Creation began on 11-23-15
Creation ended on 01-05-16
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Potential Paradise: Issues
Asuka guessed that she could probably understand Shinji's detachment from his family now. It wasn't just his father that seemed to be a complete sociopath, but the very people on his mother's side that were full of themselves, as well. Towards the end of the ride to NERV, with the cell phone's loudspeaker on, both she and Misato heard the most foulest of words from Shinji's uncle, wanting to know why and how his nephew got a space station in his name from a relative they didn't know about. And the worst of it was that he felt that his family (he, his wife and kid) deserved it more than Shinji didn't, since they took him in when his father dumped him at their home.
And she thought her family was awful. It was no wonder the boy seemed the way he did.
-x-
"…Her sister's husband called his phone," Fuyutsuki informed Gendo. "It was probably a good thing he wasn't around to hear what they thought of him."
"What they think is irrelevant," Gendo responded to the revelation of his in-laws' resentment of the Third Child's inheriting a space station that people could actually live on.
-x-
It was like he was on Earth, but he wasn't on Earth. There was a sky, generated by powerful, atmosphere processors, creating actual skies and allowing for the space station to simulate actual weather patterns that were acceptable to the passage of the seasons. Everything else, the ground, the trees, the flowers and the water were as tangible as his feelings of release from the chains of NERV. But the longer he relaxed, the more he thought about Toji and his sister, Ayanami and the people that could be helped by relocating them to the space station for a better life, free from the conflict between NERV and the Angels.
I gotta get them here, he thought, and got up off the soft grass.
Returning to the large mansion that was where his ancestress had once resided, he sat down in front of a table that, similar to an Apple device with a touch screen integrated in it, showed him a geographical map of Japan and the region in which Tokyo-3 resided. But unlike such devices, this geographical map was constantly updating itself based off the present day. He could see people stepping outside their buildings and wandering around the streets, among other things happening in the city. And by typing in the name of people he wanted to find, he was shown their current location within the city, finding Toji and Ayanami at the school.
Incredible, he thought, wondering if this was an example of the belief that the gods were all-seeing and all-knowing over people.
He was also getting information on every soul on the planet that was registered in every database, from every country, telling him just how many people there were and separating them by their backgrounds, whether they had a record or not, ethnicity, etc. It was like the space station had an army of supercomputers that were greater than that of the MAGI themselves, except they were much older. And these people were separated into those that should be here on the space station…and who should remain on the Earth. Unfortunately, despite his mild dislike of her, Asuka was considered one of the people that should be allowed onto the station.
"At least it's her and not my father," he told himself. "Less than a billion people on the Earth…and only more than three-quarters of them don't have life sentences or criminal records or are prejudice against people. I guess the best way to start with anything…is to start at where home used to be."
-x-
"Three objects just detached from the space station, Dr. Akagi," Shigeru informed the faux-blond woman in Central Dogma, unable to see just what had separated from said station because of the satellite's distance from it. "They're approaching the atmosphere."
"Can you tell where they're heading?" Ritsuko asked.
"They're approaching Japan."
As the three objects got closer to the planet's surface, the satellite they were using was able to get a better picture of them. They looked like large, semi-roundish, semi-squarish vessels that looked about the size of a large city, with small, curved wings that looked like fish fins. Their coloring varied between green, blue and gray.
"It looks like Shinji's trying to be the people's savior," went Hyuga, "but in a different way."
"Maybe, but I doubt he'd want to save everyone," went Asuka in the large room. "His own relatives, at least. I can't picture him wanting anything to do with them."
"This is absurd," everyone heard the voice of Gendo Ikari as he stepped into the chamber. "What does he think he's doing?"
-x-
Some of the Tokyo-3 citizens were trying not to panic like before whenever an Angel attacked, but the sight of a large aircraft wasn't something you saw everyday. Even the police were baffled by what was going on.
"Are we being attacked, Daddy?" A little girl asked her father.
"I'm not sure," he responded.
A part of the aircraft separated from its underside and floated down further to the city, splitting into several more pieces. One such piece landed in the schoolyard of Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School, surprising the students. Atop it was a pair of androids that stepped off the platform-like structure, looking at the students in the windows. They then started beeping, and the students' computers and cell phones started acting up.
Each student and teacher that received a message that read, "To escape the conflicts of war and premature death, you must sometimes relocate. You've been invited to live on the Bio-Tech Sphere Station. Whether you decide to relocate or not is entirely up to you."
"Shinji's inviting the people to live on his space station!" A girl shouted from within the student body.
"I'm getting my things and getting out of this place!" The teacher that kept droning about the Second Impact expressed, grabbing his cane and walking out of the classroom as fast as his legs would take him, into the hall.
Hikari wanted to maintain order within the classroom as the other students gathered their things and stepped out, but she was unable to stop them and did what she could've done at a time like this: Go with the flow, since she had also received the message from her phone and computer.
-x-
"…Somehow, only some of the people have received the invitation," went Shigeru, who himself was one the recipients of the invite within the Geo-Front. "It looks like Shinji evaluated the entire planet's population before he sent these ships down here."
"He evaluated everyone?" Ritsuko questioned, wondering how this was possible, since this was something that even her MAGI barely had the capacity or authority to perform.
"He must have some really powerful supercomputers on that space station," went Maya, who had also received an invite to live on the space station.
"Old and powerful," added Fuyutsuki, who had also been invited.
This didn't sit too well for Gendo, who felt his scenario was threatened by the Third Child performing such an action that would hinder the Instrumentality Project.
"We need to establish contact with the Third Child," he ordered.
-x-
Shinji saw as Toji and his sister, who still looked like she needed to be in the hospital, board one of the platforms with their relatives after taking what they could, among the others that got the messages that invited them.
Through one of the androids near them, he was able to hear the little girl a simple question.
"Is your friend really helping the people by moving them to this space station that he had inherited from a relative?" She asked Toji.
"That's pretty much the way it seems, Sakura," her brother told her. "Are you excited?"
"Yes, and happy to be out of the hospital."
The sight of the little girl's bandaged arm and leg didn't put a smile on Shinji's face, but he was reminded of the wondrous benefits people would be afforded up here that they couldn't have down there that would've put the need for a hospital to pasture.
"Good people, good lives," he sighed, and saw through the hacked cameras the bridge of Central Dogma, where some of the people there were starting to leave, since they received the invitation to relocate. "Bad people, bad problems."
"…We need to establish contact with the Third Child," he heard his father say on the bridge, and got an idea on what to do next.
-x-
Misato's cell phone received a new text, and it was one she found to be impossible.
"Shinji's texting me," she revealed.
"But he doesn't have his phone," went Ritsuko. "How is that possible?"
"What the… My console's been hacked!" Hyuga gasped.
"Mine, too," added Shigeru.
"Same here," declared Ibuki.
Suddenly, the holographic systems in front of them ceased displaying what they normally displayed…and showed a text message from Shinji himself.
"YOU WANTED TO TALK TO ME?"The text read.
Misato texted back, "Shinji, what are you doing?"
The holographic text message was then replaced with a new one that read, "I'M DOING WHAT THE EVA COULDN'T DO, WHICH IS HELPING THE PEOPLE. NOBODY HAS TO SUFFER IN TOKYO-3 OR ELSEWHERE BY RELOCATING HERE."
"But you're causing pandemonium by doing this," Misato texted.
"IT'S NOT PANDEMONIUM IF THE EVALUATED ALL RECEIVED THE SAME INVITATION."
Misato found herself unable to respond to that. Maybe because she knew he was right.
Asuka grabbed the phone and texted, "Enough with the game. Stop playing and tell everyone that this is a joke."
"ASUKA, THIS IS NOT A GAME." Shinji texted on the holograms, showing that he saw the whole of Central Dogma and everyone present. "THIS IS MY CHOICE. YOU AND FATHER MADE IT EASY FOR ME TO DO THIS."
"NERV will tell the people to cease and desist, that this is unnecessary,"she texted.
"THAT WILL ONLY DO ONE THING: MAKE NERV A CONTROL FREAK."Shinji had responded. "YOU'D BE TAKING AWAY PEOPLE'S FREE WILL AND THEIR RIGHT TO DECIDE. THAT WOULD BE WHERE WE DIFFER, FOR I AM MERELY GIVING THE PEOPLE THE CHOICE. THEY CAN DECLINE OR RETURN TO EARTH WHENEVER THEY CHOOSE."
And with that text, the conversation ended.
"At least he's giving the people a choice," said Maya.
"Yeah," Hyuga agreed with her.
-x-
He didn't want to be a dictator or some sort of tyrant. He didn't want to be selective as much as certain people were, either, but he did want to keep the good people separate from the bad. However, as much as it seemed unlikely, his aunt and uncle on his mother's side were included in the list of bad people when the space station's supercomputers had evaluated them; he wasn't even sure how they were really awful, aside from their neglect.
Beep. The table-sized touchscreen indicated that one of the ships he sent to Tokyo-3 was filled with the people that were invited, and he pressed a button on the screen and permitted the ship to return to the station with the new arrivals.
He was actually looking forward to seeing Toji and Kensuke.
-x-
"…This cannot be, Ikari!" SEELE 01 told Gendo during the new meeting.
"He's divided the planet's population into two factions, those that will be granted sanctuary on this massive space station and who won't be," added SEELE 06.
"If this hinders our plans for the Instrumentality Project, Ikari, you will be the one to pay for this," SEELE 11 told him.
"NERV will handle this," Gendo told them.
"See to that NERV does, Ikari," SEELE 01 enforced.
-x-
"…Oh, my God," went Toji and Sakura's father, stepping inside their new apartment on the space station, seeing that it had been nicely furnished and had a lived in feeling because it reminded them of their previous dwelling, but made larger.
"This place is much bigger than our previous house," said Sakura.
Suddenly, an android came out of the hallway and stood in front of them.
Sakura hid behind Toji.
"How may I be of service to you?" The android asked them.
"Uh, could you contact Shinji Ikari to let him know that we're here?" Toji asked it.
"Contacting Shinji Ikari," it responded, sounding like a ringing phone. "While contact is in-progress, shall I direct your sister to the Rejuvenation Cradle?"
"Rejuvenation Cradle?" Their grandfather questioned. "What is that?"
The android led them to a room that was located near where Sakura's room was, and showed them a large, bed-like device that looked like it was from a hospital's research division and was decorated with oriental figurines on its sides and front.
"Wow," Sakura expressed, walking carefully over to it. "What do we do with it?"
"You lie on it," the android answered her, "and it scans your body for any and all injuries or ailments, and eliminates them."
"You mean, this bed heals?" Toji gasped, looking at it.
Sakura decided to give it a try and climbed onto it and lied down. She and the others watched as the device lit up beneath her and a scanner above her rotated from the left side to the right and vice versa.
"Scanning for ailments," a computerized, female voice uttered out within the cradle. "Ailments detected. Begin revitalization process."
Sakura then felt like somebody had plunged her into a hot bath. Her bones felt like sponges and her skin felt like silk. Then, just as soon as this good feeling came, it left, and she felt…like she'd been before she was hospitalized.
"Ailments eliminated," the computerized voice uttered, and Sakura got off the cradle, standing firmly on her legs.
"How do you feel, Sakura?" Her grandfather asked her.
"Good as new," she expressed, raising her hands up and flexing her fingers.
To be continued…
A/N: Here's chapter three. What do you think so far? You'll have to PM me because the review system doesn't work right now.