asuka said as soon as she stopped coughing.

"Oh yes, in fact Shinji came to me for some advice."

"I find that hard to believe, considering it actually came out perfectly."

Misato slurped up another spoonful of soup before continuing. "Oh, he didn't ask for help on how to cook it. I really shouldn't say anything, though. Shinji swore me to secrecy and I've already blabbed too much. How was it?"

Asuka growled, and didn't respond for a minute, instead focusing on her meal. The story of that day eventually came out to Misato's nod of approval, but she had to mildly rebuke the girl for not thanking Shinji, to which Asuka merely gave a small nod. Suddenly Misato sat upright in her seat and pushed the bento box towards Asuka.

At Asuka's questioning stare, Misato said, "Shinji told me exactly what he was doing for your meal, and there's something missing from what you just told me. You didn't throw anything out did you?"

"Of course not, I ate everything!" Asuka opened the bento box. "There was sausage and potato salad in one section, and pickled cabbage and beets in the other. What could be-"

A strange look passed over Asuka's face as she stopped while holding the lid. She weighed it thoughtfully in her hand for a moment, and then turned it over while ignoring the growing smirk on Misato's face as the woman leaned on her clasped hands.

On the other side, a large piece of tape secured something to the inside of the lid. Asuka pulled the square object out and held it up.

"Well?" Misato prodded. "Go on, see what it is."

She needn't have bothered speaking. Asuka was tearing the wrapper apart before Misato had gotten two words out of her mouth. The enticingly familiar smell of chocolate pervaded the air around them, to the point that Misato almost began drooling.

Meanwhile, Asuka was staring in awe at the confection in her hand. Once more the Third Child had managed to leave her completely speechless with such a seemingly simple gesture. While it was just a small piece of chocolate, Asuka wouldn't have traded it for the largest block of anything else.

"Mein Gott," she whispered. "How the hell does he do this?"

Somehow, Shinji had known exactly what Belgian chocolate Asuka's mother had given her whenever she was feeling down.

Despite its size, the piece lasted almost half an hour as the redhead savoured every last bite. She attempted to offer a bit to Misato, but the outstretched hand was gently pushed back towards her with a shake of Misato's head.

Like all good things, the chocolate eventually came to an end. Asuka slouched back in her chair, radiating an aura of pure contentedness.

"Watching you enjoy that was almost as good as eating it myself," remarked Misato. "Now I really want a beer."

"Did somebody say beer?" said a voice from the cafeteria entrance. "Wish I could have a cold one right about now."

The two male technicians came in and sat down at their table.

"Everything okay with the generators?" asked Misato.

Shigeru leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Yep, we finished the diagnostics, and called it in to Dr. Akagi. She told us to come down here and have a break."

"But where's Maya?" The young woman hadn't entered with them. Makoto looked sheepish as he glanced towards the door.

"We, um... kinda lost track of her shortly after we left," he said. "There's nothing to worry about though. A lot of the fighting was concentrated near the entrances. There shouldn't be much this deep in NERV to upset her."


Maya screamed.

She placed a hand on her chest to try and still her rapidly beating heart, but the visage remained where it was. She had come in here for... what? Some strange urge had propelled her here while the other two headed towards the cafeteria, and now she was staring at something horrifying.

Within seconds she was out of that area and running.

Maya never really had much trouble navigating the labyrinth that was NERV HQ. Even the Bakelite proved only a minor hindrance as she sprinted towards the medical wing. The thought never occurred to Maya to simply call her mentor and tell Ritsuko what she saw.

When Maya eventually burst into the room, the blonde scientist's reproach died on her lips as she saw the horrified look on her protégé's face. When Maya finally managed to stammer out an explanation, the colour drained from Ritsuko's face.

She almost leapt across the room to the communication panel and opened a channel to the group in the cafeteria. It only took them a few minutes to arrive at a dead run, with Asuka leading the charge.

"What's wrong with him?!" she demanded to know as she stopped in the doorway.

Ritsuko bit back a retort at Asuka's automatic assumption. "It's nothing to do with Shinji. Something else has come up and I need to go see for myself to confirm it."

"What is it, Rits? Something bad?" inquired Misato. The grim look Ritsuko turned her way was enough to answer the question. "I'm coming with you then."

"I expected as much, but I need someone to- oh who am I kidding... Asuka, you'll obviously be staying here." The redhead nodded emphatically. "Right. Don't touch anything. I don't care if you've already graduated college, this is delicate and complicated work and it will take a little while longer to produce results."

Asuka took one look at Shinji on the table before turning back to Ritsuko. "Okay, but if I even think he's in trouble, I'll do whatever I can to shut this thing down, and to hell with your results."

"There's an emergency shut-off on the console. Use that instead of brute force, please."

With that, the adults ran out of the room, leaving Asuka to do nothing but watch the scanning waldos swing around Shinji's head as he lay quiescent on the bed in the middle of the room. She thanked whatever deity still remained that invasive probes weren't involved in this procedure. Having to see Shinji in hospital once again was bad enough, after all.


Misato was really starting to feel out of shape now. She was barely keeping up with Ritsuko and Maya, and they were running as if there were an Angel right outside the base. At least she was starting to recognise where they were now. They had just passed what she believed to be the way to the command deck(?). A sick feeling entered her stomach as she wondered what had gotten the other two women so worried.

"Believe me, senpai," Maya was saying, "I wouldn't be reacting like this if I thought I was imagining things.

"Maya..."

"Sorry... Ritsuko."

The group slid to a stop in front of a very familiar door as they caught their breath. The churning in Misato's gut intensified when she realised where they were. Any possible doubt was destroyed by the words on the sign above the door.

[EVANGELION CAGES]

"For all our sakes, Maya," she quietly said. "I really hope it was your imagination..."

The door opened and the automatic lights came on, revealing what lay beyond.