A Janok
Production;
General
disclaimer;
The
usual... Some characters and original storyline copyright Gainax
and
affiliated companies.
WARNING
This is
a Post-Episode 26 story, if you haven't seen up to Episode 26
of NGE
I advise you not to read this story. You have been warned, so
no
complaints.
**********
NEON
GENESIS CHAPTER 2
A Fall
From Grace: Out of Eden
VERSE 2
'Then
the Lord God said, "Now the man has become like one
of us
and has knowledge of what is good and what is bad..."'
Genesis
2:22
He
stared at the door for a few seconds took a deep breath, and
knocked
politely.
"Enter,"
came the deep voice from behind the door.
He
pressed the button and the door slid open, "I have the tactical
operations
department report on candidate 312 sir," said Major Veitch
as he
walked into Commander Fuji's office.
The
Commander sat behind his large desk in his overly large office,
the
Major had heard that it had been designed to be this big by the
former
commander of NERV HQ, for some reason known only to himself.
To the
side of the desk stood the Chairperson of E-Project, and the
Chief
of Intelligence section 2.
"Good,"
Fuji said, "I have already received the Medical, Science,
and
Intelligence reports, and have already had plenty of time to
review
them."
Veitch
visibly winced as he handed over his report, "I'm sorry I
didn't
get this to you sooner sir, but I had trouble looking up
files
on the subject, either there were no files on Candidate 312
before
3rd Impact or they have all been deleted, the earliest files
available
date back to only about three and a half months ago"
The
Commander flipped through the report for about half a minute
before
looking back to the Major, "Don't worry Major, there are
files
on this candidate, but they have been... classified."
The
Commander turned to the two to his right, "Thank you for
delivering
your reports, you may go."
Veitch
turned to leave with the others, but stopped when he heard
the
Commander's voice, "Wait behind a minute please, Major Veitch,
I would
like a word with you."
"Yes
sir," he replied.
Fuji
flipped through the Major's report and waited for the other
two to
leave before talking to him again.
"So
Major, what do you really think about this situation? I can tell
by the
tone of your report that you aren't exactly happy, and that
you
haven't said all that you wanted too either. Don't worry about
what
you say here, this is all off record and what you say will not
be
counted against you."
Veitch
shuffled his feet on the floor and glanced around uncomfortably.
He drew
a deep breath and began, "I know that we have no evidence
beside
the testimony of one wounded soldier and against that we have
all of
the test data saying that the candidate couldn't have caused
what
happened and the unanimous opinion of the Magi saying that it
was all
coincidence but..."
Fuji
looked at him intently "Go on, but..."
Veitch
took another deep breath before proceeding, "I don't know sir,
it just
feels... wrong." He paused for a second, trying to put his
thoughts
in order, "First we have a 1st level candidate straight out
of his
reintegration program running into some new type of Angel,
which
somehow bypassed our security and got into the geofront with
not
even a single alarm raised. This Angel then promptly decides to
attack
this one candidate, when it could have chosen to attack a more
important
target such as NERV HQ. The candidate then runs into a
security
detail and according to one creates a "force field" which
sounds
to me an accurate description of the second AT Field we
detected,
and to top it all off, the candidate then promptly faints
and
conveniently forgets everything that happened to him after the
alarm
sirens sounded. That just happens to be a few too many
coincidences
for me."
The
Commander considered this for a while, then replied, "Your
arguments
are quite impressive Major, but I am afraid that all of
the
available evidence disagrees with your opinion. I would advise
you to drop
this matter and from now on leave such concerns to
section
2, you are dismissed Major"
Major
Veitch promptly stood to attention, "Yes Sir," he said as he
saluted,
he turned and marched stiffly out of the office.
When he
had left, a shadow detached itself from one of the dark
corners
of the room behind the Commander's desk.
"You
were listening?" Fuji asked rhetorically, the shadow didn't
bother
to answer. "What are the
Director's orders concerning the
candidate?"
Fuji
could feel the shadow's eyes boring into his back "This incident
occurred
as it was recorded, an Angel broke into the geofront, but was
brought
down by NERV personnel before it could cause any damage, the
candidate's
involvement went only so far as that he was the first to
sight
the Angel. Nothing more than that occurred. As to the future
position
of the candidate, the Director's orders are unchanged."
Fuji
thought his way through the implications of that for a while,
before
asking his next question, "And the Major?"
"Nothing
is to happen to the Major, he poses no problem at the
moment,
but keep a close watch on him, if it becomes necessary,
you
know how to deal with the situation."
Fuji
sighed "Yes, I do."
**********
Michael
finished packing his bag and looked around the austere
Hospital
room.
If it
is supposed to be a place of healing, why have they made it look
so
depressing? he thought to himself.
He took
one last look at the room they had kept him in for three days
while
they had repeatedly ran tests, and asked him questions about
something
which had happened to him but he couldn't remember.
Oh
well, he thought, I'd better get to that test centre, I'm
already
three days late for my appointment.
He
walked through the door and started walking down the corridor
to his
left. He had gone only perhaps twenty paces when he heard a
voice
behind him, "Hey, wait up!"
Michael
turned to see another boy of perhaps 16 running towards him,
when he
had finally reached Michael he stopped, paused a minute to
catch
his breath, then said, "Hi, you must be Michael Kysler. My name
is
Shiro Tachibana, I have been instructed to show you the way to the
CTEC."
Michael
looked at him, a puzzled expression on his face, "CTEC?"
"Oh,
sorry, I forgot you were new, CTEC: Central Test and Evaluation
Centre"
responded Shiro, "If you have no objections, I'll show you the
way
now."
"Sure
go right ahead."
**********
As they
walked through the many streets Shiro pointed out the many
sites
and explained the purpose of many of the buildings around.
From
what Michael could piece together from his lessons and Shiro's
observations
he found that the Geofront had originally been selected
for use
as a military installation with most of the accommodations of
the
work force and their families being on the surface in the city
named
Tokyo 3, Michael involuntarily looked up at the cave ceiling
and
shuddered again at the thought of all that rock hanging over him.
There
wasn't any purpose in looking up however as the once proud city
of
Tokyo 3 was now nothing more than a bunch of ruins in a dirty mud
puddle,
which could be laughingly referred to as a "lake".
During
the 14 years of Man's absence from the planet nature had
reclaimed
much of the surface with brutal efficiency, leaving the
surface
much too dangerous for Man while he was trying to rebuild
civilisation.
Therefore as many people as could fit into the
geofront
safely had retreated to this haven, converting many of the
old
military buildings into accommodation.
As
Shiro continued his commentary on the places that they passed,
Michael
phased him out of his thoughts, giving only grunts when he
felt
Shiro required a response to his ramblings.
Michael
was too busy trying to set some order to the myriad thoughts
which
were running through his mind, there seemed to be many more
questions
than answers.
Why had
third impact occurred?
What
happened to cause fourth impact?
How
could the race of Man survive in a disembodied state for 14 years
and
then suddenly return to where they started from?
Why
couldn't he remember his life before third impact?
What
happened to him the day he left the re-education centre?
How...?
He shut
out the whys, whats, and hows and instead tried to focus on
what he
did know. He knew that third impact had been an attempt to
make
man into God, and that it succeeded (He knew that from the few
remaining
memories of that existence, and what little the people
told
him during his reintegration program), but beyond that he knew
very
little about it.
He then
began to think about fourth impact.
Well I
don't know a lot, but what I can make out is that fourth
impact...
A voice
interrupted his train of thought, "We're here."
Michael's
eyes came back into focus and he looked around, "Huh? What?"
He saw
Shiro standing in front of him, and beyond him a large
building
surrounded by a well-guarded perimeter fence, "Oh right,
this
must be CTEC."
Shiro
gave him a funny look, shook his head and grabbed his arm,
"Come
on, we're already late as it is."
He then
started dragging Michael to the gate before he could even
think
of responding.
**********
A fist
slammed down on the desk, "Let me in there dammit!" The
twenty
year old shouted at the female NERV security officer behind
the
desk.
The
woman calmly looked up at the dark haired young man in front of
her,
"I am sorry sir, this is a restricted area, authorised personnel
only."
"I'm
an EVA pilot, how much more authorization can you get than
that?"
the man gave her a glare which would probably scare a normal
person
half to death.
However,
she was not just an ordinary person, she was NERV Security,
"I'm
sorry sir, ordinarily I would let you in there, but these
orders
come from the highest level. I can't let you through."
The
pilot just stood there for a minute, clenching and unclenching
his
fist, the rage building in him visibly. He then spun round and
smashed
his fist into an unoffending wall, "Damn him!" He shouted,
"Why
can't he leave my life alone?"
He
promptly stormed out of the security office at the NERV Medical
Facility,
and marched down the corridor. When he found an empty room
he
entered and leaned against the door.
He took
a silver locket out from under his shirt, opened it and
looked
at the picture of the red headed girl inside.
"Asuka..."
he whispered.
**********
A woman
with long dark hair, wearing a beige NERV uniform with the
letters
"CTEC" printed under the normal NERV insignia, looked up
and
smiled at him, "Ah the wandering student finally arrives," she
said in
a friendly tone, "you've missed most of the induction course,
but
lucky for you, classes won't start until the day after tomorrow."
Michael
could only stand there and say, "Err... yes."
She
grabbed his wrist and placed a small object in his hand, he looked
down to
see a key card lying on his open palm, "You are in room 438
on the
eighth floor, you have half an hour to settle in, then you
must
report to lecture hall 5, I hope you will be happy here."
She
smiled at him again, then turned back to the stack of papers
on her
desk.
Michael
turned to Shiro who was standing at his side, "Can you show
me
where my room is please?" he asked.
Shiro
was looking at the woman behind the desk (who was now humming
to
herself as she worked), with a strange expression on his face.
The
expression disappeared when he heard Michael's voice, "Sure, just
follow
me," he said before walking towards a nearby elevator.
As they
left the elevator on the eighth floor and walked through the
various
corridors leading to Michael's new room, the two passed by
many
girls and women, many of whom wore smiles on their faces.
Michael
took note that the strange expression had appeared on
Shiro's
face again. Michael could sense Shiro wanted to say
something,
but he kept quiet.
When
they reached Michael's room, Shiro showed him the amenities,
the
tiny bathroom, the bedroom, the central living area and the
small
kitchen area. After he finished talking, Shiro hopped from
one
foot to the other looking like he was about to burst, which he
inevitably
did;
"WOW!"
he exclaimed, "With a talent like that, I think we can become
fast
friends." He seemed to consider what he had just said and added
hastily,
"Of course I was going to be your friend before I noticed
your
talent, you understand."
Michael
was taken aback by the other boy's enthusiasm, "Hang on, your
going
too fast for me, what is this talent your babbling about?"
Shiro
just stared at him for a few seconds, "Your really naive
aren't
you." He scratched the back of his head, "Maybe that's what
attracts
them?" he mused to himself.
Michael
was starting to get annoyed, "Stop messing around; just tell
me what
your babbling about."
Shiro
shook his head and sighed, "Very well," he paused dramatically
for a
second, "You, Michael Kysler, are a genuine babe magnet."
Michael
stared at him for a few seconds and then burst out laughing,
"You
can't be serious," he managed to say between chuckles.
"Its
true," came the reply, "Didn't you see all the women we passed?
Most of
them wouldn't even bother to give me the time of day, but as
soon as
you show up they start grinning like they were high on
something."
"I
still don't believe what you're telling me. This is just a
coincidence,
its probably just that you've upset them in the past
and
they smile at everyone but you."
Shiro
seemed to consider that for a moment, "Huh, maybe your right,
but I
think I'll hang around with you anyway, just in case."
He
walked to the door and opened it, "You just settle in here, I'll
be back
in twenty minutes to show you to your lecture hall."
**********
A
Biohazard Lab somewhere in Central Dogma:-
"...autopsy
of the Angel like being killed inside the geofront.
Current
designation of sample: SA01. Contrary to earlier assumption,
SA01
shows no closer resemblance to the conventional Angels than to
Man.
SA01 shows a previously unseen genetic and waveform pattern,
totally
unlike the patterns of Angels or Humans. Preliminary analysis
of SA01
showed absence of organs generally assumed to contribute to
the
generation of AT Fields, however, secondary evidence proves that
SA01
was capable of generating such a Field, or something similar."
The
person who was talking picked up a scalpel from a tray, and turned
to the
corpse on the table.
"I
am now making a lateral incision..."
**********
To be
continued...
"The
second horror is over,
but the
third horror will come soon!"
Revelations
11:14
---------------------------------------------------------------
Author's
Note:
If you
have any comments about this fanfic then gladly send them to
me.
Janok_Re
<jreproduct@hotmail.com>