-*-

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


	       Children of an Elder God

	     Part 22

	          Slouching Towards Bethlehem

 	-*-

	"Put that box over there," Akane said to Makoto.

	He nodded and hauled the box over to stack it on top of 
another box.  He was helping Akane move into her new apartment; 
it was a pretty nice two bedroom apartment, better than the place 
she'd lived in back in Japan.  "That's everything, right?"

	"No, we've still got to haul the computer in and set it up," 
she said.

	"Oh, right."  They headed down to her car together.

	On the way down, she said, "Thanks for helping me out. I 
know everything must be busy for you, what with that crazy neo-
nazi attack."

	"It's keeping us hopping," he said as he held the front door 
open for her.

	She slipped through quickly, then held it for him.  "So 
what's up with these 'Children of the Stars'?"

	"With what?" he asked.  

	She headed over to her car, fumbling with her keys.  "They 
were proselytizing as I came into town."

	"Some religious group?" he asked.

	She unlocked the passenger door and hauled out a large 
box, which she handed to him, then pulled a second crate out of the 
footwell.  "Yeah.  They think the Children are gods come to save 
humanity or something.  Or possibly they're crazed pedophiles."

	He sighed.  "We do not need crazed cultists trying to get 
into NERV."

	She took the lead as they headed upstairs.  "Reminds me of 
the Joan Jett cult."

	"That's a joke, right?" he asked.

	"No."

	"Damn."

	They headed into her apartment and into the second 
bedroom, which Akane was turning into her study.  The desk was 
already in place.  "Okay, slave, go to work," she said, teasingly, 
sitting down on the bed which was shoved against one wall.

	He began unpacking and assembling the computer.  "If you 
can find out anything about them, I'd appreciate it," he said.  

	"I'll keep my ears and eyes open," she said, then sprawled 
out on the bed, stretching.

	He tried not to stare too much and told himself he needed to 
talk to her about Misato.  He still wasn't sure what she really 
thought about him and Misato, whether she was teasing or serious 
the times she had told him to seize any chance he could get.  
"Thanks."

	"You're welcome."

	She hummed a tune he didn't know as he finished hooking 
up the computer.  "Alright, come make sure it all works," he said.

	She quickly opened up her email files, then played around 
with the browser a little, followed by a quick game of 
minesweeper.  Rising from her chair, she said, "It all works.  
Thanks, Makoto."

	"Do you want help unpacking?" he asked.  "I don't have to 
go back and do any work today."

	She ran a finger up and down his back along his spine.  "I 
think I want to unpack you and have a little fun."  She smiled her 
impish smile at him.

	We need to talk about Misato, he told himself.  Before I go 
doing anything more with her.  "And unpack you too?" his mouth 
asked without his conscious volition.

	She brought his hands up to the top button of her blouse.  
"You've got to take the wrapping off your thank-you present," she 
said, purring.

	His fingers began to unbutton her blouse.  He leaned down 
and kissed her as he did so.  We can talk about Misato later, he 
decided.  I'll be more relaxed after this.

	The bed proved to be quite nicely springy, but the topic of 
Misato did not come up.  


 	-*-

	The Children jostled each other as they waited in the 
auditorium with a huge number of NERV staff members, many of 
whom they'd never seen before.  Fuyutsuki sat on the stage with 
Misato, Commander Weiss, Ingrid, and Dr. Himmelfarb.  Eleven 
men and women sat in a row on one side of the stage, watching all 
of the staff members impassively.

	"Hello, everyone," Fuyutsuki said.  "This is the UN 
Inspection Team.  They are here to examine our procedures and 
performance.  Please cooperate with them.  They'll be wanting to 
interview some of you, and they may be dropping by your 
workspace at any time, so be ready."

	He went on to introduce them all to the staff members; 
Shinji tried to remember the names, but it was too many at once for 
him.  Asuka muttered, "Someone's head is going to roll."

	"They're after Commander Ikari, I suspect," Hikari said.

	Anna nodded.  Shinji felt his stomach sink at that.  There 
has to be something I can do to help Father, he thought.  But what?

 	-*-

	"So what do you think about the GGR project?" Ingrid 
asked Misato.

	"The what?" Misato asked, looking up from the personnel 
folder she was pouring through.  She and Ingrid were having a 
conference to discuss whether there might be any surviving traitors 
in NERV-Germany's ranks, and if so, how to root them out.

	"Oh, I suppose you haven't heard that nickname.  I think the 
official name is something like the Barbarossa Project.  There's an 
EU consortium trying to build inorganic EVA units," Ingrid said.

	"Unless they've found another way to generate an AT-field, 
they can build giant robots until the cows come home," Misato 
said.  "As conventional weaponry doesn't do the job, and sticking 
the conventional weaponry on a giant robot won't somehow make 
it work better."

	Ingrid nodded.  "That was my opinion too."

	Misato looked down at the files.  "I have a strong feeling 
that we're not getting anywhere."

	Ingrid sighed and put down her folder.  "No, we aren't.  All 
the people we caught committing treason on tape got shot by 
NERV security after they hooked up with their neo-Nazi allies.  I 
have a feeling there's probably some infiltrator in our ranks who 
used the ones who got shot as proxies, as I can't believe these neo-
Nazis pulled this without further help.  For that matter, even after 
we checked all the email and phone logs, I couldn't find any 
evidence of how they communicated with their agents inside the 
base, and the leaders of the neo-Nazis all died in the fighting."

	"I have a theory, though I don't know of a good way to 
prove it."

	"Go on."

	"Coded email spam.  It would be pretty easy to set up some 
sort of code where pleas for helping Nigerians engage in bank 
fraud means 'Friday' and 'Make.Money.Fast' means 'We're 
breaking in' and various other kinds contain different times or 
whatever."

	"..."

	"As the mailboxes of all three of the traitors had a lot of 
spam in them."

	Ingrid sighed.  "Time to have the MAGI analyze the 
patterns, then."

	Misato nodded.  "I don't know if I'm right, but I suspect 
that, combined with calling people while off-base, was likely the 
way in which it was done."

	"It's something to work from, at least," Ingrid said.  
	  
	"Exactly.  If nothing else, it may be a good excuse to shut 
down some annoying spammers."

	"Can't argue with that."

 	-*-


	Asuka sat down at her computer.  Not having to actually 
take classes she'd already gone through at about age nine meant 
she now had time to try to resume her interrupted research.  She 
stared again at one of the passages from Kensuke's notes.


[In latter days, men shall wield the powers of the gods, but
lack their wisdom.  They shall walk the halls of the dead,
where the Great Cauldron of Life waits for the one who shall 
master it.  Yet, they shall lack the ancient lore, and find only 
destruction instead of life, raising a great funeral
pyre.  That light shall call to he who sings the stars into
place, who will set to his work.]

	Finding Adam down in Antarctica, she thought.  But they 
did something wrong and it unleashed the signal which started 
waking up all of the Angels and unleashing them on us.

[And the day shall come when the endless weaver shall
complete his creation and cross the abyss which shielded the world 
from him and once more gaze upon the sun.  And he shall sound 
the call, awakening his ancient enemy friends to come forth.  The 
heights will sink and the deeps will rise; the veils will be parted 
and what is known will be occulted; the dead shall walk and the 
living shall die. ]

	The endless weaver is Matriel, Atlach-Nacha, she thought.  
The ice cap has partly melted and the deep waters risen and the 
heights been lowered.  And the Angels have come forth.

[Blood calls to blood.  Power calls to power.  Fivefold they
rise from the great chasm, stalking across the land in the
visage of men.  Dreams made flesh, or flesh made Dream they are, 
come to renew the ancient cycle.  As before, so it
happens now.  In the end, they too shall yield to despair as
did those who came before.  In the end, they shall become
what they fight.  And the Voice of Endless Chaos will laugh with 
them at the shattered ashes of their faded dreams.]

	Fivefold...there's a lot of references in his notes to Angels 
of the Elements.  Except that he seemed to think we were the 
Angels of the Elements.  But there's six of us.  There aren't six 
elements.

	She checked the notes again.


[Four Lords or Five?  Asuka must be Fire.  Shinji
is...Earth?  Plant?  Air?  Rei could be Water or Air.  Who
is the Fourth Child?  Someone I know?  Probably male, for
balance...but then, their goal is not that of balance.

Story repeats itself?  Xoth's defenders betrayed
them for power.  As did those of Yhtill.  Can fire be fought
with fire?  Let he who hunts monsters beware.  I can feel
the abyss gazing into me.  Will they save or damn us all?]

	Asuka shuddered; she too had felt the abyss, the temptation 
of all the power.  But she hadn't fallen in yet, unlike Kensuke.  She 
stared at the screen, thinking of him, and how it had ended for him.  
I don't want to end up like that, she thought.  There had to have 
been something we could have done.  But she didn't know what.

 	Finally, she cleared her mind, returning to her work.  She 
tried to think how elemental references could work, but she wasn't 
sure; they all had a mix of powers from the Angels.  Sure, she 
preferred fire, but she could call on ice as well, or the paralyzing 
gaze of Rahab...Medusa...Ghatanothoa.  

	She thought about the Kingdom of Joy; it had been 
betrayed by a man who had become a god by doing so, Hastur, He 
Who Is Not To Be Named, the King in Yellow.  Part of her mind 
could remember Xoth and its betrayal by its defenders.  The power 
they took on was a corrupting power.  It was hard, sometimes, to 
restrain it, and grew harder as she grew in strength.  Yet, nothing 
else could stop the Angels.

	Perhaps this happened in time, on every world, some crisis 
which required its inhabitants to tap into these powers, powers 
which they could not contain.  And so the saviors they created for 
themselves came to rule over them or who destroyed them in wars 
among themselves.  She could feel fragments of memory of the 
rivalry of Atlach-Nacha and Shelob and how he had fled to another 
world when the war turned against him.  The Eight Crystal Towers 
of Xoth shattered.  The death of Alars.  The slow degeneration of 
the Old Ones as she watched from her womb/tomb/prison.  In the 
end, they had not even known why the climate turned against 
them, only that they had to flee in search of warmth, for they had 
abandoned their sciences to save their sanity, and in the end, lost 
both in superstition and chaos.

	The Angels...once they had been beings, mortals, like 
humanity.  Empowered with dangerous arts to save their races, 
they had been corrupted by power and risen up to rule over those 
who made them, or destroyed their creators in their own games of 
power or corrupted them into things barely recognizable, like the 
Byakhee.  They shared a common power, but they fought because 
few shared a common origin and it was natural for beings of vast 
power to have vast egos.  And some, she thought, were close to 
mindless.  

	And behind them all, the Outer Gods, serene, potent, all-
sufficient, insane, uncaring, destructive, creative, all and nothing at 
once.  And their Voice, their Herald, the Crawling Chaos, 
Nylarathotep, who comes down from the Outer Void to mock.  A 
being of a thousand and one forms, most bringing madness in their 
wake.  But he could also pass as a man, or in some forms, from 
what Kensuke and she had discovered, could apparently possess 
people as well, like the unfortunate Robert Blake, who had died 
from the touch of the Haunter in the Dark.  

	For a moment, she felt a paranoid fear that Nylarathotep 
had replaced Gendo after Adam's breakout.  He'd been down with 
Kaji, who died, yet had turned up apparently largely unharmed.  
Maybe Nylarathotep had taken his place.  But if that was the case, 
he wasn't doing much to sabotage things.  Unless, maybe, he had 
tired of his old toys and wanted to raise up new ones.  The King of 
Joy might have fallen into the darkness by outside conquest, but 
Xoth had fallen into the dark through victory.  And he did try to 
get us to serve him, she thought.

	What was his game?  What did the Outer Gods want, 
Asuka asked herself.  But she didn't have an answer.

	Time for more web searches, she thought.  Let's see if that 
one guy finished his upload of the Ponape Scriptures...

	

 	-*-

	"Lamp of Alhazred...Shub-Niggurath...Gordon 
Walmsley...Falcon Point...Cthugha...Innsmouth...Book of Eibon.  
Not again."  Fuyutsuki sighed.  "Didn't we just get a translation of 
that taken down last month?"

	"Yes," Gendo said.  "And some site dedicated to how 
'information wants to be free' put it back up."

	"I am glad you thought to monitor Internet use," Fuyutsuki 
said.  "I would not have thought of it."

	"With MAGI, it's easy to track where people are going and 
the contents of any forms they submit to sites," Gendo said.  "And 
essential for security purposes."  He paused.  "Who is Walmsley, 
anyway?"

	"He translated the G'harne Fragments."

	"Oh, right.  Well, we're going to have to see about what we 
can do to prevent Langley probing further into these matters.  She 
is neither qualified to assess which sites are fake and which are 
real, nor can we afford to have her risking her sanity any further 
than it already is," Gendo said.  "Just imagine if she decided to 
experiment with the rites in the Book of Eibon."  He shuddered.  
"It's dangerous enough if you know what you're doing.  Perhaps we 
should cut off her access entirely."

	"That would only convince her we're covering things up.  
Better to take two approaches.  First, introduce a virus into her 
system to hunt and kill anything she's downloaded and not backed 
up yet.  Secondly, since we know many of the keywords she is 
likely to search, we can build a website which has everything she 
wants to know...all properly sanitized."

	Gendo nodded.  "A good idea.  We'll need experts for the 
former, but I now have...time for working on the latter myself."  
He frowned at the thought of his demotion.  "It may well serve as a 
good way to hamper other fools probing into things they can't 
handle as well."

	"I will see what MAGI has in its virus armory which might 
be suitable and make appropriate arrangements if nothing proves 
worthy."

	"Good, good, let's get to it."
	

 	-*-
	
	For a moment, on waking, Asuka thought she must have 
somehow blanked out part of her day, as she was immersed in 
liquid, and until she opened her eyes, she thought maybe she had 
been sleeping in LCL for some reason.  But it was just water, and 
she was in her pajamas, not her plug suit.  This was no more 
comprehensible than waking up in LCL would have been.  

	She was now lying on a large septagonal block of jade, 
underwater.  The block was one of eleven scattered about a large 
plaza, surrounded by buildings made of various green and black 
and blue stones, cut in odd shapes which somehow held together 
without mortar.  Some of the buildings leaned and others blended 
together in strange ways.

	It must be a dream, she thought, and got up and started 
down one of the seven streets leading away from the plaza.  The 
street was paved with hunks of jade and green marble, fitted 
together into a pattern which she couldn't quite grasp.  It was 
empty, except for fish, which clumped together in nervous schools.

	Streets spiraled and curved back on themselves in ways 
which quickly left Asuka utterly lost and unsure which way she 
was going.  She didn't like this place at all.


                         -*-

	Shinji walked down the street of the strange underwater 
city, wondering why he was here and if he was dreaming or if his 
life was just being slightly stranger than usual.  He tried reaching 
out with his mind for any form of life he could communicate with, 
but as he had feared, there were neither snakes nor spiders 
anywhere nearby.

	Despite that, he had the feeling of being watched, though 
the streets were empty.  "Is anyone out there?" he shouted again.

	No one answered, but the feeling of being watched 
persisted.  


                         -*-

	 
	Rei swam through the streets of the city, trying to follow 
the voice.  At least she thought it was a voice.  It reminded her of 
Adam and her sisters; it called to her deep down.

	But she couldn't find it, though she kept looking.  It seemed 
to come from all directions; was the city itself calling her?  She 
didn't know.

	She paused, as she smelled someone she knew.  But what 
was he doing here?  She decided to follow his trail and find out.

 	-*-

	Anna walked along, glancing at times at the buildings 
which rose up around her.  They were crumbling, slowly but 
surely; given enough time underwater, even this mighty city would 
be erased.  Seaweed clung to exterior surfaces and once polished 
basalt was pitted and cracked.  Fish swam where once armies had 
marched.  

	All things came to an end in time.  If this city stayed down 
here, it would eventually perish.  This was not Anna's problem.  
She simply kept going, following the bending, twisting streets 
towards where they sought to lead her.


 	-*-

	Touji walked along, holding a large chunk of green stone in 
his hands, a crude club.  He had a bad feeling about this place.  For 
a moment, he wondered what the hell kind of rock he'd found, but 
it seemed pretty solid, so that was all that mattered right now.

	He heard footsteps, so he slumped back into a doorway and 
waited to see what would come round the corner.  It was just 
Hikari in a wetsuit.  After taking a few seconds to appreciate how 
she looked in it, he stepped out and said, "Yo, Hikari, any idea 
what the f...the h...what is going on?"

	"We're dreaming," she said.  

	"How come you got a wetsuit and I didn't?" Touji asked.

	"I decided to find one, so I did, then I changed into it," 
Hikari said.

	"Damn, we can do that?" Touji asked.

	"It's a dream, right?" Hikari asked.  "Can't you do that in 
dreams?"

	"Oooh."  Touji concentrated, then went to a pile of rubble 
and extracted a machine gun.  "Now we're cooking."

	"Not underwater, you aren't."

	"Damn."

	"I hear something," Hikari said.

	Touji cocked his head and listened.  "Shit, lots of people."

	He grabbed Hikari and pulled her back into the indented 
doorway with him.  Then the creatures came into view, some two 
dozen scaly humanoids who looked vaguely like a crossbreeding 
of men, fish, and toads.  They were armed with spears and three of 
them had harpoon guns.  

	Shit, I could have snagged me a harpoon gun or a trident, 
Touji thought.  

	Hikari pressed close to Touji, who tried to squeeze himself 
into the smallest possible amount of space as they hid in the 
doorway.  I shoulda opened the door, Touji thought.  And hid 
inside.

	And then the creatures saw him.  They shouted at him in 
some alien tongue, then charged with the spears.  "Hikari, get the 
door open!" he shouted and stepped up with his stone bat.

	Wish I'd fought some monsters with a decent power that 
works underwater, he thought.  Fire wouldn't do much good and 
the Violator and Adam hadn't given him anything useful he could 
see.  He tried to fight them, but while his blows clearly hurt them, 
they were better fighters.

	He began to bleed into the water, and to his surprise, the 
little drops of blood formed into tiny fish and swam off.  It was 
simultaneously cool and annoying to know he had gotten a power 
from Adam.  An utterly useless power.

	Hikari struggled, trying to get the door open, but it was 
stuck or locked or barred or something, resisting her every effort.

	This is a shitty way to die, Touji thought.  This had better 
be a dream.  He managed to bash the nose in of one of the fish-
men, but another one simply stepped forward and he took a jab to 
his right leg, losing more blood.

	And then there was a blur.  Claws raked and water froze 
and Rei broke through the mob.  She grabbed Touji and Hikari, 
kicked off the door, and bulldozed through the ranks of the 
fishmen, swimming at high speed.  The fishmen took off after 
them.

	"Damn, thanks, Rei," Touji said.  "This is a dream, right?  
Please tell me I ain't got amnesia or something."

	"You dream," Rei said.

	"Good," he said.

	Hikari said, "We've got to stop and bandage Touji, before 
he bleeds more."  She frowned as she looked at his wounds.

	"Can't stop," Rei said.

	"But...Touji's hurt!"

	Rei simply glanced back at the pursuing horde, which was 
matching Rei's pace.  Hikari looked and sighed.  "But he'll die!"

	"Touji," Rei said.

	"Huh?"

	"Touji, take us home."

	"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Touji asked.

	"Your power."

	"My pow...oh, the teleporting thing?"

	Rei nodded.

	"I don't know how to control it."

	"Be it," Rei said.

	"Can you be more vague?" Touji said, irritated.

	"No."

	"Just try concentrating on us getting to safety," Hikari said.

	Safety, he thought.  He closed his eyes and thought.  Take 
us somewhere safe.  Somewhere SAFE.

	He felt the world whirl around him, and then he was lying 
on something soft.  He opened his eyes and found he was lying in a 
bed with Hikari by his side and Rei under both of them, an arm 
around each of them.

	Hikari opened her eyes.  "Touji, you're in my bed AGAIN!"

	"Would you rather we all get killed?" he asked, irritated.  
"Besides, this is MY bed!"

	"This is not..." Hikari began, then looked around and saw 
all the basketball and soccer posters and the big great white shark 
poster and the junior baseball trophy.  "..."

	"Hah!  So this time I get to beat you up for crawling into 
MY bed!" Touji said, seizing a pillow and beginning to pummel 
her.

	Rei sat up just in time to take a pillow to the face.  She 
blinked in surprise, then grabbed the other pillow before Hikari 
could.  They were all wrestling around and pummeling each other 
with pillows when the door opened.

	Misato stuck her head in.  "Is this an orgy or what?" she 
asked.

	"We are NOT having an orgy!" Hikari declared.

	"It's a pillow fight," Touji said.

	"You're having a pillow-fight with two half-naked women 
at 3 AM?" Misato asked dubiously.

	"Yes," Touji said.

	"Uh huh."

	"It is true," Rei said.

	"We couldn't sleep, so we came over to talk," Hikari said 
desperately.

	"Whatever.  Have all the orgies you want.  Just keep them 
QUIET.  I'm trying to sleep," Misato said.

	"We are not having an orgy!" Hikari protested.

	"All I ask is that it be quiet," Misato said.  "That's all."  She 
left.

	"Touji, everyone is going to think we had an orgy!" Hikari 
said angrily.

	"Excuse me, this is MY bed.  You're the one who got into 
it!"

	"You teleported me into your bed!" Hikari protested.

	Rei nodded.

	"I was trying to save our lives!  I was bleeding, you know!"  
he checked his body; thankfully, he was not bleeding now.

	Rei looked at the two of them, then looked at her pillow.  
Tentatively, she whacked Touji with it.

	Hikari whacked him with hers.

	Soon, the pillow fight was in full swing again. 

 	-*-

	Maya woke up, hearing Ritsuko moaning in her sleep.  She 
shook Ritsuko gently, until Ritsuko's eyes popped open.  Ritsuko 
was breathing hard.  "Are you okay?" Maya asked her.

	"No.  The sea was trying to take me," Ritsuko said softly.

	"I won't let it have you," Maya said, embracing her.  

	Ritsuko stared off through the window. "It's still calling me 
now, even this far away from it."

	"We'll find a way to beat it," Maya said.

	"There is another possibility as to what is happening," 
Ritsuko said.  "But it's worse than if it's just my curse."

	"Worse?" Maya asked, worried.

	"I dreamed of a sunken city made of strangely angled 
stones, an ancient ruins where only fish live now, and the Deep 
Ones, of whom I told you before."

	Maya nodded.

	"They urged me to join them, for their master was waking."

	"Master?"

	"One of the Angels dwells sleeping, imprisoned beneath the 
sea.  He nearly escaped in the mid nineteen-twenties, but the time 
was not yet ripe, and his home sank as quickly as it rose.  But as it 
rose, the most sensitive minds on the planet were barraged by 
nightmares as his mind touched theirs.  Minds like those of the 
Children.  Many of them went mad."

	"We should check on them," Maya said, standing up.  "Just 
in case."

	Ritsuko said, "In the morning.  They're not going to go mad 
after just one dream."

	"Maybe," Maya said.  "But I just...don't want to take any 
chances."

	Ritsuko sighed and got out of bed.  "Alright, let's go."


 	-*-

	"It was kind of more boring than scary," Shinji said, 
yawning.  "Just a kind of feeling of being lost and being watched."

	"But it was a city of volcanic rocks with oddly angled 
buildings?" Ritsuko asked.

	"Yes," Shinji said.  "Why are you asking me about this in 
the middle of the night, anyway?"

	"I think this may be a sign that an Angel with powers over 
dreams is coming," Ritsuko said.

	"Ugh."  He yawned.  "Can I sleep now?"

	"Sleep tight," Ritsuko said.

                         -*-

	"This is connected to Innsmouth, right?" Asuka asked 
Ritsuko.

	"Indirectly," she said.  "I take it you know something of the 
Deep Ones?"

	"A bit," Asuka said.  "Trying to learn more."

	"It is dangerous to delve into such lore, but good to know 
one's enemy," Ritsuko said, sighing.  "I fear that..."

	There was a high pitched squeal from another room.  Maya 
said, "What the...what was that?"

	Asuka sprung to her feet.  "That was Hikari."

	"We'd best go check on her next, then," Maya said.

	Asuka followed them to Hikari's room.  The door was 
locked and she didn't answer when they banged on the door.  
Ritsuko said, "We may need to get a master key or something."

	Then the door to Touji's room opened and Hikari came out.  
Asuka stared in shock.  "You...and Touji...in the middle of the 
night...????"

	"We were just having a pillow fight," Hikari said weakly.

	"If you feel you must lie to us, please choose something 
more believable than that you are having a pillow fight with Touji 
at 3 AM while half-naked," Ritsuko said.

	"I am not half...my pants!"  Hikari was wearing a pajama 
top long enough to go down just past her butt, but no pants.  
"TOUJI!  YOU PERVERT!  WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY 
PANTS!"

	"Hey, you didn't have any pants when you showed up in 
MY BED, " Touji shouted through the door.  "Rei, you didn't take 
Hikari's pants, did you?"

	"No."

	There was a moment of awful, terrible silence.

	Maya tried to speak, but couldn't figure out how vocal 
cords worked.

	Ritsuko rubbed her forehead.  "I must still be dreaming," 
she said weakly.

	Asuka's jaw dropped audibly.  "Hikari, were you half-
naked with Rei and Touji in his bed?"

	"We were having a pillow fight," Hikari said stubbornly.

	"This is NOT real," Asuka said.  "This can't be real.  You 
wouldn't really have sex with Rei and Touji at the same time."

	"We were NOT having sex!"

	"Damn, you are a PERVERT, thinkin' stuff like that," Touji 
said, now sticking his head out the door.

	"You're probably wearing Hikari's pants," Asuka mumbled.

	"I am NOT wearing her pants!"  

	"I am going to bed," Ritsuko said.  "And in the morning, 
this is all going to be a dream."  She took Maya by the arm and 
began to leave.

	"I'll just be going to bed now too," Hikari said, then 
realized she was locked out of her room and the key was inside it.  
"Drat."

	Touji, shirtless, now came out in the hallway.  "Here, I can 
teleport you into your room."

	"I think I've had enough teleporting for one night," Hikari 
mumbled.

	"You're half-naked too!" Asuka announced.

	Rei now came out into the hallway; she was fully dressed.  
In Touji's clothing, which didn't fit.  "I'll open it," she said.

	"I'm dreaming, right?" Asuka said.  

	"Yes.  Go to bed," Hikari said desperately.

	"Right."  Asuka turned around and went to bed.

	"We tell everyone this was just a dream," Hikari said to 
Touji.

	"Hey, you were in my bed this time.  That's all I've got to 
say," Touji said.

	"Because you..."  Hikari sighed.  "I don't care.  I just want 
to go to bed."

	The door opened; Hikari blinked, wondering how Rei had 
gotten inside her room.  But she decided sleep was better than 
answers.  

                         -*-

	"I had the weirdest dream last night," Asuka said to Hikari 
the next morning at breakfast.

	"Sunken city?" Hikari asked.

	"Yeah, and then..."

	"Dreams can be pretty weird," Hikari said.

	"Wait, you dreamed about the sunken city too?"

	"Yes," Hikari said.  "Must be because we're both of the 
Children."

	"Yeah.  So...You and Touji and Rei didn't really have an 
orgy last night, did you?"

	Hikari shook her head.  "You must have dreamed that."

	"Right," Asuka said with relief.  "Did you have that dream, 
Shinji?"

	"I didn't dream about anyone in anyone's beds, just the 
sunken city," Shinji said.

	"Going to have to do some more research on that, I think," 
Asuka said.  "I think it's a real place."

	"I hope we don't have to fight a city," Shinji replied.

	Several men came in, found Rei at her table nearby, and 
took her with them.

	"Huh, I guess the UN inspectors want her," Shinji said.

	"They can have her," Asuka said.

	"I suppose they'll talk to all of us," Hikari said.

	"I suppose so," Asuka said.  "I intend to give them a piece 
of my mind."

                         -*-

	"Have you enjoyed being one of the EVA Pilots?" 
Inspector Margaret Mallory asked.  She was a short, thin old 
woman from Britain.  

	"Yes," Rei said.

	"What is your opinion of NERV's performance so far?" 
Margaret asked.

	"The hunt goes well."

	Margaret glanced at the two other inspectors with her, 
Chang Hsu from China and Henry N'kambe from Kenya.  

	Henry said, "So you think of this as a hunt?"

	"Yes."

	"Why?"

	Rei looked at him in the manner of someone asked why 
they think the color blue is blue.  "It is a hunt."

	"But why do you think of it as a hunt?  Are you imagining 
yourself as some sort of Amazon warrior woman?"

	"What is an Amazon?" Rei asked.

	"It would take longer than it's worth to explain," Henry 
said.  "So you enjoy hunting?"

	"Yes."

	"What do you think about the destruction of the base in 
Japan?"

	"It was a good fight."

	Henry blinked.  "Why?"

	"We won.  We gained Adam's power."

	"So the destruction of the base and all the deaths don't 
bother you?"

	"I killed no innocents," Rei said.

	"What do you think of Commander Ikari?"

	"He is powerful."

	"Do you think he has been a good commander?"

	"Yes."

	"Despite the disaster in Peru, the destruction of NERV-
Japan, the escape of Adam and all the other catastrophes?"

	"We won each battle," Rei said.  "This is war.  People die."

	Henry frowned.  "So you don't care who dies as long as you 
win?"

	Rei struggled to find the right words, and finally said, "No 
war can be won flawlessly.  We saved far more than who died."  
She paused. "We did the best we could."

	Hsu seemed satisfied with that response; Henry frowned 
more.  "And Commander Fuyutsuki?"

	"He did his best."

	Henry glanced over at Margaret, who shook her head.  He 
then said, "Well, we'll get back to you soon, I expect, once we've 
talked to the others."

	"Alright," Rei said, and left.

	"She's a strange one," Henry said.

	"The profile was more accurate than I thought," Hsu said.  
"A strange one, indeed."


                         -*-

	Asuka sat down at her computer.  "Okay, let's see what my 
search found..." 

	Her screen sprung to life with a keytouch.  A screensaver 
popped up, showing a little dancing green man with a squid-like 
head.  "You have been hacked by Campus Crusade for Cthulhu.  
DANCE FOR ME!"  It then began dancing.

	"Shit," Asuka said, trying to get the screensaver to 
disengage.  Finally, she had to reboot, praying the damage wasn't 
too bad.

	She ended up having to reinstall her operating system, and 
found that most of her data files were utterly trashed or gone.

	"Dammit, I should have backed up more recently," she 
muttered to herself, extracting her most recent back up of her hard 
drive, from weeks ago.  "This is what I get for being lazy."  She 
sighed.  "Here we go again."

                         -*-


	Asuka eventually tired of rebuilding her machine and 
headed off to find some company.  Most of the rest of the Children 
turned out to be in one of the lounges, doing homework, except for 
Rei.  Asuka came over to Shinji and hugged him.  "Hey there."

	"Hi," he said, smiling and turning to hug her back.  "Having 
fun while we suffer?"

	"My computer died thanks to a virus, so not much fun for 
me."

	"I wish a virus would eat my homework," Touji muttered.  
"All this work is making me nuts."

	Hikari says, "Well, we could go down to the town for a 
while, but neither of us speaks any German, so it might be hard to 
get around."

	"We can make it a double date," Asuka said.  "As I could 
use getting away from stuff.  That good with you, Shinji?"
	
	"Fine with me," he said.  "But then we'd be leaving Anna 
all by herself."

	Anna said, "Oh, don't mind me.  I have to catch up on some 
stuff anyway."

	Feeling guilty, Asuka said, "You sure?"

	"I'll be fine," Anna said smiling.  "Go down to the city and 
have some fun."

	"Thanks," Asuka said.  

	"You're welcome."

                         -*-


	Misato stamped the file closed.  "And that's enough of 
that," she said.  Getting up, she tried to decide what to do tonight.  
Everything on TV is in German, everything in the video library is 
in German, all the books in the base library are in German...  She 
frowned.  There has to be something I can do with minimal 
German, she thought.

	Hmm, maybe Makoto's free, she thought.  I know he 
brought some movies and stuff with him.  We can go grab some 
food, then watch some movies or something.  Anything.  

	She went over to Makoto's cubicle.  "Hey, you busy 
tonight?"

	"I'm sorry, I have a date with Akane."

	She sighed.  "I guess I'll be playing solitaire by myself  
again."

	He looked at her with a tempted look which made her feel a 
little better, then he said, "Why don't you see if Dr. Akagi is busy?"

	"Oh, great idea," Misato said, perking up.  "I haven't 
cleaned her out in poker in quite a while."

	She found Ritsuko in her lab, closing up for the night.  
"Hey, Ritsuko, you want to do something tonight?"

	"Maya and I are going into town to see The Three 
Brothers."  She paused.  "Would you like to come with us?"

	"Movie?" Misato asked.

	"Yes, it's a German film Dr. Himmelfarb recommended."

	"In German?"

	"Yes."

	Misato sighed.  "No thanks, I wouldn't understand 
anything."

	"Makoto's busy?" Ritsuko asked.

	Misato said a little sharply, "He has a date."

	"Ahh.  Well, you're welcome to come with us."

	"I wouldn't want to intrude on your date," Misato said.  
"Maybe Ingrid is free."

	"She often goes to the Shooting Gallery in the evenings," 
Ritsuko said.  

	"I'll look for her there."

	She found Ingrid in the process of sniping at paper cutouts.  
"Good evening, Misato," Ingrid said.

	"Hey there," Misato said.  "I'm bored out of my skull."

	"Want to have a little shooting contest?" Ingrid suggested.

	"Alright," Misato said.

	They both got ready, then opened fire.  Dozens of rounds of 
ammo later, Ingrid came over to examine Misato's shooting.  
"Well, that's one paper man who will never have sex again," she 
said.  "You pissed at some guy?"

	Misato frowned.  "I have no right to be."

	"But you are anyway."

	"Yes."  She sighed.  "Stupid, I know."

	"Wanna talk about it?" Ingrid asked.

	"The irritating thing is that when he was interested, I 
wasn't, and now I am, and he has a girlfriend.  Sexy little pale-
haired girl named Akane.  She's a novelist.  Probably writes smut 
novels from the way she carries on," Misato said bitterly.

	"What, like all those ones lying around your room?" Ingrid 
asked.

	Misato winced.  "She's one of those annoying women who 
hypnotizes men with her breasts."

	"Well, I'd never degrade myself by trying to outflouncy 
someone," Ingrid said.  "But if you really like him, and that's the 
kind of woman he wants..."

	"Dammit, why couldn't I realize I liked him before this?" 
Misato demanded.  "He only went after her because he couldn't 
have me."

	"Well, just one thing to remember," Ingrid said.

	"What?"

	"A man you can steal from another woman probably isn't 
worth stealing."

	Misato sighed.  "But he's cute and nice and a good guy."

	"So why didn't you date him before?"

	"I thought he would be boring."

	"And you had someone who wasn't?" Ingrid asked.

	"Well, I've told you about Kaji, right?"

	"A little," Ingrid said.  "And I've met him myself briefly.  I 
heard about his death too."

	Misato sighed.  "Maybe I'm just being petty.  I just...Maybe 
this means I'm growing up or something."

	"Ready to marry a man like Dad?" Ingrid teased.

	"He's a lot more responsible than Dad was," Misato said.  
"We really shouldn't date anyway because he's my subordinate, but 
dammit, he's hot and I'm lonely and aaargh.  I can tell he wants me, 
but he's too responsible to just dump Akane."

	"Well, I know some nice guys I can try and hook you up 
with.  Get your mind off him."

	"I'm game," Misato said.  

	"Cool.  I'll think about it, ask around, and get back to you.  
Want to go for another round of shooting?"

	"Sure thing."

                         -*-

 	And as the four Children hit the town, three of them 
realized there was a slight problem, which was a considerable lack 
of knowledge of the German language.  This they realized too late 
as they stared up at the movie theater marquee and the long list of 
movies, the meaning of which they had no idea.

	"Um," volunteered Touji first, after they all spent a long 
moment staring at the titles.  "Well.  Er.  13 Freitag,
Sieben, Alptraum Auf Ulmestrasse, Gebrochen Pffeil, Kampf ins 
Bronx, I just dunno.   Everything sounds violent in German, man.  
You guys got any ideas?"

 	Hikari shook her head.

	Shinji shrugged.

	"How about Fruhling Kirschblumen?" suggested Asuka.

	Hikari and Shinji looked at her blankly.  Touji looked at her 
suspiciously.

	"What's that supposed to be?" he asked.

	"New film, good reviews, trust me," she said confidently.

 	He was silent for a moment, thinking it over.  This was 
German cinema, he mused.  He didn't know anything about 
German cinema tradition, but the German people were, he thought, 
a pretty rough bunch.  Surely their films would be all mean.  Low 
risk of chick films, yeah.

	Touji shrugged.   "Sure, okay, let's go."

	- * -

	"I so HATE you," grumbled Touji as they walked out of the 
theater.

	"Whaaaat?" protested Asuka, in the tone of the Unjustly 
Persecuted.  "It was a GREAT movie!  Isn't that right, Hikari?"

	"Yup!"

	"It was a German remake of SPRINGTIME CHERRY 
BLOSSOMS, dammit!!!  Shinji, say something, man!"

	Crickets chirped.

	Touji glared at Shinji.

	Asuka glared at Shinji.

	"It was... um... not what I expected," he finally said weakly.

	"HA!" yelled Touji triumphantly.

	"But I did kinda like it," added Shinji meekly.

	"HA!" countered Asuka.

	Shinji noticed something as they were walking to the
exit doors, then frowned.  "H-hey, guys, I think we have a
problem."

	"You bet we do," said Touji.  "Asuka is NEVER picking 
our movies again!"

	Asuka rolled her eyes.  "Hikari, remind me why you like 
this moron?"

	"Um, guys?"  Shinji pointed at the exit.

	There was an awful lot of people there waiting there.

	Touji said, "Okay, so there's a lot of people in line to
see Springtime German Flowers crap."

	"But they're staring at us," said Shinji.

	Asuka frowned.  "I've got a bad feeling about this."

	One of them shyly opened the door and asked something to 
Asuka in German, who in turn merely nodded.  He in turn said 
something to the crowd amassed at the door.

	"Hey, what'd he ask?" asked Touji.

	"He wanted to know if we were the NERV pilots."

	"Oh."

	A great cry was shouted from the crowd that nearly made 
the children jump, and much to their confusion the crowd as a 
whole began to bow down to them and chant something German.

	Touji asked, "Hey, what're they doing?"

	"Worshiping us."  Asuka frowned.  

	She paused a moment, then began lecturing them in 
German.  "We are not gods!  There is only one God in heaven!"

	"God has sent you from heaven to save us!" one of the 
people in the crowd cried out.

	"Angels!  Angels of mercy!" another shouted.

	"No, we're just humans like you!"

	"We are but mere mortals!" an old man called out.  "That's 
why we give you honor and glory, holy ones!"

	"Give us a blessing!"

	Touji said, "What are they saying?"

	"Even stupider things than you," Asuka said to him in 
Japanese.  She turned back to the crowd.  "I am not divine!  I'm 
just a teenage girl!  I have a boyfriend!  I'm on a date!  Don't 
worship us!"

	"The gods wish us to go on a date!" one of the people in the 
crowd shouted.

	Asuka began to tug on her hair.  Shinji put a hand on her 
shoulder.  "Shinji, tell them!" she said, forgetting she was speaking 
German.  

 	He stared at her blankly.

	She sighed.  "Shinji, kiss me," she said in Japanese.

	He blushed.  "Say what?"

	"Oh man, don't make me watch this," Touji said, turning 
away.

	"Maybe that will convince them we're not gods," Asuka 
said.

	"They may decide it means to have an orgy," Hikari 
pointed out.

	"We can't even get out of here," Touji said.  "Although 
seeing you two kiss might make them all go blind."

	To his surprise, Shinji slugged him in the shoulder and said, 
a little sharply, "Touji, don't say that."

	Asuka blinked, and then smiled.  He was standing up for 
her.  Not that she needed it, but it was sweet of him.  

	"I'm sorry, man.  I just can't imagine kissing the..."

	Shinji turned to Asuka, stepped up to her, and kissed her 
firmly.  She stiffened for a moment, then leaned into it, while 
holding one hand behind her back to give Touji the finger.  

	"Hah!  I can kiss better than you two can!"  He turned and 
kissed Hikari, who froze up, knowing a huge mob was watching 
her.  

	Then the mob began to cheer.  And then people in the mob 
started kissing each other.  

	"Alright, let's get out of here," Asuka said.  "Before we 
make things any worse."  She began taking her shirt off.

	Shinji stared in abject shock.

	"I'll destroy my shirt anyway if I sprout wings out of it," 
Asuka said, though she was blushing a little.  "Better take yours off 
too.  You're going to have to carry Touji."

	"This is startin' to sound like a bad porno," Touji muttered.

	Shinji blushed and tried not to stare at Asuka too much.  He 
took his shirt off and sprouted wings, as did Asuka.  The crowd 
cheered.

	"Tell me there's not a news camera," Touji said.

	Shinji picked Touji up.  "There's not a news camera."

	"Good, 'cause you just know some freak would be 
speculatin' freaky things about us," Touji said as he was lifted.  
"Man, you just don't look this strong."

	Asuka rose into the air with Hikari.  "Let's go."

	They took off, the crowds cheering wildly.


                         -*- 

	Die Aufladung had just gotten out, and Akane and Makoto 
were taking a leisurely stroll towards a cafe she recommended, 
when they heard shouting nearby and saw the Children flying 
across the sky; Asuka had wings of flame while Shinji had black 
bat wings.  

	"I wish I could fly," Akane said.

	Makoto squinted.  "Is it just me, or are they both topless?"

	"She's still got a bra on, I think," Akane said.  "I wonder if 
they're going to have aerial sex."

	"..."

	Akane laughed.  "Just teasing, honey, although...ooh, that 
would just be very sexy.  Sounds like they've impressed their 
worshippers, though."

	"I can't understand why anyone would worship them."

	"They have apparently magical powers and can do five 
impossible things before breakfast," Akane said.  "They may not 
be God, but they're gods for most intents and purposes."

	"They're just children," he said.

	"Children," she said, emphasizing the proper nouness of it 
all.  "I wouldn't worship them, but I can see why some people 
would.  They have magical powers to save the world.  People 
worship saviours, so long as they aren't failed by them."

	"And then the worm turns."

	"Exactly."  She stared at the Children, fading in the 
distance and frowned, her usual good cheer gone.  "No one can 
win every fight."

	"Let's go eat," he said.  I can try and talk to her about 
Misato there, he thought.  I will.  Really.

	She turned to him, and took his arm.  "You're too good to 
me."

	"You're too good to me," he replied.

	She shook her head.  "Then let's be too good to each other 
together."

	And they headed off to the Cafe.


                         -*-

 
 	The scene flickered before her, reflected in her red eyes as 
she watched with an expression that betrayed no emotion.  Her in 
his arms, he in hers, a kiss that Rei had never known but had 
always wanted, and a burst of wings to take flight into the night.

	As she stared at the television replaying the news, Rei's lips 
ever so slightly edged downward.  The others in the cafeteria at 
large felt a moment of mild discomfort and the growing need to be 
elsewhere.

	Rei's eyes flickered away from the screen and to her side as 
she heard the clatter of a tray and silverware being put down next 
to her.

	"Wow, they sure were bold to do that in public," said Anna.

	Rei's eyes moved back to the TV, where a reporter was 
now interviewing members of the crowd.  That managed to hold 
her gaze briefly, before she resumed picking away at her dinner.

	"How do you feel about seeing that?" asked Anna.

	Rei remained silent, her face carefully composed and calm.  
Beside her, Anna began eating her own meal pleasantly.

	"Hn.  Good bratwurst today." added Anna after a pause in 
eating.

	Rei resumed eating her own dinner.

	"I was hoping for Rouladen mit Rotkohl und 
Salzkartoffeln, but I guess not today.  Though I'll probably just go 
out later and buy it take-out."

	Rei continued eating.

	"Sometimes when you want something, it's best to go ahead 
and get it, or else it will drive you crazy later.  Know what I 
mean?"

	Rei turned slightly and gave Anna a slight sidewards 
glance.  Anna smiled back innocently.  Rei turned her attention 
back towards her dinner and ate in silence.  Anna happily hummed 
the theme from Fruhling Kirschblumen next to her as she finished 
her meal.

	The cafeteria was notably emptier by the time they were 
done.

                         -*-


	"It's not so much that the English lost the Hundred Years' 
War, as that they ate too much rich French food, bloated up, got 
too fat to fit in their armor, and then the French killed them while 
they waddled helplessly," Misato said.  It had been something like 
that, anyway.  She thought.  Well, world history had been years 
ago, and she'd been thinking about Kaji and whether Ritsuko was 
going to notice they'd eaten up all the leftover pizza and get mad 
that day.  Or something similar.  

	Rei nodded solemnly, scribbling in her notebook.  Anna 
gave Misato a dubious look.  "How do the Burgundians figure into 
it, then?"

	"Well, you see Burgundy, the drink, comes from Burgundy, 
the region of France.  But the English preferred cheap English 
beer, so they put heavy tariffs on the Burgundian Burgandy, and 
the Burgundians got mad and changed side to the French, who 
loved good Burgundian Burgandy."  Misato wasn't so sure about 
that, but she told herself that anyone who asked HER for help on 
history pretty much deserved what they got.

	"Uh huh."

	Asuka, Shinji, Touji, and Hikari now walked into the rec 
room where Anna and Rei were doing homework.  "We're back," 
Asuka said.  "We ran into some crazy cultists."

	Misato frowned.  "Angel cultists?"

	"No, they seemed to think we were gods," Touji said.  
"Assuming Asuka didn't make that all up so she could take her 
shirt off."

	Misato looked at Asuka, who was wearing her shirt.  "She 
seems to be wearing a shirt."  She sounded rather dubious.

	"She put it back on before we could all go blind," Touji 
said.

	"That would have been if we had to see YOU like that," 
Asuka said to Touji.

	"Will you two stop bickering?" Shinji said sharply.  "You 
both look just fine with your shirts off, and no one went blind.  
And I think you were staring at my girlfriend's chest when you 
thought no one was looking."

	"WHAT?" Hikari said.

	"Hey, I saw how you..." Touji began.  

	"You can fight later," Misato said.  "So this cult thought 
you all were gods?"  She had a pretty good idea who this group 
likely was, but she had hoped they wouldn't start causing trouble 
yet.  

	"Yeah," Asuka said.  "They were all German, I think, or at 
least most of them."

	Misato frowned.  "I think I'm going to have to look into 
that.  No one got hurt, did they?"

	Rei tensed up ever so slightly.

	"No, no," Shinji said.  "No one got hurt."

	"Good."  She sounded relieved.  

	Rei looked Shinji up and down for a moment, then relaxed.  

	"I expect an unarmed rabble wouldn't be much of a threat to 
us," Anna said.  

	"More danger of us hurting them than vice versa, really," 
Asuka said.  

	"I hope they don't cause us any more trouble," Shinji said.

	"So do I," Misato said.  "But it isn't wise to rely too much 
on hopes.  I fear they will be more trouble, before we finally get rid 
of them.  But I guess we'll see."

	"I guess so," Shinji said.

	"Well, since you're back, you can finish your homework 
with Rei and Anna," Misato said.

	"You can tell us what is true and what Katsuragi is making 
up," Anna said to Asuka.

	"You can take over, Asuka," Misato said.  "I should go 
work on things anyway."  And report this incident to the 
Commander as well, she thought.  

	"Alright," Asuka said.  "See you later."

                         -*-

 	Dreams are useful things.

 	With enough control, one can set up a dream like an 
experiment, set the parameters, let things run, and see how it all 
turns out.

	Basic elements are needed to meet the requirements of this 
shoujo manga moment.

	A sunny day.  A clean city street.  Lots of trees.

	And there is Rei, wearing a blue dress, swaying beautifully 
with the breeze.  A certain inner glow shining about her, with eyes 
that sparkled of love and youth.

 	And there is Shinji, delicately beautiful with hair flowing 
with the wind.  There were also sparkles in his eyes, youthful-type 
sparkles, definitely associated with love.

	Scenery.  Lovers.  All things in place.  Disembodied red 
eyes observed it all carefully.

	Cue sunset.

	Cue the jet flying high above.

	And... start.

	"Rei," he said softly, the air going all pink and sparkly 
around him.

	"Shinji," she said breathlessly, enveloped in that same pink 
sparkly aura.

	Movement in slow motion.  The two running towards each 
other with open arms.  See the two birds flying high above them?  
What a clear sky, too.

	Third element cued into the mix.  Asuka, tragic blue 
sparkles about her, eyes wide and about to cry.  "Shinji!" she cries 
out.

	The birds flapped about in confusion.  Clouds crept into the 
sky.  The imagery around Shinji changes to a monochrome blue.

	"A-Asuka," he says weakly, his head turning from Rei to 
Asuka.

	The blue sparkles are infectious, swallowing up Rei's 
space.  "Shinji?" she asks, fear and doubt replacing the loving tone 
in her voice.

	This was a typically pivotal moment, yes.  Two 
disembodied red eyes watched all with great interest.

	Rei looked at Shinji expectantly.

	Asuka looked at Shinji expectantly.

	Shinji hesitated.  Fatal mistake.

	The girls ran away in tears.  Of course, in opposite 
directions.  Stormclouds slam in with violent winds.  Everything 
sets into a monochrome grey.

	Decision time.

	Shinji reached out to Rei, then to Asuka.  Which one?  
Which way would his heart lead him?

	The rain suddenly turned into a torrential downpour of epic 
proportions, streets flooding in the blink of an eye and 
transforming into rivers, sweeping him away with the currents. 
Fish-like men emerged from the waters and stood upon the 
rooftops, waving their spears and chanting in an inhuman tongue to 
something that had yet to emerge from the waters.

	The red eyes blinked.  This wasn't expected.

	Rei woke up.

	She looked out the window and frowned slightly.  An 
overcast sky greeted her.  She spent a moment staring at it, then 
began to get ready for the day.



                         -*-

	Shinji looked nervously at Inspector Svetlana Borodinova 
and wondered what she was going to ask him.  She seemed to be in 
charge, while Inspector Pham Trang sat in the corner and quietly 
took notes.  There was a third inspector, Guillame Garcia, but he'd 
left for the bathroom and Inspector Svetlana didn't seem inclined to 
wait for him.  

	They had to use a translator, a withered, bitter looking old 
man who had clearly done a lot of rough work in his life.  As he 
spoke, Shinji wondered if everything the translator said sounded 
sarcastic or if he'd done something to annoy the man.  

	"I understand your father sent you off to your relatives after 
your mother died."

	"Yes, his work at NERV kept him very busy," Shinji said.

	"You don't seem to have been very happy there," Svetlana 
said.

	"I understand why Father did it," Shinji said.

	Svetlana said something to Pham which he couldn't 
understand.  Pham nodded, then Svetlana continued, "We have 
heard he favors you over the other pilots."

	"I don't think Father favors anyone," Shinji said.  "I got sent 
into battle in Peru when I was badly injured, and I live just the 
same as anyone else."

	"I understand you live with Commander Katsuragi?"

	Shinji nodded.  "Yes."

	"How much of a drunkard is she, really?"

	He frowned.  "She's not a drunkard."  He knew he was only 
half telling the truth.  She had drunk too much most of the time he 
had known her, but he could tell the Inspectors were out for blood, 
and he wasn't going to give them any.  "She's been a good guardian 
and a good commander."

	"Is she really sleeping with one of her subordinates?"

	"No!" Shinji said sharply.  "She hasn't been seeing anyone 
since Kaji died, and he wasn't her subordinate."

	"Ahh, yes, the fellow who died saving Gendo from the 
Angel known as the 'Violator', right?" 

	"Yes."  Shinji paused.  "He was a good man."

	"His record seems to be clean, though I have heard he was 
rather a playboy.  But no matter.  I understand there has been 
tension between the pilots since the battle with the Violator."

	Shinji frowned.  "No one ever gets along perfectly."

	"To be precise, there is bad blood between Pilot Langley 
and pilot Ayanami, correct?"

	"They don't get along," Shinji admitted.

	"Why?"

	Shinji squirmed, not wanting to think about it.  "I'm not 
sure exactly what happened, but after we killed the Violator, we 
suffered some...side-effects."  He shuddered at the memory.  "Rei 
lost control."

	"She raped Langley?" Svetlana asked.

	"I don't know what exactly happened," Shinji said.  "But 
you can't understand what it was like.  I had to lock myself in the 
bathroom and...and..."  He blushed.  "Can we please talk about 
something else?"

	"So, who would you blame for the destruction of the 
Geodome?"

	"The Angels," Shinji said.

	Guillame Garcia, a tall, skinny man with bronzed skin and 
an especially expensive suit, now returned from the bathroom.  He 
sat down by Svetlana.  "Ahh, got to the death of the Geofront?" he 
asked.

	She nodded to him, then asked Shinji, "Yes, but lots of 
other Angels have shown up without destroying it."

	"We did the best we could," Shinji said. "I suppose it would 
have been better to store Adam somewhere else, but at the same 
time, him being right there meant we could stop him before more 
harm was done."

	Pham finally spoke.  "I understand you're dating Pilot 
Langley."

	Shinji nodded.  "Yes."

	"Would you say she's stable?"

	"She's a little impulsive, sometimes," Shinji said, carefully 
weighing his words.  "But she's as sane as I am.  If that's what 
you're asking."

	"She does not get along well with Commander Ikari."

	"Yes," Shinji said.

	"Why?"

	"Because she doesn't like people keeping secrets and 
NERV has a lot of them.  And Father can be somewhat rude 
sometimes."

	"I understand she's tried to kill him a few times."

	"People say things they don't mean when they get mad," 
Shinji said.  "And if Asuka really wanted him dead, he couldn't 
stop her."

	"Hmm."

	"They do," Shinji said, trying to reassure himself of that.  

	"My turn," Guillame said, pulling out a sheaf of reports.  
"We're going to go over all the missions."

	Shinji stared at the stack.  This was going to take a while. 

                         -*-
 

	"They call themselves the 'The Church of Disciples'.  They 
don't have a very clearly set out theology, but they believe you are 
all gods who need to be worshipped.  There's no clear leadership, 
as they seem to be a loose coalition of various groups with 
different beliefs who all came to the conclusion you are all divine 
in some manner, from some fringe Christian groups who think you 
are angels to neo-pagans who see you as reborn gods to people 
who think you are boddhisatvas.  We expect the movement will 
eventually fragment due to these divisions, but for now, they seem 
united enough to have spread quite a bit in Europe and the most 
European-influenced nations."  Fuyutsuki shook his head in mild 
disbelief.

	"The US, Canada, Australia, etc?" Asuka asked.

	Fuyutsuki, Misato, and the Children sat around one of the 
briefing tables at the base, each with a stack of papers in front of 
them.  Shinji wondered if they needed such a long report when 
Fuyutsuki was in the process of telling them everything anyway.  

	Fuyutsuki continued by saying, "Your presence here in 
Germany has attracted many group members to migrate here; 
they're starting to overrun the local towns.  I don't want to cut off 
your ability to go to town, but I must ask you to avoid any contact 
with these loons, as we aren't sure what they may do."

	"How large is this movement?" Anna asked.

	"There's no good measure, but it seems there may be close 
to a million members worldwide.  Which is a drop in the human 
bucket, but since some twenty to thirty thousand of those seem to 
have descended on the local towns, their presence for us is quite 
significant."

	Misato frowned.  "If they tried something crazy, like 
breaking into the base to come and bask in the glow of the 
Children...we couldn't possibly stop that many people."

	"Really?" Touji asked nervously.

	"The Geo-front could have done it, but NERV-Germany, 
while well defended, was not designed to fend off thousands of 
people.  It's strong enough to generally stop terrorists and 
criminals, but..."

	"Well, ones who aren't let in by traitors," Hikari said.  
"Were they caught?"

	"All the traitors died in the fighting," Misato said.  "I 
suppose if we deployed the EVAs, we could probably drive them 
all off if they did attack for some reason, but there's lots of places 
in this base an EVA can't really go."

	"Ideally, it won't come down to that," Fuyutsuki said.  
"They don't seem hugely violent.  But at the same time, I fear 
they're going to make life difficult."  He paused.  "Which reminds 
me, I'd like you to go visit the Barbarossa Project, as I'm curious as 
to whether their work is viable at all, and I am not inclined to trust 
their publicity reports."

	"Alright, I can do that," Misato said.  "I expect they're 
going to fail."

	"So do I, but it is best to keep abreast of events and avoid 
surprises."

	She nodded.  "I'll see about making an appointment, then."

                         -*-

	"What a bunch of loons," Asuka said, flopping down on her 
bed.  "Thinking we're divine and all."

	"Well, maybe they're right," Anna said.  "We do have 
powers beyond mortal ken.  I mean, look at the things you've done.  
You can fly, you throw fire from your hands, you can protect 
yourself with a force field, you can shapeshift, your blood has 
inherent power..."

	"That could make me a superhero, not a god," Asuka said.  
"Or a mutant freak.  But not a god.  I don't live in heaven, I can't 
save souls, I didn't create the universe.  I don't feel very divine."

	"You helped save the souls of the Kingdom of Joy," Anna 
pointed out.  "The Elder Gods seemed to treat you like their own 
children."

	"There is only one God, and I'm not Him," Asuka said.  
"I'm just a mortal who has been turned into a freak by stupid 
powers I don't want.  Damn, I can hardly believe I wanted to be a 
pilot so much, once upon a time."  She sighed.

	"How's your computer doing?" Anna asked.  "Did you get 
it all fixed?"

	"As much as I can.  Stupid virus."  Asuka sat up and went 
over to her computer, kicking it out of idle mode.  "I need some 
better anti-virus software."

	"Here, I know a good place to get some," Anna said.  "And 
I found some places for you that you might want to check out."

	"Thanks, Anna," Asuka said, yielding up control of the 
machine to Anna for the moment.  

	"Anything for a friend."


                         -*-

	Megumi adjusted her suit-dress slightly as she waited, 
trying not to stare too much at the various cultists.  I've never been 
to a church in a strip-mall before, she thought.  The place's design 
made her suspect it had once been a small gym before being 
converted.  In fact, the conversion was still in progress as two 
dozen members of the group were busy painting, scrubbing, and 
generally redecorating the place.

	They all looked very normal to her, adults in their twenties 
and thirties, male and female, dressed in clothing they could afford 
to get dirty.  The one thing which stood out was the six pointed 
stars they wore (which looked rather like reworked Stars of David 
with a tongue of flame in the middle).

	A man in a suit came out of the back office and the 
secretary announced, "Mr. Schmitt will see you now."

	Mr. Schmitt turned out to be a well-dressed man in his 
forties.  He could easily have been some middle-management 
executive, and he looked far more sane than Megumi expected.  He 
looked a little overworked and his desk was piled with papers, but 
he could have been any of a hundred men she'd interviewed over 
the years.  He looked up at her and tried to smile; it was the smile 
of a man who was making himself smile even though he'd rather 
go lie down for a while.  "Megumi Kanzaki, I presume?" he asked.

	"Yes," she replied in German.  "I hope my German won't 
be too hard to understand."

	"I'm impressed you know our language at all, being from 
Japan," he said.  "And a little surprised to see a Japanese reporter 
here in Germany."

	"We take an interest in the whole world," Megumi said.  
"And I'm in charge of covering the Children and NERV."

	He nodded.  "Please sit down.  Would you like some tea?"

	"Yes, please."

	Arnold had some tea delivered, then sat down and 
luxuriated in it for a minute.  Then he said, "So what would you 
like to know?"

	"Well, I was not familiar with the existence of your group, 
so I suppose I'll start with, 'why do you worship the Children?'"

	"Because they are divine.  Their coming was foretold by 
many ancient texts, and they possess divine powers.  They are the 
children of the old gods, come to save us in our darkest hour," 
Arnold said.  His tone seemed remarkably matter of fact to 
Megumi.  "The time will come when they must cast off the mortal 
shackles which hold them back, so that they may come into their 
full glory."

	"Mortal shackles?" Megumi asked.  "As in, ascending into 
heaven?"

	"As in ceasing to be bound in service to mortals.  It is our 
duty to serve them," Arnold said.  "But, instead, NERV keeps them 
as servants instead of giving them honor and praise as they 
should."

	"So, are you planning to do something about that?"

	"We are not violent people," Arnold said.  "And in the end, 
it is up to the Children to cast off their chains.  As we are sure they 
will, once they come to understand."

	"Right," Megumi said.  "So, why have so many of you been 
moving here?"

	"To be near the Children, of course.  Most of us can't afford 
such a move, but those of us who can have been flocking to this 
area," Arnold said.  "Which generates vast paperwork for me, as 
you can see."  He spread his hands across the desk.  

	"So you're in charge of all these people?"

	"I am in charge of directing the expansion of our churches 
and trying to help all these folk find jobs and places to live.  I don't 
have much of a staff, and the work is piling up faster than I can 
handle.  I'm hoping to hire more staff, but it's hard to find good 
assistants, and money is, of course, an issue," he said.  

	"So, you're like a bishop?" Megumi asked.

	"As good a comparison as any.  Though it seems the 
administrative side of things is overwhelming my ability to have 
much time for spiritual matters."  He sighed.  "But someone must 
do the work."

	"So, what does it mean to say that the Children are divine?  
What consequence does this have for a believer?"  Megumi asked.

	"A very good question," he replied, passing her a pamphlet.  
"This will explain things in more detail, but to put it in brief, we 
believe that humanity should serve the divine.  The Children have 
come to usher in a new age of man, in which the old ways must be 
put away and new paths forged.  Once the Angels are defeated, 
they will usher in a new golden age.  For now, we must aid them 
with our prayers and give them the homage they deserve."

	She put the pamphlet in her purse.  "Alright.  I think that 
covers everything I need to start with."

	"Feel free to contact me if you need to follow up," he said.

	She nodded.  "I will."


                         -*-


	"I think we need to plant an agent," Misato said.  

	Weiss nodded in agreement.  "Yes, we need someone on 
the inside, so we can tell if it's a significant threat."

	Fuyutsuki had called the senior staff together in one of the 
conference rooms to discuss the question of the Disciples.  He said, 
"Does anyone have a suggestion as to who to send?"

	"Well, how about Makoto?  He's level-headed and can 
plausibly pose as someone who has been around the Children and 
come to see their divinity from the 'inside'.," Misato suggested.

	"We need someone who speaks German fairly fluently," 
Ritsuko said.  "Enough to pick up on things a non-native speaker 
might not get."

	"I have just the man.  Pieter Bremenhofen.  He's a good 
man, very stable, and able to be discreet.  And he's a native 
German speaker," Ingrid said.

	"Alright, if you trust him to do something like this, I'll 
accept your judgement," Fuyutsuki said.  "Get him on it as soon as 
you can."

	Ingrid nodded.  "I will do so."

                         -*-

 	"What about this rumor we've heard about Commander 
Ikari being in the middle of a tryst during the Violator's attack?" 
Inspector Andrew Walker asked.  He was Australia's representative 
on the committee of Inspectors.

 	"I'd think the man was a enunch.  I'm not sure what he was 
doing down there, but I'm inclined to think no one would have sex 
with him, even if he wanted it.  Unless they were really desperate," 
Misato replied.

	Another of the inspectors, Faisal Shahid, who was from 
Syria, interjected, "That bad?"

	"Yes," Misato said.

	"Damn."  He sounded somewhat sorry for Gendo.

	Walker sighed and rolled his eyes.  "Moving on.  Am I 
correct in understanding that the Violator successfully 
impersonated Ikari and used his passcodes to override the MAGI 
during his assault?"

	"Yes," Misato said.  "It could change shape and had 
captured him."

	"So he gave up the passcodes to it?" Walker asked.

	This is going to look bad, Misato thought.  "That remains 
unclear."

	"I see," he said.

	"Certain backdoors seem to have been left in MAGI by its 
designers which the Violator may have exploited," Misato 
continued.  "Which had to be used to regain control of it, in fact."

	"It was designed with security flaws?" the third member of 
the Inspector triad, Fatima Ummayad, from the Sudan, asked.  

	"It would appear so," Misato said.

	"Interesting.  Tell us more about these built-in holes..."

                         -*- 

	"So what do you think of these people?" Fuyutsuki asked 
Gendo as they met in Gendo's office.

	"The inspectors annoy me tremendously, but I'm trying to 
be patient," Gendo said.  Gendo shifted about a little 
uncomfortably; he wasn't used to his new chair in his office.  Or 
having the smaller office.    

	"I meant the cult."

	"Oh, the Children-Worshippers?" Gendo asked.

	"Yes."

	Gendo paused to push up his glasses.  "If they could be 
manipulated, they could be very useful, but we have neither the 
time nor the resources to try to take them over.  Unless they turn 
out to be a front for someone.  But I think this is likely a 
spontaneous movement.  It's only natural, and well, better they turn 
towards the Children than towards the Angels."

	"True.  Still, best to monitor them."

	Gendo nodded.  "I'm somewhat more worried about this."  
He pointed to a passage on the screen of his computer.

	Fuyutsuki came over and read it.  " 'And Lo, From All the 
Lands of Man They Come, Come With Presents and Pleadings, To 
Worship At the Altar of the Children, To Beg Their Aid, To Give 
Them Praise, To Hope Beyond Hope. ' "

	" 'And Lo, The Demon Sultan Hears The Praise, And He 
Too Sends an Envoy, To Bear His Greeting, To The New Gods, 
And Claim His Tithe.' "  Gendo concluded.  "This is from Chapter 
fourteen."

	"The Cult of the Demon Sultan, down in Turkey?"

	"Exactly.  One of that cult's main purposes was to watch for 
this time referred to in this prophecy and to be ready to greet the 
'Envoy' when it came.  The cult has had to start over many times, 
either dying at the hands of various creatures from beyond the 
Earth they tried to summon or simply attrition due to the failure of 
the Envoy to arrive.  But I think the time for which they have long 
waited has finally come, and I expect his cult will rise again."

	"Then we'd best increase our monitoring of the skies.  Do 
you think we're likely to get one of his Court or is he likely to spit 
forth one of his Spawn?" Fuyutsuki asked, returning to his seat.

	"Probably his Spawn."  Gendo said.  

	"Alright, I'll make sure Polaris is watching for it."

	"It may well be trackable by normal telescopes, depending 
on how it travels," Gendo said.  "So we'll need to track 
astronomical data."

	"A little harder, but it can be done.  I hope."

	"I'll call Taiki."

	"Tai...oh, Yokojima?"

	"Yes," Gendo said.  "He's going to be disappointed you 
forgot him."

	"I haven't thought about him in years.  Is he in astronomy 
now?"

	"He runs an observatory in Hokkaido now," Gendo said.  
"And is one of the officers of a large amateur astronomical 
society."

	"Excellent.  Get him on it."

	"I will."  Fuyutsuki paused.  "How's the fake website 
coming along?"

	"A lot of it is done, but I'm trying to decide whether to 
include this fake Necronomicon or not," Gendo said, calling up the 
page for Fuyutsuki to take a look at.

	"That seems a good idea," Fuyutsuki said.  "Or is it not fake 
enough?"

	"Actually, I'm worrying slightly whether or not the 
copyright holders will spot it and harrass us."

	"If they do, the people we most want to fool with this will 
take that as a sign of authenticity and use it to justify believing it's 
real."

	"Hmm, good point," Gendo said.  "It should be ready in a 
day or two, then."

	"Excellent," Fuyutsuki said.  "I'll talk to you later."

	"Good bye."


                         -*-

	Shinji stared at the food.  "What is this?" Shinji asked.

	"Sauerkraut.  It's very good," Asuka said.

	He sniffed it.

	Asuka frowned.  "Shinji, it's perfectly good food."

	"Sorry, sorry," he said, and tried a bite.  "Hey, this is good."

	Asuka smiled.  "See?"

	"You were right, German food is pretty good," Shinji said.

	They were having a picnic lunch under a small clump of 
trees in one corner of the base, a sort of pseudo-date, since they 
couldn't leave the base with the strange cult running around all the 
local towns.  Asuka had insisted on making the food, which Shinji 
hadn't objected to, although he'd not expected a plate of German 
cuisine.  Though thinking about it, he knew he should have.

	"German food will make you strong," Asuka said.

	Shinji laughed.  "If you say so."

	Asuka stood and flowed quickly through one of her martial 
arts katas.  "Like this!"

	"So if I eat German food, I'll become a ninja?" Shinji 
asked.

	"Exactly!"  She paused.  "You know what I mean."

	"Yes, I do," he said.

	She sat down next to him and they ate quietly for a while.  
Asuka now leaned back against the tree, putting an arm around his 
shoulders.  He smiled and leaned a little closer as he worked on his 
food.  "Thank you, Asuka."

	She turned and kissed his cheek a little nervously.  "You're 
welcome, Shinji."

	"Run," a nearby cat said.  It was Oscar's pet cat.

	Shinji said, "Run?  Is something wrong?"

	Asuka's eyes widened.  "Oh great, if the cat's here, then..."

	"Asuka!  Come and eat with me!"  Oscar said, grabbing her 
arm.  

	"I am not going to eat with you!"  Asuka said.

	Oscar darted forward and grabbed her lunch.  "Yes, you 
will!"   Then he took off running.

	"Bring back my lunch!"  Asuka chased Oscar off out of 
sight.

	Shinji laughed, and tried to decide if it was his duty to help 
chase, then decided Asuka could handle Oscar.  He turned back to 
his food.

	"Shinji."

	He started, turning and seeing Rei, holding a Japanese style 
lunchbox.  She held it out to him.  "For me?" he asked.

	She nodded and sat down next to him.  He carefully opened 
it, curious as to what Rei might have made for him.  It turned out 
to be a partitioned box.  The longest box held what looked like 
cabbage leaves with long strips of white meat on top of them, all of 
it covered with a dark, nasty smelling sauce.  There was an odd 
lumpy tan pudding in one of the smaller compartments and mixed 
carrot slices and peas in the other one, also covered with a slightly 
lumpy sauce.  Shinji sniffed the pudding; it smelled like apples.

	"What is this?" Shinji asked.

	"Cinnamon applesauce," Rei said.

	"Applesauce?"

	"Mixed with spices."

	"Okay," he said, and started eating.  It was reasonably 
good, although the sauce on the meat tasted a little funny.  "This is 
pork, right?" he asked.

	"Long pork."

	He paused.  "It's what?"

	"I asked the cooks for some."

	"The cooks..."  What am I thinking?, he asked himself.  "So 
it's ordinary pork?"

	"From the long part of the pig," Rei said, obviously 
repeating something she'd just been told.  "Is it good?"

	"Yes, it is," he said.  It looked nasty, but it tasted okay.

	She smiled.  "Anna helped."

	"Helped you make it?"

	Rei nodded.  

	"That was nice of her."  Except for playing jokes about 
long pork on her, Shinji thought.  

	"Yes."  Rei leaned back against the tree.  

	"Thank you."

	"You're welcome," Rei replied.

	Shinji finished off the food.  "How are you doing?" he 
asked.

	"Fine," she said.

"Umm, did you and Touji and Hikari...I mean, I heard, 
umm..."  Shinji gave up; he couldn't quite ask.

"Dreams, then pillow fight," Rei said.  "It was fun."  She 
then cocked her head, frowned, then said, "Must go."  She took the 
leftovers and quickly departed.

	I hope she's going to be okay, Shinji thought.  


                         -*-

	"What do you think of Commander Ikari?" Margaret 
Mallory asked Ritsuko.

	"He's very secretive.  While he's a good commander, he's 
also rather brusque and very lacking in people skills, though I am 
not well qualified to say that, I suppose," Ritsuko replied.

	"Good administrative skills, then?" 

	"Yes.  Overall, NERV has remained successful under his 
administration.  It would be nice, however, if he wasn't an 
asshole."

	Inspector Chang Hsu laughed.  "Would you like to see him 
replaced, then?"

	"I can't think of anyone else really suited for the job," 
Ritsuko said.  "But I wouldn't cry any tears if he remained demoted 
a while."

	Inspector Henry N'Kambe nodded.  "Do you think most of 
the research section would like to see him replaced?"

	"Most of us probably don't care one way or another.  As an 
administrative unit, he's treated us well.  As people, on the other 
hand, we've not been so lucky."

	"What about his combat decisions?"

	"He tends to leave the tactical direction to Major  
Katsuragi, unless he has some special knowledge to add," Ritsuko 
said.  "In general, though, he has done a good job on those 
occassions when he has asserted his command prerogatives in 
combat.  I'm more worried about his tendency to hoard critical 
information until it's almost too late.  Which leads to problems like 
the King in Yellow."

	Mallory consulted some notes.  "Ahh, yes, that.  Tell us 
more about that incident."

	"Well, it started with a school play..."

 	-*-

	"So you've been having nightmares?" Ritsuko asked Shinji 
later, once she was done talking to the inspectors.

	He nodded, shifting uncomfortably in her office's spare 
chair.  "Yes, about a sunken city made of basalt and all the streets 
twist about and the buildings lean."

	"With fish swimming about you?  And possibly fish-men?"

	"Yes," he said.  "Do you know...why this is happening?"

	"I have a bad feeling.  You see, I've had the nightmares too, 
and I think a lot of the Children have as well."

	"I know Asuka has," Shinji said.

	"You are dreaming of the sunken city of R'yleh, where 
sleeps one of the Angels.  He nearly escaped in 1926, and as the 
island rose, people around the world had nightmares about it."

	"Escaped?" Shinji asked.

	"He sleeps, dreaming, within the ruins of his city.  So far as 
we can tell, he and his followers came to Earth hundreds of 
millions of years ago.  They warred with other creatures, but 
eventually, for reasons which have been lost, their homeland sank 
beneath the waves and their leader, Cthulhu, remained trapped."

	"For hundreds of millions of years?"

	"The most potent of the Angels do not seem to age.  If we 
can take various legends seriously," her tone made it clear she 
wasn't sure if she should, "they seem to go through long periods of 
hibernation.  The Angels have all been hibernating for millions of 
years, it seems, and now they are awakening."

	"Why now?" Shinji asked.  "Because of what happened in 
Antarctica?"

	"It would seem so.  Sort of like an alarm going off.  But for 
creatures which can sleep so long, it can take a long time to rouse."

	Shinji frowned.  "It seems strange that they all waited about 
fourteen years and then woke up after that."

	"The only other thing I could think of is that someone is 
going around awakening them," Ritsuko said.  "But that raises the 
question of why they are letting them come one at a time."

	"Well, Asuka had an idea, though I'm not sure I want to 
believe it."  Shinji shifted back and forth on his feet nervously.

	"Go on."

	"Well, she thinks whoever is unleashing them wants us to 
win.  That by winning, we build up NERV's authority and power, 
by being the one thing which can stop them.  I think that's a little 
too paranoid, though.  I mean, just look at what's happening to 
Father from just one error.  Surely if someone was trying to do 
that, they wouldn't let us have the big failures we've had."

	Ritsuko nodded.  "I can't quite see that.  And there's too 
much evidence the Angels predate this war by a huge amount."

	Shinji nodded, looking relieved.  "I thought that too.  I'm 
thinking there must be something which happened recently which 
is setting it off.  Or else maybe some kind of...I don't 
know...natural cycle is coming around, and the Second Impact just 
happened by chance close to this."

	"Well, right now, we don't have enough evidence.  
However, I can prescribe you and the rest of the Children some 
drugs which should help.  I will see about mixing more up and 
having them ready for you tomorrow."

	"Alright."  He got up.  "Thank you."

	"You're welcome."

	Shinji left, and Ritsuko sighed.  There were certainly games 
afoot beyond what Shinji knew.  She just wished she knew for sure 
what they were.


                         -*-

	Pieter wasn't sure what to expect.  Getting into the meeting 
had been easy; the group seemed very trusting.  Which probably 
meant that nothing important was going to be said.  But he had to 
start somewhere.  

	The group had split up into smaller groups, and then 
everyone started talking about their dreams of all things.  A tall, 
balding man was rambling on right now about how he'd dreamed 
about the Children setting the stars in the sky.  Glancing about, he 
could tell they'd heard this story before.  

	"And then I woke up," he concluded.

	"Fascinating," the man who Pieter guessed was what 
seemed to pass for a priest in this group (called 'guides') said.  The 
guide, whose name seemed to be Henry, continued, "How about 
you, Hans?" he asked Pieter.  "What visions have you had of late?"

	Pieter panicked for a moment, then said, "I dreamed of the 
battle of the Children in Lima, how they defeated the Dark Sun and 
slew it, that it might bother humanity no more."  

	"Ahh, that was a glorious day," Henry said.  "Would you 
like to tell us more?"

	Pieter thought about it.  "I could see the souls of the fallen 
rising up into heaven, the songs they sung in praise as they rose 
upwards.  Even the crackling of the fire was a hymn to their glory."  
He paused.  "I'm not good with words."

	"That's very good," Guide Henry said.  "We must 
remember that all those who perish in these battles will go to be in 
Heaven; we should not be too sorrowful, for they have gone to 
heavenly bliss.  And it is from Heaven that they send us messages.  
I have had one such, of late."

	Everyone became more attentive.  

	"A messenger is coming.  Soon, none will be able to deny 
the glory of the Children.  From the heavens he comes to show the 
whole world their glory.  We must be prepared for his arrival."

	Hmm, perhaps I've hit gold after all, Pieter thought.  "How 
shall we know him?"

	"He flew, shining with light, descending from the heavens, 
a great firey wake in behind him.  All will see him and 
understand," Guide Henry said, his face lit up with joy.  

	Pieter asked, "How soon shall we see him?"

	"Soon.  Very soon."

                         -*-

 	The air had a distinctly shiny air about it, though not the 
literal shine of fireworks or sparks floating lazily.  It was the kind 
of shine that made everything appear a shade too bright and a little 
too blurry.

	Rei walked the streets alone, already knowing where she 
was.  This was familiar territory, researched frequently, and 
recently.  Perhaps it would go better this time.  She looked about, 
making sure all things were in place.  A scarlet sunset cast its 
dying rays of light over the city, as the first stars of night began to 
shine above.  A jet flew in the skies high above her, leaving a 
cloudy trail.  Lovers walked about in pairs.  There were also trees, 
sakura trees, dropping their petals down like snow.  Even better 
than last time, yes.

 	Asuka walked the streets alone, knowing she'd been to this 
place before, though not quite remembering it.  It is difficult, after 
all, to remember dreams unless you focus upon it before it slips 
away.

 	Hikari looked around with curiosity, feeling an ache in her 
heart as she recognized where she was.  This was Tokyo-3, before 
the fall, as if nothing bad had happened at all.

 	She turned a corner and saw Touji standing there.  The air 
around her shimmered a shade of pink, roses framing her blushing 
face as she stared at him with starry eyes.

 	Touji turned and met her gaze, the air around him turning 
shiny as well.  He opened his mouth, which seemed to happen in 
slow motion, and spoke:

 	"Shit, we're dreaming we're in Springtime Cherry 
Blossoms.  I think that's definitely a sign we've been watching it 
too much."

 	Roses, aura, shining eyes, all gone.

 	Hikari laughed.  "Maybe we are, I guess.  Hey, is that Rei?"

 	Touji turned and looked.  It was, in fact, Rei, across the 
street, walking down the sidewalk at a modest pace.  "Yeah, it is.  
Though something's weird."

 	"You think so too?"

 	As she walked towards them, on the other side of the road, 
she finally noticed their preisence.  A gust of wind blew which 
nearly blew off her sunhat, and she held it and her dress down 
looking flustered.  Then she smiled and waved at the two.

 	"I think I've got it," said Touji.

 	"Hm?"

 	"She's... normal.  Happy, even."

 	Hikari looked at Rei again as she walked down the street.  
Her walk was relaxed, easygoing, and had a naturalness to it which 
Rei was usually lacking in.  The expression on her face had been 
normal too, instead of the strange mask of emotionlessness she 
normally wore.

 	"You're right," said Hikari.  "She is.  Uh oh."

 	"Uh oh?"

 	"Asuka." She pointed further down the street.  Touji looked 
just in time , where Asuka, looking somewhat troubled, was about 
to turn the corner that Rei was approaching.

 	"She's still pissed at Rei?" asked Touji.

 	"Yes."

 	And then they ran into each other.  Asuka's foggy 
uncertainty sharpened into an angry resolve, while Rei's happiness 
quickly crumbled into surprise and fear.

 	"Like watchin'a car wreck," Muttered Touji.

 	Hikari grabbed his hand and started dashing for the 
overpass walkway.  "C'mon!"

 	As they dashed through the overpass walkway, they could 
already hear Asuka yelling over the buzz of traffic noise. But as 
the two finally ran down the stairway they saw Shinji had 
somehow arrived and was already trying to calm Asuka down.

 	Off on the horizon, the last rays of sunlight faded, giving 
up the sky to the darkness of night and infinite stars.

 	Shinji stood between Asuka and Rei, holding Asuka's 
wrists.  "Stop it Asuka!"

 	"Why?! Why do you take HER side?!" shrieked Asuka.  
"I'm the victim here, not her!  Why does everyone take HER side!"

 	"I'm not taking anybody's side!"

 	"Hey!" shouted Touji, finally arriving with Hikari.  "Guys, 
c'mon, calm down!  We can't fight with each other like this!"

 	"Why the hell not?!" challenged Asuka.

 	"Because we're a team!" he shouted back.  "We gotta stick 
together or we're gonna die out there!  All for one and one for all, 
and stuff like that!"

 	"We can't trust that monster!" shouted Asuka, pointing at 
Rei.

 	Touji looked her in the eye.  "She saved Hikari's life.  
That's good enough for me."

 	There was a moment of awkward silence.

 	Asuka glared at Touji, who glared back.  Finally, Asuka 
averted her gaze and sighed.  "Whatever," she mumbled.

 	And then Rei spoke, in the emotionless tone they were used 
to hearing.  "Something is here."   Her eyes swept over the 
surroundings steadily and her posture shifted to an attack position.

 	"Something?" asked Shinji.  "What something?"

 	"Something bad.  You should wake up now."

 	In the darkness of a nearby alleyway a red light shone 
brightly for a moment, fading into a crimson tri-lobed eye.  There 
was a hint of a shape within the shadows, somewhat like a manta-
ray, though far larger than any they had seen.

 	"You should wake up now," repeated Rei.  She turned and 
looked at them, and as their gaze met hers, they suddenly felt the 
world around them blur and bend.  The last thing Shinji saw before 
waking up was Rei charging into the alleyway.

 		-*-

 	Shinji rushed over to Rei's room the moment he woke up.  
Hearing his rapid footsteps out the door, Asuka frowned.

 	She shook her head, then made her way down to the 
commisary on the 1st floor.  She was in the mood for some hot 
cocoa to soothe her nerves.

 	Much to her surprise, she was not the first one there.  Anna 
sat at a table, sipping her own hot cocoa, looking mildly dazed.  
She looked up as Asuka entered.  "Can't sleep?" she asked.

 	Asuka nodded.

 	"Wanna talk about it?" asked Anna.

 	"Nothing to talk about," mumbled Asuka, hitting the 
buttons on the vending machines.  "How about you?"

 	Anna laughed an embarrased laugh.  "You know how I 
move a lot in my sleep.  I kinda fell off the bed and bumped my 
head on the desk."

 	Asuka blinked, then looked at Anna's forehead, where a 
bruise marked the left side.  "Are you okay?" she asked. "Maybe 
we should get Dr. Akagi to look at you."

 	"I'm fine, really," assured Anna.  "It's just a bruise."

 	Asuka looked at Anna doubtfully for a moment.  "If you 
start feeling worse, promise me you'll go see the doctor, okay?"

 	Anna smiled.  "I promise."


                         -*-

	"C'mon, Makoto, you can dance closer to me.  I won't bite," 
Akane said, smiling her usual confident smile at him.

	"I might punch you in the nose accidentally or something," 
he said, lurching about.

	They were in Brown Castle, a dance club; Akane had 
insisted on going out to it.  Makoto had been nervous about 
running into members of the Children Cult.  

	She began to undulate up close to him.  "Follow me," she 
said.

	He quickly caught on, and soon they were both moving in 
unison, bodies very close but not quite touching.  After a little 
while, his nerves relaxed and he began to enjoy himself.

	"There, that's better," she said, now beginning to move her 
arms up and down his sides, not quite touching them.  He did the 
same without being prompted and she grinned.  "There's hope for 
you yet."

	"This is kind of fun," he said.

	"I told you it would be."

	"That's him!" someone said.

	He turned and saw a woman wearing the star symbol of the 
cult.  She was pointing at him.

	"That's the one!" she said.  Several other people turned and 
saw him.  

	"We're in trouble," he said.

	She cracked her knuckles.  "We can take them."

	He looked at the increasing number of people looking their 
way.  "I don't like brawls."

	"Aww.  Well, we can get the bouncer."

	They headed to find the bouncer, only to spot he was 
wearing one of the stars as well.  Makoto frowned.  "Let's just get 
out of here and go eat, okay?"

	She sighed.  "Alright, let's go eat."

	They ended up in a quiet little cafe, where they had a fairly 
pleasant meal.  However, when they came out, there were dozens 
of the star-wearing cultists, from old men to young children.  
Makoto did his best to avoid eye contact.

	Akane, on the other hand, glared back at them.

	One of them said, "There he is!  With some cheap whore!"

	Makoto's eyes widened and he shouted, "She is NOT a 
whore!"

	"Get him!"  The mob charged.

	Makoto took Akane by the hand and dragged her after him 
as he took off running down the street.

	"This way!" she said, now taking the lead as she dodged 
thrown rocks.

	"We need to get to the police."

	"I don't know where to find the police," Akane said.  "But I 
do know where we can get some help."

	They turned several corners, then ran into a pub where a 
bunch of men were watching a soccer game.  Akane said, "Help!  
These people are trying to kill us!  Please help us."  She fluttered 
her eyelashes and radiated helplessness.

	Even as some of the mob started to come in the door, the 
men rose up, and one of them said, "Don't worry, fraulein.  We'll 
deal with these morons."  

	"They're probably Munich fans," Makoto contributed.

	The soccer fans charged the onrushing cultists and a 
massive brawl erupted.  A fair number of the cultists ran as soon as 
they realized they were confronting soccer fans.  The rest fought 
on.  Akane grabbed a chair and pitched in, and Makoto seized one 
and moved to cover her.  

	She bashed down a middle-aged man with the chair, then 
followed up with a kick to his groin, while Makoto battered aside a 
onrushing punk who had a bike chain.  The punk now went for a 
knife, but Makoto's chair gave him more reach.  He kept swinging 
it fiercely, driving the man back, until one of the soccer fans 
brought a bottle down on the back of the punk's head.

	He turned and saw Akane bashing a man's head into a 
table, and another of the cultists charging her from behind with a 
chairleg.  Makoto shouted, "Akane, look out!" then hurled his chair 
at the man, who got nailed in the side and fell down.  Akane threw 
her foe off to one side and ran back to Makoto.  

	Police sirens began to blare in the distance.  Akane kissed 
him on the cheek.  "My hero," she said, wrapping her arms around 
him.

	He kissed her back.  "Now you know why I was worried 
about going out tonight."

	"You can't let the world push you around," Akane said.  
"You have to seize it by the throat and make it obey you."

	"I'm not very good at that," Makoto said.

	"I know.  So I'll just have to seize it for you."  She kissed 
him again.  "So, have you jumped Misato yet?"

	He looked embarrassed.  "No."

	"Tsk, tsk.  Gotta seize the chance while you can."

	"Do you really want me to jump Misato?"

	"I want you to GO for what you want," she said.  "Don't let 
life tell you what to do.  Tell LIFE what to do.  Though you being 
so shy is kind of cute."

	"Well, once we talk to the cops, I think I'll take you home 
and have my way with you, then," he said, trying to sound 
confident.

	She grinned.  "Oooh, I like that idea.  Will it involve ice 
cream?"

	"We'll have to buy some on the way home."

	"That's fine.  My treat."  She purred a little.  "This is going 
to be fun."


                         -*-

	"Is this really our job?" Misato asked.  "I mean, really this 
is a job for the German police, right?" 

	Fuyutsuki, Ingrid, Weiss, and Misato were meeting in 
conference room five, seated around a shiny black table, drinking 
coffee and discussing what to do about the problems with the 
cultists.

	"They asked us to do something," Fuyutsuki said.  "I've 
been in contact with the state government, and they don't know 
how to handle it."

	Weiss frowned.  "But if we get involved...I mean, this is 
very much not in our jurisdiction."

	"We need to do something," Fuyutsuki said.  "Not 
necessarily anything which would involve arresting people, but we 
have to do something, because these people are only here because 
we are here.  A propaganda campaign, encouraging preachers to 
engage in theological debate, a television show...I don't know.  
Something."

	"Hmm, perhaps some kind of television show, have the 
children announce they're not divine," Ingrid suggested.

	"That might be a good idea.  Any other suggestions?" 
Fuyutsuki asked.

	"I'm going to have to think about this some," Misato said.  
"This really isn't my area of expertise.  Perhaps Maya can think of 
something; she's our PR expert.  Sort of."

	"Alright.  Well, let's all think about it and meet again 
tomorrow," Fuyutsuki said.  "And I will talk to Maya.  Now, on to 
other business..."


                         -*-

	"Yo, sis, we came to see you," Touji said.

	She mumbled something.  She mumbled a lot, Touji had 
noticed.  

	"Everyone's all settled in now," Hikari said, placing fresh 
flowers in the vase by the girl's bed.

	"We tried a double date, but it was even more of a disaster 
than I would have expected," Touji said.  "I'm just glad you're in 
the hospital on the base, or we probably couldn't visit you."

	"Angles...fish..." Touji's sister mumbled.

	"Damn, that reminds me of that stupid nightmare," Touji 
said.

	"I thought we agreed that never happened," Hikari said.

	"Right, right," Touji said.  He sat and stared at his sister for 
a while.  "Dad's doing okay," he said.  "He's been working hard, 
but he's decided he hates German food.  Which I have kinda mixed 
emotions.  Some of it is good, but it reminds me of Asuka."

	"Touji!"

	Touji laughed a little.  "You can see we still don't agree on 
that."

	And then Touji's sister's back arched and her eyes opened 
and she began to screech.  "IA!  IA!  Cthulhu fhtagn!  Ph'nglui 
mglw'nahf Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhatagn.  Ng'ngri rty'wnhal 
gshtn y'aghn!"

	"Nurse!  She's having some kind of episode!" Touji yelled.

	The nurse quickly came and sedated her.  "This has been 
happening more frequently of late," she said.

	"Any idea why?" Touji asked.

	"It may mean she's starting to wake up," the nurse said.  
"Otherwise...no idea."

	He nodded, hoping this was a good sign.

                         -*-

	"This could be it," Gendo said, pointing at some lines on 
the printout.  "

	"I don't think so," Fuyutsuki said.  "If I understand what 
this is saying, it's moving to parallel the Earth's movement.  I think 
it's Ghroth."

	"Hmm, I suppose the prophecy could refer to Ghroth."

	"Ghroth isn't really an envoy, though," Fuyutsuki said.  
"There is some chance the prophecy is just another indication of 
Nylathotep."

	"Hmm, that's true.  Best we take no chances, though."  
Gendo looked at the documents.  "If this is Ghroth, then the Spawn 
isn't showing up."

	"As we might expect.  Polaris was designed to monitor the 
Earth, not the entire Solar System, unfortunately," Fuyutsuki said.  
"But we should get some advanced warning."

	"The Children should be able to handle it, but only if we 
are quick enough, before it can start to burrow or grow."

	"Let us hope for enough advanced warning."

	"Indeed."


                         -*-

	Half the leaders of SEELE were present in the flesh, half 
attended only by hologram.  One of those present at the murky 
meeting table was known as Scorpion, due to his choice of a sigil.  
"I fear they have betrayed us," he said.

	A floating, inverted ankh spoke with a woman's voice. 
//"You trust too little.  One by one, the Great One's rivals fall.  
They still follow the plan." //

	//"Perhaps," // a lidless eye with a tongue of flame in the 
center, replied.  The voice was male and older. //"Best we take 
precautions." //

	"We have taken precautions,"  the old man to his right said.  
His hair was grey, but his skin still kept the even dark tones of 
youth, or so he told himself. "My work on DAGON has been 
largely successful.  We will have Eidoleons under our direct 
control when the time comes." 

	//"But will they be able to match the strength of the 
Children?" // the Inverted Ankh asked.

	"Quantity tends to beat quality.  They will suffice," the old 
man said proudly.

	Another old man now spoke, his eyes hidden by a red visor.  
"We must watch and wait.  Should Ikari be removed, it may not 
matter if they are loyal or not.  But for now, I suggest we wait and 
see how they handle the Spawn of the Demon Sultan when it lands 
near their base."  Lorentz paused, then said, "Though we will have 
to take precautions in case they cannot handle it."

	"And be ready to take it for ourselves if they cannot handle 
it,"  Scorpion insisted.

	"Yes," Lorentz said.  "It could be very useful, and this 
world will be of no use to the Great One if Azathoth's spawn 
devours it."

	A floating red cadaceucus now spoke.  //"Then is it worth 
the risk of not informing them?"//

	"That is why we will prepare to step in if they fail.  We will 
see if they realize what is coming and if they come to us or try to 
solve it without us," Lorentz said.  "Let the Eidoleons be prepared.  
The Envoy comes, and we must be ready."


                         -*-

 	Gendo finished drawing the circle on the floor as Fuyutsuki 
lit the candles.  "Are you sure this will work?" he asked.

 	"Having never had the misfortune to be in the same solar 
system as a Seed of Azathoth, no I am not," Fuyutsuki said, 
consulting Al-Azif again.  "However, De Vermis Mysteris also 
contains this formula and an account of its use against the Black 
Meteor of 1438.  We will have to renew this protection weekly, but 
I think it is worth the time we will have to spend."

	Gendo nodded fervently.  "True.  It is unlikely to make 
things worse, and if that thing got into the base..."

	"We cannot afford to lose another base," Fuyutsuki said.  
"And the bloodshed would be terrible."

	"We are so close."  Gendo reached out to the invisible 
prize, caught himself, and put his hands down.

	Fuyutsuki smiled slightly.  "I know.  Alright, light the red 
candle..."

                         -*-

	"Here, try this one," Anna said, pointing to one of the links 
on the search page.

	"Alright," Asuka said.  She clicked on it and waited for it to 
load.

THE HALLOWEEN 2006 DISASTER

By Richard Krause

I was long reluctant to talk about this, for fear of my old 
employers.  However, my sense of responsibility has overcome my 
fears, as I think people deserve to know the truth, given the 
conclusions which can be drawn from this.

In the fall of 2006, I was a researcher for Gehirn, the organization 
set up to 'study the effects of the Second Impact on the 
environment'.  Or so people believed.  While I can't prove it, there 
is some reason to believe that Gehirn or its masters may well have 
been responsible for the Second Impact.  However, that is a subject 
for the webpage I am still working on.

The German wing of Gehirn was based in Munich in 2006, having 
taken over an old industrial park which had been abandoned due to 
the damage to the German economy caused by the Second Impact.  
I was involved in studying some of the first samples of what is 
now known as LCL.  They were rather secretive about where the 
stuff came from, but I didn't care, as I was too excited about the 
discoveries we were making to want to risk losing my job.

There were two highly secure zones in the complex.  One of them 
was Area Five, where LCL came from, along with various other 
strange substances.  The other was Area Nine.  I had the 
impression some sort of genetic experiments were going on in 
there, but no one really knew for sure.  We liked to sit around at 
night and make bets on what was really going on in there.

I only knew Kyoko Soryuu Zeppelin in a rather peripheral sort of 
way.  She worked in Area Nine, and like most of the people there, 
tended to largely only associate with other folk working in that 
area.  At the time I assumed it was a matter of security and finding 
it hard to socialize with people you couldn't talk about work with, 
but now I am not so sure of that.  She struck me as a strong-willed 
but somewhat high strung woman, unlike her much more laid back 
husband, Pieter Langley, who was a test pilot for some company 
up near Berlin.  They had a daughter, Asuka, who is now one of 
the Children who pilot the Evangelion Units.  I have reason to 
suspect she is the result of genetic experiments, as you shall see.

Her husband periodically came to visit her, along with their 
daughter.  It was during one such visit that the great disaster 
happened.

What follows is my reconstruction of events, based, I must 
confess, on my talking to people and observation of some of the 
locations, rather than any documentary proof.  I will be the first to 
admit there may be some errors.

It was Edgar Heinz who was the first to notice that most of the 
women in Area Nine were all getting pregnant at once.  This 
happened around late September.  Out of twenty women, fifteen of 
them were visibly pregnant.  Two of them quit and got abortions 
and I never saw them again.  The other thirteen stuck it out.  Until 
October 31, 2006.

Pieter Langley showed up with his child for a visit with his wife 
that day and the guards on Area Nine wouldn't let him bring his 
daughter in.  I happened to be passing and offered to take his 
daughter to our daycare facility.  I took Asuka (who was pretty 
angry and kept pounding on me) down to the daycare center, at 
which point she promptly threw up.  On me.  The daycare workers 
had me take her to the infirmary, at which point I left to go clean 
up.  This much I can attest to for certain.  Beyond this, we enter the 
realm of what I believe happened based on what I heard from 
people, but I cannot be certain.

Pieter went to see his wife, who he found was feeling sick.  The 
baby inside her seemed quite agitated as well.  Several of the other 
women felt sick as well.  Pieter went to have an argument with the 
head of the lab, Dr. Krupp, to try to get his wife out of work early.  
While they argued, the baby inside one of the other women, Dr. 
Margaret Eidel, ate its way out of its mother, killing her, then 
attacked another staff member, Dr. Lawrence Dupois.  Yes, I know 
this sounds like a cheap horror movie, but it is the truth.

	Asuka paused in her reading and stared.  She glanced over 
at Anna, who was just shaking her head.  She took a deep breath 
and tried to still her nerves, which were starting to jangle.  "He's 
got to be making this up," she said.

	"I have a feeling this may have something to do with why 
Rei is so strange," Anna said.

	"..."

	"It would make a lot of sense if she's the result of genetic 
experiments," Anna said.

	"Hmm, true," Asuka said, then turned back to her reading.

This seemed to be the signal for the babies inside all the pregnant 
women to burst out.  Or, well, most of them.  Eight out of the other 
twelve now died as their babies ate their way out and rampaged.  
Two more of the pregnant women were savaged by rampaging 
infant monsters and the children within them devoured.  
Equipment was damaged and various poisonous gases were 
unleashed into the atmosphere inside the lab.  As far as I can tell, 
the gasses killed off most of the survivors, including the two 
pregnant women who remained.

Gehirn security was called in.  The rest of us speculated wildly 
until we saw the gases escaping from a damaged window, and we 
concluded some horrible lab accident had taken place.  That was 
the public story.  Eight people, all poisoned, survived the disaster.  
Three recovered, two died within hours, and the other three, I 
talked to before they died over the next few days.  They still 
wouldn't explain everything which had been going on, but I was 
able to reconstruct what had happened from what they did say.

The head of the research facility, Dr. Long, called me in, having 
found out about my investigation.  He more or less hinted that I 
would keep my nose out of things if I wanted to keep my job, and 
possibly if I wanted to live.  My need for employment and my 
cowardice outweighed my principles, and so I remained silent.

Dr. Krupp, who somehow survived, was fired summarily, the 
blame pinned on him, and a few weeks later he threw himself into 
traffic and died.  The lab disaster brought such bad publicity that 
the facility was soon closed down, but I was transferred to do 
research elsewhere.  Five years ago, I was hit by a car and ended 
up with a disabled pension from NERV and retired to quiet 
obscurity.  

I might never have told this story, except for my fear that the 
recent events with the Angels are connected to what happened that 
day.  I am still not sure of what exactly was being done in Area 
Nine, but I fear it was part of an effort at mass production of 
Evangelion Pilots, that somehow they knew what was coming.  I 
have seen both Commander Ikari and Commander Fuyutsuki of 
NERV (though, of course, neither held that rank at the time) go in 
and out of Area Nine in its heyday, and one of the Children is 
connected to two of those who died there.  Perhaps I am just 
growing paranoid in my isolation, but I think that something is 
going on that is being covered up.

	"This...this can't really be true, can it?" Asuka asked.  "I 
mean...You couldn't cover up something like this, could you?"

	"The Free Press is often not very free, ever since the chaos 
after Second Impact," Anna said.  "We're only now really starting 
to open up again.  So if you have a plausible explanation for 
something most people wouldn't want to believe anyway because it 
sounds like a cheap horror movie, then yes, I think you could, 
especially if you offer up a scapegoat for it."

	"I...I should...I ought to talk to this man," Asuka said.

	"There is an email address.  And you might want to talk to 
Dr. Himmelfarb.  She might know the truth.  If she's willing to tell 
it."

	Asuka shuddered.  "I have to know the truth."

	Anna nodded.  "You have the right to know."

                         -*-

	"My understanding is that Area Nine was doing the genetic 
research which enabled the development of the Evangelion Units," 
Dr. Himmelfarb said.  "Which involved large amounts of working 
with genetically engineered mice and rats as well as with samples 
from Adam.  The lab disaster itself was the result of Dr. Krupp's 
sloppiness in storage of various chemicals and failure to inspect 
various storage containers.  The result of this was the flooding of 
the air conditioning with hallucinogenic gases, followed by 
poisoning and spreading of fires.  My understanding was that your 
mother, pregnant, succumbed to the poisons because she 
overstressed herself trying to help another pregnant woman get out, 
while your father went back in to help people and died as a result 
of that."

	"Why was the lab storing hallucinogenic gases?" Asuka 
asked in disbelief.

	"They weren't originally hallucinogenic, until containers 
leaked and mixed together."

	Asuka said, "Did you ever know Dr. Krause?"

	"We worked together for a while until his accident.  He was 
a quiet, nervous man, but a good scientist and hard worker.  I did 
know he was the one who took you to the infirmary that day."

	"Where is he now?"

	"I don't know, although I got the vague impression he was 
from somewhere in Saxony.  Leipzig, maybe."

	"I guess I'm going to have to confront Commander Ikari 
about this."

	Dr. Himmelfarb sighed.  "If it is true, he isn't going to tell 
you the truth."

	"I'll MAKE him tell me," Asuka said.

                         -*-

	"Babies eating their way out of their mothers," Gendo said.

	"I want to know the truth!"  Asuka banged her fist on the 
table.

	"There was a lab accident due to Dr. Krupp turning out to 
be far more stupid than anyone had ever imagined.  Your parents 
died trying to save people.  Who told you this story about 
rampaging monster babies?"  Gendo's voice was somewhat 
mocking.

	"I found it on a website by someone who worked there.  Dr. 
Himmelfarb confirmed he was there."

	Gendo turned his monitor around and passed his keyboard 
to Asuka.  "Please show me this website."

	Asuka got out her notepad, on which she'd written down 
the url and punched it in.  She got a 404 instead.  "Dammit, I think 
I wrote it down wrong."

	"Take your time," Gendo said, rising.  "I'm going to get a 
cup of coffee.  Would you like some?"

	"No, thank you," she said and kept typing.

	He came back with fresh coffee and several donuts, one of 
which he began to eat.  He leaned back in his chair.  "How is it 
going?"

	"Dammit, I can't find the website," she said.  "I'm going to 
have to get the copy I saved at home and double-check the 
address."

	"Alright," Gendo said.  "I am stuck here until five."

	"I'll be back sooner than that."


                         -*-

	The web search couldn't find the page.  Her bookmarked 
url gave her a 404 error.  The saved version had vanished off her 
hard drive.  She hadn't printed it out yet, so she didn't have a hard 
copy.  She did still have the man's email address in her address 
book, though.  

	Asuka cursed loudly.  "Dammit!"

	Shinji stuck his head in the door.  "What's wrong?"

	"Shinji, you believe me, don't you?" she asked softly.

	"Uh, believe you about what?" he asked, coming over to 
her.

	"About what happened."

	"Umm, happened to what?"

	"Oh wait, I hadn't told you."

	"Yes," he said, a little impatiently.

	She got up and hugged him silently.  "I found this website, 
you see..."  She explained the whole story, leaning against him.  
"But now I can't find the site, and almost all my evidence is gone."

	"Well, you know, given the man got all his information 
from people dying of poison after inhaling hallucinogens, it's 
possible that they imagined the whole baby thing," Shinji said 
softly.  "If some kind of genetic experiment creature got loose 
which they'd made out of Adam's...stuff, they might have all 
somehow gotten the idea it ate its way out of someone."

	"Shinji, it...it...you don't think I imagined the whole thing, 
do you?"

	"No, of course not, but I don't think I'd trust some 
disgruntled ex-employee telling a story that sounds like a cheap 
horror movie either," Shinji said.  "And even he admitted he hadn't 
actually SEEN any of what he claimed  happened."

	"You saw what my blood did to Anna.  Now imagine if 
some babies were injected with it or something?  Or even 
engineered to be part-Adam...Shinji, that could be where Rei came 
from."  

	He frowned.  "Hmm, I suppose that would make sense.  
But you don't have any evidence."

	"I have his email address.  Once he writes me back, I can 
find out more."

	"Good luck."

	"Kiss me," she said softly.

	Shinji leaned in and kissed her.  She pressed hard against 
him while they kissed, then leaned back and said, "Can you 
just...sit with me a while?"

	"Sure," Shinji said, going over to sit down on her bed with 
her, an arm around her shoulders.  "I...I wouldn't mind if you ever 
want to do that again."

	"Do what again?"

	"Make me a German lunch."

	She smiled.  "You could just ask."

	"Ask...oh, right, ask.  Yes."

	"You don't have to be nervous.  I won't bite," Asuka said, 
then kissed his cheek.  "I'll make you a nice lunch tomorrow, then.  
What would you like?"

	"Surprise me," he said.  "I don't know much about German 
cooking."

	"Alright," she said.  "I have some good ideas.  Hmm, you 
all done with your homework?"

	"Ack!  I came over to ask you for help with something, but 
no, I have a big mountain of it to finish," Shinji said.

	She got up.  "Okay, then, let's defeat your homework, and 
then we can do something fun."

	"Sounds good to me," he said.


                         -*-

	"You want us to do what?" Hikari asked.

	"We've decided to see if we can lessen cult recruiting by 
having each of you record some public service announcements to 
the effect that you are not gods," Maya said.  

	"Maybe we should just make a big public appearance to do 
it," Hikari said.

	"We may try that, but we're worried about rioting, whereas 
radio and TV ads rarely cause rioting."

	"People often don't believe them either," Hikari said.

	Maya sighed.  "I know, but it can't hurt, I hope."

	"Sure," Hikari said.  "Let's go."

	"Follow me."

                         -*-

 	Touji faked left, stutter-stepped right, then  pulled back for 
a fadeaway jumper.

 	Clang.  Clang.  Swish.

 	He smirked.  "Ha.  Still got the touch.  That's the power of 
the captain of the basketball team!"

 	Shinji picked up the ball and tossed it to him.  "Too bad 
there isn't a basketball team to play for anymore."

 	Touji caught the ball and shot a quick jumper.  "That's a 
problem, yeah."

 	Clang.  Thud.  Swish.

 	Shinji tossed the ball to him again.  "How's your sister?  
Doing any better?"

 	"Backboard!" Touji shouted, shooting again.

 	Thud.  Swish.

 	"Sis is... well, she's still in a coma, but now she mumbles a 
lot.  Weird stuff.  Aiya Aiya Callyou!  Or something."

 	"Uh."

 	"It's better than her just being quiet," said Touji.  "I think."

 	"Yeah."

 	Touji shot more baskets in silence for a while, then asked, 
"Any strange dreams lately?"

 	Shinji shook his head.  "No.  You?"

 	"Nope."

 	"Oh."

 	"Let's hope it stays that way, eh?"

	"Yeah," Shinji said.  "Has Maya gotten you to do one of 
those ads yet?"

	"Tomorrow," Touji said.  "You think I should dress up?"

	"She had me wear my plug suit for the TV one."

	"Any idea when these will air?  I'd like to see myself."  He 
dribbled the ball around Shinji in a circle, then took a shot and 
made it, grinning.

	"You'd have to ask Maya," Shinji said.

	"Right.  I reckon I'll do that."  He made another shot which 
missed.  "Later."

                         -*-

	"Did you ever hear back from that guy?" Hikari asked 
Asuka.

	"No.  We tracked down his address, but he's in Leipzig.  
And he's not answering the phone."

	"Maybe you should take a train there and check," Hikari 
said.

	"It's about six hours by train there.  We could wait for 
Sunday and make a day trip of it," Anna said.

	"Alright, sounds good," Asuka said.  "If it all turns out to 
be fake or something, we can just make it a girls' day out."

	"I'll see about finding some nice places to visit while we're 
there," Anna said.  

	"Should be fun," Hikari said.


                         -*-

	Touji stared at himself on the screen.  "Ugh. I look like a 
total dweeb."

	"The camera never lies," Asuka said, grinning.

	The viewing room was packed full of staffers and Children, 
as they watched the various short spots Maya had filmed.  

	"The camera keeps wobbling," Anna said.

	"It's a dynamic viewpoint," Maya said.

	"Dynamically wobbling," Misato muttered.  "Can we turn 
the sound up?"

	"You'd hear it better if everyone didn't talk over it," Maya 
said a little crossly.

	That got the silence she wanted.  


                         -*-

	"So bored..." Touji mumbled as he sat on a bench with 
Shinji.

	Shinji, listening to music on his headphones, did not reply.

	"I wanna do something."

	"Do what?" Shinji asked.  "We can't even go into town with 
the lunatics on the loose and no one to translate."

	"We could play basketball," Touji said hopefully.

	"You already beat me enough today," Shinji said.  "I wish 
Asuka was here."

	"I wish Hikari was here," Touji said.

	For a time, silence.

	"We're pathetic," Touji said.  "Our girlfriends are gone, and 
we're just sitting here on this bench."  He groaned and looked up at 
the sky.

	"We could go watch TV."

	"Wouldn't understand it."  Touji paused.  "You think they'd 
let us try the shooting gallery?"

	"We're too young in Germany, too."

	He sighed again.  "Gotta be SOMETHING we can do."

	"Maybe we..."  Shinji paused.  

	"Something wrong?"

	"I don't know," Shinji said.  "I have a bad feeling."

	"As in 'incoming attack' bad?"

	"No, just a feeling."

	Touji sighed.  "Damn.  Hmm, we could go play some 
computer games, I guess."

	"Alright," Shinji said, getting up.  "Should be fun."

	"Funner than the bench, anyway."

                         -*-
	
	Far away, Asuka, Anna, and Hikari had found the 
apartment building of Dr. Krause, a stolid old brownstone, and 
gone inside to talk to the landlord.

	"He's dead," the landlord said to Asuka.  "Has been for 
days now.  Someone tried to rob his apartment and ended up 
shooting him dead."  He was a short, balding man, about as wide 
as he was tall.  

	"..."

	"They stole his TV, his computer, the silverware and a lot 
of his books.  Very thorough."  The landlord shook his head.  "A 
pity.  Dr. Krause was a quiet man, never bothered anyone.  The 
funeral was very nice."

	"When did he die?"

	"The twenty-second."

	A week before I found his webpage, she thought.  I guess 
the ISP wasn't lying when they said his account was shut down for 
not paying his bill, but...  She could still smell a rat.

	Going to have to force the truth out of Gendo, she decided.  
If he had this man killed, he's going to PAY.

  

                         -*-

	"I want to know the TRUTH!" Asuka shouted at Gendo.

	Sitting behind his desk, he simply folded his hands and 
fixed his stare on her.  If it was supposed to intimidate her, it didn't 
work.  "Some things are sensitive information, which is not simply 
given out to anyone who asks for it."

	"It's about my parents!  I have the right to know what really 
happened to them!  You were there!  You know what happened!"  
She pointed at him accusingly.  

	"I expect that if I was there, I would be dead," Gendo said.  
"Your parents died bravely trying to save others.  That is all that 
matters."

	"Because you did some kind of genetic experimentation on 
my sibling and on all those other babies!  And covered it up!"  A 
soft red glow was forming around her hand now.  

	"This matter is closed," Gendo said.  He pushed his glasses 
up and started to turn away from her.

	Asuka's hand burned brightly with flames now, only inches 
away from Gendo's chest.  "WRONG.  You are going to tell me or 
I am going to beat it out of you!"

	For a moment, she saw a look of fear, and then his 
emotional mask slammed back down.  She could almost smell it 
now, through the front he put up.  "Do you think Shinji would be 
very appreciative if you burned me to death?"

	She winced.  "I want to know the truth!"

	"Your willingness to kill me over this shows how little 
ready you are for any real truths," Gendo said.  His voice was cold 
and stern; it was hard to tell what he was really feeling.  She could 
get a hint of contempt from it which only made her more angry.

	"I'll show..."

	Then she felt a pulse of power behind her and turned to see 
what it was.  Bubbles dispersed as Touji and Shinji stood among 
them.  Shinji said, "Asuka, what are you doing?"  He looked very 
worried.  Touji was watching her burning hand.

	"I want to know what happened to my parents!  They've 
been lying to me!" Asuka shouted.

	Touji half-stepped towards Asuka, then stopped nervously.  
Shinji walked over to her and thrust his hand into her flame and 
took her hand, staring into her eyes.  He said softly, "Please don't 
threaten my father, Asuka."

	She held his hand tensely.  "I want to know the truth.  And 
he and Fuyutsuki are the only people who know!"

	"Father, Asuka has the right to know what happened to her 
parents," Shinji said to Gendo.  "Please tell her."  His voice was 
half-pleading, half-demanding, as he looked his father in the face; 
he looked worn.  

	They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Gendo 
said, "Alright.  This is what happened.  The early experiments with 
the development of the Evangelion units revealed that most people 
went mad or mutated horribly after trying to control our test model.  
Others died."  He paused, taking a sip of coffee, then brooded for a 
minute.  Finally, he said, "Like Yui, my wife, Shinji's mother.  
However, we were able to establish that Rei could link safely with 
an EVA unit, and we isolated what we thought were the genetic 
factors which would enable other people to control them.  Through 
careful work, we created fetuses with those characteristics and 
implanted them in volunteers."

	"My mother volunteered for something like that?" Asuka 
asked in horror.

	"Your mother understood the danger our world faced.  It 
seemed a necessary risk.  What followed...was a disaster.  Our 
knowledge was imperfect.  We did not fully appreciate the 
qualities of Adam's genetic material.  The result was that one of the 
children did, in fact, eat her way out.  In the resulting chaos, things 
were broken and spilled, a fire broke out, and the lab went up in 
anarchy and death."  Gendo paused to sip his coffee.

	Continuing, he said, "We don't know all the details, as most 
of those involved died, and most of the survivors were too busy 
panicking to pay attention.  Your mother died when her child ate 
its way out as well, apparently trying to escape the disaster.  Your 
father helped some of the few survivors out, then went back in 
after his wife and died as a result of too much exposure to the 
poisonous gases.  Dr. Krupp, the lab head, killed himself a few 
days later from shame."

	"How could you do something like that?  That's horrible, 
going around altering the genetics of babies!  How could you do 
that to my parents?" Asuka shouted, flames now erupting all over 
her body.  Shinji continued to grip her hand.

	"Because the future of humanity was on the line.  Until it 
was discovered that YOU could be a pilot, we had no potential 
pilots but Rei, and Rei...our efforts to duplicate Rei were a total 
disaster.  And if we had no pilots, humanity would be doomed 
when the Angels came."

	"So Rei IS a genetic experiment."  Asuka struggled to calm 
herself.  

	"Yes.  This why all those clones rampaged during Adam's 
escape.  Unfortunately, they were all flawed.  Only Rei can survive 
exposure to LCL and remain human and sane, and we don't know 
why.  Even now."  Gendo's voice was firm, but his hands shook 
slightly.  

	Asuka's self-control broke down again, though she was 
trying to control herself, for Shinji's sake if not for Gendo's.  "Why 
didn't you ever TELL ME?"

	"It could only bring you pain," Gendo said.  "And it was 
true.  The few survivors said they tried to help people and there 
was a laboratory accident.  You were a small child and having to 
tell you your parents were dead was bad enough."

	Asuka began to cry.  "I'm not a child any more."

	"An adult would not, I hope, threaten to kill me because of 
my refusal to reveal classified information," Gendo said.  "Your 
power is vast, but your maturity still has a long way to go."

	"Father, that was cruel," Shinji said sharply.  "Can't you see 
you've hurt her?"

	"I tried to avoid having to tell her," Gendo said, turning to 
Shinji.  "But she insisted on the whole story and so did you."  His 
tone of voice made it clear he felt no guilt at her reaction.  

	"Mama, papa..."  Asuka broke down completely.

	"Shinji, Touji, please take her home," Gendo said tightly.  
For a moment, Shinji could see his eyes through the glasses, 
tracking her flames.

	"Yes, sir," Touji said softly.  He seemed relieved to go.

	"We will," Shinji said, turning to Asuka and leading her out 
with an arm around her.  

	They departed.  Gendo sat in silence, watching them go.  
Once their footsteps faded, he got up and shut the door, then came 
back over to his chair and took a long draught of coffee.  Then he 
began to shake and spilled the rest of it on his desk.  

	And then the tears came.

	
                         -*-


	Shinji sat on Asuka's bed,  his arms around her, holding 
her.  She'd finished crying earlier, and now she was just quiet, 
listening to the soft music he'd put on her stereo.  Anna and Hikari 
sat in chairs nearby, and Touji lurked near the door with the look 
of someone who felt he ought to do something, but didn't know 
what.

	Hikari asked softly, "You want to play cards or something, 
Asuka?  Or would you rather we give you some privacy?"

	"Don't leave me alone," she said softly.

	"I'll go get some cards," Touji said.

	He left, and quickly after, Rei entered hesitantly, a book in 
her hands.  "May I?" she asked.

	Asuka started to say no, to yell at her and tell her to go 
away forever.  And then she remembered what she had learned, 
that Rei was just an experiment, something which had been made 
to be a pilot.  She'd been a puppet all her life.

	Everything Asuka was struggling with inside herself, the 
changes moving her away from humanity, Rei had struggled with 
that her entire life.  She glanced at the book; it was another manga.  
'One Summer Day', another love triangle story.  There had to be 
some better way for Rei to get a grip on how to deal with people 
than that.

	She could feel Rei's pain; she could smell the regrets.  
Asuka thought about how she'd nearly tried to fry Gendo to a crisp 
a little earlier.  Control was so hard, and it was so easy to give in to 
the beasts howling in her mind, the pieces of souls she had stolen, 
devoured, assimilated.  They wanted her to be like them, a killer, a 
monster.

	Looking over at Shinji, she wondered if he felt like she did, 
if these voices gibbered at him.  He seemed so kind and gentle, like 
they could never do that to him.  He smiled back at her, and his 
smile made her feel more human.  It gave her strength for what she 
needed to do.

	She reached inside her mind, to a place she didn't want to 
go, ever.  Where the fragments of the Violator lived, and she beat 
them down with the anger she'd been directing at Rei, and probed 
into them, trying to find the answers she'd been afraid to look for.

	To her regret, it didn't know.  It could only see what 
happened to those directly under its sway, not what happened to 
those merely influenced.  She kicked its mind, and came back to 
herself, back to her sorrow.

	Rei looked just like she felt, Asuka realized.  So sad and 
lonely.  She didn't want to forgive Rei; the memory of what had 
happened was still strong.  But she had lost her certainty that Rei 
had done what she did out of the freedom of her own will.  Rei had 
been overcome, as others were, and hadn't been able to help 
herself.  She could tell that now, intellectually, though her gut 
feelings still screamed in outrage and pain.

	So she forced her instincts down, and tried to keep the reins 
in the hands of her rational mind.  "Yes, come in," Asuka said 
softly.  "So you were an experiment."

	Rei blinked and came over to kneel in front of Asuka.  "My 
birth, yes."

	"Are we all just puppets?  Just someone's experiment?" 
Asuka asked bitterly.  "Damned to turn into monsters because no 
one knew what they were doing?"

	"We are the Children," Rei said.  "That is destiny.  But 
what we do, that is us."

	Touji came back with the cards, then looked nervously at 
Rei and Asuka.

	"I feel like a puppet, a doll, just dancing on strings and 
doing what I'm told like a mannequin," Asuka said angrily.  "What 
else haven't they told us?"

	"Many things, I think," Anna said.

	"Yeah, there's a lot of secrets here," Touji said.  

	"It doesn't always help much to know the truth," Shinji 
said.  "It hurts, sometimes."

	Asuka began to shake, though not to cry.  She said, "I don't 
want to be a monster."

	"You're not a monster," Hikari said firmly.  "You're my 
friend, and a good human being.  We may have special powers, but 
that just gives us more responsibilities.  It doesn't make us 
m