"We're not ready," Ritsuko said.  "There's clear
signs of tampering with the records of the testing of the
microfusion engines.  Not to mention the records that do
seem reliable include at least one incident in which
installation of the engine caused the test EVA to 'melt to a
puddle of black and yellow slime'.  A second one became so
heavily contaminated with radiation that it had to be
destroyed.  We can't risk the pilots being destroyed by some
unforeseen malfunction." 

	"We have to do it," Misato countered.  "I don't want
to risk the pilots' lives, but on the next operation,
running a power cord or supplying fresh powerpacks is simply
going to be impossible.  Even maintaining communications
will be difficult to impossible.  And the base itself is
being powered by microfusion right this minute.  The records
indicate they'd worked out all the bugs and successfully
installed a microfusion engine in Unit03.  While they
couldn't run a full range of tests with no pilot, it's been
installed for at least three weeks without any disaster
whatsoever.  It's a risk, but a necessary one." 

	"I believe we need to first reliably establish that
we can actually use the EVA units in the next operation
before we make a final decision,"  Fuyuutsuki now said. 
"Many natural caverns are far too small for the EVA units. 
While preliminary scouting indicates the EVA will be usable,
 I would suggest waiting to install them until we are
certain we will be able to actually conduct this operation
and won't have to wait for Orifel to come to the surface."

	Gendo looked at each of them impassively, then
nodded.  "There are suspicious irregularities in the
records.  We will wait here until we are sure we can get the
EVAs into the cavern network.  If we can, we will install
the microfusion engines and proceed.  My communications with
this base indicated they were quite sure they had worked out
all the bugs.  All of our equipment is rather experimental,
but we are under too much pressure to take the full
precautions that were allowable before the Angels began
their assault.  We should have confirmation within the next
three to five days at most."  He rose.  "You know your
duties.  Do them."  He turned and departed with Fuyuutsuki
trailing after him like a shadow. 

	Misato and Ritsuko waited until both of them were
gone, then Ritsuko said, "I still think this is too
dangerous.  Even without the risk of the microfusion
engines, there's a million natural disasters that could doom
the mission.  What happens if there's a cave-in?" 

	Misato sighed.  "What if Orifel decides to erupt up
in the middle of Oklahoma City?  At least this way, no
civilians will be at risk.  I hate to put my...to put Shinji
and Asuka at risk, but we have no choice.  We're all
soldiers here, and soldiers have to risk their lives.  My
only regret is that I can't go with them."  She fingered her
necklace, letting the familiar routine of running her
fingers along the odd angles and smooth curves of its star
like pendant soothe her nerves.

	"Do you believe in fate, Misato?" Ritsuko asked,
staring at the pendant. 

	"I believe in something.  I'm not sure what its name
is, but I know something saved me from dying in the Second
Impact.  There's just no way I could have survived that
without divine intervention.  Not unless this thing has a
lot more power than just..."  She struggled to remember how
to express it correctly.  "Short circuiting servants of the
Angels." 

	"I want to believe something is watching out for us,
but I can't find any evidence I can trust," Ritsuko said. 
"But the only godlike beings we've seen are hostile."

       "Any being that man can destroy can't really be a
god," Misato said.  "Unless they were... what's it called...
demi-gods... like Hercules, yeah?" 

	"Too bad we can't call him on the phone, then,"
Ritsuko said wryly.  "Maybe he's the one who kept you alive
through Second Impact." 

	"Nah, that'd be Poseidon."

	"Ah, true."

	"I dunno how I lived through it; I was adrift at sea
for two weeks, at least."

	"And you don't remember anything at all?" 

	"Not after seeing Antarctica go up in flames.  And
then I was catatonic for a year...haven't I told you about
all this before?" 

	"I've been thinking." 

	Misato rolled her eyes.  "You're not the only one
around here who thinks, you know." 

	"That's not what I meant.  I've been trying to put
the big picture together.  We still don't know where these
Angels are coming from, or what they want, or if they're
ever going to stop.  Or how they're getting here." 

	"Well, I do have a theory," Misato said.  "It's
pretty much just wild speculation, but it sorta makes sense
of it all.  Although I'm just kinda pulling some of it out
of my ass." 

	"What is it?" 

	"Well, possibly, they're all the losers of some sort
of alien war, and they were imprisoned here for their
crimes, maybe millions of years ago when humans hadn't
evolved yet.  The people who imprisoned them might've died,
leaving thse 'angels' forgotten, still trapped in suspended
animation.  Second Impact started to stir them out of that,
and now they're all waking up.  Or maybe their prison
sentences all ran out fairly close together." Misato
laughed.  "Kinda crazy, but I don't have a better idea." 

	Ritsuko tapped her pencil on the table as she
thought for a few minutes.  "Hmm.  Or it could be some sort
of natural cycle, like hibernation, although what would be
the signal for them to awaken...I'd think Second Impact was
the signal, but why did they wait so long?" 

	"Whatever it is, they've been here a damn long
time," Misato said.  "Whoever built that underwater city
built a temple over one of them, and that city was probably
Atlantis or something, which would make it really old. 
Maybe they're just really deep sleepers." 

	"It's just all too convenient.  Nearly unstoppable
giant monsters not showing up until right after we have the
technology to stop them.  Coming one at a time like a bad
kung fu movie.  Each fight is ALMOST lost, but not quite." 

	"Maybe they're trying to lull us into a false sense
of security,"  Misato said.  "Although I tend to think it's
a matter of them not liking each other.  For that matter,
they might not actually know the others are here.  If they
think it's them against the world and the only possible help
is light years away, then they have to make do on their
own." 

	"It just makes me wonder if we're pawns in some
cosmic game, that the Earth is just a board where someone
has built up NERV as his champion and is letting his friends
build their own monsters to throw at us for fun.  Or
something."  She sighed.  "I'm rambling." 

	Misato stood up.  "Well, we can speculate until our
brains run out our ears, but we don't know enough to do more
than guess wildly.  I can only conclude that I'm hungry and
want to eat.  Want to join me?" 

	"Sure." 


                          -*-


               John Biles & Rod M. Present
          A Neon Genesis Evangelion Elseworlds


                 Children of an Elder God

                          Part 12

            Fear and Loathing in Oklahoma


                           -*-

	"This bodes ill," Gendo said, standing on the platform looking
down on the hanger where NERV-America had kept its test EVAs, and they
now kept the three they had brought with them, and Unit03, which they
planned to take with them once they departed this site.  "The commander's
records have been tampered with as well."

	"Well, Unit03 has yet to explode or melt," Fuyuutsuki said.
"Perhaps someone was trying to shift blame for the disasters with 4 and
5."

	"Perhaps.  But I think SEELE has taken them."

	Fuyuutsuki blinked.  "Why would they bother?  And what use would
test EVAs with no pilots be?"

	"Perhaps they have pilots.  Perhaps DAGON has been more successful
than we've been led to believe."

	Fuyuutsuki frowned.  "You think Dr. Akagi is secretly working for
one of them?"

	"Science is not magic.  Indeed, duplicability of results is the
ideal.  Given SEELE's access to information, they could easily be
monitoring our experiments and learning from our mistakes, then using the
information to perfect their own work.  If I was SEELE and had its
resources, I'd have several groups working on that project. Perhaps they
have reached the point where they need test EVAs of their own."

	"But then they could manufacture them themselves.  If they have
the resources to duplicate DAGON, they can make EVAs as well.  Of course,
this could be intended to make us think they don't have the capacity to
make them, so we'll believe SEELE has only two, and then an army of them,
controlled by DAGON units, could show up when matters come to their final
resolution," Fuyuutsuki said, frowning.  He leaned on the railing and
stared down at the four EVAs.  "Neither NERV-Japan nor the Scimitar would 
last long against that."

	"Or possibly there really were two accidents, and we're simply
descending into paranoia.  Commander Irons was never very good with
machines; I wouldn't be surprised if he simply accidentally deleted half
his records and tried to reconstruct them from memory without telling
anyone.  Although that's why we gave him that secretary, but it is 
possible."

	"Well, all of the witnesses are dead who could tell us,"
Fuyuutsuki said.

	"Not all of them.  A handful were on vacation.  I'm having them
rounded up so we can find out if they know anything important."

	Fuyuutsuki nodded.  "Good idea."

		_*_

	The site having been declared 'clean', the repair and reconstruction 
of NERV-America was underway.  Shigeru and Makoto stood at the top of a
bank of escalators and watched workers busily cleaning them; many had
become jammed up from having snakes caught in them.  "I wish I could
requisition these guys to clean my apartment," Shigeru said.  He looked
over at the envelope in Makoto's hand.  "Hey, they're delivering mail to us 
now?"

	"Yeah, Misato had all our mail forwarded by air.  I haven't read
it yet, but it's from a writer friend of mine."

	"So when are you going to stop sending her anonymous love letters
and tell her how you feel?" Shigeru asked.

	Makoto stared at Shigeru.  "How'd you know?"

	"Who else could it be?  Anyone who's not an idiot can tell.
Anyway, you'd best make your move before Kaji finally wears down her
resistance."

	"Do you think...she knows?"

	"She'd have either told you to forget about it, or jumped into
your arms by now if she knew.  Just don't wait too long like I did.
Although if Maya really does...lean that way, I never had a chance, but
still...you know what I mean."

	"Yeah.  So who do you think Shinji's secret admirer is?"

	"No clue.  If Rei had any hormones, I'd guess her, but I think
she's probably still neuter like a little kid."  He shrugged.  "Who do
you think is gonna win the World Cup this year?"

	"Brazil."

	"No way!  The Germans will crush them."

	"I'm sure Asuka thinks that, but given they've lost to Brazil five
years in a row, they're dead."

	Soon, a proper sports argument was in full swing.  The maintenance
crew was rapidly sucked into it, and by the time it was over, the day was
completely shot.

		_*_

	Kaji wondered again why someone had opened a place called 'Eskimo
Joe's' in Phoenix, Arizona.  The bar and grill was decorated in a polar
theme, and the airconditioning was certainly strong enough to evoke the
Arctic wastes.  As he stared at the stuffed penguin hanging up over his
booth, he wondered what Pen-Pen would have done if he had seen it.

	The man he was waiting for soon arrived, sitting down at the
booth.  He was middle aged, and nicely dressed in a suit and tie,
drenched with sweat, since it was nearly a hundred degrees outside.  His
hair was short and black, his eyes grey and harried.  "Mr. Kaji?"

	Kaji nodded.  "You're Bill Harker?"

	"Yeah."  The man slid his briefcase under the table and signalled
a waitress.  "Rum and coke, please."

	She nodded and went to get him one.  Kaji sat and sipped his fruit
drink.  Once the waitress brought the man his drink, Kaji said, "You had
something to tell me about the microfusion engine?"

	"Yes.  It's impossible.  If you get through the mumbo jumbo the
old project head, Dr. Schwarzenwald, surrounded it with, you got a bunch
of science that didn't make any sense.  Maybe if the microfusion engine
was in the heart of a star, you could build one that would actually
produce enough energy to have an output, instead of needing energy input 
to work."

	"I understood that it involved inducing high gravity fields in
some manner?"

	"A gravity field high enough to enable one to induce fusion of
say, sandstone, which was used in one test, would cause the EVA to
collapse in on itself.  You can't slap a 'containment unit' on gravity.
It's the result of mass bending space, not some kind of particle.  That's
why practical or even impractical anti-gravity devices have never been 
invented."  

	Kaji nodded.  "Do you have any documents laying out your arguments
in scientific prose?  And how does the microfusion reactor powering the
base work if it's a hoax?"

	The man frowned.  "I don't know.  But I have some written up
documents.  I'll get you copies as soon as I can; I hadn't finished
polishing them when I went on vacation."

	"Get them to me as soon as you can.  We need to know what was
really going on here before the Angel attack killed everyone."

	Harker shuddered.  "I'm glad my wife demanded I finally take a
vacation."

	"Now, what do you know about the accidents with the two destroyed
EVA units?"
	
		_*_

	He stood in his cavernous underground lair, brooding 
on insults of yesteryear and the burning desire for retribution.

	Around him, filling the entire cavern, his children
hissed, rattled and slithered, filling the air with their
reptile song.  They were eager to serve their master.

	At last, he decided who would die today.  The two
who persecuted him, who always blamed him, the ones that
made him feel worthless.

	Shinji Ikari smiled a malicious smile.  Time for
dear old uncle and auntie to die.

	And with that thought, his legions of snakes
slithered away into the tunnels.

	The prey was set.

	The hunt was on.

	Suddenly, the roof of the cavern shattered, debris
and daylight pouring in from above.  He and his minions
hissed angrily at the intrusion, and he glared angrily
skyward to see who dared to confront him in _his_ kingdom.

	Before he could act, a gigantic hand came from above
and grabbed him.  He yelled, screamed, and roared at the
audacity of the invader.   Opening his mouth, a pair of
fangs emerged, and he bit down on the giant hand.

	It didn't have any effect.

	Instead, Shinji was at last pulled out from the
cavern and into the open air, and found himself staring at
a giant purple behemoth, the words 'Unit01' marked on its
side.

	"I'll kill you!" yelled Shinji.  "I'll kill you!"

	The Evangelion opened its mouth, and shoved him in.

                           -*-

	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

	He sat up suddenly, his arms trembling, his body
drenched in sweat.

	"It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real,"
Shinji muttered to himself.

	Outside, he could hear Misato and Asuka stirring.
Shinji hoped it wasn't him that woke them up.

	"Hey, Shinji," asked Misato from behind the door.
"You okay?  Can I come in?"

	"Good lord, he's doing it AGAIN!" yelled Asuka.

	"Asuka, be nice."

	Shinji sighed.  This wasn't a good start to the day.

	"I'm fine, Misato!  I'll be out in a minute!"

                           -*-

	Having nothing better to do, Asuka talked Shinji
into wandering around the Scimitar with her, not a small
feat considering the titanic size of the aircraft.  It was
more for keeping in shape than for the sightseeing, Asuka had
said, though they both would admit that the endless coridors
of the Scimitar were still impressive to them.

	After an hour, the pair made their way to the top
deck of the Scimitar.  Blue skies with fluffy clouds
welcomed them, as well as the many gun turrets laid across
the carrier's deck.  Asuka emerged from the Scimitar first,
standing easily atop the ship, even peering over the edge of
it, while Shinji stayed very close to the entry hatch.

	"Scared of heights?" asked Asuka.

	"It's not the height," said Shinji shakily, with a
weak grin. "It's the lack of walls."

	"Oh.  Hey, Shinji?"

	"Yeah?"

	"What do you think about Rei?"

	"W-what?"

	Mercifully, Asuka missed the embarrassed look and
slight blush on Shinji's face.  Instead, she was staring at
a vague point straight ahead, deep in thought.

	"Haven't you noticed anything weird about her?"
asked Asuka.  "She's... it's like she's not exactly human."

	Shinji frowned.  "That's not a nice thing to say."

	"I'm not looking to insult her, I'm trying to figure
her out," replied Asuka.  "There's a lot of things about her
that don't add up."

	"Like what?" asked Shinji.

	"Like what?" echoed Asuka, angrily.  "Have you NOT
been paying attention to her at all?  She's nearly albino,
except for the blue hair and red eyes.  _Red_eyes_, Shinji.
That is not normal."

	"So she looks a little strange," said Shinji, though
he wasn't sounding so certain himself.

	"Have you asked the other guys at school about her?
I have.  She never talks to anybody.  Ever."

	"She's just shy."

	"You'd think that Rei would be bullied or something,
being timid like that, but she's _not_.  People are _scared_
of her, Shinji, though they can't really say why."

	"They just don't know her!"  

	"No animals will get close to her," continued
Asuka.  "Remember the time that snake got into our room in
Arizona?  When Rei tried to touch it, the thing went
_crazy_."

	"Asuka, her private life is none of our business!"

	"The heck it isn't!  Our lives are depending on each
other, Shinji!  I wanna be sure I can trust her!"

	"She's saved my life and that's good enough for me!"
shouted Shinji.  "Just... just stop worrying about it.
Leave her alone."

	And with that, Shinji went back into the entry
hatch, climbing down the ladder in a sour mood.  Asuka
sighed and quickly followed.  "Hey, Shinji?  Aw, don't be
mad!  C'mon, wait up!" 

                           -*-

	"Not to mention the time she left icy footprints on the floor, and
all.  WHAT is she?" Asuka demanded of Ritsuko.

	They were in Ritsuko's office, such as it was, which was more of a
cordoned off part of the lab than a formal office, even if she was head of
research.  In theory, she had a fancier office, but it was too far from
the labs for her to normally bother with it.

	"Rei is one of the Children.  Like you, she isn't entirely human."

	Asuka nodded, then her eyes widened.  "What?"

	"Second Impact has had an impact on every child born since it
happened, though we don't fully understand why.  The rate of stillbirths
and deformities has gone up, but at the same time, so has the number of
prodigies.  All three of you have the ability to pilot EVA because due to
some quirk of genetics, you are more attuned to the energies used by the
EVAs than a normal human, and also able to keep your sanity in the face of
them."  

	"But Rei is...I mean she..."

	"No normal human can pilot an EVA.  Either they fail to
accomplish anything, they go mad, they die, or they become a horrible
twisted thing.  Whatever makes Rei special, you and Shinji possess it as
well, if not so strongly.  And what has happened with her is happening to
you as well."

	Asuka's eyes tried to widen more and failed.  "What?"

	What followed was a flood of charts and graphs demonstrating
physiological changes in all three of the Children.  They were becoming
stronger, faster, and healthier.  Their metabolism was becoming more
efficient.  There were brain-wave activity changes as well, common to all
three.

	A wave of data overwhelmed Asuka, leaving her little choice but to
accept Ritsuko's conclusions.  "So, we're going to start...getting pale
and...everything?"

	"That's simply a quirk of her genetic background.  But sometime
soon, you will likely begin to manifest psychic abilities like hers,
weaker forms of the powers of the Angels you have slain.  I wouldn't be
surprised if some very low level effects too subtle to notice weren't
already taking place."

	Asuka frowned.  "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

	"We didn't know before.  I've only gradually pieced this together
myself from studying the three of you, and my conclusions are still
tentative.  We'd hoped the EVAs would adapt, but we couldn't be sure.
Even less could we guess what would happen with you three."

	"So what's going to become of us?  Are we going to turn into
monsters?  Are we going to have to be killed because we're not human any
more?"  Asuka's voice started to rise in pitch, and her hands clenched
and unclenched.  

	Ritsuko's voice was harsh.  "You're not turning into monsters.
Rei is not a monster any more than I am.  But if you treat her like one,
you'll make it a lot more likely that she'll treat you as one in return.
You're more like..."  She thought a moment.  "Demi-gods."

	"..."  This didn't seem to be much comfort.

	"It's hardly a scientific term, but I don't know a better one.
But you're not going to sprout tentacles and rampage through Tokyo-3,
fifty foot tall.  You're more like the next step in human evolution.  But
you're still human."

	"I...But why is it stronger with Rei?"  Asuka wasn't ready to 
simply accept she was being...transformed.

	"A quirk of her genetics.  Or perhaps she's simply figured out how
to do these things while you haven't.  I should talk to her about it."

	"And the animals being afraid of her?"

	"Pheremones.  Same for the humans.  As I said, many people born
since Second Impact suffer some kind of genetic flaw; that is likely one
of hers.  And I suspect she's so introverted because of the fact that her
pheremones make people fear her.  Plus, she had a bad upbringing."
Ritsuko sighed.  "To the extent you could call it an upbringing."

	Asuka stared at the ground.  "Are you sure we're not going
to...turn into something awful?"  The fear of it clutched at her, but
a part of her was almost eager for it, and that scared her even more.

	"For all I know, we could be squashed flat by a meteor five
minutes from now.  Life doesn't come with a guarantee.  But I have no
reason to believe you're going to be as heavily affected as your EVAs,
since you're far more human than the EVA units.  I suppose it could
influence any children you might have, though."

	"I just..."

	"You're not going to become a puddle of slime after your next
fight, and worrying about it will just make you feel old before your time.
Go do something fun and relax, Asuka."

	Asuka got up slowly.  "Thank you for talking to me, Dr. Akagi."

	"You're welcome."

	Ritsuko watched her go.  I hope I'm right, she thought.  We can't
afford to lose them.  And these changes may be going further than I
thought they would.  This merits study.	

                           -*-

	Even though he told Asuka not to, Shinji found
himself wondering about Rei. 

	And so it came to pass that he found himself
standing before her cabin aboard the NERV flagship Scimitar. 

	He looked at the door, wondering what he'd say to
her, what to ask. 

	And then the door swung open. 

	Shinji nearly jumped away in shock, while at the
doorway, Rei merely looked at him with a neutral expression,
though her eyes did widen ever so slightly.

	"Shinji-kun." 

	He breathed a deep sigh, trying to calm down from
the surprise of Rei's sudden appearance. "Hi, Rei." 

	She blinked at him, tilted her head slightly, then
went back inside the cabin.  She left the door open
behind her, allowing Shinji to follow inside. 

	He followed her inside, as she walked through the
short but dark passageway to her room.  Rei sat on her bed,
then looked up at Shinji with a hint of expectation and
curiosity.  Daunted by even this minor display, Shinji
looked around and sat on the chair by the desk.

	Now, what was he going to ask?

	Er...

	He sat there silently, sometimes twiddling his
thumbs, other times tapping his feet while trying to figure
out the words to what he wanted to ask.  On her part, Rei
silently, patiently waited for Shinji to do something.

	"Um... Rei..."

	"Yes?"

	"I was wondering..."  Are you a mutant freak?  Why
are you nearly albino with blood red eyes?  Why do you scare
the hell out of everyone?  How do you leave icy footprints
on the floor? 

	Shinji shook his head and tried again.  "Um...
Rei... how do you do those... um... things that you do."

	Rei looked slightly puzzled, but otherwise remained
silent.

	"Like... like... like when you left those icy
footprints on the stage... or how you outmuscled Touji...
or... um..." He suddenly realized that asking her how she
manages to scare animals into a fleeing panic was not a good
choice of words. 

	However, this seemed to be enough for Rei, who
surprised Shinji by answering.  "It is the power of the
Children."

	It was an enigmatic answer, one that didn't sound
reassuring.

	"I... I don't understand," replied Shinji.

	One of Rei's eyebrows lifted, slightly.  "You...
cannot do these things?" she asked.

	Shinji shook his head.

	"We take from those we slay," said Rei.  She looked
expectantly at Shinji, waiting to see some sign of
comprehension.

	He still looked relatively clueless.

	Looking around her room, Rei frowned.  She stood up
and left the room, pausing only to look at Shinji
expectantly, a sign that he should follow.  He did, and they
were soon walking along the grey steel corridors of the
Scimitar, through twisty mazes and bulkheads.  It seemed
like mindless wandering to Shinji, until Rei suddenly
stopped.  She seemed to peer into a dark corridor, then
gestured for Shinji to come closer.

	"Huh?" he asked.

	"Look in the corner," she said.

	"Okaaaay."  Shinji walked down the hallway,
frequently looking back at Rei.  The girl merely waited for
him.  Having nothing better to do, he continued on his way.

	As he reached the end of the corridor, he noticed a
spider's web, slightly unusual in a way he couldn't put into
words.  The spider's web was large but barely visible, a few
shimmering strands of light stretching across the alleyway.
At its center was a modest-sized spider.  Its body was
small, about the size of a few peanuts, but its legs were
surprisingly long, each of them longer than his hand.

	As he approached the web, the spider paused and
seemed to look straight at him.  It almost seemed....
expectant?

	He looked back towards Rei with a questioning look.
She merely replied, "Command it."

	"Um... hello."

	It still stared at him expectantly.

	"Ah... go left."

	The spider paused a moment more, then began walking
left.  Shinji stared in disbelief.  This couldn't be, it was
just coincidence, right?

	"Stop."

	It stopped, looking at him expectantly once more.
He found its gaze suddenly uncomfortable.

	"Walk in a circle."

	The spider began crawling along its web, in a nearly
perfect circle.

	Shinji's blood ran cold.  Visions of the nightmare
he had earlier came back, haunting him.  "No... this can't
be..."

	He walked, almost stumbling out of the corridor,
towards Rei.  Confusion and fear filled him.

	"Rei... what are we?"

	Rei merely replied, "The Children."

                           -*-

	Shinji put down his homework, having had more of it than 
he could stand.  After his conversation with Rei, he couldn't 
focus on it anyway.  He got out his cello, and began 
practicing a simple piece he had mastered long ago.  As he 
played, he remembered long afternoons with Taiyama-san, his 
cello instructor.  He had treasured those sessions, for 
Taiyama-san had been the only person who had ever praised him 
before he came to Tokyo-3, though he also constantly pushed 
Shinji harder and harder, more so than Shinji usually wanted 
to exert himself.

	As memory carried him away from the present, his burden 
eased, carried away by a river of notes flowing out into the 
air around him.  He did not know how long he played before 
there was a knock on the door.

	"Come in," he said, continuing to play, since his 
instrument needed no voice to sing.

	Asuka came in with her violin.  She looked tired and a 
little scared.  "I heard you playing," she said softly.  
"Mind if I join you?"

	"Go right ahead," he said, pointing to his simple bed.  
His room in the dormitory on board the ship wasn't too large, 
but he had a desk at which he had been sitting with the chair 
turned around, a dresser drawers, and a bed.  Room enough for 
two.

	She sat down and began to play, joining in the piece, 
not speaking.  They played in near-silence through three 
pieces, their instruments joining into a union like the one 
they experienced with their EVAs, but far more beautiful.  
Slowly, the music worked its magic on Asuka, as she ceased to 
slump and frown, replaced by a relaxed posture and a tiny 
smile.

	As he began a fourth piece, he suddenly realized he 
hadn't even told her what any of them were.  She's good, he 
thought.  

	"I went and talked to Dr. Akagi," she said quietly as 
they launched into the wistful fourth piece.  

	"What did she have to say?" he asked, suspecting he 
knew.

	"You were right, Shinji.  She already knew.  She claimed 
she'd just recently figured it out, but...Now I'm wondering 
about what else they haven't told us."  Her face darkened 
again.

	"I'm sure Misato and Dr. Akagi don't want anything bad 
to happen to us.  They didn't have any way to know what would 
happen.  But it is kinda scary."

	She missed a few notes as she said, "I keep wondering 
what strange abilities I'm going to start getting, or if I'll 
start...looking different."

	"I can make spiders obey me," Shinji said faintly.  "I 
went and talked to Rei."

	"What did she tell you?"

	"That we gain the abilities of what we kill, to some 
degree.  She was surprised we didn't already know."

	Asuka frowned more.  "And how did she know?"

	"Figured it out, I guess.  I suppose I'd make a good 
snake charmer now," he said.  He fumbled a few notes and 
frowned slightly.  I'm not used to talking while I do this, I 
guess, he thought.

	They began a new piece; this one was spritely and quick.  
Their hands raced back and forth with their bows, and for a 
time, they played without speaking until they had both 
reached the proper pace.  Then Asuka said, "I hope I didn't 
absorb being pathetic from the Koosh Ball Angel."

	"I hope you don't start biting people's feet so they rip 
off your hand," Shinji replied.

	Asuka laughed.  "Geez, he was a loser.  I could do with 
fighting a few more idiots like him."

	"Me too."

	They played in silence again for a time, then switched 
to a complex piece, darting up and down the scale and 
repeatedly changing key.  Both of them could almost hear the 
rest of the orchestra racing along with them, the crashing of 
cymbals, the deep booming of tuba and basoon, the lilting of 
the french horns, the gentle chiming of bells, the other 
violins and cellos striving to keep up with them.  Music 
surrounded them, suffused them, erupted from inside them.  
The walls, the ceiling, the furniture they sat upon faded 
from their awareness, and there was only themselves, their 
instruments, and the orchestra.  

	They raced along to the conclusion, and then they were 
done, with only a few lonely violin notes lingering on to say 
that they had played at all.  Indeed, for a moment, Asuka 
thought another violin was playing out a final coda to the 
tune, but that was, of course, impossible, since no one else 
was there.  "That was really cool."

	"Yeah, I wish we'd had a tape recorder running," Shinji 
said.  "And a real orchestra to accompany us.  That would 
have been even better, since that's what it was written for."

	Asuka had the sudden realization that she couldn't 
remember what that piece was they had just played.  She could 
remember what it sounded like, but not the name.  "So what is 
that one called?"

	"Umm..."  Shinji racked his brain, and had no idea 
whatsoever.  "I can't remember."

	"Me neither, but I'm sure it'll come back to me," Asuka 
said.  I know it by heart, why can't I remember its name?  
I'm probably just trying too hard, she thought.  Like the way 
I froze up during that physics final two years ago.  It'll 
just pop back into my head.

	"It's not that important.  Lemme see if I can find 
another good one."  He got his folder of sheet music and 
began fumbling through it.  "See if you know any of these.  
I'll go get Rei."

	Asuka frowned.  "I...I'm not sure if I want to deal with 
her."

	"You sure of that?  I bet the piece we just did would be 
better with three.  And I could get a tape recorder."

	"Uh, well...okay," Asuka said.

	Shinji stared at her for a moment; she normally was a 
lot more forceful.  She's just got stuff on her mind, he 
thought. I can't blame her. 

	He went and borrowed a tape recorder with a microphone 
from Misato, then found Rei in her room, a short distance 
down the hallway.  As he knocked, he heard violin music 
coming through the door.  It ceased, and she opened the door, 
still holding her violin, then stepped back.

	"You wanna come practice with Asuka and I?"

	She advanced, and he retreated, then she turned and 
closed the door, starting down the hallway to his room.  He 
followed her, then realized she was humming a tune, which 
startled him.  Moreso, it was the tune he and Asuka had been 
playing earlier; she was humming the violin part.

	"Do you know what the name of that tune is?"

	"No."

	"Do you remember who wrote it?"

	"No."

	"Do you remember where you learned it?"

	"The same as you."

	They reached Shinji's door, and he rubbed his head.  
"Where was that?"

	"In battle."

	Shinji took quite a while to follow her through his own 
door after that.

		_*_

	Shigeru sighed.

	The setting sun just didn't look quite the same in
Arizona as it was in Japan.

	Probably from the lack of water.

	And the large stretches of desert wasteland.

	The hot, arid wind didn't help either.

	The wild west, Shigeru thought dimly, was quite
overrated.

	The bridge technician was taking a much needed
stroll, suffering from a nearly non-stop day of system
checks, double-checks, safety checks, redundancy checks, all
sorts of mundane yet essential tasks.

	Ah, but he needed the break.  Shigeru paced slowly
around the massive NERV carrier, a cigarette dangling from
his lips. It was a filthy habit, he knew, but such was life.
At the moment, he was in no mood to quit.

	The truth of the matter was that he was feeling a
bit homesick.  Shigeru thought a little travel might be
nice, but now he had a full change of heart.

	Unfortunately, a return trip home wasn't in the
works, not yet anyway.  Still had to head over to Oklahoma.

	Man, Oklahoma.

	Shigeru laughed, then shook his head.

	o/~ Oooooooooklahoma! o/~
	o/~ Where the wind comes sweepin down the plains! o/~
	o/~ And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet o/~
	o/~ When the wind comes right behind the rain! o/~

	That's what I get for surfing the cable channels, he
thought to himself, foreign musicals stuck in my head.

	As he walked by the aft section of the Scimitar, he
heard something rustling in the grass.

	More snakes?

	He quickly took a step away from the noise, then
stepped on something slippery.  Shigeru tried to quickly
stand up, but there was something slippery under his hand...
slippery, pulpy, and warm.

	And moving.

	"What th-"

			-*-

	The security guard posted at the entry lift of the
Scimitar looked at Bridge Officer Aoba curiously as he
staggered slowly forward.

	"Hey, Aoba-san?"

	Shigeru blinked, though there was something
disturbing about the very movement of his eyelids, something
_wrong_, like there were ants crawling under his skin... or 
something.

	"Aoba-san?  You okay?"

	Shigeru grinned, though the very movement of his
face was unnatural.  With a low, monotone voice, he replied,
"O.K."

		-*-

	Gendo signed the report and tossed it into his 'out' box.  Yet
another piece of mindnumbing paperwork had been defeated.  The next item
on his agenda was to go over the monthly requisition requests and try to
deduce which were legitimate, and which had been approved as part of
embezzlement schemes by various subordinates, and which were simply
stupid.  Once Rei showed up.  He was surprised by her lack of punctuality.

	He reached over to the inbox, only to see Rei sitting quietly in
the chair in front of his desk.  How long has she been there, he wondered.

	"Next time, alert me to your presence," he said.

	"Yes, sir," she replied.

	"I understand you've had some problems with the Second Child."

	Rei nodded.

	"I believe it's affecting your performance as a pilot."

	Silence.

	"Such as when you were ordered to subdue Unit02 during the recent
operation and you engaged in excessive force."

	Silence.

	"That cannot be tolerated."

	"Yes, sir."  Her voice was flat.

	"Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

	"I have no defense of my actions to make.  I accept your judgement."

	But did she?  Gendo wasn't so sure.  "Why do you dislike the
Second Child?"

	Rei fidgeted slightly, surprising him; Rei could beat a statue in
standing still, usually.  "She attacked Ik...Shinji."  While her face
remained calm, he could hear the slight waver that with anyone else would
have been meaningless, but with Rei was like someone else screaming.

	"She was suffering from hallucinations induced by the Angel.  That
was quite clear from her transmissions.  Why do you dislike her?"  His
voice grew a little harsher.

	"She is...like me, but not."

	Gendo resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark, since it would
be wasted on her.  "How?"

	"She...We are both Children.  But she...They make me feel."  

	"Feel what?"  

	"I don't know the words."  For a time, she was silent.  "I want to
be with Shinji."

	"You want to live with Shinji?"  

	"My...feelings around him are good."

	"And your feelings around the Second Child are bad?"

	"She is closer to him than I am."

	"So you want to get rid of her, so you can be the closest one to
Shinji?"

	She nodded.  	

	"You are aware that human beings normally don't settle this sort
of thing with violence?"  he asked, then a few seconds later, decided
that she probably didn't.  

	"How?"

	"How what?"

	"Is it settled?"

	"The usual method is to make him want to be with you, not to kill
everyone else he is with."  I can't believe I'm having this conversation,
Gendo thought.

	"How?"

	In all his dreams and plans, Gendo had never once imagined his
duties as commander of NERV would involve giving romantic advice to a
repressed teenage girl.  It had been decades since he had been a teenage
boy, let alone a teenage girl.  And knowing what Rei was, he wasn't sure
it was a good idea to give her any advice.  On the other hand, if it 
enabled her to get rid of her her jealousy towards Langley, it could
avoid a total disaster.  He'd transgressed far more important boundaries
to get where he was, and there were  passages in the prophecies which
hinted of forbidden love among the Children.  

	Still, regardless of all that, what really kept him silent was
not being sure what to say.  He spent a minute thinking, then said, "I
suggest you ask..." He quickly ran through names in his head.  "Commander
Katsuragi."  

	"Yes, sir."

	"And I don't want you to ever attack Asuka again, either in person
or with your EVA unit."

	Rei nodded.

	"There's no reason for you to be jealous of her.  You're a better
EVA pilot than she is.  Your performance has been very good so far; I
don't want to see any further damage done to your record."

	Rei nodded again.

	"Dismissed."

	He watched her go, then pushed his glasses back up his nose,
wondering if he ought to talk to Shinji about this, and whether or not
this had been a mistake.

				_*_	

	Shinji sat down in a chair in Ritsuko's 'office'.  "I'm sorry I was 
late, Dr. Akagi."

	"Try to be on time next time," Ritsuko said.  "Anyway, I called 
you in to talk to you about the other Children.  We'd like to head off 
any problems before they can fester."

	"I don't really have any problems with the others," Shinji said.  
"It's hard to get a straight answer or any kind of answer out of Rei, 
and Asuka can be kind of loudmouthed and a bit bossy at times, but 
that's about all.  I never thouht I'd actually like living with other 
people, but living with her and Misato is kinda fun."

	"So Misato no longer tries to get everyone else to do all the 
housework for her?"

	Shinji laughed.  "Well, yes, but Asuka usually badgers her into 
helping out.  And her job does keep her more busy than we are.  I'd 
rather have Asuka cook than her."

	"Do you and Asuka ever fight?"

	"Well, if I have one more nightmare, I think she may kill me.  
Other than that...not more than anyone living in the same house does.  
We have little fights over who's supposed to do what chore, 
sometimes.  Or over leaving the toilet seat up or down."

	"Any problems with Rei?"

	Shinji shook his head.  "Not usually.  Other than trying to pry
the answer to a question out of her."

	Ritsuko laughed.  "I know.  I know.  So what do you think about 
what Asuka has been saying about her?"

	Shinji stared at the floor.  "I just...Rei can do weird stuff, but
so can we.  I made a spider do what I told it to.  She said we gain the
power of what we kill.  But how does she know that?"

	"I don't know.  We didn't suspect anything until recently; I
suppose she just figured it out for herself."

	He looked up at Ritsuko.  "She thought I should already know."

	Ritsuko frowned.  "Well, unless someone else has been telling her
things, I don't know why she would think that.  So you can make spiders
obey you?"

	Shinji nodded.  "For whatever that is worth.  It doesn't
mean...I'm going to start sticking to walls and stuff, am I?"

	"I don't think so.  I doubt you're going to develop the
proportionate strength of a spider, or anything like that.  Or extra
limbs, or spinnerets.  Real spiders can't command other spiders, you
know."

	Shinji nodded again.

	"Still, I think I'm going to need to run some more tests.  I would
assume you would manifest a power related to each of the Angels you played
a part in terminating."  She began scribbling a list on a notepad.  "We'll
have to do some experiments once we return to Tokyo-3, but I believe the
next mission is coming up very soon, so don't worry about it right now."

	Shinji wished he could easily take that advice.

			_*_

	Asuka laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling, listening to some
music from her jambox without actually hearing it.  It was a wall to keep
the world out, to keep her from having to think.  Unfortunately, the world
kept creeping through it into her head.

	What am I becoming? she wondered.  A quote came unbidden to her
head.  'Let he who hunts monsters beware, for when you gaze into the
abyss, it also gazes into you'.  She mentally kicked Nietzsche into the
abyss and tried to forget he had ever existed.

	There was a subtle gnawing void in her mind, and it wouldn't fill
up, no matter what she shoved into it.  I can't even focus on being a
vegetable, she thought.  She gave up and got her school books.  Best to
try and not get too far behind, she decided.

	An hour later, there was a knock on the door.  She welcomed it.
"Come in."

	Nothing happened.

	"Come in!"

	Nothing still happened.

	Before she could speak again, she realized the problem.  She
turned the jambox down to '2' instead of '8'.  "Come in!"

	Misato entered, looking sufficiently cheerful to aggravate Asuka.
"You busy?"

	"Not really."

	Misato went over and sat down on one end of the bed.  "I've
noticed you've been moping."

	"I am NOT moping."  Asuka frowned.  "Who told you that?"

	"I could feel it coming through the walls," Misato said.  Asuka
jumped slightly.  "You're worried about what may be happening to you."

	"No one ever told me I could...turn into something horrible!"

	"Well, for one thing, we didn't know.  Virtually everything
connected to the EVAs is poorly tested and incredibly risky, simply
because we didn't have the time or the means to test it.  For eight years,
we had exactly two test pilots.  Half the time, we don't even know
for sure why something works, and we still aren't sure exactly what
enables you, Shinji, and Rei to pilot EVA without losing your mind, your
humanity, or both.  I hate it, but we have no choice.  It's this or
humanity dies."

	Asuka stared at the floor.  "It's weird.  I'm not afraid of being
killed in battle, but the thought of...turning into some kind of...thing,
terrifies me."

	Misato nodded.  "I'd be scared too.  But worrying about it won't
do any good.  Ritsuko will do her best to make sure nothing bad happens to
you, and she's very good at what she does.  She's worked practical
miracles in the biological and computing parts of what we do, so
I'm sure she can keep you okay."

	"I had this dream where I...and we..."  Asuka began to shake.
"And I ran through the city, burning and destroying, watching the humans
run like ants, and I liked it.  Their fluids were sweet in my mouths and
their cries were like music and..."  She was crying without tears
now, and Misato moved over to hug her, patting her back gently.  "And I
liked it.  That was the worst part."  She tried to say more, but all she
could do was cry.  Real tears came now.

	For a time, Misato simply held her, making soothing noises.  As
Asuka began to calm down, Misato said, "It was just a nightmare.  If all
my nightmares reflected what I really wanted, I'd be a horrible monster,
but they're just all your hopes and fears thrown into a blender."

	"What do you have nightmares about?" Asuka managed to choke out.

	"I screw up and you all die.  Then the Angels destroy all of
humanity, but they let me live.  They make me watch each and every death,
and everyone curses my name as they die.  And then they all fly into the
sky and leave me alone, the last person on Earth.  I try to kill
myself, but I can't die.  And that's when I usually wake up."

	"You're not going to screw up like that," Asuka said.  "We usually
get in trouble when we don't listen to you, not from taking your orders."

	"I want to believe that, but it'll only take one mistake for me to
ruin everything.  I can't afford to make any mistakes at all.  But I can't
live like that.  So I worry."

	"Thank you," Asuka said.  "I feel better now."  Both the words and
the being held brought her comfort, though part of her wished Kaji was
holding her.  "And I think you shouldn't worry."

	"I wish I didn't.  And I'm glad you feel better.  I've got to go
work on the briefing for tomorrow morning, but I think Shinji and Rei are
wandering around trying to find something to do."

	"Is that a order, commander?" Asuka asked, laughing.

	"I command you to go have some fun, for tomorrow, we head to
Oklahoma."

	"Do we have to sing?"

	"Don't make me hurt you."

			_*_

	The pilots and crew sat around a large table in the main 
briefing room on board the Scimitar.  Misato stood at the head of the 
table by the large wall screen, on which currently a map of a cavern 
network was projected.  "Polaris has located the next angel, code 
named Orifel, in this cavern network under central and eastern 
Oklahoma.  Our preliminary excavations have revealed that the EVA 
units will be able to enter and operate in a majority of this network.  
We hope to have you enter and stop Orifel before he surfaces."

	"How are we going to refresh our power?  It'd be really easy 
for a cave-in to destroy our power cords," Asuka stated.

	"We're going to install the new microfusion engines, which 
should remove that problem.  Our biggest worry currently is 
communications.  While we can send a cable down with you, that's 
vulnerable to being cut or snagging.  We have an experimental 
communications system that uses radiation capable of penetrating 
all that rock, but it hasn't been tested very well yet.  If 
communications proves impossible, we may have to abort the 
mission and wait for him to come to us."  Misato frowned.  "After the 
disaster at NERV-America, I don't want to give the Angels the 
chance to do any more damage than we have to."

	"These caves are really big enough for our EVAs to walk around 
in?"  Asuka asked.

	"Much to the surprise of our geologists, yes.  This large one," 
she pointed to the huge cavern at the center of the map, "is miles 
across, and contains tunnels leading down to an even larger one.  We 
haven't explored that one yet, since that is the level at which Orifel 
dwells, and we didn't wish to alert him to our presence.  We have 
reason to believe that some of this cavern complex is artificial, 
since we've found buildings down there."

	"A lost city?"  Shinji asked.

	Misato nodded.  "Yes."

	Ritsuko cut in.  "Possibly connected to certain North and South 
American cultures who claim their ancestors came up from some 
sort of home inside the Earth."

	Asuka pursed her lips and began speculating on the odds of 
finding two Angels under ancient ruined cities not known to normal 
history.  Maybe some ancient civilization built these things, she 
thought.  But then why have they been asleep so long?  She had no 
answer.

			_*_  

	Kaji frowned at the newspaper.  'Local Scientist dies in Car 
Crash'.  Mr. Harker had supposedly driven his car into the statue in 
front of a 'Foney's Big Boy'.  It had toppled and the burger in Big Boy's 
hand had crushed his head.  Autopsy reported he was heavily 
intoxicated.

	Kaji would have found it more plausible if Elvis had supposedly 
killed Harker.  Harker had no reputation as a drinker, and his wife 
said he'd simply left for the grocery store.  The question wasn't 
whether foul play was involved, but who was behind it.  

	There were ten other people who'd missed the massacre at 
NERV-America, not counting night staff and other people who would 
not normally have been at work when the disaster took place.  Two 
had been gone talking to various vendors with whom NERV had 
dealings in the United States.  Three had been on vacation.    Four had 
been sick.  And one had simply not come to work and was still 
missing.  

	Perhaps I'll have some luck with the others, Kaji thought, but 
he didn't believe it.


			_*_  

	Only the fact that Gendo knew he was dealing with tiny-
brained fools kept him from being worried as he strode into the 
Steering Committee meeting.  As far as he could tell, the American had 
a brain like a sieve, the British ambassador was still living in the 
nineteenth century when she wasn't busy spouting self-help 
platitudes, the Chinese representative instinctively vetoed anything 
he hadn't proposed himself unless he was bribed, the Russian was 
usually thinking about prostitutes, and the very concept of Bermuda 
having a representative on the Steering Committee struck him as 
utterly ludicrous.  It apparently struck the Bermudan ambassador as 
ridiculous as well, since the man had never spoken once in Gendo's 
presence.  Only the Ghanan ambassador had Gendo's respect; she was 
reasonably intelligent and a trained physicist.   One sane person in a 
pack of madmen could do little, however.

	The dogs began to howl as he entered.  "What is the meaning of 
this?  How much of the budget did you spend on this...this...stupid 
blimp!  One F-15 and you'd be wiped out!  What about fire?  What 
about accidents?  Why didn't you use a giant cargo plane?  Do I get to 
ride on it for free?  I've always wanted to ride in a blimp."

	Gendo waited for the storm to settle.  "First of all, you all 
approved the construction of the Scimitar.  Or to be more precise, 
your predecessors in the job you are all currently holding.  I didn't 
just go down to 'Blimp World' and pick it up out of petty cash.  We've 
been building the Scimitar for several years now."

	"Secondly, its purpose is to serve as a mobile headquarters, 
not to go into battle.  Yes, if an Angel attacks it, we are doomed, but 
that's true of any headquarters without protection from an EVA.  No 
conventional defenses can stop an Angel.  However, with the 
Scimitar we can efficiently transport everything we need to deal 
with Angels to any point on the globe, regardless of whether it's at 
sea or on land, and whether or not there's anywhere to land.  It can 
remain in the air for months if necessary and be resupplied by 
helicopter.  The reports I had sent to you by Commander Katsuragi 
compares her experience with an improvised headquarters in Toronto 
and the use of the Scimitar against Hayyael."  Assuming any of you 
bothered to read it, he thought.

	"A blimp isn't very fast," the Ghanan ambassador said.  "That's 
the biggest problem.  We recognize any transport would be 
vulnerable, but if Mombasa is attacked by an Angel today, you could 
not get there in time to save the city using the Scimitar."

	"If an Angel attacked Mombasa, even loading the EVAs into 
ICBMs would not be fast enough to save the city.  With only four 
functional EVA units, and only three pilots, we can't react fast 
enough to save anything without many hours advanced warning.  Any 
plane large enough to carry an EVA is going to have limited speed, 
but even if we had supersonic cargo planes, the world is simply too 
big.  The only way we can beat the Angels is to find them before they 
strike with Polaris, which is why I'm taking as proactive a stance as 
I can.  Should a crisis arise, we'll use faster modes of transportation 
and sacrifice the advantages the Scimitar grants us.  We hope, 
however, to force the enemy to react to us, and not vice versa."

	"What about the destruction of NERV-America?"  the American 
ambassador bellowed.  

	"What about it?  You recieved a report that it was the result of 
an attack by Hayyael."

	"Losing an entire base doesn't exactly impress me with your 
competence!  If you weren't hoarding all of the pilots to defend YOUR 
homeland, they wouldn't be dead!"

	Gendo choked back his instinctive response and went to work 
soothing the committee.  I suppose some of my long-term plans would be
much harder if they weren't fools, he thought, but in the short-term, I
hate dealing with these people.

			_*_  

	Virtually every child tries eating rocks or worse when they are 
very small, though most don't remember it.  Shinji only remembered 
the last time he had eaten rocks because there had been moss on 
them, which had given him a massive allergic reaction.  It was one 
of his earliest memories.  

	For a moment, Shinji wondered if Unit01 would have the same 
problem from what it was eating.  Then he discovered he could taste 
the rocks, which shocked him; 01 didn't seem to have a sense of 
smell or taste before this, although he'd never really tried to use it.  

	The Children were practicing getting their EVAs to 'eat'.  The 
microfusion engines would theoretically enable the EVAs to consume 
just about anything and use it as fuel to keep operating.  They would 
need this for their next mission, they'd been told.

	//"You know, rocks taste pretty lousy,"// Shinji said.  //"And 
this sandstone is gritty."//

	//"It's better than Misato's cooking,"// Asuka said, grinning.

	//"Har har,"//  Misato replied.  //"You'll be praying for my 
cooking once you've been underground a few days, living on LCL."//

	Shinji's stomach rumbled.  //"Ugh.  Can't we take food with us?  
It may make sure I don't starve, but you still FEEL like you're 
starving."

	//"Contaminating the LCL with other materials could have 
unforseen results,"// Ritsuko said.  //"But we can try testing that 
once we finish this mission and return home.  Any problems with 
chewing or swallowing?"//

	//"Nope,"// Asuka said.

	//"Negative,"// Rei replied.

	//"So our EVAs have an actual digestive tract?"// Shinji asked.

	//"We believe it isn't fully functional, but yes,"// Ritsuko 
replied.  '//"The microfusion engine has now replaced its stomach"//

	A thought hit Asuka.  //"What about...umm..."//

	//"Sufficiently prolonged operation will require us to pump out 
various waste products.  But don't worry, you won't need to potty-
train your EVA,"// Ritsuko said wryly.

	Shinji was glad Asuka had asked instead of him.

			_*_  

	Shinji was flying.  It was only a dream of flight, but to Shinji, 
it was a wonderous thing, for Shinji had never before dreamed of 
such a thing that he could remember.  He flew over farmlands, 
endless amber waves of wheat and darker waves of barley, his 
powerful wings flapping in the gentle breeze, the sun warming his 
back.

	He reveled in it, his mobility far superior to that of his waking 
form upon the Earth, zipping down to startle a herd of purple cow-
like beings, who scattered.  His friends laughed and flew down to 
join him in a game of cow scattering.  Kensuke was there, his 
madness forgotten, and Asuka and Touji competed to see who could 
best scatter the cows.  Rei and Hikari watched the four of them 
cavorting, simply shaking their heads in unison at it all.

	Their wings were brightly feathered, matching their hair, and 
they all wore short belted tunics of various colors, usually in 
contrast to wings and hair, in the same style for both men and 
women.  

	As Shinji rose into the air, the dream suddenly shattered, and 
he awoke, suddenly urgently aware that nature was calling him.  He 
staggered out of bed, fumbled for the light so he could find the door, 
then opened it.

	Rei was curled up just outside his door, wrapped up in a 
blanket, lying in the hallway.  He could hear her breathing, and one of 
her arms was batting at the air, like a cat playing with a ball of 
yarn.  

	Shinji stepped over her, and resolved to ask what she was 
doing when he took care of business.  Once he'd gone and relieved 
himself, he came back and knealt down next to her, shaking her 
gently.  She lashed out at him, and he leaped back.  A few seconds 
later, her eyes opened, and she blinked.  "Real?"  She asked.

	"Ummm...why wouldn't I be real?"  Shinji decided to avoid 
waking up Rei in the future.

	She looked in through the open door, then back at him.  "Is it 
morning?"

	"No.  I just had to use the bathroom.  Why are you sleeping in 
the hallway?"

	She looked up and down the hallway.  "Standing guard."

	"Against what?"

	"Not sure."

	"Did you have a bad dream?"

	"Yes."

	Ahh.  She must have gotten scared, or something, Shinji 
thought, though it was hard to imagine what could scare Rei.  "Maybe 
you should ask Misato or Asuka if they'd mind you sleeping with them 
tonight."

	Rei stared blankly at Shinji.  "They're safe."

	Is she...trying to get in to sleep with me? Shinji wondered, 
then dismissed the thought.  I'd have woken up with her in my bed, if 
that was the case, he had a feeling.  "But I'm not?"

	"Maybe."

	"What would I be in danger from?"

	"Don't know."

	Maybe I should ask her to come in and...he shook his head.  She 
was cute, but everyone would get the wrong idea, and he wasn't 
ready for anything like that yet.  He was surprised he'd even thought 
of it.  But I can't leave her out in the hallway.  "Umm...someone might 
trip on you if you sleep out here."

	She nodded.  "Goodnight, Shinji."  She turned and walked the 
short distance to her room, which was just past Asuka's.  Once she 
vanished out of sight, Shinji shook his head and went back to bed, 
dreaming repeatedly of tripping over Rei in the morning and falling 
down.  

			_*_  

	"Four of a kind," Shinji laid down his four twos.

	"Not again!"  Makoto said, sighing and tossing down his cards.  
"I had three threes and two sixes.  I thought you were bluffing."

	Misato threw her cards in the air.  "Let's play fifty two card 
pickup."

	The door opened and Gendo stepped in, carrying a simple manila 
folder under one arm.  Maya groaned.  "Now we're really dead.  Did you 
two plan this?"

	"Come to destroy us again, sir?"  Makoto asked.

	Gendo ignored him.  "Shinji, come with me."

	Shinji stared at him in surprise.  "Is...Did I do something
wrong?"

	"No.  Just come with me."

	As everyone stared at them Shinji got up and scooped up his
winnings.  "Where are we going, Father?"

	Gendo took Shinji out the door and down the hallway to one of 
the conference rooms.  They sat down, staring at each other across a 
table.  Gendo assumed the standard Gendo position, and then regarded 
Shinji silently.

	Shinji tried to read his father's face and failed, it was utterly 
blank.  No, wait, there was a slight twitch at the corners of his 
mouth, and his ears were wiggling slightly, Shinji realized.  
Whatever that might mean.  Shinji tried to think about what his 
father could possibly want him for.  Did I do something wrong?  He said I
didn't, but...

	Shinji mentally reviewed his actions for the last week, but he 
couldn't find anything that could possibly be wrong, unless he and 
Asuka and Rei had made too much noise practicing music the 
previous night.  Dr. Akagi had actually complimented them, and so 
had Misato.  Maybe he's mad because we all call Misato by her first 
name instead of Commander Katsuragi, he thought.  

	Gendo finally broke the silence.  "We need to talk about 
something that should have been addressed a long time ago."

	"Yes, Father?"

	Silence.  More silence.  Shinji suddenly realized he could hear 
the air conditioning.

	"My father never gave me this talk, and I had a lot of trouble as 
a result."

	Shinji nodded, wondering what his father could be talking 
about.  As seconds turned into minutes, he wondered if he would ever 
find out.

	"Of course, they may have taught you some of this in school.  I 
suppose I should have checked the curriculum."

	Shinji prayed his father would not spend several minutes 
between every sentence of this conversation.

	"It has come to my attention that you and Rei are closer than 
anyone else has ever been with her."

	Shinji started to wait for the next sentence, then realized he 
might actually be expected to respond.  "She is very shy, but very 
mature."

	"How close have you been?"

	Shinji tried to figure out what his father meant, and then it hit 
him.  "You mean..."

	"Yes."

	"We haven't done anything.  I mean...just hung out and played 
music together and stuff.  I mean...Did someone tell you we'd done 
something?"  Shinji began to worry what kinds of rumors were 
floating around.

	"No.  But I believe you're old enough to have a relationship with 
a woman, so, I've decided..."  Gendo fell silent and stared at the table 
for a moment.  "You need to know about...women."

	For a moment, Shinji thought his father was afraid of the 
subject, but he dismissed the thought.  An Angel could threaten to 
step on Gendo Ikari, and he would probably just stare it down.  "Know 
what about women?"

	Shinji listened to his own heartbeat.

	Gendo got out two anatomy charts from the folder he had been 
carrying.  He looked at them, then put them back very quickly.  "We'll 
save that for the end of this...let's talk about relationships first."

	The full reality of this finally sank in.  Sex.  The sex talk.  The 
talk he had assumed he would never get.  And...his father was 
actually doing something fatherly for the first time in Shinji's 
memory.  He resolved he would do his best to be a good son and not 
embarass his father any more than was almost certainly inevitable.  
He'd never seen his father so hesitant before.   "Okay." 

	"Your mother wasn't the first woman I ever dated, but she was 
the first one I truly loved with all my heart.  So don't be surprised if 
your first dozen relationships don't work out.  I was as shy as you 
once."

	Shinji couldn't imagine that.

	"I can tell that surprises you.  We all change, Shinji, 
sometimes for the good, sometimes not.  I changed before I met your 
mother, and I changed while I was dating her, and while we were 
married and after she died.  Not all of them were good changes.  But I 
didn't bring you here simply to listen to me reminisce.  We're both 
too busy for that."

	"Were you really like me?" Shinji blurted out.

	Gendo smiled faintly.  "Old blood breeds true, Shinji.  And our 
blood is old indeed.  Anyway, the first law of relationships is to not 
press too hard.  That's how things fell through with me and Meiko.  
You see, in high school, there was this girl..."

	The story that followed rambled on for a good twenty minutes, 
with Shinji nodding appropriately and trying to figure out what it 
had to do with anything.  It might have helped if he actually had any 
idea who any of the people that his father was talking about were, 
since new names showed up every few sentences with no 
explanation.

	"Eventually, she started leaving beheaded voodoo dolls of me 
everywhere."  Gendo sighed.  "So, if you do decide to pursue matters 
with Rei, you shouldn't push too hard.  Given how shy she is, you'll 
probably need to take the initiative, but don't show too much, if you 
know what I mean."

	"Father, I hate to interrupt, but..."

	Gendo interrupted him.  "Go ahead.  This is for your benefit."

	"After Asuka told me she thought Rei was a monster, I went to 
talk to her and..."  

	"Like you and Asuka, Rei's condition flows from the events of 
Second Impact.  One of her parents was quite close to that disaster, 
and as a result, she has some very rare traits.  We don't fully 
understand why Second Impact did this, but it has increased the 
frequency of a variety of unusual mutations."

	"She showed me how to...I mean..."

	"Use a psychic power?"

	Shinji nodded mutely.

	"All humans have some potential for such.  In the Children, that 
potential is magnified a thousandfold or more.  That is how you can 
control an entire EVA with your mind, where most people can do 
nothing or their mind breaks under the strain.  Such people have 
existed in the past as well, and are probably the root of many folk 
beliefs about magic.  However, Second Impact has increased the 
number of people who possess this trait.  Exposure to the strange 
energies used by the Angels have no doubt influenced what abilities 
you have developed."

	"But it's not..."

	"Rei does not act like a normal human because she's not lived 
like one.  The more she interacts with normal people, the more 
normal she will act.  We tend to become like those we associate 
with.  I'm glad that you're willing to be her friend, Shinji.  She needs 
friends."

	"I know what that's like," Shinji said.

	"I'm sure you do," Gendo said.  "Now, back to relationships..."

			_*_  

	Maya turned a corner, and saw Shigeru approaching.  Her brain 
immediately went to pieces; she still wasn't sure how to deal with 
him.  Ever since she'd made it clear she wasn't attracted to him, he'd 
been avoiding her.  It had been really bad the last few days; she 
hadn't heard him playing his guitar once, and he'd even been avoiding 
Makoto.  

	He must be depressed, she thought; he looked grim.  His eyes 
were dark, lacking the pleasant gleam they usually had.  

	She carefully chose her words, only to have him go right past 
her before she could say them.  Turning, she said, "Are you okay?"

	"I'm fine," he said hoarsely.  It sounded like he needed to drink 
something, although maybe he just had a sore throat.  "Just going to 
take care of a few things before we arrive and it's too late"

	"Okay," she said.  "See you later."

	It was a good three minutes later when she realized he was 
carrying a large toolkit.  I wonder what he's going to fix, she 
thought, then dismissed it as unimportant.  Probably something had 
come loose in his room and he didn't want it annoying him for the 
rest of the trip.

		_*_

	"Hah!  I sank your battleship!"  Asuka crowed.

	Shinji sighed.  Asuka seemed to have a knack for naval 
warfare, as far as he could tell; this was their fourth game of 
Battleship, and he was well on his way to his fourth loss.  His only 
consolation was that she was less disturbing to play against than 
Rei, who didn't seem to care if she won or loss, and remained 
stonelike through the entire game.

	Well, except for a very faint smile when she'd wiped out 
Asuka's entire fleet without taking a shot in her first game against 
Asuka.  Asuka had come back and won the second one, though.  Right 
now, Rei was doing geometry a little further down the table they 
were all seated at in the lounge.

	"Well, the Yamato did sink historically," Shinji muttered.

	Then the alarm kicked in.  *Whoop, Whoop, Whoop!*  Rei quickly 
stood up and moved over to the door, then stuck her head out in the 
hallway.  

	"I hope we're not being attacked in the air," Shinji said.

	"Oh, we'll kick the Angel's ass."

	"How do you propose our EVAs fly?"  Shinji asked.

	"Ours can," Rei said without turning to face them.  "Hers can't."

	"Say WHAT?"  Asuka asked.

	"Well, we did kill all those Cherubim, and when we fought 
Salgiel, 00 sprouted wings.  I guess maybe mine could too."

	"Hrmph.  That's not fair."

	"Well, I suppose yours would be good at ripping off people's 
hands."

	"Har de har har."  She went over to the door.  "Do you see 
anything, Rei?"

	Three security men ran past them with two flamethrowers and 
a fire extinguisher.  Asuka tried to remember what was in that 
direction.  "I hope we're not on fire.  No...they want to burn 
something...It had better not be more of those damn snakes!"

	"Hayyael is dead," Shinji said.  "But the Command Bridge is that 
way.  Maybe there's a saboteur."

	"That they need two flamethrowers to stop?  Unless it's the 
Terminator, I can't think of why they'd use flamethrowers inside the 
Scimitar.  Too dangerous."

		_*_

		_*_

	A few minutes earlier...

	"Hey, you!  Freeze!"

	The security guard shone their lights on a figure
huddled in the corner of the engineering room.  He was
hunched over a control panel, a hammer in one hand and wires
torn from the surrounding equipment in the other.

	Slowly, the person turned towards the guard, and it
was a face the guard recognized.  His eyes were wide, but
unfocused, and his face seemed paler than usual.

	"Aoba-san?   What the heck are you doing?"

	Aoba's head tilted to the right, very slightly,
accompanied by a disturbing sort of crackling noise.  His
jaw opened, trembling as it did.

	And then Aoba's face exploded.

	A large black blob lingered in the remains of his
skull, writhing for a moment.  It was black and oily, a
shapeless puddle of blackish tar that slowly pulled itself
into a snake-like form.

	The guard took a suddden step backwards, then pushed
the button on his comm headset, firing rounds at the
approaching creature as it advanced. "HQemergencyinsector
28engineeringAAAAAAAAAAAAG!" 

		_*_

	Master Seargant Allen watched as his men struggled
to keep the creature trapped in the room.  Only one thing
was keeping it from killing him and his handful of remaining
men, and that was the two flamethrowers they were using to
slowly back it into a corner.

	They'd managed to push it away from the air conditioning 
duct; if it got in there, they would never have been able to kill it. 

	Allen glanced over at Chris Johnson, who was short and dark 
haired, popular with the ladies for no reason Allen could understand, 
since the man didn't treat anything but his gun and his dog very well.  
The man was a good soldier, though, alert and obedient without being 
mindless.  He had the other flamethrower, while behind them Yvonne 
Daubainne, who was blonde and twice their age, a veteran of the 
brief wars that followed Second Impact, finished putting out the 
fires they'd started.  He had three more people, but they were all off 
desperately scrounging for weapons.  "Ready, Chris?"

	Chris was sweating.  "Ready."

	They advanced, and the creature tensed.  As the flames began 
to lick over it, it arched upward, growing thinner as parts of it burnt 
to ash and from elongating itself.  Its 'head' engulfed Chris' head, and 
it pulled what was left of its body off the ground and up to Chris' 
head.

	Unable to scream, Chris simply toppled, and only his loss of 
grip on the trigger kept the flamethrower from setting everything on 
fire.  Mutely, he tried and failed to pull the thing off his head as he 
rolled around on the ground.

	Crying, Allen took the only choice available to him, and hosed 
the creature down with flames from his flamethrower.  It would 
inevitably kill Chris, he knew, but the thing had to be stopped.  He 
told himself Sgt. Johnson was a soldier, that he had known the risk 
when he entered the service.

	He was still crying when the last of the black tarry flesh of 
the creature turned to greyish ash and Chris' flesh charred to 
blackened chunks as well.  Silently, Daubainne put out the fire, then 
put a hand on his shoulder.

	Commander Ikari appeared in the doorway.  "Good job, Allen.  
The Throne has been stopped."  He looked about the room.  "Well, this 
will be unusable, but we have an auxillary bridge, fortunately, for 
just this sort of situation.  I'll arrange for you and Daubainne to 
receive a bonus for this."

	"Sir, Johnson..."  Allen tried to pull himself together.  Soldiers 
weren't supposed to cry.

	"He can be buried when we arrive in Oklahoma.  At least we 
don't have to worry about him rotting."  Daubainne gave him a 
reproachful look for that, which he gave no sign of noticing.  "We'll 
need double patrols from here on out.  Arm one man in each with a 
flamethrower, if we have enough."  He looked at Shigeru.  "Now I see 
how it got in.  I'll have to see who to promote from the auxillary 
crew.  Prepare a full report for Commander Katsuragi by tomorrow 
morning," Commander Ikari said.

	"Yes sir,"  Allen said faintly, saluting.  He stood stiffly at 
attention until Ikari left.  "I think the man has no soul," he said to 
Daubainne.

	"I'm grateful we usually deal with a real human being, and not 
him," Daubainne said.  "But he's not in charge of being nice.  War is 
often ruthless.  And this is a war."  She sighed.  "Let's get to work, I 
guess."
			_*_  

	"I've got bad news," Misato said solemnly to the three Children.  

	"Did we have a saboteur on board?"  Asuka asked.

	"Are we going to crash?"  Shinji asked.

	Rei listened impassively.

	"Shigeru is dead.  We're not sure exactly what happened, but it 
apparently cracked his head open and ate his brain.  And it was 
trying to sabotage the Command Bridge when it was caught."

	Asuka and Shinji's eyes widened.  Rei frowned intensely for a
moment, then her face returned to normal.  Shinji said, "He's dead?  Just
like that?"  His voice was a little wobbly.

	Misato nodded quietly.  "Yes.  We'll be shipping his body to his
family for burial once we arrive at our destination."

	"What killed him?"  Asuka asked nervously.

	"We've designated it a 'Throne'.  They look like puddles of oil or 
tar that can form themselves up into different shapes and become 
solid enough to injure or kill and to operate machinery.  The only 
thing we're sure can kill them is fire, although Ritsuko believes acid 
should work as well, and possibly intense cold.  We're searching the 
Scimitar for more of them and trying to figure out how it got on 
board."  Misato had a bad feeling she knew how it had happened, but 
she wanted to be sure before she said anything that could send the 
Children into intense paranoia.  

	Shinji shuddered some more.  "I'm going to have a hard time
sleeping tonight."

	"Yeah, could be one of those things hiding under the bed or
something."  Asuka shook a bit now, and wondered if such a creature had
been the origin of the whole concepts of monsters under the bed, or
waiting in your closet for the lights to go out.  She wondered if she'd
ever be able to sleep in the dark again.

		_*_

	Misato sat and stared at the papers on her bedside table.  The 
end of a life in print:  the formal report of the incident, the autopsy, 
the orders to ship his body to his family for a funeral, an 
accompanying condolence letter, and the form promoting Shigeru's 
replacement from the backup team to the primary bridge crew.  The 
words of each were cold and clinical, except for the letter to his 
family, where she'd let her sorrow spill out; she was afraid they'd 
think she needed condolences when they read it.

	She felt like a failure, though he was hardly the only casualty 
in the war against the Angels and their lunatic human worshippers.  
Kensuke hadn't been the first, either, they'd lost several dozen NERV 
troopers in actions against various lunatic cults in the last few 
years, many to humans, but a few to some of the strange beings who 
served the Angels.  

	The deaths of the soldiers had hurt, but it was a war; she had 
been hardened enough to expect that and be able to deal with it.  It 
was losing people she knew well that really hit home.  Kensuke, who 
had just been an innocent bystander had been the first, and that had 
hurt.  But losing Shigeru hurt more.  She'd seen him virtually every 
day for the last few years, and while they'd never been as close as 
she was to Ritsuko or even to Makoto, he had become a part of her 
life, a steady, stable worker with a playful side that helped perk up 
the often gloomy NERV-Tokyo-3 base, which she sometimes thought 
had been designed for two purposes:  making people get lost, and 
inducing depression.

	Deep down, she'd thought they were safe.  It had made her feel 
guilty at times, sitting back in an armored (or flying) bunker while 
she sent other people to risk their lives.  While it made her feel less 
of a hypocrite to know she could die too, that wasn't much comfort.  

	Orifel had to know they were coming; there was no way one of 
his minions could have gotten on board to sabotage it if he didn't 
know it.  Which meant that his underground lair could be one big trap.  
She could be sending the Children to dive into the lion's open mouth.  

	For all she knew, he could be monitoring their every movement.  
She shoved that fear away; surely he would have tried something 
they couldn't have stopped so easily if that was the case.  Second 
guessing herself to death wouldn't help.  All that could be done 
would be to make the best plan she could with what they actually 
knew, and to pray it would be enough.

	Bits and pieces of the puzzle of the Angels drifted through her 
mind.  There was evidence they'd been here for thousands, maybe 
hundreds of thousands of years.  But if they had been here so long, 
why had they just been sitting around?  Perhaps they'd been in some 
sort of hibernation, somehow awakened by Second Impact.  Whatever 
exactly that had been.  She wondered again why her father, an 
anthropologist, had been taken along on an Antarctic expedition, and 
why he had taken her.  

	Whatever had been unleashed, it had destroyed most of 
Antarctica; only the most northerly regions of the contienent 
remained in the form of scattered islands.  Stranger still, the 
waters remained warm and the ice did not reform.  She had never 
been back, both from lack of opportunity and lack of desire.  To gaze 
upon the waters wouldn't bring back her father or make it easier to 
say goodbye.

	There was a knock on the door.  "Come in," she said listlessly.

	The door opened, and Ritsuko walked in, shutting it behind her.  
"You'd better get some sleep, or you'll be too tired tomorrow to do 
anything."

	Misato turned her chair around.  "I'm done.  Just busy berating 
myself.  I'm too depressed even to drink."

	Ritsuko put a report down with the others.  "I know the feeling.  
I've lost twelve technicians over the years to various disasters, 
mostly connected to DAGON.  And every time, I wish it could have 
been me who died.  But I have to live for the living, not the dead.  I 
can't help them."

	"I know.  But it still hurts."

	Ritsuko now came over to Misato and put a hand on her 
shoulder.  "Have you cried yet?"

	Misato grimaced.  "Not yet."

	"It'll happen sooner or later.  Might as well be sooner."

	Misato let herself go, and cried onto Ritsuko's shoulder for a 
few minutes, then sat up and wiped her eyes.  "Thank you.  I feel 
better now."

	"You're so like a child at times," Ritsuko murmured.  "You fall 
apart quickly, and bounce back just as fast."

	"While you hold it in until you explode," Misato replied.  "You 
ought to be more open with your feelings like your mom was."  She sat back
in her chair, visibly relaxing.

	"I don't want to be like my mother," Ritsuko said sharply.  "She 
was a good scientist, but lousy at everything else."  Unlike Misato, she
was tensing up.  Misato was used to it; when challenged, Ritsuko had
always gotten stiff.

	"And being repressed will make you a better human being?"

	They stared at each other, then Ritsuko sagged slightly.  "I 
need my self-control.  I suppose it doesn't always make the best 
human being, but it's better than being a chaotic mess like mother."

	"Then how do you put up with me?"  Misato had a faint smile on her
lips as she said that.

	"It's a lot harder to avoid your mother's flaws than your 
friends' flaws," Ritsuko said wryly.  "Which is why I haven't roomed 
with you since college; I WOULD have killed you by now if I had."

	"Hey, Asuka and Shinji never complain about my housekeeping 
habits!"  Misato tried to look indignant and failed.

	Ritsuko laughed.  "Your nose is getting bigger."

	Misato checked it without thinking.  "Is not."

	"You don't tell your 'mother' those things, even if you want to," 
Ritsuko said.  "Or more likely, you're just lying."

	"Hrmph."  Misato put on her best pout.

	"At least they haven't picked up your worst habits yet."  
Ritsuko sat down on the bed.  "Like not making your bed."

	"Like sheets you can bounce a quarter on are going to stop an 
Angel,"  Misato said.  "Do you think he knows we're coming?"  She turned
and stared off in a direction that might or might not have been the way
they were moving.

	"It all depends on if the Throne had some way to contact him, 
which we have no idea if it could.  I'm inclined to think it couldn't."

	Misato turned back to Ritsuko.  "He could have built a giant death
trap or something."  

	"Well, it's go down and bell the cat or wait for it to come up in 
the middle of a city.  We have to take the risk."  Ritsuko shrugged.

	Misato nodded.  "I just don't like taking risks with people's 
lives."

	"Who does?"  Ritsuko sighed.

		_*_

	Normally, Shinji fell asleep pretty easily, and when that didn't 
work, he could usually play some music and relax enough to pass out.  
Tonight, however, Mozart and Schubert lacked the power to calm his 
mind.  He had tried putting the lights out, but the light coming in 
through the window had made the shadows move in ways that were 
far too suggestive of shadows moving under their own power, coming 
to ooze up his bed and onto his body to smother him.  Closing the 
window shade had simply created more darkness for potentially 
present Thrones to hide in.  Leaving the light on let it cast 
suggestive shadows under the furniture and leak through his eyelids, 
preventing slumber.

	Then the footsteps started in the hallway, going back and forth 
past his door.  It could just be people going to the bathroom.  But it 
sounded more like someone pacing up and down the hallway without 
ceasing, as if they waiting for something...like for him to come out 
of his room.  The footsteps gradually faded into silence.  They might 
be gone...or it might be another trick.

	He tried burying his head under his pillow and shoving away 
paranoia, but darkness brought no comfort or rest.  He couldn't see it 
coming like this.

	Finally, he couldn't take it any more.  He didn't know where he 
could go, or what he was going to do, but he couldn't just lie here and 
wait to either be eaten or to be exhausted in the morning.  He threw 
on some more clothing and stepped out into the hallway just in time 
to smack into Rei.

	They both staggered backwards, but didn't fall down.  "Sorry 
about that," he said.

	She nodded.  He could see she had gotten dressed as well, and 
he suspected she couldn't sleep either, so he asked.  "Couldn't sleep?"

	"Looking for more, if any."

	By yourself?  Even Asuka isn't that insanely brave, he thought.  
"I...I'd been wondering about that."

	A few seconds later, Asuka's door opened, and she stepped out 
dressed in a long shirt that went down to halfway down her shins.  
"You two too, huh?"

	Shinji nodded.  "I just...I can't sleep in a brightly lit room, and 
if I turn off the lights, it's like...geez, I feel like a little kid."  He 
frowned and clenched his fists.  "I shouldn't be this...this scared."

	"I had a nightmare.  I got in my EVA, and the LCL was a Throne.  
It killed me and took over my EVA."  She shuddered and hugged 
herself.  "And then it went on a rampage and killed everyone else."

	Shinji's eyes widened.  "I did NOT need that thought.  Great, 
now the next time I get in my EVA..."

	"I'm sorry," she said.  "Then I woke up and saw a shadow moving 
across the floor and...well, there's a burnt patch on my carpet now."

	Shinji laughed.  "What did you burn it with?"

	"I borrowed a cigarette lighter and some aerosol...it was a 
stupid idea.  Luckily, I only made a little bit of flame before I 
realized it was just being caused by the light coming through the 
window.  Didn't even set off the fire alarm.  But..."  She turned and 
stared down the dimly lit hallway, which was illuminated only by 
the light from Shinji's room and periodic dimmed ceiling lights.  "I 
don't want to...I mean...I don't feel safe."

	"None are ever safe," Rei said. 

	"I didn't need to hear that," Asuka said.  

	A little further down, Misato's door opened and she poked her 
head out, "Having a hall party?"  She yawned groggily, her eyes 
bloodshot.

	"You having trouble sleeping too?"  Asuka asked.

	"Usually happens when people start talking in the hallway at 1 
AM," she replied.

	Asuka and Shinji glanced over at each other, trying to figure 
out how to admit to her that they were scared to go to bed without 
actually saying it.  Rei simply walked up to Misato and said, "You do 
not fear the Thrones?"

	"Are you scared, Rei?"

	"It is unsafe for some to be alone," she said, her voice
wavering briefly as her eyes wandered to Shinji.

	Misato reached out and took Rei's hand.  "It's okay to be scared.  
If I knew that thing was still on the ship, I'd be scared shitless."  
She squeezed the hand and released it.  "But it's gone.  And I've hung 
up my pendant on the door; hopefully that will keep it out.  ....And 
if it doesn't, worrying won't stop it."  Misato looked at the children 
thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke again.  "Tell you what, you guys 
wanna crash in my room?  There's not a lot of floor space, but if it'll 
help you sleep, I won't mind."

	"I brought a sleeping bag," Asuka said.  "I'll go get it."

	Misato's floor soon had three fairly crowded children lying on 
it on top of an unrolled sleeping bag, with several blankets thrown 
over them.  Shinji felt like the middle filling of a sandwich.  He did 
his best to keep his arms off them, and prayed he didn't roll over and 
sprawl on them in the middle of the night.  

	As he was praying this, Misato said, "I suppose taking turns 
telling ghost stories would be a bad idea."

	"YES!"  Asuka shouted.  

	Shinji stared up at the five pointed star pendant hanging from 
a nail hammered into the door.  It looked like just another hunk of 
metal; could it really keep out a Throne?  It had stopped the King in 
Yellow's power, but...  And yet, he felt safer.  Maybe it was simply 
not being alone, or maybe Misato's lack of fear was contagious.  

	Misato and Asuka began to bicker, and he just listened and 
laughed inside his head.  Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, and peaceful 
dreams took him.  
	
		_*_

	An angry mob was shouting outside the huge fenced off area, 
but the staff of NERV did their best to ignore the protesters.  The 
fence surrounded a huge mound which now was missing a large 
chunk, as squads of workers were busily tearing a hole in it big 
enough for an EVA to walk through.

	Which was exactly the idea.

	By means of which the pilots had no idea, NERV had discovered 
that this old burial mound stood over a set of caves big enough for an 
EVA to walk through, and was in fact, internally connected to them, 
although the tunnels through the mound weren't big enough for an 
EVA.  It struck Asuka as remarkably convenient, although she 
supposed Orifel had to have gotten down underground somehow.  

	She did wonder why they hadn't simply dug a tunnel down to 
the caves from off to one side of the mound, so as to not antagonize 
the locals, who seemed to be angry about it.  Her English was good 
enough to read protest signs.  I wish we didn't have to disturb their 
mound, Asuka thought.  I wouldn't want someone digging a tunnel 
through my ancestors' graveyard either.  

	"Do you believe in ghosts?" Shinji asked Asuka.

	"Not really, although I think people live on after death.  I just 
don't think they hang around here."

	Shinji smiled at that.  "I suppose I wouldn't either.  This place 
feels like it ought to have some, though.  What do you think, Rei?" he 
asked, despite not really expecting much of an answer from her.

	Rei was silent, which didn't surprise either of them.  When 
they noticed she was kneeling and looking at a gopher, which was 
staring back warily at her.  It obviously wanted to get past her, but 
couldn't.  

	"You're standing on its hole," Asuka said.  "You oughta move."

	Rei looked down at the ground, then stood, stepped back, and 
knealt again.  

	"Why are you staring at it, Rei?"  Shinji asked.

	"It's not very scared," she replied.

	He blinked, then as it darted forward and dived down its hole, 
he realized what she meant.  Most animals ran away from her.  The 
gopher had been wary, but it hadn't been terrified.  For a moment, he 
wondered if one of the Angels they'd killed had been 'Lord of Gophers' 
or something, then dismissed the thought.  Maybe only Japanese 
animals and snakes are scared of her, he thought, then dismissed 
that one as well, chalking this up to the 'unsolvable mysteries' 
category.  He turned to Misato.  "How soon do we go down?"

	"Tomorrow morning if Orifel doesn't strike first.  The ramp 
down is taking longer to build than planned.  It was supposed to be 
done when we got here.  At least they got the landing field for the 
Scimitar done in time."

	"Then back to Japan when that's done?"  Shinji asked.

	"Yep.  Although we'll be stopping briefly at NERV-America 
again after the mission.  I just wish we had time for sightseeing.  I'd 
like to see the Grand Canyon."

	"Just pretend that's it," Asuka said, pointing at the excavation.

	They laughed, then drifted off to get ready for the next day's 
mission.

		_*_

	The next morning, they went down the ramp into the huge 
caverns below the mound.  The caverns were rough and dusty and ugly 
as hell, the walls folded into pointless curves, and the ceilings were 
riddled with things to bump one's EVA's head into.  It was damp, and 
would have been cool if they'd been able to feel the temperature.

	A small heads-up display gave them directional readings of 
what way Orifel was along with a constantly updating map of where 
they had been.  //"I feel like I'm playing some computer RPG,"// 
Asuka said.  //"Like Quest for the Nine Rings,"// or something.  //"I 
mean, the map graphics look EXACTLY the same."//

	//"Well, as long as no orcs start showing up on your display, it 
shouldn't be a problem,"// Misato said.  //"It's working so far."//

	//"How can Polaris spot Orifel this deep beneath the 
surface?"//  Asuka asked.

	//"Rock doesn't do much to block the distinctive energy 
signature of an Angel,"// Ritsuko replied.  //"Thankfully.  Or we'd be 
looking for him forever and he could pop up just about anywhere.  
We're using a similar trick to keep up our 'radio' broadcasts, which 
aren't actually radio waves at the moment.  Otherwise, we couldn't 
communicate with you."//

	//"Is he active?"//  Shinji asked.

	//"He hasn't moved more than a mile since we started 
monitoring him weeks ago,"// Ritsuko said.  //"But don't expect to 
catch him napping."//

	//"Right."//

		_*_
	
	For an hour, they plunged down deeper into the earth, the 
caverns slowly growing larger, until finally, they came to the edge 
of a great carven ramp descending into the largest cave any of them 
had ever seen.  The ceiling rose high above them, hundreds of feet 
from the ground, a reminder of how deeply they had descended in 
that hour.  A great vault, lit by a strange blue light given off by the 
ceiling, which changed in this cavern from stone to crystal.  It was 
as bright as twilight, and nigh unbelievably, the floor was covered 
with blue-green grass.  There were some trees, smaller than those 
of the surface above, but otherwise normal, though tinted by the blue 
light.  A broad paved road ran from the ramp across the fields 
towards what looked rather like a vast city in the distance.  

	//"Is this some kind of joke?"//  Asuka asked.

	//"If it is, the joke's on us,"// Ritsuko replied.  
//"Spectrometer readings indicate...it's like sunlight with most of 
the harmful radiation filtered out.  Not very hot, although warmer 
than the surrounding caves.  But still...what's making the light?  And 
how...This should be interesting."//

	The readings from Polaris told them to head towards the city, 
so they did, passing through a series of wheat fields on the way to 
the city.  The plants were ready for harvesting, but there was no 
sign of harvesters, or harvesting equipment.  Ruts in the dirt beyond 
the road told the story of the passage of vehicles at some time in 
the recent past, but none could be seen.  They did, however, spot 
several birds, and a herd of bison idly feeding in a field.  It was hard 
to tell their true color, but they looked to have mixed green and 
black hair.

	//"They domesticated Bison?"//

	//"Well, they're the closest thing to cattle available,"// 
Ritsuko said.  //"Before Europeans imported cows.  No time to 
investigate now, though."//

	Their EVAs were quick, and the distance to the city wasn't too 
long; they soon left fields behind and followed the road into the 
outskirts of the city.  A handful of buildings were made of marble, 
most were simply made of granite or brick, carved and shaped with 
ornate decorations.  Most were in quite good repair, the whole place 
looking as if it had only recently been abandoned.  The architectural 
style seemed naggingly familiar, but Asuka couldn't quite place it.

	The streets were paved with flagstones, still intact, though 
puddles of water covered them in a few places.  They were wide, 
wide enough for an EVA Unit to walk down one.  

	Shinji shook his head.  //"Another ruins?"//

	//"Various civilizations native to the Americas have legends 
of having coming up from a world inside the Earth.  Perhaps the 
inhabitants of this city had something to do with that legend,"// 
Ritsuko said.  //"And certain local legends whisper of an 
underground city named K'n-Yan.  I think we've just found it.  I can't 
imagine where everyone went...that wheat looked recently planted, 
not run wild."//

	//"Well, if it killed them, it did it without actually doing any 
damage to the city.  Which would be rather a trick,"// Asuka said.  
//"This place could have held tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of 
thousands."//

	They began to pass down the great avenue which lead into the 
center of the cavern, following POLARIS' signal.  Asuka took the 
lead, while Rei took the rear and Shinji looked side to side down the 
side streets.  The entire city seemed to be a large grid, very 
carefully planned and laid out, all of it in quite good repair.  A few 
buildings had faintly glowing fungi growing on them in small 
patches, but overall, it seemed like the population had just packed 
up its posessions and left when they heard the sound of the mound 
being dug through.  

	Perhaps they did, Shinji thought.  Maybe they worship Orifel 
and have tried running to him for protection.  Or they might have 
doused the lights and be hiding in an underground shelter or 
something.  Well, a more underground shelter.  

	As he mused, something moved at the corner of his vision.  He 
turned his EVA's head, but all he could see was a dark alleyway 
between buildings.  Nothing was there.  He shook his head.  I'm 
starting to imagine things, he thought.

	They eventually came to a great central plaza, bordered by 
large palaces, a huge colliseum, and a large step pyramid with a huge 
well in front of it.  Asuka stared at it.  //"It looks a lot like that one 
from the underwater city."//

	//"A colony, perhaps,"// Ritsuko speculated.

	//"Where could they have gone?"//

	//"They can't have been gone long, whatever happened to them.  
If this cavern can support plant life, the plants would be encroaching 
on the city if it had been abandoned long.  And those bison looked 
fairly tame.  The signal indicates Orifel is beyond the city and 
deeper down, though, so don't worry too much about the city."//

	Shinji saw movement again, and this time turned fast enough 
to see it.  It looked like an oil flow, a slick of black tarry fluid 
flowing across one corner of the plaza towards one of the main 
boulevards.  //"What is that?"//

	//"It's a creature we've designated as a 'Throne'.  One of 
Orifel's servants,"// Misato said.  //"Capture it with an AT-Field 
before it can report to him!"//

	Unit00 pivoted on one foot and sprinted after it at high speed 
with the others in pursuit.  They chased the thing, which was 
remarkably quick for a puddle of slime, down a major boulevard, then 
down a side street.  The buildings here looked a little battered; many 
were missing doors or had shattered glass in the street near them.  
They were mostly two or three stories tall, and looked like 
residences.  

	The street dead-ended because it ran up to the entrance to 
some huge fifteen story tall building that blocked off the street.  
The puddle turned and faced them, forming a large snake-like 
extension, although its head was fringed with what looked similar to 
a black, oily mane.

	Unit00 ran up to it, knealt, and trapped it in a spherical AT-
Field as it snapped at her.  She stood, and inquired, //"Now what?"//

	//"Good question."//

	Shinji peered over at the creature, which hurled itself futiley 
at the AT-Field, unable to penetrate it.  //"We can't carry it around 
with us while we fight."//

	Asuka nodded.  //"Crush it with the AT-Field, I guess."//

	//"I'd rather we could take it alive, but you're right, Rei would 
have to stay out of the fighting to keep it contained.  And it might 
not survive Orifel dying,"// Misato said.  //"Kill it."//

	Rei brought Unit00's hands together, and the light of the field 
flared.  Black turned to gray; tar turned to ash.  Powder rained down 
to the pitch-black street.  It was at that moment the three pilots 
remembered the street hadn't been pitch black when they arrived, 
nor had the darkness covered their feet.

	//"Scheisse!"// Asuka shouted.  //"The street's full of these 
things!"//

	And with that, dozens of semi-discrete Thrones began to pour 
up their EVAs' bodies, trying to find a chink through their armor in 
order to get inside.  Unit01 and 02 flailed about, trying to peel them 
off, or scrape them off with their progressive knives, but this was 
about as effective as trying to fight water with a knife.  On the 
other hand, the Thrones seemed unable to get up 01 past its knees, 
and kept falling off, although 02 posed no problems for them.  00 
simply stood still as the blackness rolled over it, covering it 
completely.

	//"You've got to use your AT-Field!"// Misato shouted.  //"Emit 
it from your body to force them off, then start trapping them."//

	Shinji concentrated, visualizing his EVA emitting a glowing 
field from its every pore, driving the Thrones off of him.  Soon, 01 
shone brightly in the blue-litten gloom.  Streamers of blue-black 
ichor gouted off of him, fleeing the AT-Field.  Nearby, 02 also began 
to shine, even more radiant than 01, sending more Thrones fleeing.  

	Unit00, on the other hand, was still covered in blackness.  But 
a fine white sheen was starting to cover the blackness, and where it 
touched the blackness, the dark Thrones ceased to writhe, remaining 
in whatever contorted shapes they had assumed when it touched 
them.  As 01 and 02 began scooping up and wiping out Thrones in 
great oozing piles, and many of the survivors fled, the gleaming coat 
of frost finally covered every inch of the darkness.  00 flexed and 
the darkness shattered into hundreds of long black, glassy shards, 
and light erupted from 00's 'skin', pushing the shards away to smash 
into the buildings around them, breaking into blackish powder that 
turned grey, then faded away entirely.

	The last of the Thrones fled, vanishing into buildings and 
slipping through cracks in the flagstone road.  As they departed, 
Asuka said, //"What the hell was that trick?"//

	//"A gift of battle,"// Rei said.

	//"Could I do it?"//

	//"Don't know."//

	//"Hopefully, they won't try that again."//

	//"Well, they didn't seem like they could actually do all that 
much to us, now that I think about it,"// Asuka said.

	//"If they found a chink in your armor, they could ooze inside 
your EVA, find your plug, and crack it open, attacking you."//  Misato 
grimaced, remembering what had happened to Shigeru.  I won't let 
them die, she thought.  Not like that.  He never had a chance, but they 
will.

	//"Then what Rei did was REALLY dangerous,"// Asuka said.

	//"It worked,"// Rei said.

	//"Asuka is right,"// Misato said.  //"Don't take chances like 
that.  We can't afford to risk any of you more than we have to.  But 
probably they won't try anything again."//

	//"Until we're busy fighting Orifel,"// Shinji said, frowning.  
//"Be careful, Rei.  That was risky."//

	//"I will,"// she replied.

	//"Well, let's get you all moving again,"// Misato said.  //"Find 
the east road from the main plaza and head out of the city.  The 
readings indicate you should find Orifel off to the northeast and 
down."//

		_*_

	The city was far behind them, and they had reached the far 
wall of the cavern.  The tunnel before them had clearly been walled 
off deliberately by the inhabitants, but now there as a large hole in 
it, and huge amounts of rubble strewn about the natural tunnel 
beyond the wall.

	//"Looks like they knew something was this way and wanted to 
keep it out,"// Shinji said.

	//"Looks like they failed,"// Asuka replied.

	Unit00 moved closer and peered through the breach, then began 
smashing it open wider, though the hole was already large enough for 
an EVA to get through.

	//"It's smashed in from this side.  If whatever they sealed off 
broke through from the tunnel, why didn't the rubble fall this way?  
Maybe something once tried to seal the city folk out of THEIR 
territory."//

	//"The damage looks recent to me."//

	//"I guess we'll find out."//

		_*_

	Another hour of descent took them yet deeper beneath the 
earth, and gradually the blue light of the abandoned city's cavern 
faded into darkness.  Then the wind started, gentle at first, then 
stronger and hotter, though it was still fairly weak, unable even to 
annoy the EVAs and their pilots.  After a time, a reddish light 
beckoned to them, and they emerged into another land that 
apparently time had forgotten.

	The light was dim and red, shining down from the ceiling high 
above them, but somehow it sustained a dense forest of archaic 
plants, some of them not seen in the world above for millions of 
years.  Asuka simply stared at it blankly for a few minutes.  What's a 
bleeding JUNGLE doing down underground?  she asked herself.  The 
air was unnaturally warm.  

	Then a unicorn ran by in the forest, or to be more precise, a 
purple and silver zebra with a single ivory horn.   A saber-toothed 
tiger was chasing it, gradually losing ground.  The creatures ran out 
of sight, and Asuka finally spoke.  //"Is this some kind of joke?  This 
is some kind of crazy simulation, right?"//

	//"Amazing,"// Ritsuko said, her voice full of wonder.  //"The 
scientists of the world are going to be busy for years exploring 
these two places.  From the readings we're getting, this cavern is 
even larger than the one above you.  You won't have too much further 
to travel, though.  Orifel is on the move.  He's rising towards a point 
about five miles north of your current position.  I suppose you'll have 
to clear your own path, which is a pity.  Try not to kill anything 
extinct on the surface world."//

	//"What if I don't have a clue if it's extinct?"//  Shinji asked.

	//"I'll do my best to guide you,"// Ritsuko said.

	//"We can play nature boys and girls later,"// Misato cut in.  
//"We have to stop Orifel now before he gets it in his mind to head 
for the surface."//

	//"Right."//  Asuka said, and took the lead, crashing through the 
forest and clearing a path for the others.

	A few miles later, they came to an opening in the forest.  It 
was another city, this one carven of basalt and done in a very 
different architectural style from the one above.  The buildings were 
short, blockish, and solid, but every inch was carved with reliefs, 
runes, and other decorations.  In the heart of the city, a building that 
looked like the Pentagon, except for being carved from basalt, 
towered over the other buildings, though an octagonal building near 
it almost matched it for size.  Both were heavily carven with reliefs 
which couldn't be made out from this distance.

	This city, however, was crumbling.  Many of the buildings had 
partially or totally collapsed, and while no plants grew on the 
buildings themselves, the streets had vanished in a riot of greenery.  
One of the five sides of the great pentagonal building was ruptured.  
Only one thing in the city stood completely undamaged: the vast octagonal 
building appeared utterly unaffected by time.  

	//"Geez, how many lost ruins are there?"//  Asuka asked.  
//"And where did they get basalt in Oklahoma?"//

	Shinji shrugged.  //"If they could build like this, they could 
move it.  I want to know why the plants aren't growing over the 
buildings."//

	//"If our readings are correct, Orifel is waiting for you inside 
the pentagon,"//  Misato said.

	//"Check,"//  Asuka said.  //"Everyone ready to kick ass?"//

	//"No, but I won't get more ready by waiting,"//  Shinji said.

	Rei simply began to head for the pentagon.

	They arced around through the city to reach the pentagon from 
its broken side; short of climbing it and coming down through the top 
of it, there was no other way to get an EVA into the huge building.  
The readings indicated Orifel was still waiting for them.  

	Rubble was strewn about the broken side of the five sided 
building, and as they passed through it, they could see many 
different rooms on the ten floors of the building.  Most of the rooms 
were empty now, although a mosaic caught Shinji's eye.  It showed 
strange snake-men building the very edifice they were entering.  A 
few months ago, he would have guessed it was supposed to be 
symbolic, but now he suspected it was probably showing literal 
truth.  He'd seen too many strange creatures to dismiss the idea.

	The central courtyard was vast, hundreds of feet across, with 
a path leading from each of the five sides to a now defunct fountain 
in the middle.  A strange, highly realistic, painted statue stood at 
the heart of the fountain, which was full of brackish black liquid.  It 
resembled a huge furry toad-man with distorted eyes and limbs, a 
faintly amused smile on its lips.  Its eyes were closed as if it was 
asleep.  

	The courtyard also had several great stone limbs scattered 
about it, as if another statue had been dismembered and tossed about 
at random.  Shinji spotted a huge serpentine head lying by the 
fountain; it looked disturbingly like Hayyael's head.

	//"So where's Orifel?"//  Asuka asked.  

	//"He's the statue,"//  Ritsuko announced.

	The statue's eyes opened.  "I SUPPOSE THAT TRICK HAD TO FAIL 
SOONER OR LATER."

	//"The fountain is probably full of Thrones,"// Misato said.  
//"Deal with...bzzt...crackle...bzzzt."//  Her signal suddenly winked 
out, as did the date flow from the Command Center.

	//"Scheiss!"// Asuka swore.

	"NOW, NOW, CAN'T HAVE ANY INTERFERNCE IN OUR LITTLE DUEL.  
WOULDN'T BE FAIR.  NOT THAT THREE TO ONE IS FAIR."

	//"This is a war,"// Asuka said.  //"Wars aren't about 
fairness."//

	"AS I WELL KNOW.  HOWEVER, I HAVE DECIDED TO EVEN THE 
ODDS, BECAUSE I WANT IT TO BE FAIR TO ME."

	And then the ground shook faintly, and massive footsteps 
reverberated through the courtyard.  Shinji felt his hackles rise, and 
slowly he turned to look.

	From the great hole in the side of the pentagon, two massive
forms emerged, covered in grit and black stains. Each figure carried a
long spear of seamless metal with a head that grew organically from
it, tapering to a long point, a lidless eye carved into the blade.

	And they both looked very familiar.

        Asuka's voice came in suddenly, filled with alarm.
//"SCHIESSE!  Shinji, they're Evas!"//

        Orifel's smile seemed to turn up a notch.

	"I TOO HAVE CHILDREN."
	
		_*_

	Misato turned to Fuu, who had taken Shigeru's old job.  She was 
blonde with glasses, short and slender, wearing a silver ring of a 
dragon swallowing its tail.  "What's happened to communications?"

	"He's jamming it somehow.  I'll try boosting our signal, but 
since the Children can't boost theirs very much, we may end up with 
only a one-way line."

	"That's not good enough!"  Misato brought her hand down on the 
armrest of her chair, then regretted it, since that hurt.  "I can't help 
them if I don't know what is going on!"

	"Maybe we should have waited for him to come to the surface, 
then," Fuu replied, going to work trying to strengthen the signal.

	The doors opened and Gendo entered.  "That would have been 
unwise.  I have just recieved a report from our men in Arizona that 
they've established those two test units were stolen, not destroyed.  
They have functional microfusion engines."

	"And Orifel has them?"  Misato said.

	"It seems quite possible."

	If Commander Ikari hadn't been watching, Misato would have 
sworn up a storm.  Instead, she cursed inside and banged her fist 
again.  "He's played us for fools."

	"In the end, it is up to the Children to fight the battle," Gendo 
said.  "We shall see if they are up to the test."

		_*_

	One of the EVAs was covered by pale blue armor, the other was 
as dark a pink as pink ever gets.  The blue one looked vaguely 
feminine, while the pink one had a male cast to it, though it was 
hard to tell.  Their nasty looking spears, however, were identical.  

	//"Shinji, you take the pink one, I'll take the blue one,"// Asuka 
said.  //"Rei, you take care of Kermit the Angel,"// she continued, 
trying to sound as confident as she could.  Her EVA briefly knealt and 
she grabbed a huge stone serpent that had once been part of a huge 
basalt statue.  It would have to do as a weapon.  Shinji saw what she 
did and did the same thing.  The serpent looked much like one of 
Hayyael's arms; he shuddered slightly.

	Orifel continued to stand in the fountain as Rei warily 
approached him, drawing her knife.  He looked amused; it seemed to 
be his perpetual state.  As she approached him, the water of the 
fountain rippled and erupted into a mass of Thrones, which struck at 
her in the form of a giant tongue, wrapping around Unit00 and pulling 
it down to the ground, slamming its head into the basin.  

	Unit00 suddenly shone with a bright light, and its AT-Field 
drove them off it, but not before Orifel got onto 00's back and began 
grappling it, pinning its arms behind it.  They began to struggle.

	Unit01 took a swipe at the pink EVA's left arm, and to Shinji's 
surprise, some of its armor flew off, revealing reddish-black flesh 
which began to bubble, growing spikes.  He stared blankly, then just 
barely parried a thrust from its spear.  It began to drive him back, 
and he gave ground, desperately trying to fend it off.  Unfortunately, 
it was quite good, and he was quite not good at fighting with 
weapons.

	Meanwhile, Unit02 began to trade blows with the Blue EVA.  It 
was fast and skillful, but she was faster and more skillful, having 
actually practiced some fencing.  After letting it attack first a few 
times, she began to press it, driving it back and scoring several hits, 
until finally she had it backed up against a wall.  

	It tried to sweep 02's feet, but Unit02 jumped over the blow 
and she delivered a solid kick to its chest, followed by a blow to its 
head with the huge basalt serpent she was using as a staff.  The 
chest plate caved in, and blue-black ichor squirted out.  Part of the 
head armor came off on the right side, and its 'ear' squirmed free, 
elongating and turning a deep blue with veins of black and red.  
Several tendrils erupted around the edge of the chest plate and began 
to pull it back into place.

	Asuka stared at it, and wondered what her EVA would look like 
with its armor off.  A sudden mental image of tendrils writhing 
around its mouth under the face armor, like the first angel she had 
fought had posssed, filled her mind, and she had to stifle the urge to 
rip off her face armor and find out.  

	Unit00 suddenly went limp, and Orifel finished pinning its 
arms.  Asuka and Shinji felt a moment of terror run through them.  If 
it had beaten Rei so easily, they were doomed.  //"Rei!  What's going 
on?"// Asuka demanded.

	She got her answer seconds later when Unit00 suddenly 
sprouted huge black wings, flinging Orifel off of it as the wings 
erupted into his face.  He gave a muffled cry as he smashed into one 
of the walls, then got back up, grinning once more.  He charged at 
her, and she simply embraced him and took to the sky.  They rose out 
of sight.


	//"Rei, what are you doing?"// Asuka asked again.

	She answered by flying all the way up to the roof, then 
slamming down at high speed into one of the sides of the temple, 
using Orifel as a shock absorber.  The entire side collapsed in a 
massive haze of fine black volcanic dust.  For the moment, nothing 
emerged from the cloud.

		_*_


	The viewscreen flickered and kicked in.  They could see 
Shinji's viewpoint; he was being grappled by his opponent after it 
had pinned him to a wall with its spear.  Ironically, Asuka had done 
the same thing to her opponent across the courtyard, while Rei was 
nowhere to be seen.

	"Shinji, smash the wall behind you so it breaks!"  Misato 
shouted.

	Shinji did nothing of the kind, and didn't answer.  Instead, he 
grappled desperately with the pink EVA while it kicked him 
repeatedly.

	"Dammit, Shinji, acknowledge!"  Misato shouted.

	"I think we have video, but not audio,"  Fuu said.

	"This isn't much help!"

	"We can get some readings at least," Ritsuko said.  "And..." 

	Unit01 managed to kick the Pink EVA away, sending it toppling 
into the fountain.  More of its armor fell off, and it sprouted small 
limbs, mouths, and eyes on tentacles along its right leg and right 
arm.  

	"And we know the armor used on those models isn't good 
enough."

		_*_

	Unit00 and Orifel grappled silently among the wreckage of 
dozens of rooms and enough basalt to form a small volcanic island.  
After he had ripped one of its wings, Rei had retracted them, as they 
would be a liability now.  Her efforts to freeze him had failed; he 
was resistant to cold, possibly due to his fur.  

	Unfortunately, he was, simply put, better at wrestling than 
her, and soon Unit00 was pinned again.  Rei began trying to run 
through her tactical options, when he spoke over her comm line.  
//"WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING US?  YOU ARE ONE OF US, NOT ONE OF THE 
ANTS WHO BUILD THEIR PATHETIC LITTLE NESTS IN OUR SHADOW."//

	//"I am no Angel."//

	//"YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT.  YOU ARE NO NORMAL HUMAN.  
ARE YOU LIKE THE MASTERS YOU SERVE?  DO YOU FEEL A KINSHIP TO 
THEM?"//

	Her voice wavered.  //"I exist to slay Angels."//

	//"AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY WILL DO TO YOU WHEN WE ARE 
ALL SLAIN?  DO YOU THINK THEY WILL NOT FEAR YOU IN TURN?"//

	//"I will do my duty,"// she said very flatly.

	//"DON'T YOU WANT TO LIVE?"//

	//"Yes."//

	//"DON'T YOU ENJOY THE HUNT?  THE KILL?  THERE ARE FAR 
MORE HUMANS TO HUNT THAN THERE ARE OF US.  WE WILL NOT SIMPLY 
KILL YOU WHEN YOU CEASE TO BE OF USE.  WITH US, YOU COULD BE 
FREE TO HAVE WHAT YOU WANT."//

	//"There is nothing I want,"// she insisted a little louder than 
usual.

	//"CAN YOU NOT FEEL THE KINSHIP BETWEEN US?  DO YOU NOT 
HEAR THE MUSIC OF THE HARBINGER?  HOW IT CALLS TO US, BRINGING 
ABOUT THIS TIME OF RECKONING?  CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT THE STARS ARE 
RIGHT?  THEY ARE CALLING YOU TO JOIN US."//

	Rei could hear it, a chorus of voices, louder than the one she 
sometimes felt from her sisters, a seductive siren song, beckoning 
her to cast off her restraints and run wild.  She could do whatever 
she wanted, revel in what she now only could feel in her dreams.  
She would be the hunter of the gods, seeking and destroying their 
foes.  

	And for the first time in her life, Rei felt temptation.  It would 
be so easy to turn and destroy Langely.  She wanted to, and the 
wanting terrified her more than what she wanted, for Rei had little 
understanding of desire when she walked among mortals under the 
sun.  The song beckoned, and if she opened herself to it, she could 
become whole once more; it was only at this moment she realized a 
part of herself was missing.  

	She turned and stared through the cloud of dust in the 
courtyard.  Langely was locked in battle with the Blue EVA, but she 
had the upper hand, kicking and pummeling it.  It managed to smash 
the wall behind it and got free, recovering its spear, only to have 
Langely disarm it again.  She was winning...unless Rei chose to 
intervene.  Two on one would easily strike her down.  Then Shinji 
would be hers and hers alone.

	Shinji...

	And then she saw it.  The Thrones were oozing across the 
ground, coming up behind Shinji, aiming to strike at the gaping 
wound in his back, to enter him, and find the tube where his lesser 
form dwelt.  He would never see it; his attention was focused on the 
Pink Eva, which had lifted a scaley basalt leg and was trying to beat 
him down with it, though it wasn't having much luck.

	Time seemed to slow, and all she could do was watch as the 
Thrones erupted up at his back and slipped in through the huge 
circular hole in the back of Shinji's armor.  He fell to his knees, and 
his flesh began to bubble and boil under the armor, making it bulge 
and cave in oddly.  The Pink EVA began to beat him down.

	Orifel's children were hurting Shinji.  Her Shinji.  They were 
going to kill him, and then she would be all alone, for Langely would 
die as well, and even though she wanted to kill Langely, only Langely 
and Shinji were truly like her.  

	For a moment, she remembered going to the store with the 
other Children.  She had felt a strange kinship with all of them, 
though the power of the others had been dormant.  And she had put on 
the dress, and somehow, it had made them smile at her, and for a 
moment, just a second, she had been whole.  She hadn't understood 
then why she smiled, smiled like Shinji.  Like Langely.  Like Suzuhara
and Aida and Horaki.  Did they feel like that all the time?  He 
had called her cute...whatever that meant...it was good.  It had 
made her feel good.  Even around Langely, she felt better, even 
when Langely had to die. They were her kin, her kind, 
the ones who could make her whole, if only for a moment.  

	And then she was back in the present, and the song of the 
Harbinger tugged at her, but she could not look away from Shinji as 
he howled.  

	//"WILL YOU ACCEPT MY OFFER, OR WILL YOU DIE?"//

	//"I will eat your heart,"// she announced, and threw him off her 
with a great effort.  She rose, but before she could go to Shinji's aid, 
he grabbed her and tossed her across the plaza into another building.  
He would be no easy meat.

		_*_

	Shinji felt his EVA spasm, and its monitors told him what was 
going on.  The Thrones were inside him, trying to find his plug and 
kill him.  For a few moments, he gave in to blind panic.  He was going 
to die, there might already be one in the LCL, maybe there had been 
one all along, he was doomed, doomed, doomed.

	Fear wracked him for a time, and then something rose within 
him.  He didn't want to die.  There was no hope, but he wanted to live.  
He'd driven them off before with an AT-Field...could he make one 
inside himself?  He didn't know.  Rei...Rei could make one.  They were 
both Children...if only I had some spiders or snakes handy, he thought.

	And then a horrible thought struck him, but he was too 
desperate to care.  He lifted his right arm, barely able to move it as 
it bent and contorted, and focused on its hand.  In the palm, a 
reptilian mouth with fangs and a snakey tongue formed.  He thrust it 
into the wound in his chest and began to focus on making an AT-Field 
erupt from it, even as he felt the hand reshape itself into a full 
reptillian head.

	He put his real right hand behind himself; he feared to look at 
it.  Then he concentrated all of his will in extending the AT-Field 
through himself to flush his EVA's system of Thrones, imagining it 
like white blood cells gobbling up black invaders.  And Unit01's flesh 
ceased to bubble, and black gouts poured out of the wound in its back.

	Unfortunately, this didn't stop the Pink EVA, now a twisted 
mockery of human form, from beating the hell out of Unit01 with 
improvised weapons and its own fists, maws, and tentacles.  

		_*_

	Asuka watched this and cursed.  She was slowly beating her 
opponent, but it was taking far too long, and now it had gotten in 
close to her and was trying to bite off her right arm.  She had her 
face pressed into its shoulder, but that wasn't much good without 
any fangs or...the tendrils.

	She shuddered at the thought of them, then thought about the 
things her EVA had done, and Rei's abilities.  Like it or not, her EVA 
could...drain this thing dry, if she told it too.  But the experience 
was....exhilarating.  No, it was wrong.  It was horrible.  It 
was...necessary.

	Feeling the feedback pain from her arm made up her mind.  
FEED, she commanded her EVA.

	And it did.  Hundreds of tendrils erupted from its head, from 
its neck, from its shoulders and even from its arms.  Some of them 
quested up inside the mouth biting down on the right arm and began 
to bore towards its brain.  Others erupted down its throat and down 
to its Microfusion Engine, beginning to suck out its power.

	And a lone tendril made its way down the throat and through 
the softer inner flesh of the EVA to the Entry Plug, then bored 
through it.  It began to slurp up the LCL inside it, and with it, the 
hapless Throne piloting the EVA.  It was digested in seconds.

	The memories hit Asuka like a brick, flooding her mind with 
alien thoughts, and snatches of images seen through alien eyes.  She 
saw a mass of heat patterns that bore some resemblence to humans, 
and she followed one of them, then flowed over him and in through 
his orifices, devouring his brain and taking its place.  Then she rode 
around in the man and gave the orders that enabled the lobotomized 
gods to be stolen.  Her reward had been to recieve one with which 
she could merge, and one day unite with.  She would be a god!

	And then the memories faded, swept from her mind by a tide of 
revulsion, a tide heightened by her inability to stop her EVA from 
feeding on its fallen foe to the last drop, and by the delicious 
ecstasy that flowed through her veins from its power.  Only by 
supreme willpower could she keep her lips from trying to suck at the 
LCL, and alone within the darkness, she shuddered, though whether in 
pleasure or fear, she could not have said.

		_*_

	Shinji could see Asuka's EVA feeding on its foe, and he 
shuddered, though experiencing something like that would be better 
than what was happening to him right now, which was the process of 
being beaten to death.  He'd driven out the Thrones and sealed his 
wounds, but he couldn't get up now under the hail of blows raining 
down on him.  

	He tried desperately to think of some trick he could use on his 
foe, but he couldn't think of anything.  If only I could call a million 
spiders to...Maybe I could make a web myself, he thought.  He focused 
on his left arm, trying to form a spinneret on it, and the armor and 
flesh beneath it began to bend and expand, forming a sort of tunnel, 
which he hoped would work.  

	Concentrating on it, he told his EVA to web his foe.  It worked, 
erupting in a quick gout of black, sticky goo which quickly solidified 
into huge, ropy webs all over the torso and arms of his opponent, 
who staggered back.  A second gout covered its face.

	Staggering to his feet, he tried to attack, but could barely 
move.  It lunged into him, and they both fell down.  

	However, by now, Asuka had finished feeding, and she charged 
in, stabbing it in the back with a knife.  //"Finish him off, Shinji!"//  
she shouted.   

	And he did.  He used the one weapon that didn't take much 
strength; he bit its neck.  His EVA began to chew, and as it fed upon 
the unfortunate Pink EVA, its strength began to return.  He felt 
stronger himself, and had to try to restrain himself from making 
chewing motions.  But the more it fed, the more he wanted to keep 
feeding, for he could feel its strength infusing him and its EVA.  He 
remembered what Rei had said about gaining the strength of what he 
killed; he wanted strength.  If he could have thought straight, he 
would have been scared, but at the moment, only hunger and his 
desire to survive drove him on.  He fed, and fed copiously.  

	Soon, the Pink EVA was head and shoulderless, and he shoved 
his EVA's face into its chest, burrowing until he found the Entry 
Plug, then bit it in half with one bite, swallowing the Throne, which 
poured into his microfusion engine and gave him a rush of power.  He 
stood and roared triumph at the heavens as the dead EVA crumbled 
into grey flakes beneath him.

	And then the hunger and the triumph left him, and there was 
only a shocked and confused Shinji.  He said to Asuka, //"Where's 
Rei?"//

	//"I can hear her outside,"// she said, and they ran together 
out of the temple.

	Unit00 rose into the sky on battered wings, nursing a mangled 
left arm bent in all the wrong ways, shining with the light of an AT-
Field.  Another such field glimmered around Orifel, who turned to 
face them, his lips now turned in what would have been a leer on a 
human.  //"YOU LIVE."//

	//"You die.  Surround him,"// Rei said.

	They fanned out and did so, forming a triangle around him, and 
raising AT-Fields which spread out and merged, forming a triangular 
wall around him, distorted by Unit00's elevation.  It settled to the 
ground, and the field grew a dome over it.  Then they began to 
relentlessly advance.

	Their fields caught on his, and for a time, he held them off, 
c