March 21, 2014:
Transcript of the Last Transmissions of the Long-Smith 
Expedition

Dr. Clark A. Smith:  Can anyone hear me?

Home Base (Sandy Peterson): We read you, Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith:  We've reached the edge of the chasm reported 
by that spelunker.  This thing is HUGE.  Dr. Long is setting 
up the measuring equipment with Mr. Derleth's help.  
[pause]  Now where has that Carter boy run off to again...

Home Base (Sandy Peterson):  Is he acting up again?

Dr. Smith:  He was so impatient on the way in here that 
he nearly fell to his death four times.  Anyway, [pause]  
Strange, I just heard a noise somewhat like...Ugh!  

Home Base (Keith Herbert):  Is something wrong?

Dr. Smith:  There's a veritable ocean of cave crickets 
sweeping across the floor as if the hordes of Hell were 
after them or something.  Anyway, the caverns seem to 
be made of basalt, which makes little sense, given that 
Oklahoma isn't exactly noted for its volcanic activity.  
Going to take a sample... [banging noises]  Now I...

[There are faint screams in the distance]  

Home Base (Speaker unidentified):  What the hell was 
THAT?

Dr. Smith:  Dr. Long, what's...oh, shit.

Home Base (Keith Herbert):  Dr. Smith?  What's wrong?  
Are you having a cave in?

Dr. Smith:  [loudly]  There's some sort of bridge across 
the chasm, and something is coming across it.  Dr. Long is 
playing the arc light across...holy shit!  How...How can 
that thing support its own weight?  Carter, come back 
here, you idiot!!!

[sounds of more running and screaming]

Home Base (Sandy Peterson):  What is it?  What's going 
on?

Dr. Smith:  Spiders!  Everywhere!  And 
a...AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[More screams, then silence except for a noise almost 
like raindrops splashing on stone]

Home Base (Unidentified voice):  Dynamite the cavern 
entrance.

Home Base (Sandy Peterson):  But that will seal them in 
with...whatever that was.

Home Base (Unidentified Voice):  Do it.  I'm going to 
contact headquarters.

                                    *********

        "So it has begun," the old man said to his younger 
one-time protege, who by the whims of fate was now his 
boss.

        "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 younger, though not young, man said, resting his chin on
a gloved hand and adjusting his glasses with the other hand. 
"If the Hippies had understood the true meaning of the
dawning of the Age of Aquarius, they would have shot
themselves."  He laughed faintly and stood.  "If you will
pardon me, I must write a letter." 

         "What should I do about the Long-Smith 
expedition?"

         "The usual coverup.  And keep me informed on the 
transmitter.  Assuming Carter did his job right."

         "Well, we are getting a mobile transmission, so it 
got attached to SOMETHING," the older man said.  

         "Get me a speed and direction estimate then.  And 
pray it doesn't just wander around underground for a few 
months, letting the batteries run out.  Good day."  He 
departed.  

*****************

Children of an Elder God
A Neon Genesis Evangelion Elseworlds
by

John Biles
and 
RPM

Chapter 1:  The Stars Are Right

"How shall a man know his gods?"
"By the signs of their divinity."
"And what if thieves walk among the gods?"
"Then, indeed, how shall a man know?"

--"The Aztecs" (Dr. Who, First Season)

*****************

        Shinji's memories of his arrival in Tokyo-3 were 
fixed in the first seconds of his arrival when a spider 
landed on his nose.  It had been floating through the air, 
held aloft by a gentle breeze and by a tangle of webs that 
bore some resemblence to a parachute made by MC 
Escher.  As he stepped off the train, the breeze blew it 
onto his face.  Many people would have screamed or 
hurriedly slapped it off his face.  Shinji simply blinked 
and stared at it.  

        The train doors closed and it pulled out of the 
station.  Shinji ignored it, focused on the spider.  It sat 
on his cheek and stared at him.  He stared back in a 
contest rigged against him, since his opponent had no 
eyelids.  Slowly, Shinji put down his suitcase and raised 
his hand, brushing the spider onto his other hand, then 
putting it down on the ground.  It scampered away, and he 
smiled a little smile for the first time in days.  

        "Kind to animals?"  a woman's voice asked.

        Shinji blinked and looked up.  A woman was staring 
at him through mirrored sunglasses.  She didn't look like 
someone who would work for his father; she looked more 
like an idol singer, dressed in casual, but sexy clothing, 
with a figure of the kind that Shinji was just now 
starting to notice.  It wasn't her clothing or her body that 
drew his attention, but rather the strange necklace she 
wore.  The chain was made of gold, while the pendant 
mixed silver and bronze, tracing out a sort of broken five 
pointed star with a tongue of flame in the middle made 
of copper.  Shinji normally wasn't much for abstract art, 
or any kind of art for that matter, but it caught his 
attention and wouldn't let it go.

        Since it was hanging just above the top of her 
cleavage, the woman drew the wrong conclusions from 
his stare, but she just smiled.  "Earth to Shinji.  Come in, 
Shinji."

        He blinked and looked up.  "That's a...what is that?"

        "My father found it in Polynesia during one of his 
expeditions.  I like it."

        Shinji nodded.  The pendant was oddly comforting.  
"You're Captain Kusanagi?"

        "Captain Katsugari.  Captain Misato Katsugari."  She 
put out a hand.  "Nice to meet you."

        Shinji stared at it for a second, then shook her 
hand.  Not what he had expected at all.  Much better, 
really.  "So why does Father want to see me?"

        "Come with me, and all will be explained."  She 
looked around.  "Where's your luggage?"

        "This is it," he said, holding up the one suitcase.

        Her response was cut short by her nearly jumping 
out of her skin.  "Aaah!  Spider!"  She yanked it off her 
shoulder and stomped on it.  "Damn bugs."

        "You didn't have to kill it."

        "I hate bugs."

        Two more spiders drifted by.  Shinji said, "I guess 
you must hate this town, then."

        "Follow me."  She started to head towards the 
parking lot.  "They're not normally so bad."

        The car was nice, very nice, a sports car.  It was 
blue, a color Shinji liked, and it was probably more 
expensive than the house he had lived out his life in.  
Well, maybe not quite that expensive, but he was sure it 
had cost more than anything he or the housekeeper who had 
raised him could have ever afforded.  It only had one 
flaw; four spiders were having a race to see who could 
cover the windshield with webs faster.  Misato cursed 
and ran over, unlocking the car, opening the door, and 
jumping in in one fluid motion.

        The windshield wipers and twin water jets put an 
end to the spider art competition, laying waste to their 
work.  The artists themselves scampered for cover, and 
two of them quickly fried when they foolishly fled into 
the engine.  You can't expect much from a creature whose 
brain is the size of a grain of sand, though.  

        Misato kept the wipers running while Shinji got 
into the car.  "I think you're overreacting a little, Captain 
Katsuragi," he said as he put his suitcase in the back and 
buckled his seatbelt.

        "You've never had a spider crawl up your nose, I 
see."  She frowned and put the car in gear, peeling out of 
the parking lot.

        "Are the spiders that common here?"  Shinji asked.  
Maybe Father is breeding them, he thought.

        "No, not really.  It happened in college."  She 
shivered and the car swerved all over the road, which 
was rather disturbing at ninety miles an hour.  

        Shinji wasn't brave enough to offer a critique of 
her driving, but he certainly thought it.  All he said was, 
"So why am I here?"

        "You really don't know?"  She swerved again, this 
time to crush a can, and ticked off a little tiny tick mark 
in the part of her brain that kept track of how many cans 
she'd crushed today.  

        They roared down the road into Tokyo-3, a city 
that looked like it was all downtown and nothing else.  
Buildings towered around them, and many of them were 
increasingly covered with webs as they moved deeper 
into the city.  The car was crunching more and more 
spiders every minute, and now Misato had to keep the 
windshield wipers going in order to see.  The rear 
window and the side ones were starting to vanish 
beneath grey-white webs.  "Has Father been 
experimenting with spiders?"

        She frowned.  "I have no idea why we're getting all 
these...shit."

        Shinji blinked, and then he realized why she was 
cursing.  There was a spider the size of a small dog in 
the road.  It went flying off the road when Misato plowed 
into it, but it left a dent in the bumper, and Misato 
cursed.  Then the sirens started going off all over the 
city.  

        "Great!  First my car, then the first attack happens 
while I'm driving!"  She started trying to dial her 
cellphone with one hand, but then it simply rang.  She 
started driving one handed, swerving wildly as she 
talked.  "Yes, I noticed the damn spiders!  I'm putting the 
damage to my bumper on my expense account."  Pause.  
"This is official business, dammit!  Yes, I have the Third 
Child."

        Shinji blinked.  I have siblings?  I thought I was the 
only child.  Why didn't anyone ever tell me?  I wonder 
what their names are.

        "He's just fine, but I hope he's not allergic to bugs.  
How the hell did so many of these things get into the city 
so quickly?"  Pause.  "How did so many EGGS get into the 
city, then?"  Pause.  Swerve.  Shinji saw a man setting 
himself on fire to get dozens of spiders off of him.  "Ahh, 
so it's finally shown up.  With all its little kids, no doubt.  
Send the bombers to slow it down."  Pause.  "Ahh, they're 
already on the way.  How soon?"  Pause.  "Shit."

        "Are we going to be bombed?"  Shinji asked.  It 
seemed like the sort of day that he would get blown up 
and eaten by spiders.  Most days he saw his father were 
like that.

        "Not directly, no,"  Misato said to Shinji, then 
turned back to the phone.  "I know this is what we've been 
preparing for, but I wasn't expecting to get my new car 
destroyed today!"  She squealed the car to a halt.  "Get 
out!"  

        "What?"

        She grabbed Shinji and jumped into the ditch along 
one side of the road.  Then the N-2 bomb went off on the 
horizon.  

*****************

        They had to walk the rest of the way to HQ.  The N-2 
blast scared most of the spiders into hiding and killed 
the rest with the shockwave.  However, as Shinji soon 
found out...

        "The N-2 bomb seems to have stunned it.  We have a 
few hours before it gets back up and comes after us,"  Dr. 
Ritsuko Akagi said.  She was blond and somewhat 
attractive, with short hair, glasses, and an odd habit of 
wearing a blue one-piece bathing suit and a lab coat as 
her work uniform.  

        It wasn't much stranger than the whole place was to 
Shinji, who thought the place virtually screamed 'James 
Bond'.  He wondered if his father was now a spy.  

        The giant humanoid head, attached to a giant 
humanoid body, which he was standing next to was 
bizarre as well.  It looked like a giant badly made plastic 
doll of odd colors with bits of mishapen armor.  The 
words 'Unit01' were painted on the armor on the left side 
of the thing's neck.  It creeped Shinji out.  It was wrong.  
He didn't want to be anywhere near it, but everyone else 
seemed to see it as perfectly normal.  "What is going 
on?"

        Shinji's father, a man named Gendo Ikari, looked 
down at him.  He was tall and broad with a short dark 
beard, neatly trimmed hair and small glasses.  "I have 
brought you here to pilot this.  The world is under attack, 
and only we can stop the menace.  If we do not act, the 
world will be destroyed."

        Shinji stared at his father, who hadn't changed a bit 
except for the beard, from his cold stare to his brief and
inadequate explanations.  'Why is grass green?'  'Because it's
not blue.'  'What's for dinner?'  'Food.'  'Why do Ihave to live
away from you, father?'  'It's for your own good.'He didn't even 
get a hello.  He wanted to say hello, but as he looked at Gendo, 
his resolve melted.  Questions died unasked on his lips.  He and 
his father stared at each other silently, hisfather grimly, while 
he wilted under the gaze, which seemed to tug away his will.

       "This is the creature."  Ritusko pointed to a view
screen in one wall of the chamber.  It showed a creature
that resembled a huge spider, hundreds of feet tall, lying
on its side, its legs working the air feebly.  It was
surrounded by a charred cocoon of spider silk and the
corpses of countless spiders. However, more were erupting up
from the ground and forming from its blood, which was
puddled around it.  Further more, the charred marks on its
exterior were fading, and ichor was no longer leaking from
it.  "The enemies we fight are known as Angels, and the one
out there today is designated as Matriel.  Our current
estimate is that we have about a half hour before it fully
recovers, and another half hour before it reaches the edge
of Tokyo-3.  How long it will take to reach us is not yet
predictable." 

        Shinji stared at the screen.  The creature was even 
more repulsive to him than the strange simulacrum of a 
human they were all standing next to on a platform over 
the huge tube it was kept in.  It wasn't possible.  
Anything that big should collapse under its own weight.  
Shinji was better educated than the average fourteen 
year old.  His father had seen to that, if not much else.  
And he had worked hard, with some vague impulse of hope 
to please his father or at least to get noticed by him.  
Even anger would have been better than being ignored.  
"Shouldn't that thing collapse?  I mean, there's no way 
those spindly legs can support its weight if it's that big."
It wasn't just the size.  Something about how the legs moved 
were wrong.  They were too limber, too flexible, too nimble 
for such a creature.  And its shape...real creatures rarely
have angles; they have curves, nature doesn't produce straight
lines, but this creature was oddly angular.  

        "Our understanding of such matters is entirely the 
result of the cramped understandings derived from observing 
the lifeforms of a single backwater planet, and quite likely
has no validity in the universe at large.  Possibly it looks 
at us and wonders why we don't collapse in on ourselves under
the weight of our atmosphere without an exo-skeleton.  Whether 
or not it SHOULD collapse, it is not collapsing."  She fell 
silent, apparently surprised with herself for going on for so long.  

        Shinji frowned.  "What do I have to do with this?"

        "One of our pilots is in Germany, and the other one 
was injured,"  Misato said.  "But we believe you can pilot 
an EVA.  You match the profile.  You'll help us, won't you, 
Shinji?"

        He and EVA had a brief staring contest.  EVA won.  
"I don't like it."

        Gendo frowned.  "You don't have to like it."

        "How am I supposed to pilot this thing without any 
training?"

        "It's thought controlled,"  Misato said.  "You just 
have to have the knack.  Anyone could do it, but only 
those with the right genetics could do it well."

        He stared at the horrible spider thing on the 
viewscreen again.  It was wrong, an abomination.  It was 
impossible; there was no way it could hold itself up.  
Every bit of biology he knew screamed that there had 
been some kind of mistake here, but he couldn't deny his 
eyes.  It revulsed him, even though the little spiders that 
had preceded its arrival had been sort of cute, or at 
least...they were right and it was not.  "I'm not much of a 
figher."

        "It'll be just like using your own body,"  Misato said 
with a wheedling tone in her voice.  "If your body was 
dozens of feet tall and superhumanly strong.  Don't you 
want to be a hero?"

        Shinji thought about all the giant robot anime he 
had seen.  It always looked easy, but he was quite sure it 
couldn't REALLY be that easy.  It wasn't the danger 
stopping him so much as the fact that the EVA was 
nearly as creepy as the giant spider-thing.  He turned and 
stared at his father, trying to read him, even though 
Shinji wasn't much good at reading people.  Was this 
what his father had really summoned him for?  Was he 
responsible for all this?

        His father's eyes riveted him in place, fixing him 
like a deer staring into headlights.  While the rest of his 
face was blank, like a mask, Gendo's eyes were alive, 
stern and piercing, deep as an oceanic trench.  Shinji 
could feel himself falling into his father's eyes, being 
dissected; his soul was laid bare.  He wanted to flee that 
gaze, to run far away where no one could look at him and 
see how much this all scared him, how much the spider 
repulsed him, how much the EVA frightened him.  I must 
look like a scared rabbit, Shinji thought.  I wonder how 
he sees me.

        In his mind's eye, he could see himself through his 
father's eyes.  It was a vivid vision, almost realler than 
life.  It was a strangely calm feeling.  He had been 
breathing heavily, but his body felt serene now as he put 
himself in his father's place, somehow absorbing Gendo's 
calm.  To his surprise, he realized that his own body 
looked much calmer than he actually felt.  Is my father 
hiding emotions as strong as my own?, Shinji wondered.    
He must be.  If I don't do this, he doesn't have anyone who 
can take my place.  

        He heard himself say, "I'll do it."  He didn't feel 
himself saying it, but since he was busy fantasizing, as 
far as he could tell, this didn't surprise him, although he 
did SEE himself say it.  He had been intending to say it, 
anyway, having changed his mind, so it didn't bother him 
much.  

        With that, his vision ended and he was back to 
normal, seeing things from his own perspective, not from 
his father's.  It had been surreal, but it had happened to 
him before, though not often.  It was more common in his 
dreams.  Especially the stranger ones that made him 
wake up screaming.  

        Misato smiled.  "Excellent.  Let's get you suited up 
and ready."

*************

        The plugsuit wasn't bad.  It looked fairly snazzy and 
it was remarkably comfortable for something so form-
fitting.  The LCL was another matter.  He'd almost gone 
back on his decision just from looking at it.  It was a 
black, gooey sludge that looked far too much like motor 
oil mixed with toxic waste.  It smelled like rotten food 
mixed with vomit.  

        Ignoring his protests and failing to explain very 
clearly why it wouldn't kill him on contact, they just 
keep filling up the plug unit with it.  He had expected it 
to be ice cold, but it was comfortably warm, which was 
the only comfortable aspect of it.  It tasted hideous, like 
battery acid mixed with vinegar and castor oil and 
sewage.  Far worse was the absolute darkness into which 
it plunged you; it felt like all of the universe had been 
destroyed and only Shinji remained.  Then the darkness 
began to swirl with patterns of light, which constantly 
hinted at shapes but would not quite reveal them.  He felt 
like he was drowning in darkness, like it was oozing 
down his throat and into his veins.  Every tiny bodily 
sensation felt like a harbringer of doom.

        Just as he felt certain he would go mad, he realized 
that the reason it was so dark was that his eyes were 
closed.  At least, they felt like they were closed, 
although he didn't remember closing them.  There had 
been a sort of almost tugging feeling, and suddenly, his 
eyes were closed.  So he opened them.  

        He was staring at the platform on which a while ago 
he had debated whether or not to do this.  A small square 
hung in the air in the lower right corner of his vision; it 
was a video image of Misato.  "Can you read me, Shinji?"

        "Um, I can HEAR you."  Shinji said.  "And I can see 
you.  I don't...wait, am I seeing what the EVA sees?"

        Misato nodded.  "You can call up various 
instrumentation by mental command, but we'll have to go 
over all that when we have more time.  Try moving 
Unit01's arm."

        It was indeed as easy as they promised, although he 
couldn't move much, given the Unit was strapped to 
something.  "I'm rea...wait, do I have any weapons?"

        While they were in a hurry, they did have enough 
time to explain that, at least.

***********

        "Synchronization rate is 85 % and rising,"  Maya 
said.  She was one of Dr. Akagi's assistants, female with 
short black hair and a smiling face.  While many of those 
to be found in NERV seemed to think that somberness was 
part of the Orders of the Day, she was not one of them.  
"The Third Child is even more of a natural at this than 
the Second Child was."

        Dr. Akagi nodded.  "Bodily functions report?"

        Another technician said, "All body functions normal.  
Looks like this one won't die because his body forgot to 
keep functioning while he was piloting."

        "Good.  We don't have anyone to take his place,"  
Gendo said. 

        "Well, we could try the..."  Dr. Akagi began.

        "Even if they were fully functional, what would they 
pilot?  One of our cardboard models?  Unit00 is still 
damaged.  We'll use it if we have to, but only if it's 
absolutely necessary.  And if it comes down to that, we 
can use Rei,"  Gendo said, watching the various 
viewscreens intently.  "Luckily, this will likely be the 
weakest of our opponents."

************

        As Shinji moved through the streets of the city, he 
pondered two major questions.  First of all, what sort of 
weirdo builds a hundred foot tall robot and only arms it 
with a knife?  Secondly, what sort of idiot builds a giant 
robot that has to use an extension cord?  Then again, it is 
only a giant spider, he thought.  Scary looking, but 
spiders don't have a lot of offensive armnament as long 
as you don't run into their web, and I doubt the web's 
been made that can hold this thing.  

        He rounded a corner, stomping hundreds, maybe 
thousands of spiders with every step.  They ranged in 
size from normal tiny ones to ones the size of a small 
dog.  There were webs everywhere, but he moved through 
them as if they didn't exist.  The Angel-Spider itself was 
standing on a tank covered with webs, looking around.  It 
spotted him and chittered, which was somewhat creepy, 
but not very communicative.  I should have asked for a 
super economy size can of Raid, Shinji thought.  "I've 
spotted him," he said.  

        "Strike for the eyes, Shinji,"  Misato said.  "Blind 
him."

        Shinji nodded and Unit01 ran forward at his mental 
command.  Shortly afterwards, Unit01 stabbed down with 
the knife, missing only because the huge spider had taken 
off running the second Unit01 started its charge.  Unit01 
ran after his opponent, crushing dozens of cars as it ran, 
and even more spiders than before.  This section of the 
city was coated with webs, a sea of greyish-white 
sticky stuff.  Bits of web coated Unit01's legs and feet.  

        He rounded three corners as the spider-beast skittered 
through the streets, occassionally smashing into a bank 
of glass windows with a stray leg and shattering them.  
Finally, it darted around yet another corner and Unit01 
charged right after it, right into a huge web between two 
buildings.  The web strands were huge, nearly a foot 
across each.  Unit01 was neatly caught, just like a fly.  
"I've been caught!"

        "Generate an AT field!"  Misato said.

        "A what?"

        "We believe the EVAs are capable of generating an 
AT field like that produced by the Angels."

        "So how do I do it?  And what is it?"

        "Actually, we're not sure how to make it generate 
one."

        This was NOT what Shinji wanted to hear.

***********

        "Activate Unit00, and get Rei prepped to pilot it," 
Gendo said.  "She's injured and so is her unit, but we can't
afford a defeat.  Not with it right here in Tokyo-3." 

        "Perhaps we should use the..."  Dr. Akagi began.

        "We've already seen what inexperience can do for 
us.  I'd rather not repeat the experience."

*************
  
        Shinji felt claustraphobic.  Unit01 was wrapped in 
webbing and its eyes were half covered, so he could 
barely see.  Unable to act, he was becoming increasingly 
aware of being trapped in a metal tube full of a cold 
liquid that gave him the heebie-jeebies.  Misato kept 
giving him soothing assurances that he didn't really 
believe.  Many people would have cried or blamed 
themselves or even blamed others, but Shinji couldn't 
muster the will to do any of those.

        "Rei is coming in Unit00,"  Misato said.  "Just hold 
out a few more minutes."

        Shinji laughed faintly.  "I'll do my best."

****************

        Rei was glad to be in Unit00.  It was an escape from 
her body, which was wracked with pain from the recent 
training disaster.  While Unit00 was damaged like her, it 
felt no pain.  LCL held no terrors for Rei; it was an 
escape from a body which usually succeeded only in 
getting in her way.  The fluid that she knew had driven at 
least three potential pilots insane made her more sane, 
she was sure.  It held something she needed.

        Or perhaps it was just the pleasure of piloting 
Unit00 which she liked.  Few things gave her normal body 
any enjoyment, but piloting Unit00 was always 
enjoyable.  She sprinted through Tokyo-3 at speeds of 
which her usual body would not have been capable.  
Buildings whizzed by, and a few cars crunched under her 
feet; it was like running through a forest and 
accidentally stepping on some beetles.  

        She paused to assess the situation.  Unit01 was
webbed between two buildings.  Her target, the spider, was
wandering around aimlessly, spinning webs and smashing
buildings.  Millions of spiders danced around the area,
imitating their...master?  father?  leader?  Perhaps the
pattern of the webs would mean something.  She activated
Unit00's radio.  "Katsugari-san, I need an aerial view of
the city." 

        A tiny box appeared in the right corner of her sight, 
showing Captain Katsugari's face.  "Yes.  We've got planes 
over the area.  I'll have it patched through to you."

        Webs which had seemed aimless from the ground 
took on a different visage from above.  The webs formed 
a roughly v shaped pattern across the city, with some 
sort of oval sigil in the middle with a dot in its midst 
where Unit01 was trapped and where the giant leader of the
spiders was meandering about, clearing an open space inside 
the oval.  While the sigil remained meaningless to Rei, she 
felt it must be some sort of meaningful pattern.  Perhaps a 
signal to more of these creatures, whatever they were.  

        Half-remembered bits of biology studies surfaced in 
her mind, and she decided to experiment.  Wrenching a 
power line support pole loose from the ground, she hurled 
it down onto the webbing, then stepped back.  Sparks 
flew from the damaged lines and the webbing ignited.  
Soon, the city was ablaze with a short-lived fire; the 
webbing was highly flammable, but burnt away very 
quickly.  

        Shinji was snapped out of his half-trance of 
doomed apathy by the sudden feeling that he was on fire.  
Instinct took over, and he stopped, dropped, and rolled.  
This was rather more destructive when piloting Unit01 
than would normally be the case.  Countless spiders 
burned to death, were crushed, or combined the two death 
methods.  

        Unit00 drew its progressive knife and charged 
forward while the Spider-Angel was still ringed in flame.  
She hailed Unit01's pilot by radio while charging 
forward.  "Unit 01, attack now."

        Her knife plunged down into one of its faceted eyes, 
gashing it open and spewing viridescent mauve ichor onto 
Unit00's hands and arms.  Putting the Unit's weight into 
it, she plunged the knife deeper into the creature's head, 
trying to get to its brain.  Shimmering auras of 
fluctuating color began to form upon Unit00's hands, 
arms, and knife, eating away at the Angel-Spider's flesh.  

        In her peripheral vision, she could see Unit01 was 
hacking away at one of the huge spider-thing's legs, but 
her attention was focused on her blade.  The deeper it 
sank into the creature, the harder it was to push it 
forward and the brighter it shone.  Perhaps it stole its 
color from the huge spider-beast, which was turning grey 
where the shimmering light shone upon it, its flesh 
flaking and crumbling away.  It struggled forward, trying 
to bite her, but she was standing to one side of the 
mandibles and with the knife pressing into its eye, it 
couldn't turn successfully to bite her, especially with 
Unit01 hacking off some of its legs.  Nor could it turn to 
attack Unit01.  Nor could it retreat, as its legs weren't 
well designed for trying to move straight backwards, and 
as fast as it could move, Unit00 simply pressed 
forwards.  

        Far away in the subterranean monitoring chamber, a 
technician announced, "The Angel and Unit00 are 
generating strong AT fields, while Unit01 is generating a 
somewhat weaker one, as projected."

        "What about synchronization rates?"  Dr. Akagi 
asked, looking up at one of the monitors which showed 
hundreds of seperate statuses, jumbled together 
confusingly.  

        "Oddly, Unit01 is actually showing a higher 
synchronization rate, although Unit00 is climbing, but is 
producing a weaker AT field.  It may be related to the 
fact that Unit00's pilot is experiencing a higher level of 
physical stress.  Respiration and heartbeat are up, 
adrenalin levels have gone up, etc.  Meanwhile, Unit01's 
pilot is only at the level of exertion of a brisk walk."  

        Gendo's lips quirked into a very faint smile.  

        Rei could no longer see her knife through the glow 
of colors, but she could feel she was pressing 
against...something.  The exoskeleton, she guessed.  "I'm 
encountering resistance."

        "It's generating an AT-field.  Press harder,"  Misato 
said.  "Shinji, stop playing with its legs and help Rei."

        "How?"

        "STAB IT IN THE HEAD WITH YOUR KNIFE!"  Misato 
pulled herself together when several staff members 
stared at her.

        Unit01 stood up and stabbed its knife down into 
the creature's head, easily fending off its feeble and now 
maimed legs.  Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji could 
see more spiders approaching, but all the ones nearby had 
burned up.  "So how did you know the fire wouldn't burn 
up my EVA too, Rei?"  he asked, hoping she knew more 
about this creature than he did.

        "I didn't."  Rei gritted her teeth, or perhaps it was 
Unit00's teeth; there was no way to tell.  The darkness 
inside the creature was struggling with her light and 
losing; more and more of its flesh was turning a 
colorless grey and flaking away; the eyes were 
completely gone, and the colors were swallowing up her 
sight.

        "..."  She didn't know?  Shinji thought.  It took a lot 
to snap him out of apathy, but that did it.  "You could have 
killed me!"

        "If I did nothing, the situation would not have improved," Rei
replied.  

        Misato cut in.  "Are you generating an AT-field?"

        "I have no idea.  My arms and knife are glowing.  Am I 
doing that?"  

        "Very good, Shinji,"  Misato said.

        "The Angel's AT-field is wavering, wavering...gone," 
the technician reported.

        The Angel popped like a balloon.  A wave of grey 
rushed through its already dark body and it fell apart into 
huge flakes of dried flesh which began to crumble even 
as it tumbled to the ground.  Energy played about Unit00 
and Unit01 like Saint Elmo's fire.  Both Rei and Shinji 
felt a jolt like they had just stuck a fork in an electrical 
socket.  

        While they couldn't see the changes in their own
units, they did see changes in each other's EVA.  Shinji's
changed color to silver and became perfectly smooth.  The
few bits of web that remained on it fell off.  Meanwhile,
Unit00 sprouted protuberances around its mouth that looked
suspiciously like the creature's mouth mandibles.  They knew
its true name now, though they didn't know how they knew.  Or
what exactly it was. 

        The command crew could see this as well.  Gendo 
said to Dr. Akagi, "Has the Angel infiltrated the EVAs?"

        She shook her head.  "No sign of Angel presences.  As 
we projected, the EVAs have adapated to the battle they 
have just fought.  It's too early to be sure of the exact 
results, but I can speculate if you like,"  Dr. Akagi said, 
smiling.

        "Save it for your report,"  Gendo said, and she 
frowned slightly.  "Do you believe it is safe to bring them 
back to our base?"

        "As safe as the EVAs ever are, giving what happened 
during that test."  Dr. Akagi shuddered slightly from the 
memory.

        "Good job,"  Misato told Shinji and Rei.  "Come on 
back to the base."          

*************

        "Ugh!  Ack!  *COUGH*  Blech!"

        "Oh come on.  It isn't that bad, is it?"

        Shinji, covered in the dark and noxious LCL fluid,
crawled out of the plug and gave Misato a dark look.

        "It... is that bad?"

        Shinji opened his mouth to say something, then
paused.  A moment later he was spitting out black sludge
from his mouth and into the coolant liquid below.

        Misato grimaced.  "Ew.  Okay, maybe we'd better get
you to the infirmary."

        Gasping, looking a bit ill, Shinji croaked, "Need... 
water." 

        After a brief stop at a nearby water fountain, they
made their way, Shinji on wobbly legs, and Misato frowning
about the nasty black sludge staining her dress.

*************

        Ritsuko smiled as the two entered her office.  "Ah,
good.  I was going to ask you to come here anyway.  So how's
our pilot?" 

        "Somewhat nauseated," replied Misato.

        "I think I'm getting better," said Shinji weakly.

        Ritsuko nodded.  "I expected as much.  Your first
time in the LCL wasn't pleasant, I'm sure.  Neither will the
next time.  But it won't be as bad, and it'll get better
as time goes by.  Your body gets used to it."

        Next time?  Shinji didn't even want to think about
it.

        "But, as standard procedure, we have to make sure
you're all right.  So if you'll step over here for a
moment..."

        Ritsuko subjected Shinji to a battery of tests, put
under the light of miscellaneous machinery that he didn't
comprehend.  Then various probes were stuck into multiple
orifaces, not improving his mood at all.

        And it didn't help that Misato was in the room too,
with an ever-so-slight smile.

        "Are you done yet?" asked Shinji meekly, feeling
more probed than he thought humans should be.

        Ritsuko nodded.  "I'm done.  Just get some rest and 
the nausea should go away entirely on its own.  Now if
you'll excuse me, I've got another patient to attend to."

*************

        The two walked through the endless maze of
corridors of the base, their footsteps echoing throught the
empty spaces. 

        With the nausea far less severe than it was
earlier, Shinji had enough presence of mind to relfect on
the day so far. 

        He had...

        ... seen his father for the first time in years.

        ... inhaled toxic sludge.
 
        ... almost been killed while piloting a giant robot.

        ... and killed a giant monster.

        On the whole, the day was far less pleasant than
that quick summary expressed.  It wasn't a day he'd care to
repeat. 

        Except for the killing.

        There was an odd feeling that had run through him when
the creature died.  As it sagged to lifelessness, he'd felt
a rush course through his body.  Disturbingly pleasant.  He
wondered if the battles would always end that way.

        Misato derailed his train of thought easily.

        "Oh, I forgot to mention.  You've been put in my
care, Shinji." 

        He blinked.  "I won't be staying with Father?"  He 
wasn't sure if he should be angry at his father or 
relieved.  

        Her voice was a little uncomfortable.  "He's often 
gone and very busy and can't take care of you properly.  
Also, I have two spare bedrooms.  The other one will be 
occupied by the Second Child when she arrives from 
Germany."  

        "The Second Child?"  he asked.

        "Named in the order we recruited you.  The First 
Child is Ayanami Rei.  The Second Child is Asuka Langley.  
And the Third Child is you."

        As they passed a series of elevators, one of them
opened.  Misato winced and Shinji seemed puzzled as they saw
Ritsuko wheeling a stretcher out of it.

        "Quick, turn around," mumbled Misato.

        "Misato?  Is that you?"

        The commander smiled nervously.  "Ritsuko!  Hi!
Just... showing Shinji around the place."

        "You're lost again."  This was not a question, it
was a statement of fact.

        Misato scratched the back of her head
nervously.  "Okay, maybe I am, a little."

        Ritsuko rolled her eyes.  "Don't even try to make
excuses.  Just go down three intersections, take a left, go
up the elevator to level 1, and you should be back in
central."

        Shinji ignored the banter bouncing back and forth
between the two.  His attention was, much to his own
surprise, rivited elsewhere.

        On the stretcher was a girl, probably his age.  Half
of her face, including one eye, was heavily wrapped in
bandages.  One of her arms was wrapped in bandages as well.

        With her eyes closed peacefully, her pale skin,
seemingly smooth as marble, he thought she looked rather
beautiful in a statue-esque way. He knew he was staring at
her, but couldn't stop himself. There was something about
her...

        And then she opened her eye.

        His eyes met hers.

        "Hey, Shinji."

        "Huh?  What?"

        Misato smirked.  "I know she's cute but we really
should be going."

        Rei's eye shut once more, and Ritsuko wheeled her
away.  Shinji, seemingly in a daze, looked back and forth
from the departing Rei to Misato.  And then he realized what
she was hinting at.

        "I-it's not like that!" he insisted, blushhing.

        "Sure it isn't," teased Misato.  "Come on, this
way."

        After a few minutes of silent walking, Shinji spoke
again.

        "I guess she's been training a while.  She fights 
very well."

        "Rei?  She's been training here longer than I've
been here,"  Misato said.  "From a very early age."  She
looked both ways at an intersection, then turned right. 
"You like cup ramen, right?"

        "Hmm?  Yeah, it's okay."  

        "Good."  She sounded relieved.  "I really need to go 
shopping one of these days, but you won't starve."  She 
stopped at a door and slid her ID card through the keyslot.  
The door opened into a room full of plastic sacks of 
garbage.  "Uh oh, was I supposed to make a left turn or a
right back there?"

        While Misato puzzled over directions, Shinji
stared down the hall, where the squeaking of wheels marked
Ritsuko and Rei's passing.

        Rei.

        He had looked into the girl's eye.  It was red, a
bright, vibrant red, but otherwise seemed guileless,
straightforward, and void of any particular emotion.

        And he had felt fear.

***************

        Shinji hoped for his own sake that Misato's 
apartment wasn't normally overrun with thousands of 
spiders.  Regardless of the normal status quo, however, 
it had far more than its quota of spiders today.  He stared 
quietly about the room, shrouded in white.  

        Misato's eyes widened.  "Damnation."  She began 
running through the room, stomping everything that 
moved.  Shinji watched quietly, until she said, "C'mon and 
help!"

        Shinji was rather surprised to see a penguin burst
out of the refrigerator as they struggled towards the cabinet. 
It tried to climb up Misato and failed since penguins are 
not noted for their climbing skills.  Shinji boggled for a few
seconds and the spiders tried to web his feet to the floor.  

        "That's Pen-pen, my other roommate," Misato said.  

        Shinji boggled a second time, and this time his feet DID 
get webbed to the floor, but he easily broke free.  "A penguin?"

        "Antarctica melted so they all migrated."

        Shinji simply extended his previous boggle instead of
starting a new one.

        They eventually clawed their way into one of the 
cabinets and armed themselves with RAID.  Misato ran 
wild, using up an entire can in minutes.  This drove all 
the spiders out of the apartment.  It also fumigated the 
apartment so thoroughly that it drove Misato and Shinji 
out as well.  Exhaustion finally crept up on him while he 
was sitting in front of the apartment, waiting for it to 
air out.  It had been the strangest day of his life to date, 
and he half expected to wake up in the morning and find 
out it was all a dream.

************

        "Well, that was easy," Gendo's second-in-command 
said.  The old man was sitting in his usual comfortable 
chair, wondering why Gendo had kept the uncomfortable 
chair for himself and let visitors have the nice one.  

        "We nearly lost Unit01 and we could have easily lost
Unit00 if 'Matriel' had succeeded in biting into it,"  Gendo
said.  "The Developed Automatic Guardian Organic Navigator
hasn't been properly tested yet, nor has Diogenes found the 
next Child yet.  Not that we have an EVA for a fourth child 
to pilot yet, either.  Things will be much better once we have  
all three Children here.  If it had actually broken into our 
headquarters, it would have been disastrous.  As it is, we'll be
fumigating our base for weeks."  He pulled off his glasses and 
began to polish them. 

        "Then why didn't you send Ayanami Rei out first?"

        "I did not think she would be able to function so 
well.  While she acts as if she feels no pain, I think she 
would likely behave that way if something bit off her 
arm.  And she lost control of her EVA during that last 
test.  We couldn't afford such a lapse in battle."

        "But how could you be sure the boy would do any 
better?"

        Gendo smiled.  "The wise magician never reveals 
ALL his secrets."  


-end part 1-