Chapter 19 - Sandalphon
Misato suppressed a smile as her car pulled up to the security gate and the bored guard in the tiny booth hastily got to his feet. She knew well the crushing tedium of guard duty in a quiet area; perhaps her NERV-issued black sedan with its front seats occupied by serious-looking men in dark suits would give him something to think about for a little while. She wondered what the man would think of her as she stepped out of the car and strode imperiously up to him. His gaze certainly lingered on her chest for a couple seconds too long before snapping up to her face.
"Er... sorry ma'am," he nervously began, "but this area is off-limits. Unless you have authorisation from-"
"Which would you like to see first?" Misato cut in. "My NERV ID or the research team's written authorisation?"
"NERV?" The poor young man gulped, giving a quick glance over his shoulder at Mount Asama, or rather at the pre-fab buildings near its base. "Oh shit... um... There's nothing I can do to keep you out anyway, is there?"
"Nope!" Misato's response was perhaps a little too cheerful. "If I really had to I could borrow some armour from the JSSDF, bull-rush my way in and take over in less than half an hour. Nobody would be able to do anything about it. But we're all friends here, right? We were asked to come here."
"Yeah... alright..."
The guard barely even glanced at the authorisation and simply retreated to his booth to open the gate, staring pensively at the car as it drove off.
The other rear passenger in the car adjusted the satchel in his lap, glancing at Misato as they neared the pre-fabs. "You could have just shown the papers right from the start instead of scaring the boy."
"But where's the fun in that, Makoto?" Misato responded with a cheeky grin.
Once past the gate, the NERV sedan's occupants may as well have been part of the survey team for all the attention they got. Nobody spared them so much as a look as they went about their duties, leaving them free to head straight for their destination: the largest pre-fab in this scientific hamlet. The escorts remained by the car as Misato and Makoto headed into a brightly lit building with computer screens set up along most of the walls.
A few of the boffins looked up at her sudden appearance and quickly went back to their own work, but one man stood up and walked over to her.
"Captain Katsuragi? I'm Professor Toshi Akita. Sorry to drag you out for something that might be nothing, but... better safe than sorry, yeah?"
Misato nodded. "We'll need to hook up a little something of our own to your system here. I trust that won't be a problem?"
Akita anxiously rubbed the back of his head. "I suppose. You'd probably just go ahead and do it anyway."
"Yes, but I'm doing the polite thing and asking nicely first." At the professor's sceptical glance, she hastily amended her statement. "Nicely for NERV at least."
Misato glanced at Makoto, who nodded and tugged a chunky laptop out of his satchel. A piece of paper fluttered out as well, and Misato picked it up. It contained clear, simple instructions for how to set up the laptop; clearly Ritsuko had decided to take no chances with Misato.
"Alright," said Misato to Akita once Makoto had hooked the laptop up. "Let's go over what caused this matter to be brought to our attention."
According to the head researcher, seismic disturbances had been detected in Mount Asama a couple of weeks ago, and a team had been swiftly assembled amidst concerns that a massive eruption similar to the Tenmei 3 disaster in 1783 might occur. When a probe had been lowered into the magma, it had just barely picked up a strange object before succumbing to heat and pressure. Now the team was preparing to lower a more powerful and rugged probe to investigate what the previous one had found.
Misato stared at the single picture the original probe had managed to capture milliseconds before its destruction. While the picture was incredibly grainy and distorted, it was still possible to make out the perfectly ovoid object floating in magma that had drawn the suspicion of NERV.
But one picture wasn't enough. This second probe, along with the MAGI uplink via the laptop, would confirm whether or not the disturbance and the ovoid object were Angelic in origin. An idea was already stirring in Misato's head on what to do if it was.
The noise in the room picked up as the operation began.
XXX
"You're doing really well, Shinji," Asuka complimented as she passed him a towel.
"Thanks," Shinji replied, taking the towel and wiping his face clean of pool water before draping it over his shoulders and heading over to the table. He sat down heavily on a chair, tired after Asuka's latest swim training session but less fatigued than he had been at the start of the week. The moment Asuka had deemed his swimming ability competent, she had immediately decided it was a good excuse to take more breaks from studying.
But they didn't slack off; Shinji held up his end of the bargain and helped Asuka brush up on her kanji. Her genius intellect shone through as she rapidly brought herself up to speed, even if she did occasionally try to declare impromptu swim breaks.
Throughout the week, Rei would sometimes appear in the pool area, nod a greeting to the other two pilots and proceed to swim for an indeterminate amount of time before vanishing just as quietly. The only time she stuck around was when Asuka, having prepared some lunch that morning, insisted that Rei join them.
On that occasion, she ended up aiding in Asuka's kanji revision by bluntly correcting an error Shinji had made, at which point Shinji began worrying that he'd made more mistakes. Only after going over their past work had Rei been able to assure him that that had been his only mistake.
When Rei showed up today, however, it was not to swim.
Shinji was first to notice, seeing that she was in her plugsuit. "Is there a test or something today?" he asked.
"No," Rei replied. "I have been asked to collect you two for a mission."
Asuka got up out of her seat. "Mission?!" she echoed, sounding almost joyful. "But... wait, there's been no alarm for an attack."
Rei turned around and headed for the entrance. "I will leave the details for Doctor Akagi," she said before exiting the room.
Shinji stared for a moment after she departed, before sighing and standing up. "Guess we better head to the changing rooms," he said as he made to follow Rei. He had just made it to the entrance when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.
"There's plugsuits for us in the change rooms here, genius."
"...Oh."
XXX
Mere minutes later, Shinji and Asuka arrived at the command centre. Rei was already there, patiently waiting with hands clasped behind her back. Doctor Akagi looked up from where she had been staring at Lieutenant Ibuki's terminal over the woman's shoulder.
"I suppose you're wondering why there's been no alarm," Akagi said by way of greeting. At Shinji's puzzled nod, she continued. "Well there's definitely an Angel, but currently it's in no position to do anything."
An image flashed up on the holographic screen in front of the bridge crew. A reddish oval dominated most of the picture, with something skeletal inside it. Shinji frowned as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing: it looked almost human.
"That's the Angel?!" Asuka's tone of voice conveyed Shinji's thoughts rather well. This had to be some kind of hoax.
Akagi took one look at Asuka's expression and said, "Before you say anything else, yes it's real. The MAGI have confirmed the Pattern Blue."
Asuka raised her hands over her head in mock surrender. "Fine. It's real. Whatever, I'll go step on an egg thing if you like. Where is it?"
A chuckle escaped Akagi's lips as the holographic screen changed. "There you go, just jump right in there."
Shinji blinked at the new image. "Is that... Mount Asama?"
"The volcano?" Asuka incredulously added. "What's an Angel doing in there? How?!"
"We don't know," Akagi admitted. "But considering it appears to be in an embryonic state, NERV is going to try and make the first move this time. Misato's already on-site with the research team, and she made the suggestion that we attempt to capture the Angel before it can attack."
"And just how are we going to do that?" Asuka folded her arms as she stared at the volcano. "As good as they are, I'm pretty sure an Eva wouldn't last long in magma." She briefly unfolded her arms to absently rub at her chest, remembering the heat of Ramiel's beam.
"No, but we do have something special for just such an occasion," Akagi replied. "In fact, the preparations are already nearly finished."
"How is it going to be possible to get an Eva into magma?" Shinji wondered aloud.
Akagi sighed. "I'll explain, if you two will let me finish," she said, causing Shinji to flush with embarrassment. "Unit-02 will be the one to go into the volcano, as the modifications will only fit on that Eva-"
"Excuse me?!" Asuka harshly interrupted. "What are you doing to my Unit-02?!"
Akagi, somewhat put off by Asuka's response, groaned heavily. "Okay, maybe 'modification' is the wrong word. We're going to put Unit-02 into a specialised dive suit that will be able to withstand the heat and pressure long enough to finish this mission. Afterwards, 'your' Eva will be back to normal."
Shinji didn't fail to notice the emphasis Akagi put on that word. Certainly, the Evangelions didn't belong to their pilots at all, but Asuka was clearly extremely protective of the one assigned to her. He wondered briefly if fighter pilots had the same attachment to their aircraft.
"Anyway, if I may be allowed to continue?" Akagi gave Asuka a look that could have frozen the lava in the volcano. When no answer was forthcoming, she continued. "Right. Mount Asama is some distance from Tokyo-3, so we'll need to split our forces a bit. Rei and Unit-00 will be staying behind to guard the city in case of another Angel appearing. Units 01 and 02 will be deployed at the volcano, with Unit-01 being on standby for support. Now then, a decision needs to be made.
"Both of you are capable of piloting Unit-01 and Unit-02. It would take too long to build a power station out near Mount Asama, so the best we can do on short notice is the mobile batteries you had for the Seventh Angel. That, combined with the fact that trying to use an AT-Field in magma would result in ludicrous power drain, means that AT-Fields are not an option for this mission. Therefore, either of you can go into the volcano. So which of you wants to be the magma diver? I'll give you a couple of minutes to argue with each other."
Shinji exhaled deeply as he turned and took a few steps away while rubbing the back of his neck. There was a dangerous task in store, as always with NERV, but this time there was something just as deadly even without an Angel involved.
"Obviously it's gotta be me down there," Asuka said, stalking up to stand in his path. "I'm the more experienced of the two of us."
Part of Shinji wanted him to just concede the point, let her go and be glad it wasn't him taking a swim in magma. But at the same time...
"My sync ratio in Unit-02 isn't as good as yours," Shinji began, "but it's going to be tough to move in magma anyway, right?"
"Indeed," Doctor Akagi piped up, glancing over her shoulder at them. "Next to impossible to fight effectively. But all you'd need to do is sit in the Eva and activate the capture device once you're in range of the Angel. Even if we could also add C-Type equipment to Unit-02, magma's too viscous for it to function effectively."
"I can do that just fine," said Shinji, turning back to Asuka. "Your skill would be wasted on something like that."
"He's got a point," Doctor Akagi admitted. "If the Angel tries to escape or attack when it gets to the surface, you'd be more capable of dealing with it, Asuka."
"What if something happens down there?" Asuka retorted, ignoring the scientist. "Would you be able to handle the Angel if it breaks free?"
Shinji gestured at the screen, which had returned to showing the photo taken by the probe. "It's an egg! How could that pose a threat?"
"It could hatch!"
"And then it's just a tiny thing I could kill by squeezing it in my hand!"
"Keep in mind, you two, that this is still an Angel," Doctor Akagi said in a rebuking tone. "We don't know enough about them. For all we know it can grow to the size of its brethren in seconds."
Asuka sighed and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. "Shinji, why are you so adamant about you being the one to go down there?"
"Because I'm the less valuable one!"
The next thing Shinji knew, his left cheek had erupted in pain and he was stumbling sideways into a wall. He scrabbled at it as he tried to maintain his balance, his rubber-clad feet barely managing to gain purchase on the metal floor. The command centre had fallen silent, all eyes wide and focused on the teenagers. Even Rei was staring at them with a frown marring her normally-stoic face. Shinji felt like he was in a zoo as he brought up a hand to cover the cheek that Asuka had just violently slapped. She was still holding the offending hand up in the air, her body stock still but something akin to rage boiling on her face.
"Don't... ever say something like that again, Third," she said in the most venomous tone Shinji had ever heard from her. Before he could reply, she stomped towards him until their faces were only centimetres apart. "You want to be point man on this mission? Fine, but don't say that it's because you're expendable."
"Asuka-"
"That kind of attitude is going to get you killed, Ikari," Asuka continued, refusing to let him speak. "And I will not let you throw your life away just because you don't value it!" She placed her hands on his shoulders and shoved herself away from him, rapping his head against the wall. "Now get your fucking head in the game and head to the cages."
She stormed out of the command centre, leaving it silent for several long seconds before low conversation began to fill the room again. Shinji let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, then slunk towards the exit. His pace quickened once he was in the hallway, and he caught up to Asuka at the entrance to the Evangelion cages.
And as he stepped through the doorway, he saw just why she had come to a halt.
"What the goddamn hell is this?!"
Shinji stared in astonishment. Rather than the imposing red giant he was expecting, there was instead an almost comically fat white diving suit, with the head of Unit-02 barely visible through the helmet's visor.
"That is the D-Type equipment," said Akagi, who had apparently followed the two pilots all the way here. Shinji and Asuka both turned to look at her, and Shinji noticed that Rei had also tagged along. "This suit can protect an Eva from heat, pressure and radiation."
"Not to mention good taste," Asuka grumbled. "It looks hideous!"
"Well then it's a good thing you're not the one taking the dive," Akagi cheerfully replied. "Speaking of which... Shinji, I appreciate that you got changed before coming here, but you'll need a specialised plugsuit while you're on this mission. There's one waiting for you in the change room nearby."
Shinji blinked. "Oh, okay," he said before squeezing past Akagi and Rei to head to the change room.
Once he got there, he found two packaged plugsuits sitting on a bench, labelled 'Soryu' and 'Ikari'. Remembering what happened last time he'd used one of Asuka's plugsuits, Shinji made absolutely sure to grab the right one. He stripped out of the evidently useless plugsuit suit and into the new one, wondering just what the difference was. To Shinji's eyes it looked exactly the same, and he gave a mental shrug as he returned to the cage.
"What happened to getting changed?" asked Asuka.
"This is it, apparently," Shinji replied, gesturing at the 'new' plugsuit. "Doesn't seem any different to me."
"That's because it hasn't been activated yet," said Akagi, before grabbing Shinji's left arm and pressing a button on the suit's forearm that he hadn't noticed. She immediately took several steps backwards.
The plugsuit instantly ballooned out in a manner similar to how the Sixth Angel had looked moments before its death. Shinji's arms waggled futilely as he attempted to keep his balance as the evil scientist Akagi ducked out of his way.
And Asuka burst out laughing.
"Oh my god!" she said between peals of laughter. "Thanks for taking that bullet for me, Shinji!"
"Asuka..." Shinji whined, before finally losing his balance and toppling forward, landing on what would be his stomach and rolling sideways. Only the rails on the gantry prevented him from taking a dip in the LCL pool surrounding Unit-02, although Shinji had a feeling he'd just float like a stupid-looking balloon if that happened.
The scene only amplified Asuka's laughter at his predicament. Even Doctor Akagi seemed amused at the sight, although she at least had the decency to help him out by grabbing his arm again and deactivating the suit, causing it to compress back to the point where he could get back to his feet.
"Oh geeze... I really needed that," Asuka sighed, giving off the occasional snort of amusement and not bothering at all to remove the smile from her face.
"Now that you've had your fun, Asuka," said Akagi, "it's time to deploy. Get to Unit-01."
"Sure." Asuka turned to leave, but glanced over her shoulder at Shinji. "Good luck Shinji. I'm sure you'll roll right over any resistance the Angel puts up."
"Asuka!" Shinji groaned.
"Fat chance of that Angel getting away from you!"
"Come on!"
"It'll be crushed by the sheer magnitude of your presence!"
Shinji gave up, burying his face in his hands as Asuka left, cackling in a very Misato-like fashion.
XXX
Staring down into the volcano, Shinji took a nervous breath. Unit-02 was currently dangling directly over a sea of molten rock by a bunch of cables; not an ideal situation by any stretch of the word, but it seemed to be the only way to get an Evangelion down to the depths of the Angel egg.
With his suit inflated, Shinji was barely able to reach the controls until he remembered what Asuka had done during the fight against the Sixth Angel. It took a moment of fumbling before he found the switch that extended the controls to a point he could comfortably reach.
Unit-01 was already on station, kneeling on the ground near the lip of the volcano with its gaze locked onto the dive suit. And in the sky above them, several aircraft were slowly circling, looking a lot like vultures waiting for a victim to expire. Shinji had wondered aloud if they were there to help NERV, only to receive the disturbing news that the planes were carrying N2 mines and were there in case of mission failure; their orders would be to bomb the entire area, regardless of human casualties.
And those orders had apparently come from his own father, according to the radio chatter.
"Beginning descent," came the report from the command centre. Shinji shook his head, willing himself back onto the task at hand. Even if he wanted to, there was likely no time for him to change his mind and switch roles. For all he knew the egg was going to hatch any minute.
"Watch yourself down there, Shinji," warned Asuka.
Looking up as best as his suit could manage, Shinji barely saw Unit-01's head poking over the lip of the volcano. He took his right hand off the electromagnetic cage, something that seemed to just be a metal bar with two more at each end, and gave what he hoped was a cheery wave with the limited movement available to the dive suit as the suit's feet touched the magma. When the magma rose to the level of the suit's chest, he gave Unit-01 and Asuka a thumbs up by opening the pincer as far as he could, eliciting the strange reaction of an amused snort from his fellow pilot as he sank under the magma's surface.
"Really Shinji? Doing the Terminator thing at a time like this?"
Shinji blinked as he brought the suit's right arm back to the metal bar. "Um... what?"
"...Never mind," Asuka sighed.
Another blink, and Shinji mentally shrugged as he gave up trying to understand what she meant; he had more important things to focus on. He was now fully submerged, and just starting to feel like he'd just gotten into a warm bath when the coolant system finally kicked in, to his great relief.
"Current depth, one-seventy," reported Lieutenant Ibuki. "Current rate of descent, five metres per second."
Shinji looked around. All he could see was magma. "How am I supposed to see anything down here?" he wondered aloud.
"Activate the C.T. Monitor," said Doctor Akagi. "It will help somewhat, but there's not much we can do about seeing through molten rock."
"The what?"
There was a sigh. "One second, I'll do it for you."
The view in front of Shinji changed. Now, instead of just red, he could also make out vague dark blobs passing by as Unit-02 gradually descended. He began to hear metal creaking as he reached the seven-hundred metre mark, then paled slightly at the next report from the command centre.
"We've reached the maximum safe depth."
Shinji shook his head and exhaled. NERV would not have sent him down here to die before he could accomplish anything. He just had to trust in their competence.
"Thirteen hundred. We've reached the predicted target level."
After coming to a halt, Shinji took a long look around before giving the report he knew the people up top wouldn't like. "It doesn't look like anything's here."
There was some muttering from the command centre, before Misato's voice cut through. "Go deeper. We'll continue this operation." The order drew more muttering of a discontent nature.
Before Shinji could say anything, Unit-02 lurched slightly as it continued descending. He decided to keep silent, but then he heard a cracking sound as he passed what the command centre considered the maximum allowed depth. "What was that?"
"That was the second coolant pipe," came the stolid reply.
"Er... is that going to be a problem?" Shinji warily asked.
Misato's reply was terse. "Relax Shinji, it hasn't ruptured yet."
There was another crack, much louder than the first. "And that?"
"Unit-02 just lost its Progressive Knife."
"Are you sure about this, Misato?" Asuka suddenly piped up. "Things are already starting to break!"
"I am in charge here," Misato replied tartly. "This operation will continue."
That just seemed to set Asuka off. "Come on, Shinji's down there! Don't you care about him?!"
A couple people in the command centre also voiced their concerns over Shinji's safety, eliciting a warm feeling in his chest he couldn't put down to the magma.
"...Shinji, do you want to abandon the op?" Misato finally asked, once people stopped shouting at her.
Shinji exhaled slowly. Asuka was clearly worried, but Misato seemed just as calm as ever. He made a decision. "We haven't found the Angel yet. If we back out now we might never find it before it attacks. Let's keep going."
"Well, you heard him," said Misato, a note of approval in her voice. "Keep going until we find the Angel."
The descent continued in silence for a short time, until Shinji heard a pinging sound.
"Depth at seventeen-eighty," Ibuki reported. "We've reached the corrected target level."
Unit-02 came to a halt once more, and Shinji peered through the murky gloom. "Nothing ye- ...wait..." A black oval seemed to slowly float into sight. "There! I see it!"
Misato's voice was practically exultant. "Great! Get ready for capture!"
The electromagnetic cage shifted, the main bar extending outward in both directions as the cross bars unfolded and locked into place. Unit-02 began to drift towards the egg.
"Since both you and the target are being moved by the current, you'll only get one shot at catching it," said Doctor Akagi. "Make it count."
Shinji leaned forward slightly in his seat. "Acknowledged."
Unit-02 and the egg slowly drew closer together until, with almost no fanfare, the cage activated and projected walls of light around the egg. Shinji stared at it for several seconds, expecting something to happen, before finally leaning back and sighing in relief. "Target secure."
"Well done, Shinji!" said Misato, as the command centre buzzed in excitement.
"Yeah, good job!" Asuka added. "But don't get complacent!"
Shinji wiped a hand across his brow as Unit-02 began to rise through the magma. Despite the liquid environment, he still felt like sweat was beading on his forehead. "Just in time it seems," he remarked. "Starting to feel like a sauna in here."
"Even the best coolant systems will only delay the inevitable when a volcano's involved," said Doctor Akagi. "Be glad you're on your way up now."
"Yeah..." Shinji glanced at his new cargo, ensconced within the electromagnetic cage. He blinked several times, then rubbed his eyes. Something seemed... different. "Hey, is the-"
People began shouting in the command centre, but a much closer and more immediately pressing matter demanded Shinji's attention. There were strange noises coming from inside the cage, and the egg itself was starting to bulge.
"Jettison the cage!"
Shinji immediately did as ordered. The metal bar his suit was holding broke off, leaving a small stub in his pincers, and the cage began to float freely in the lava as he continued upwards. He dropped the useless bar and made to go for his Progressive Knife before he remembered a crucial detail.
"Damn, no knife! Asuka, can you send me yours?"
"Already on its way, Shinji!"
In front of him, the Angel finally burst out of its egg. Fully formed within seconds, just as Doctor Akagi predicted, it looked similar to a large stingray sporting two arms with tentacle-like fingers. A flick of its tail sent it swimming rapidly out of Shinji's sight, leaving him to growl in frustration. He raised a hand, ready to catch the knife making its hideously slow descent towards him.
"How long on that knife?!" he shouted.
"Twenty seconds!" Ibuki quickly replied.
Doctor Akagi had more urgent news. "He doesn't have twenty seconds!"
The Angel made a sudden reappearance directly in front of Shinji, opening its fanged maw as it charged at Unit-02. The two massive bodies collided heavily, and the Angel's mouth latched onto the dive suit's helmet as one of its hands curled around the suit's left leg.
"How the hell can it open its mouth in magma?!" somebody shouted in Shinji's ear.
Finally, the knife landed in Unit-02's raised pincer. Shinji immediately activated the blade and, with a wordless yell, stabbed it down into what looked like one of the Angel's eyes... only for it to simply bounce off. He felt a sudden heat and pressure on his left leg as the dive suit's own leg cracked in the Angel's hand. Seconds later, that became a jolt of agony as the leg was jettisoned, and he fought the urge to take his hands off the controls to ensure his leg was still fine.
"The molecular structure of the Angel has evolved to survive in magma!" said Akagi. "The Prog Knife is useless!"
"Would have been nice if you'd thought of that beforehand!" Asuka angrily deadpanned.
After a couple more futile stabs, Shinji glanced at the arm that was holding the knife, and noticed the coolant tube attached to it.
"Thermal expansion!" he said as realisation dawned. With the knife in his suit's right pincer, he brought it around to his left arm and sliced through the tube just past its mounting point on the forearm. The view immediately began to darken in that area as coolant streamed out into the magma.
"Oh you brilliant boy!" Asuka cheered as she cottoned on to his plan.
Shinji jammed his left arm in between the Angel's mouth and the suit's helmet, sending the coolant flooding into the Angel's internals.
"I see now!" Akagi remarked. "Redirect all coolant to pipe three!"
The Angel predictably reacted violently, grabbing onto Unit-02 with both arms thrashing about as it attempted to crush its prey's head. Shinji felt himself being yanked back and forth, and manipulated the left pincer to try to grab onto anything it could in the Angel's mouth. With his right hand, he stabbed the knife down once again, and it finally managed to bite into his target's skin.
Now the Angel seemed to be panicking. Its mouth released its grip on Unit-02's head as it tried to turn its body around to escape, but Shinji had managed to clamp onto something in its mouth and the Angel ended up trying to drag him with it in a manner similar to the Sixth Angel. Its efforts were cut short by the tether Unit-02 was attached to, but it kept trying to yank itself free, pulling the Evangelion around.
Somebody in the command centre voiced a concern, but Shinji was entirely focused on destroying this thing before it could escape. Finally, and with almost no fanfare, the knife cut through the Angel's skin and the beast's thrashing stopped as its body began to disintegrate in the magma.
Shinji let out a sigh of relief as the last traces of the Angel vanished. He barely noticed that his knife had disappeared as well, but he didn't need it anymore. Shifting on his seat, Shinji watched the magma as Unit-02...
Stayed right where it was.
"Um... why have you stopped pulling me up?" he asked of the command centre.
"The crane took some damage from when that thing was pulling you around like a hooked fish," Akagi replied. "It wasn't designed to bend like a fishing rod. We're taking a moment to check it over before we resume your ascent."
"Oh... well, be quick please." Shinji leaned forward and glanced out at the magma, specifically at his suit's left arm. "I think we're going to run out of coolant soon."
"Coolant? No, we... oh shit!"
The torrent of coolant from the broken pipe slowed and then stopped, but Shinji was already starting to feel the heat. "Really, please be quick," he repeated, trying to hide his frustration at their inattentiveness.
"Okay, we're resuming." The message came at the exact same time Shinji felt the ascent begin. He leaned back and closed his eyes, glad that the worst was over.
And then, just as he heard a shout of alarm, his stomach did a flip as he felt himself plummet down towards the Earth's core.
