A line of watchtowers, connected by the lenses of Celebrimbor, were now being er ected along the western coast of Valinor

under the direction of Aule and Gil-Gal ad. Further, they were building a command fortress near the Halls of Mandos and Nienna fs halls, which would hold one of the surviving Palantirs. Findis, eldest child of Finwe and Ingis, and thus younger sister to Feanor, had laid aside her sculpting work to come and assist in this, attuning the lenses an d working with several other ancient Elves like herself to try to link the Palan tirs and the lenses. The goal was to be able to use the central Palantir to send messages if need be to every lens on the western coast at once. Findis was short and slender, with strawberry-blonde hair, clad as usual in blue robes of shimmering samite, tied at the waist with a golden cord secured with a pen shaped like a chisel. She was busy carving a massive stone setting to place the Palantir into as Gil-Galad came to check on things; it would be moved into the castle once it was finished. Gil-Galad hoped there would be time to finish, though thankfully his workers were dedicated. Unfortunately, most knew nothing of fortification. Though Elves reproduce slowly , those alive in the first three ages of the world were now outnumbered by young er elves who had never known war. gHow is it going, Aunt Findis? h Gil-Galad asked, leaning on his great spear, Aeglo s. It was a copy of the original, which had been lost at his death in Arda long, long ago. gOnce I finish, we can test this, h she said. tion of each lens to work into the design. h gI need a list of the official designa

He handed it over, having anticipated this. She continued to work and he observe d, until she said, gYes? h gAnything else you need? h gPatience, h she said flatly. gTrue works of power cannot be rushed, you know that. h gYou can ft imagine what this is going to be like

gYou never left Valinor, h he said. or the need for speed. h He frowned.

gI was not stupid enough to rush off and die needlessly in a world we were not ma de for, yes, h Findis said, frowning. gUnlike your father. h Gil-Galad scowled and said, gFather would not leave his kin behind! h

gFeanor was an idiot and your line should have let him rush off and die as he des erved, h Findis said hotly. gArda is not for us. Let it handle its own affairs, we have enough to do here. h gThe creator did not make us to just live in Valinor, h Gil-Galad said. They went round and round on this for hours until finally one of Gil-Galad fs aide s found him and dragged him away to other duties. Eventually, he calmed down and felt embarrassed he fd wasted so much time after getting frustrated that all of t his took so long. Too many of the Elves were still taking their own sweet time. He did it himself sometimes. Valinor made it too easy to relax. But the Shadow did not sleep and they could not afford to drowse. But he didn ft k now how to get people to stop. ***************

gThe plan looks solid, h Misato said to Commander Ikari; she, Commander Ikari, and Captain Berg were meeting to work on plans for an expedition down into the Deeps to secure Element Alpha and other rare minerals needed for the new Ranger and P roject S-1, one of Dr. Eida fs efforts to increase HALO production. Captain Hans Berg, head of City Defense (which included expeditions into the Dee p), grimaced. gX-39 is a dangerous sector. h His wife had died there a few years ag o, in fact. He was a tall man, strong and brave, with ash-blond hair starting to show a few grey hairs, clean shaven with a strong jaw and powerful limbs and to rso. gI know. Nevertheless, there is a substantial amount of already processed mineral s of the type we require to be found in that sector. Need I remind you there is no other known source for Element Alpha? h Element Alpha was a crucial component o f Ranger weaponry, resembling silver, though it did not tarnish. Alloyed with ot her metals, it took on special properties. Most importantly, it resonated with H ALO, creating weapons able to deal with the most dangerous Wraiths. gAnd every trip involves high casualties, h Captain Berg said, leaning forward; he had a powerful physical presence, but Gendo was not someone you could impress wi th that. The thought of more death there repulsed him. He could not help but rem ember Rachel; his wife had been nearly as tall as him, strong for a woman but no t even close to their daughter fs physical power. She fd faced a lot of difficulty a s a female soldier, but she fd persevered. And then she fd died, sacrificing herself against a type four Wraith, somehow kill ing it and enabling the others to escape. Including that rat-fucker Agent Kaji, whose poor leadership had nearly gotten them all killed to start with. But NERV had seen it differently to Captain Berg fs frustration. He fd nearly resigned over it, but if he left NERV, he fd be abandoning his men. And he felt he had a duty to help protect humanity and avenge his dead brother and now his wife. But it wasn ft easy some days, like this. Misato sighed. gI assume you will need Rei. h gIt is risky but her talents

gIf no other crisis presents itself, yes, h Gendo said. are critical for any safe operation in this area. h

Captain Berg grimaced. His own effort to qualify as a Ranger pilot had shown him why they had to use children but he didn ft like it. But Rei Ayanami, whatever sh e was, was loyal to NERV and amazingly competent, calm, and collected. She also possessed very rare abilities. And if she fd been there, possibly his wife would not have died. Olga would want to go but he couldn ft let her. He sometimes wondered if he had ma de the right choice but he could not bear to lose her too. She wouldn ft be happy but unhappiness could not kill you. He knew that well. ****************** Neon Genesis Silmarillion (an EVA/Tolkien Legendarium fusion)

Book 2: Sharpening the Sword Chapter 1: The Deeps ****************** gWhat are the Deeps? h Shinji asked Misato. He was doing homework; school had started and it was now early September, a litt le cooler but just really getting into fall. Already, many of his friends had id entified Latin as the great evil of their existence; Shinji wasn ft bad at it; it just seemed a waste of time. Misato was herself seated at the bar with Shinji. Space had been cleared to buy a table but she was waiting for her next paycheck. She had headphones on and was busy talking to herself as she did a language lesson; Shinji had seen she was s tudying some ancient language, one that used the rune letters c Tengwar. But it wa sn ft the one Kyoko busted out at the slightest excuse now. Misato, in fact, didn ft notice the question, so Shinji did Latin for a while and tried again. On the third try, Misato took off her headphones. gI need another beer, h she said. gWhat are the Deeps? h Shinji repeated. She blinked and looked at his Latin homework. gThat fs in your homework? h gI heard you on the phone earlier, h Shinji told her. Misato nodded. gThe Deeps are ancient ruins of the Casari combined with a cavern network. It fs full of Wraiths of various kinds and also all sorts of useful goodi es. Including huge stacks of worked metal. So we fre sending an expedition down to seize some. It fs a tricky tactical problem because we have a limited number of p eople who can handle it without freaking out and even fewer who can stand up to the worst ones. h She sighed. gAnd because we have to usually send Rei, since she c an rally people against the fear and fight well enough to deal with the worst th ings. h gIs that where Olga fs mother died? h Shinji asked softly. gYes, h Misato said. gIt fs why he won ft let Olga get involved in anything other than t raining. h She sighed. gHopefully, things will stay quiet but we may have a recurre nce of things like Lintaleuca and we don ft even know why. h gThey still haven ft figured it out? h Shinji asked. . gNo. Which means it might be a fluke or it may start happening daily, h Misato said gThat fs why VINGILOT never sleeps, ever. h gIt fs a machine, h Shinji said hesitantly. gA network of satellites. But you know what I mean, h Misato said, finally rising t o go get her beer. gYou want one? h gSure, h Shinji said. gYou know anything about Latin? h gSorry, Shinji. Isn ft a bunch of your kind of music wr

gI know it exists, h she said. itten in it? h

That was true, Shinji thought. gAm I going to have to go into the Deeps? h he asked

hesitantly. gNot any time soon. You fre making good progress but Rei has a ton of experience, h M isato said, fishing out two beers and coming back. gIt fs okay if Shinobu comes ove r and studies with you, you know, h she told him. gJust make sure you stop in time for bed. h Shinji was still not really used to the idea of not studying alone. d and called her. Misato studied him alling her because hought. I haven ft oyfriends but they d to her; she wasn gOkay, h he sai

and wondered if he had wanted to call her or if he was just c she had suggested it. She still didn ft understand how Shinji t actually *lived* with a guy for so long, she thought. She had b were usually straightforward, whereas Shinji's mind was close ft good at doing mental things with her ring, anyway.

She couldn ft read him, unlike, say, Tom or Richard or Harold or Hikaru. This was both unnerving and kind of exciting. At times, she felt like she was on a gamesh ow with mystery boxes. Having Shinobu here would be fun, though; she liked Shinobu, though she fd been li ttle like her at that age. But then, I would hardly recognize myself either way, Misato thought. It was likely for the best that time travel was impossible. ****************** gI fm going to have a big birthday party, h Shinobu said excitedly. ? h gI said I would make a cake, h Shinji said hesitantly. tead of me. h gYou fll come, right

gI wasn ft going to send it ins

Misato laughed and Shinobu buried her face in her hands, while Shinji frowned an d had a sip of his beer. Kyoko had come over as well to Misato fs surprise; she was studying what Misato wa s working on. gI recognize the letters but not the words, h she said. gQuenya, the root language of the ancient languages, h Misato said. tin of ancient languages. h gIt fs like the La gSay so

gOh wow, I fm not even close to moving on to that yet, h Kyoko said excitedly. mething in it. h Misato racked her brain, trying to think of something impressive, then sang soft ly, { Let us A past Of the A time sing a song of ancient days forgotten, lost in the haze smoke of ancient war and lands lost of heroes long forgot }

gThat fs the start, h she said. gOf a half-finished version of the Tale of Beren and L uthien. I was kind of aggravated when I found out the end was missing. h Huan now bounded in and began affectionately trying to climb on Kyoko, who laugh ed and ruffled his fur. gFather named Huan after the magical dog from the story, h Misato said softly, then had more of her beer.

gCan I c, h Kyoko began. gNot until you fre fourteen, h Misato said sternly. It seemed odd to Shinji to see he r be stern. g c read your translation? h Kyoko said. Misato buried her face in her hands. gI just read it in the original; I was reall y proud of myself. Dr. Scott may have a translation. h Luthien; the name seemed oddly familiar to Shinji. A dream, maybe. He remembered a dog in some of them c or did he? He fd heard people often rewrite their memories over time. Maybe I added Huan to my memories of the dreams because he fs so nice. Huan now was busy climbing on Shinobu, who hugged him tightly. gWe need a table, h Shinobu said. gThe bar doesn ft have room for four. h

gYou and Shinji can hog the couch; Kyoko can sit c no, she needs to be near you. If I go to the couc c no, not enough. This is like that stupid fox, sheep, and cucum ber problem, h Misato grumbled. gWe fll just sit around the coffee table by the couch, h Kyoko said. The other two kids nodded and Kyoko herded them over. Shinji was soon busy helping them instead of doing his own homework, but Misato let it slide; he fd have to learn how to balance things; she felt oddly envious of him, getting to have a nice normal if probably doomed relationship of the kind she fd never really had; her life had been too strange for it. But she wanted Shinji to have some space to be a normal kid. Especially if he ha d to go out and fight in her stead. She grimaced and decided she could have just one more beer tonight. There was wo rk tomorrow. gWhen fs your birthday, Shinobu? h she asked. gSame as my brother, September 12. We fll have a double party so Shinji doesn ft have try to go to both at the same time, h Shinobu said, then laughed. gHow could I even do that? h Shinji asked weakly. Now Misato regretted she wouldn ft get to see that play out. Back to her work; she had yet another case to master, made worse by her not bein g sure how that case worked in English *or* Japanese. The genitive and possessiv e cases seemed to be exactly the same thing so clearly there was some subtle thi ng to work out here. Misato was not good at subtle. ****************** Shinji was not fond of running, especially not through endless metal corridors w here he easily got lost. Unfortunately, Lt. Hyuuga seemed very fond of it, and R ei and Asuka didn ft have a problem with it, so now *he* had to run as well, with

Asuka right behind him, trying to make him go faster. gIf you fre going to be a pil ot, you fre going to have to *measure up*, h she told him firmly. To his frustration, he couldn ft match Rei for speed and probably not Asuka, but h e might *never* know because she was behind him, pushing him. gAsuka, if you keep pushing him, he fll fall down, h Lt. Hyuuga said, looking back. H e also seemed basically tireless, while Shinji was tired. gSorry, Makoto! h Asuka said and stopped, just running ahead of Rei, then back arou nd Shinji; the circling made him feel stalked and Asuka doing it so easily was r ather annoying. Rei, on the other hand, apparently didn ft care; she fd been utterly silent and the one glimpse he fd gotten of her face, she looked half-asleep. They ran past some offices and everyone ran to the long windows to look; Shinji was not sure why the office needed huge glass windows instead of walls, unless p eople really urgently needed to see paperwork being done as they ran by. One of the Lieutenant fs friends was there; Shinji couldn ft remember her name, but she fd be en over at Misato fs during the great drunk frenzy a few weeks ago and she blew Lt . Hyuuga a kiss but Shinji didn ft think he noticed. Then they up an out of service escalator to another level and kept going with As uka right by Shinji fs side; she kept running just a little quicker and looking di sappointed when Shinji didn ft speed up. gGuess you fre gonna tell the guys two girls outran you, h Asuka said a little sourly. gNever run this much in my life, h Shinji huffed and puffed. gHe fs just starting out, h Lt. Hyuuga said. Shinji relaxed a little; someone understood. Asuka frowned but made no more comments for now. ******************* gAnyway, everyone in the program is invited, h Shinobu said to the kids as they all came out of the changing rooms, ready to go home. gBut no killing each other. Th is is a *happy* party. And we fre making it for Rei too. h Rei blinked at this. gSince I found out her birthday is the day after mine, h Shinobu said. gYou might actually ask Rei if that fs okay, h Touji said, amused. gOkay, h Rei said. Asuka blinked in surprise, then put a hand on her forehead. gYou sick? h gLay off him. h

gDon ft mock her, h Shinobu said firmly to Asuka. gA few girls from my class will be t here and some of Ken fs outside friends and you can invite friends too, of course, Rei. h gAll my friends are here, h Rei said and Shinobu fs face crashed. gSeriously? h she said, stunned.

gSeriously, h Rei said. Shinobu clearly had *no clue* what to say to that. gWell, double the reason for you to come, h Kensuke said. s on your birthday. h gYou should be with friend

gI suppose I should count Kevin, h Rei said, looking thoughtful. gHe says he has a special joke for your birthday, so he fd better come, h Lars said. Rei nodded seriously, and Shinobu said hastily, gNo practical jokes; if anything gets damaged, I fll be paying for it until I die. h gYou could not call Kevin practical, h Rei said. gAt all. h ****************** gYou can ft die, because I have the best joke in the world for you for your birthda y, h Kevin told her on the phone. gAnd I will, of course, come. Thanks for inviting me. h Rei prayed she would not regret this. Sometimes he was good company and sometime s he was a dunderhead. And a little obsessed with football, basketball, making p eople laugh, and other frivolous things. But he was Lars f best friend and so she had to deal with him. gI should be back in time for the party, h Rei said. gMission? h he said softly. gIt fs classified, h she told him. gPlease ensure Lars doesn ft worry too much. h

gOf course, h he said seriously. gKeeping you two happy is how I contribute to defen ding the world. h She could tell he believed that and she couldn ft help but smile for a moment. n do your duty, h she said firmly. He laughed softly. gI fll pray for you. h She didn ft fully understand his religion and her mother didn f general. But Rei had her own beliefs, those of her peop her here, she would go to the Halls of Mandos and wait duty did hold her here and she did not know if she woul gThe

gThank you, h she said. t approve of religion in le. If duty did not hold there for new flesh. But d ever be free of it.

Whereas, one day, Kevin and Lars would pass on to the Halls of the Creator and s he would not see them again until the end of the world. Which hopefully would no t come any time soon, not that she wished a parting. But she would sacrifice her happiness before the world fs survival. It was her dut y and she would do it, whatever the cost. Eldar put duty first. Good ones, anyway. gI fd better let you go. Good luck. God bless, h he said softly. gI am sure the Creator will bless you as well, h she said seriously and hung up.

She would at minimum, lose the weekend to this so it was time to get cracking on her homework. She had to get ahead enough so this trip would not leave her behi nd. ****************** Lieutenant Corrine Hall sat on a bench in the changing room, busy studying the u nit rosters for the mission, her short, wavy black hair tucked inside her helmet . The rest of the women in her five squads were busy changing into their armor; painted black and gold, it provided the best protection possible for anything wo man-portable, stopping bullets, claws, and swords alike. Or at worst, slowing th em down. Though she fd heard that the last mission to where they were going, the m onster had been able to rip people fs armor open. Said monster was now thankfully dead, due to the death of Sgt. Rachel Berg. Corr ine closed her eyes for a moment and prayed, remembering her, hoping she was in heaven. If there was one. But if there was, she had earned her ticket there. That had been the last mission beyond the range two checkpoints which had not in cluded the oddest member of her company, Rei Ayanami, Dr. Akagi fs daughter. Corri ne turned and looked across the changing room at Rei, who was busy suiting up in silence, while everyone else joked and talked to dispel their nerves. Private Josephine Rice towered over Rei, about nine or ten inches taller than he r, changing into her own armor. She was allegedly Italian in descent but Corrine was pretty sure Italians didn ft have names like hers. gYou ever been down where w e are going? h she asked Rei. gI have been deeper but in a different sector, h Rei said, pulling on the top and p icking up her helmet. gNo one has gone back to this route in quite a while. h She l ooked over at Corrine. gThat fs right. Didn ft you pay attention in the briefing, private? h Corrine said, irr itated. Rice was a crack shot but she never paid enough attention outside of com bat. gI just shoot who I get told to, sa c Lieutenant, h Rice said, helping Rei secure her gear. Corrine had been down into the Deeps multiple times; it was why she fd been chosen . But she fd never gone quite so deep. It was going to be a three day round trip a nd she fd never been more than a one day round trip. She fd studied the map and reco rds of the last trip, but they would be beyond any outposts and beyond contact. If anything happened, they could not call any reinforcements. Possibly if anythi ng happened, no one would know what happened to them, until another expedition f ound them. But that was the price of being a soldier. You had to risk death. As long as the risk was worth the potential gain, you could handle it. gASSHOLES AND ELBOWS! h they heard one of the guys shout on the other side of the w all. Laughter ensued. Rei stared at the wall, an eyebrow raised. gIt fs a movie line, from the movie Aliens, from c the eighties some time, h Lana Garci a said, hefting her rifle. She was a short, sturdy blond, another member of one of the two ranged squads going on the mission. Her hair looked bleached, her one concession to vanity. gThis gonna be a bug hunt, Lieutenant? h she said, grinning.

Corrine didn ft want to be a downer but she was not much of a joker. gLet fs hope not . Ideally, we fll get the metal and everything will go smoothly and no one will di e. h Most of the time, you ended up with a lot of injured but few dead. The armor was very good and most foes uncoordinated. But she fd never forget seeing Hannigan simply impaled by a dropping stalagmite th at turned out to have teeth and a boring tongue. gI see, h Rei said calmly; it was hard to tell if she approved or disapproved of th e movie or its use here. gLet fs mourn when we fre dead, h Garcia said. gThe dead do not mourn, h Rei said. gMourning is for the living. h She closed her eyes and they could see her lips move. She always did that before a mission, so far as Corrine had observed. She waited for Rei to finish, by which time everyone was ready; she hustled them out to me et with the guys and head for the gate. **************** The five squads assembled for the mission stood around while the gate techs slow ly opened Gate D, the fourth of four gates which connected Sub-Level 12 to the D eeps, the vast region of caverns and worked stone which lay beneath the Geo-Fron t. Once home to now long dead aliens, it was full of horrible Wraiths, strange a nd fantastic landscapes, and wondrous treasures if you could live to get them ho me. Bill Walker was huge; only Cooper was bigger than him, but Cooper was one of the melee experts and Bill was part of the transport squad. He could fight but he w as there half to use his strength when needed to move the Element Alpha once the y had it and half because he was trained to do repairs on the carts they were go ing to have to haul it in. Bill was also there because he fd been on the last miss ion to their destination. He hadn ft been outside the secure zones since then, as he usually operated with the squads bringing supplies to the forward perimeter w atch points. Bill had seen Rei; everyone had seen Rei who did anything with the Deeps. But he f d never been on a mission with her. She looked so small and weak. He fd heard stor ies but never seen her fight. On the other hand, she was the least nervous perso n here. He fd heard she fought with a spear, but instead she carried a beautifully made sword with a jeweled hilt. gWhere did that come from? h Montez asked; Montez, who was from Peru, was part of t he transport squad, but he was trained as a radio tech. He had scientific preten sions. Middling in height and build, he was very proud of his nation and his mou stache. gI thought you used a spear. h gThis is Orcrist, the Goblin-Cleaver, h Rei said, turning to look at him. de to slay Greys. h He grinned. gIt was ma

gWell, if that fs what it likes, I think it fs gonna love this trip. h

The gate lumbered open all the way, a huge vault door which led into a c not a rea l airlock as there was no great air differential, but somewhat like one. It was Walker fs understanding that it was set up with murderholes for dealing with invad ers as a last ditch defense. The outer gate then opened and they passed into the Deeps.

************** Squad one, melee experts, took point with Rei in the lead. There was only one wo man in the first melee squad beyond Rei, upper body strength was key here. They had swords and axes with shields. Their job was to handle things bullets would n ot kill. Squad Two was armed with two grenade launchers and a variety of guns; the weakes t creatures would be mowed down by them; most of the women in the squads were in Squad Two and Squad Four, another ranged Unit. Lt. Hall was in the middle with the transport experts of Squad Three, with Squad Four behind them and Squad Five, the second melee squad, behind them. Sgt. Coop er, who had the most Deeps experience of anyone present beyond Rei, was in the m iddle of Squad Five with a giant two-handed sword. The first few hours were routine, lots of going up and down staircases, through long hallways littered with traps that either failed long ago or had been disarm ed (possibly the hard way) by previous groups, with interludes in natural cavern s. The trip between the gates and the Forward Posts was usually safe, and everyo ne here had made that journey to one or more of the Forward Posts several times; the transport squadders knew it like the back of their hand due to hauling supp lies to the Forward Posts once or twice a week. The five squads reached Forward Post Delta-1 at the end of two hours of travel; this observation post guarded the transition from Sector D-1 to D-2. Convenientl y, for whatever reason, the makers of this place had put a guard house with slau ghter holes here. The gates had been smashed from the other side originally but now they had sturdy modern security doors. Generators enabled lights and air cir culation and it was a nice place to take a five minute break. The men stationed here said everything was quiet except for a swarm of cave crickets an hour earli er. That could be chance or it might mean they were fleeing something. asked. gRei? h Lt. Hall

Rei stood still and let her mind drift into the world beyond the world, the real m where dreams existed; probably the dreams of cave crickets would be useless to her, but perhaps they would leave some trace which would illuminate affairs. Nothing; the dreams of the men here had drowned out any traces the crickets migh t have left. Regretfully, she returned fully to the waking world. gNothing, h she said apologetically. gWell, let fs go forward, h Lt. Hall said, shaking her head. She looked disappointed and Rei felt regretful she had nothing more to share. The units now moved out. Sector D-2 was wet and cold; there was a carved flat path, designed to look like interlocking diamond shapes, but once you left it, it was full of limestone wit h misshapen green walls and stalagtites and stalagmites like jagged fangs as if you were crawling into a beast fs mouth. There was a small bridge over a stream fu ll of albino fish and nearby, a waterfall thundered down over weirdly shaped str ands of rock deposited by the flow, slowly forcing it to bulge out more and more . Lt. Hall frowned at the stalactites and stalagmites. gWatch out; lots of creature s like to use these natural formations to hide inside and then burst out or fall on you and kill. h

Rei felt them out, searching for minds, while everyone waited and kept watch. Th is would take a while. Everyone kept an eye out for trouble and did small tasks while they waited for w hat seemed like forever. gNothing in this cavern, h Rei said. Lt. Hall now sent Squad 1 to cross the bridge with Squad 2 covering them. Rei le d the way as Hall eyed the rock formations. Rei wasn ft omniscient, though she was rarely wrong when it came to this sort of thing if she had time to concentrate. The road led up out of the cavern into another similar one; the surface of the r oad was now carved to resemble interlocking axe-blades. gSomeone had too much tim e on their hands, h Rice said, looking at the surface. gAnd so do you; eyes forward, h Lt. Hall said. gThey loved to work in things permanent, trying to make something eternal in a wo rld which fades, h Rei said sadly, eyes darting about as they moved forward, light s on helmets illuminating the forward path. gEverything dies, h Lt. Hall said, and sighed. to go. h gCome on, everyone. We fve a long ways

She made them hustle for a while; best to save time now while they faced no oppo sition. They hustled down the path through endless limestone, passing some side paths. They stopped at one intersection which actually had tables to sit at, tho ugh it was scaled for really short people. The side path which crossed their rou te was engraved with fancy diamond shapes, each of which had runes embossed into it. This was a fancier version of how the road had been earlier today. Each blo ck had three runes carved onto it and there were a dozen or so repeating blocks. No one knew what any of them meant, though she had Montez make rubbings of the distinctive ones to add to NERV fs supply of rubbings of runes. gIt probably says eThis road sponsored by Blagal Corp, f h Chang said. He was short and slender but quick with his head shaved; she hadn ft s een anyone else Chinese who shaved their head completely. Everyone laughed and they drank bottled water and talked quietly while Squad fou r kept watch. Everything was still quiet; they hadn ft seen anything beyond cave c rickets and blind fish. Rei listened to the conversation without joining in; her mind was busy feeling o ut the world of dreams and trying to sense any lurking minds; the dreaming was h eavily frayed here, nearly faded away, with only a few fragments of ancient drea ms remaining and a handful of dreams of the dumb animals which formed the base o f the animate levels of the food chain. Lars would still be awake, and likely fretting. He always worried, even though h e knew that in the worst case, she would return anyway. She fd tried to tell him t his but it never quite sank in. She was the one who had to worry about him; life was fragile and if he died, she would not see him again, unless the prophecies were true, and even then, it was no guarantee she could find him. Her mind flicked through all of those on the mission; she knew their names and f aces and fragments of information about each of them but she didn ft know them wel

l. Not like she knew Mother or Lars or Commander Katsuragi. She was too young to really do things like go to bars with them; she knew them through duty and thro ugh their shared missions and the bits of personal life which surfaced. The same for most of her classmates. Names, faces, pieces of information but she knew few of them as a whole. It suddenly hit her that she actually probably kne w Kevin the best after Lars for all that he sometimes aggravated her. She knew h is dreams and his hopes and his flaws and his past. And the future he hoped for. It was such a normal dream. Nothing high and noble in it c but nothing really bad, either. If there was anything of the high and noble ancestors of men in Kevin, it hid well from Rei. As it stood, though, it seemed likely his career would be brief if it happened at all; total war would come soon, and then dreams such as his would have to be put aside. Rei hoped for herself to have a chance to follow Mother fs path, but she feared wa r would dominate her destiny. And it was unlikely she would meet whoever was mea nt for her until the apocalypse; to love a human was to become part of a tragedy for an Eldar. Even if her body sometimes had stray thoughts of its own. Like Ikari, which it liked to look at. Other boys too were pleasing to the eye a t times until she forced her mind and body to obey as an Eldar fs body should. She had little time for a boyfriend, anyway. gIs something wrong? h Rice asked Rei, looking worried. gWe are in no immediate danger. I was just thinking of school related matters, h Re i said. gI don ft know how you juggle this and school, h Walker said. gAnd being a pilot, too. h He shook his head, then chugged the rest of his bottle of water and put it down . gWe have only had one attack in all this time that needed Rangers to stop; we hop e to have some years to train and build more Rangers, h Rei said, now sipping some water from a bottle. It was easy to forget, as she could control her thirst. So metimes perhaps too much so. There was a spurt of gunfire and everyone leaped to their feet. A strange two-he aded albino, hairless dog-like creature was now dead; the sentries, not recogniz ing the species, had shot it just to be sure. gTime to move on, h Lt. Hall said, rising. They now moved out. ************** Oddly, it was kind of a relief when the first attack happened. Every trip beyond the perimeter defenses led to combat; sometimes things somehow even got inside the supposedly secured perimeter. Something happened which surprised everyone; R ei fs sword began to glow softly, silver and gold rippling back and forth along th e blade, matching the pendant which she always wore. Rei tensed and so did every one else, looking around warily as they made their way through another flowstone cavern, a forest of stone teeth stretching down and up, piled up by endless dri pping water; the air was cool and humid and even Rei fs blade had moisture on it. Lt. Hall felt the urge to just order someone to fire a grenade launcher and see what came out to play but she resisted it, trying to keep every stalactite in si

ght as the road wove its way through the caravan, dodging around ancient pillars ; in places, the stalagmites and stalactites were fused together by long drippin g. gRubble, h Walker said, sweeping a hand-held flashlight to show the broken remains of a stalactite by the side of the road, shattered limestone fragments mixed wit h bones of a large lizard. There was a cracking sound and now a stalactite somehow launched itself down at an angle at Rice as she walked along, rifle in hand, part of Squad 2. Rei had be gun to move even as Walker spoke, shoving Rice out of the way and turning back t o the stalactite. As it broke open, those closest to it felt a wave of horror pr ess upon them, fear trying to paralyze their limbs. A mottled mess of dark green , purple and black flesh rose out of it, a tubular form with a huge maw at one e nd and a dozen long legs. As it rose, long bone spikes which had been folded bac k against its compacted legs now came out. Slime dripped off it, staining the gr ound. Squad three began to retreat instinctively, with Squad four trying to move to ge t a clean shot and Squad five still holding its ground. Squad one tried to muste r the will to close on it, while Squad two began to scatter in a panic. gSquad one, close on it, h Lt. Hall ordered. gSquad two, rally by Parker and watch f or more of these bastars. Squad three, retreat in an orderly fashion! h Legs lashed out at Rei and her sword whistled through the air and two of the leg s were cut in half, bone spurs flying past her. She advanced and it retreated an d turned, trying to strike at her. As she fought it, her pendant shone brightly and Squads one and two regained their courage and their order. Soon, Squad one w as harrying the creature, preventing escape as Rei began to hack it to pieces. Once it was legless, one of the heavy weapons men from Squad Two moved in and fl ame-throwered it until it burned to death; it smelled like burning garbage and e veryone gagged. gIt really is going to be a bug hunt, h Chang said; he was a Chinese member of Squa d One, armed with a battle axe. He laughed softly and several others laughed as well. Rei began to carefully clean her sword as did the other members of Squad One. Ri ce came over to her. gThanks, Rei. h gBattle sisters must watch out for each other, h Rei said solemnly, then turned bac k to her work. ************ After that, Hall moved more carefully, letting Rei feel things out. However she did it. They encountered two more of the damn things in the next hour, then pass ed a flagged checkpoint, currently unoccupied, and passed down a staircase, then down a long tunnel. Getting the Element Alpha up that staircase was going to be a bitch, but there was no other mapped way to where they needed to go. Tunnel after tunnel, sector by sector. They passed through a very nice set of ap artments; the furniture remained, though the softer elements were long gone. But the walls were carved with pictures of the inhabitants, stocky humans with a lo t of hair, especially giant beards. Some wore armor, others dressed in more casu al clothing of medieval style; a common motif was travelling cloaked hoods with the fringes of the cloak and hood elaborately embroidered in repeating geometric patterns. In places, traces of paint stuck to what was now grey or white or gre

en stone. They could hardly see a surface without decorating it; the labor must have been immense, Hall thought. And now it was all long abandoned. But so much of it was in good shape. What happened? They had to gun down some albino crocodile like creatures at a bridge and cross a forest of knee-high fungi, green with red and purple mottled tops with a narro w path wending through it. The ceiling was dotted with glowing crystals and if y ou studied it, you realized it was a fake night sky. They lit everything with a faint silver sheen. Montez studied it thoughtfully until he bumped the cart into another one and Wal ker shoved his head down and got him moving forward again. The worst creatures were too big for the underbrush here, but they watched it ca refully; several times, Hall ordered the flamethrower carriers to simply burn it away when it got too close to the path, now carved into great interlocking spir als. They camped near a waterfall; it smelled terrible and was yellowish in color; su lfur, according to Montez. They had self-heating rations. How they worked, even Montez didn ft know but the ability to have warm food was comforting. They pressed on to another checkpoint, another set of apartments, where they wou ld camp for the night with rotating guards. Things had been so quiet that everyo ne was on edge. On the other hand, no one was seriously injured, either. Tomorrow, however, was re. They were going to that expedition on its ust been driven off by the killer. She fd been briefed on the last mission down he have to pass where the Wraith had lived which had mauled return trip. Hopefully, it was, in fact dead, and hadn ft j Berg fs sacrifice.

And didn ft have any relatives. Lt. Hall ate her dinner, trying to decide whether to go ahead and send someone t o scout ahead or not. She didn ft want to risk losing anyone, but conversely, ther e was no point in hauling those carts up to be destroyed either. The creature wh ich had lived at the bridge ahead could easily wreck them. Best to scout, she decided. She didn ft want to go into this encounter not knowing if it was an encounter. gRei, h she said. Rei looked up from her food. gYes, Lieutenant? h

gIs there any way you can feel out the place where the encounter took place last April from a distance? h Lt. Hall asked. gI can try, h Rei said. gI would need to get closer but I could try to sense the min d of anything powerful enough for us to worry about, once close enough. h Lt. Hall wondered again exactly how Rei could sense minds. But she fd seen it. you didn ft sense the creature in the stalactite. h gNot until very close; its shell blocked me, h Rei said. She frowned. ir. h gBut

gI am sorry, s

In the morning, we scout, Lt. Hall decided. She set the guard pattern for the ni ght and soon laid down to get some sleep. ************ Rei walked through an only slightly distorted version of the campsite; the prese nce of so many intelligent minds had greatly strengthened the world of dreams he re, which in much of the Deeps was very flimsy. It was still weak compared to pl aces like the Geo-Front, though. Thankfully, this also meant the world of dreams should be fairly safe here. Takashi was thrashing; it was a nightmare. She would not invade his privacy, but she sat by him and sang a calming song and slowly his nightmare faded. There were no wandering nightmares here, which didn ft surprise her. Even if the c reature had survived Berg fs attack on it, even if it could do as she did, it woul d be unlikely to come this far. It seemed likely nothing would happen tonight and that was good. She felt the tiniest hint of a whisper of her name. Lars. Too far away to reach her in dreams. But not so far she didn ft notice at all. gLars, h she said softly, then felt a pang of guilt. He was probably sailing in a c ircle in his sleep as he usually did during these missions. gRei, h came a whisper. Not Lars but a woman. She looked around but could not see i ts source. gRei, h came the whisper again. The voice was familiar but she couldn ft place it. Which probably meant a dream predator. She drew her sword and turned slowly. w yourself! h There was only silence. Rei frowned and withdrew, waking Lt. Hall, then explained the situation. Lt. Hall stared at her, then frowned. gSo wake everyone up? h gIt should pass if everyone is awake, h Rei said. No one was happy about staying awake, but while there was grumbling, people did it. Fairly soon, whatever it had been passed on without a trace, and they slept again, if fitfully. ************** They pressed on down a sloping road; hauling the carts up this was going to be a huge pain. It switched back and forth several times down the side of a huge cre vasse that plunged deep into darkness out of sight; part way down there was a br idge, connecting the sloping road to another on on the far side, but they kept g oing and then went through an arch into a long tunnel carved with art of stout, sturdy bearded men hauling ore carts or leading mules hauling such. The air was thick and everyone felt jumpy. But then things started to change, th gSho

e air remained oppressive, perhaps grew even more so, but everyone felt more vig orous. Rei felt everyone fs mind more strongly than before and they instinctively sped up, hustling at a faster speed without even a command given. gSir, something strange is going on, h Rei said. gIt feels easier to use my abilitie s. I don ft know what the cause is. It reminds me of HALO fs effects but it doesn ft f eel like HALO. h Lt. Hall frowned. gCould it be some sort of c equivalent for our enemies? h

Rei said, gIf it is, it may be the sign of a new Wraith. But while the old report mentioned the oppressive sensation, they had a harder time doing anything due t o the creature fs malice. h Lt. Hall rubbed her forehead. They were fairly close to the bridge now. The thin g had lived in a huge pool of water at the base of another water fall; a bridge crossed the pool and it ate anything trying to cross. It was physically like a g iant squid, more or less. It ate Berg and she killed it from the inside. Or so t he expedition reported, anyway. Before she could make up her mind, one of the members of Squad One shouted, s! h gGrey

It was a small group of them; they were mostly human in shape, but their skin wa s the color of granite, with red eyes and battered chainmail armor and vicious h ooked swords. Greys were very dangerous in hand-to-hand combat, but this made it important not to allow them the chance. They were silent and good at hiding but once they hit the fringe of Squad One fs light sources, Squad Two opened fire on them for as long as they could. Half of the seven Greys died in a hail of bullet s, leaving only three to take on Rei, whose sword now shone with a blue light, a nd a ten person squad armed to kill tougher creatures. More precisely, it left three to flee into the darkness. aid. The Greys loved to lure you into traps. gDon ft follow, h Lt. Hall s

They would advance slowly and cautiously and hope there were not more of the dam n aliens. Why they were down here was classified and a topic of much debate amon g the men. But they were clearly intelligent but highly malicious and dangerous. At least they didn ft have any Ogres, Lt. Hall thought. Only heavy weapons and the special gear of the melee soldiers could stop an Ogre. But generally, at least one person died when they showed up, unless you got lucky. There were no more Grey attacks, and Lt. Hall began to fret that she fd erred and now they fd come back with a damn army. But nothing to do but press on for now. *************** Rei felt her senses getting keener; this was not very pleasant in a place that s melled terrible. Also, incidental noises like the footfalls of her fifty compani ons were hard to drown out. The oppressiveness of the air mostly faded, though it was pretty intensely humid . At times, the walls flickered with light. The tunnel kept alternating between fully worked and just a worked road through natural caves. Then the roar started; after a few minutes of tension, they realized it was just a waterfall, and now they began to speed up more. Everyone felt vigorous and it was easy to run. Rei felt nervous but couldn ft figure out why.

Hall said,

gWalker, it wasn ft like this, right? h

He frowned. gNo, it was very oppressive and then that damn monster showed up and kicked our asses but good because we were all terrified by its mind attacks. h He grimaced at the memory. gI still have scars. h There was a shape, on the ground, a Grey, recently dead with its flesh burned an d its armor melted at various points, mostly on its front. One of the transport squad, Casimir, studied the body; he was trained as a medic even if he was pushi ng carts right now. gIt looks like acid to me. h Acid, Hall thought. Delightful. gOkay, we go very cautiously. h

There was no sign of acid but the cavern of the bridge was slick with moisture t hat glowed softly, not as brightly as Halo but you could see here dimly without any other light source. The water in the waterfall, plunging fifty meters from a very high ceiling, did not glow but the pool at the base of the waterfall shone like HALO itself, shifting gently from silver to gold and back, and the bridge over the pool shone softly from a layer of moisture. Walker said, gWhat the fuck? h He stared.

The pool opened into a stream that carried away the glowing water. The water was not as bright as the HALO in Rei fs pendant but it was evocative of it. gMaybe this is what burned the Grey, h Montez said. gRei? h Lt. Hall asked tensely. gDo not touch it, and under no condition enter the pool. It is not safe for you, h Rei said. She frowned, studying the room. Then she shifted her sight to look bey ond the veil. Vivid, powerful dreams clustered here. The liquid fueled them as d id the powerful memories of the survivors of the battle here. There was something, at the heart of the pool. A fighting knife, NERV issue. But it was a dream and a reality at once, like the sword she bore. In seeing it, sh e knew it, the knife which had slain the Wraith which had lurked here. It called to her, begged her to take it. It was meant for the heir of Rachel Ber g, its master, for Olga. To protect her as her mother had died protecting her. I t held a little piece of Rachel within it, born of her desperate need. Rei could see it now with her special sight, the Wraith pulling Rachel down, its excessive eagerness to devour her, to trap her within its inner darkness and sl owly enjoy her torment. It had shown her how it would grow and one day come fort h and destroy the Geo-Front, destroying everything she ever loved, while she wou ld remain trapped inside it, watching it being destroyed, for it would swallow n ot just her flesh but her very soul. But a parent fs love is a powerful thing, and so while her flesh endured, she had swam through its darkness and hacked her way through the walls of its stomach an d stroke home into its brain. Its form had many benefits, but squid should not e at prey which can hold on and fight back. Her desperate love for her husband and child had driven her and c And c Rei fs breath sped up. gRei, what fs wrong? h Lt. Hall asked tensely but Rei barely heard her.

Her willingness to die to protect them had given her blade strength, enabled it to slice shadow-flesh like a knife through velvet, and when light met darkness i nside the brain, its hate became an acid for the consumption of its own flesh, a nd the creature had burned away, agonized, like the Grey. The arrogant Wraith Ha rguklak had died, howling in outrage, and there had been soft, mocking laughter, barely audible, and then only light. The laughter bothered her; it was neither Rachel nor Harguklak, yet no other bei ng had been present when Harguklak had perished, cast back into the Void. Who ha d been laughing? There was no presence of evil here now except the faint vestige s confined with the dreams and nightmares people had of this place. Rei decided to worry about it later. She knew what she must do. e said, half-opening her eyes. gSing? h Garcia said, staring at her. gMost of us are not great singers, h Lt. Hall said. Experience showed that however odd Rei fs requests might be, she knew what she was doing. gLike at the gate back in February? h Rice asked. gA different song, but yes, h Rei said. gI will lead you. h Her voice was beautiful and it had an unaccustomed warmth to it which surprised them, full of sorrow and loss, but also of joy at a companion fs triumph. The word s were strange to them, but the more they sang, the brighter the water shone and now Rei strode forwards towards the pool. Lt. Hall sang but felt herself get tenser and tenser, but then she stared as Rei walked out onto the surface of the water. The water gently rippled and her refl ection shifted as the waves of silver and gold washed across it. She held out he r hand and the water spiraled up around her, and with it came a shining blade, a NERV combat knife but with odd runes on it, in silver on one side and gold on t he other. gI hight thee Amillemique, h Rei said softly. gI will ensure that you are taken to y our rightful master. h She then stowed the blade on her belt and walked off the wa ter, singing, while the soldiers sang on, staring. The glow in the water grew brighter as they sang, and they felt strength flow in to their veins. The urge to go forward came upon them urgently, the need to act. The song was over but now they glowed. gDo not be afraid, h Rei said. protects us. We should go, and go swiftly. h Lt. Hall nodded. gMove out! h gHer strength gWe must sing, h sh

They ran like they had never run before. ************** Walker was stunned; what should have taken six hours had taken three. They fd pass ed two walls which had been very hard for the expedition he fd been on to open. Re i had opened them with a minute of song. He was rather worried that this HALO exposure c or whatever it was c would have bad effects. He knew HALO could be dangerous to some people, though he didn ft really understand it.

But he felt incredible, like he was a kid again. Better than when he fd been a kid . How could they move so fast in their gear? But here they were in the vault, loading ingots into carts. How this could be en ough, he didn ft understand. Rangers were huge. They could make a lot of armor or weapons but how could this be enough for Ranger armor? But that wasn ft his worry right now. Load the carts and move out. gTrouble, h one of the sentries said. They heard drums beating, and then the giant carnivorous lizards stormed into a hail of gunfire and died in droves. A few got through and one managed to bite Du bois, but they couldn ft stand up to modern weaponry, unlike some creatures, thank fully. They were only about the size of dogs. Vicious but the armor largely stop ped them penetrating flesh and they died as easily as dogs. But they didn ft come on in a wave of thirty naturally. They were a softening atta ck, meant to test the group fs strength, driven at them by the Greys, who liked to herd the stupider creatures before them. They finished loading the carts, then came out of the vault and sealed it, then moved forward, knowing there was likely an ambush somewhere ahead, but not knowi ng the geography of the area well enough to go around. They were a long ways dow n. Worse, no ambush came, just the periodic beating of drums, echoing down side tun nels. gThey will break the bridge, h Rei said. Lt. Hall touched her forehead and cheek in frustration. gIf we leave this route, we may get very lost. And there fs no way to send for reinforcements. h She decided they would just have to push through as best they could, putting out a few scouts with infrared goggles to hopefully spot any ambushes before they w alked into them. Then they got moving. *************** They fended off three more forces of carnivorous giant lizards, mowed down an un fortunate force of Greys, and managed to blow up a single Ogre who decided to ch arge them all by himself down a long, straight hallway. They got as far as the switchback road upwards, only to find that there were hun dreds of Greys, armed with bows and Ogres armed with very large rocks. Some quic k skirmishing showed they couldn ft deploy effectively to bring their strength to bear without basically all becoming targets, so they pulled back out of missile range to either come up with a plan or an alternate route. The armor could generally fend off the arrows, but the rocks were another questi on. Further, with so many Greys, the odds of someone getting lucky increased. They hadn ft lost anyone yet and Lt. Hall didn ft want to lose any more people than she had to. Distantly, they could hear the hooting and howling of the Greys and the Ogres; t

hey didn ft know the words but it sounded mocking. gRei, can you find us another way out? h Lt. Hall asked her. gI can try, h Rei said. gBut it may take too long. The way we need to go, ultimately , is that way, h she said, pointing at an angle towards one of the walls. gKnowing that, I can try and navigate us. h gRisky as it is, we will have to try, before they fence us in, h Lt. Hall said. They backed up and headed off down a side path, hoping this would eventually let them get where they were going, following Rei fs lead. *************** They were trying to conserve food; fortunately, there was a ton of water they co uld boil in these caves. Everyone fs stomach grumbled but they could go without fo od longer than water. They were down by two people now after a clash with Ogres, and lots of people were injured. Food was the biggest worry, combined with the constant stress of harassing attacks. The drums were the worst part; they signaled that trouble was coming c except the times they didn ft, causing everyone to tense up for no purpose. They took down a fortified enemy position with two more grenades, a hail of bullets and some swor dwork, then found themselves in a huge fungal forest, full of green and red and black fungi which were a good five to eight meters tall, impossibly large, under a ceiling which glowed a soft purple. Several streams ran through the cave and there was only a rough worn path here, no true road. Montez whispered to his sergeant, then said, There was a huge wave of sighs of relief. gThe good news is I know a way back to Sector A-2 from here. The bad news is that there fs a lot of fungi in here that spew spores on you if you get too close and then you get sick and possibly die. Also, there are nasty things that come eat t hese, so we may encounter predators, h he said. gI am not sure which way is which b ut if we stick by the walls, we should eventually hit the exit I know. h A lot of rock throwing and burning of fungi ensued as they slowly made their way along the walls. Progress was slow and Lt. Hall worried that the Greys would fi nd them again before they got moving forwards. gAbout how long once we leave the cave? h gAbout a day, h he said. They fd have to camp again; she hoped they could camp unmolested long enough to re st and be ready for a final push. **************** Captain Berg hated seeing his daughter spar with Suzuhara. Not because he didn ft think she could handle it but because it brought out the worst in both of them. They were both good and getting better. But he had to keep an eye on them while working with the others. He didn ft understand why they clashed so much. Also, working with weapons, even wooden practice ones, worried him. Olga had the upper hand in weapons practice; Suzuhara usually had it in unarmed gLt. Hall, I know this place. h

combat. The boy was good, Captain Berg had to admit. But right now, he was being driven back, especially since he tended to forget he had a shield. Olga nailed his side again and he cursed at her. gDamn you! h She laughed and he cursed more and launched a counter attack but she blocked wit h her shield and then poked him in the stomach. gUse your shield, h Captain Berg barked at him. gIt fs so heavy, h Suzuhara grumbled. gYou don ft see Ichijou complaining! h Captain Berg said and Suzuhara stiffened. Ichijou was making his usual perpetual grunty noises as he sparred with the Aida girl. They weren't going at it as hard as they should because, well, girlfriend and boyfriend. He understood that but they'd have to overcome that. gAida, you have to actually attack him and not just defend, h Captain Berg said as Aida again fended off an attack but didn ft counter-attack. gI don ft want to hurt Shinji, h she said, frowning. gYou need to be able to defend yourself and these damn Wraiths, some of them have to be meleed or fought with bows. h Which made him angry. But they hadn ft figured out how to get mass produced weapons to hurt the worst ones. Like the damn thing that killed his wife. Langley was kicking the Aida boy fs ass, but that wasn ft surprising. She was very g ood and he tried hard but just wasn ft much of a fighter. Yet. Here I am training kids to fight, Captain Berg thought and his stomach turned so ur. But they had no choice. I can protect Olga but we need these kids. gYou suck, Suzuhara! h Olga shouted and now they were grappling for some reason. gSTOP, h he said angrily. They continued wrestling around. gBut Dad, h Olga began. gI fm not your father here. You follow orders or you get out here. Do you understan d? h he said, feeling his gut churn more. This was part of why he didn ft want Olga even as involved in this as she was; he feared, in the end, she fd be in all the w ay. Whatever he tried. But he couldn ft stand to lose her too. But you fre fine with other people fs kids risking death, some voice whispered to hi m in his brain and he wished he could never think again. Olga and Suzuhara left, looking pissed off. He sighed and now Ichijou asked, gDo we have any news of Rei? h gFine. Both of you, go suit down and go home. h gYou have a left arm, use it! h

gNo, h he said. gThey fre beyond our contact area. h He expected they would make it back , but some might die, in order to collect metals. We need another source of this stuff, he thought. But apparently it was incredib

ly rare. Like the children who could pilot and work the other wonders of the Eld ar. He wondered if they sent their children to fight. *************** Walker was trying to sleep. He was pretty sure he was asleep, yet in his dreams (if dreams they were), he was lying in the camp, listening to water drip and peo ple snoring and the sentries keeping watch and murmering among themselves. And someone kept whispering his name. He tried to ignore it, as Rei had told the m to if they heard someone whispering their name in their dreams. If this was a dream. But if it wasn ft, whoever was whispering would have to be ri ght next to him and no one was. So he tried to fall back asleep c deeper asleep c whatever the right thing was, and eventually it gave up and he slipped away. *************** Rei was not happy with the return of whatever dream predator was stalking them. Being hunted in both worlds raised the danger of facing something in both worlds at once. Probably it had nothing to do with those hunting them, but she didn ft w ant to lead it back to the Geofront either. Unfortunately, it was very good at skulking about, whispering her name and makin g her tense. What did it want? Was it a random predator or did it serve some gre ater evil? Worse, would one of the men listen to its call and invite it in? She might not e ven be able to tell, depending on what it was. gOgres with barrels, incoming! h Gunfire started and everyone began waking up. Rei rose, drawing her sword as barrels came flying into the cavern from a large tunn el with a half dozen Ogres in it and many Greys. Gunfire began ripping the Greys apart but not before the Ogres hurled the barrel s, which had burning fuses. Rei had not seen this before and it did not bode well. gGet away from the barrels! h Lt. Hall shouted. They had aimed for the carts, but the transport crew was able to evacuate the ca rts before the crude bombs went off. They were basically black powder explosives with oil soaked rope wicks. But now there was smoke everywhere and it was hard to breathe as the Ogres came on. Rei took one of them on, dodging his blows and slicing his legs until he fell do wn but the cave was chaos now, people running around, shooting at the surviving Greys and the Ogres. The melee squads were getting bashed but their weapons cut Ogre flesh and the creatures were not utterly fearless. Further, the men and wom en fought bravely, able now to stand up to their fearsome foes, partly by Rei fs e xample, partly by their own determination. Eventually, there were three dead soldiers, eighteen injured, and four dead Ogre s and two fleeing out of sight. Two of the four dead Ogres had been cut down as they tried to flee.

Rei studied the dead, who included Garcia, who had been bashed to death against a wall. She kneeled and did the sign of the cross over her and prayed silently; she was pretty sure Garcia had been Catholic, at least nominally. Lt. Hall grimaced, but then she said, gGood job, everyone. You protected the Elem ent Alpha carts; our main job here is to get it back to the base. I fd hoped we co uld get more rest, but it fs clear that nowhere is safe enough. We fre going to just hustle the rest of the way, tired as I know you all are. As soon as we treat th e injured, we will move out. We can mourn the dead later, when it won ft risk addi ng to their numbers. h Her voice was determined. gIt looks like those bastards have learned a new trick, but that just puts them in the sixteenth century instead o f the fifteenth. h Fifteenth instead of fourteenth, Rei thought but did not contradict her. It woul d undercut her authority and she approved of Lt. Hall fs efforts to raise everyone f s morale. She could not help but to mourn the dead, though. ************** They made it back without any more death, exhausted and filthy. But every cart h ad made the trip successfully and the mission was a success. gYou all did well against heavy odds, h Commander Katsuragi told them as s took the ore carts and others took the dead to prepare them for burial. k you all. The injured should report to medical. Lt. Hall, you can report in private in a minute. Everyone else, hit the showers, get clean, and go You all have the next three days off. h gSir, there fs a problem we need to discuss, h Rei said to her. Everyone looked at her nervously. They wanted to go home but Rei never would say that unless it was serious. gCome with the Lieutenant and I, h Commander Katsuragi said, frowning. you, you can go. h gThe rest of technician gI than to me home.

She took them back to a meeting room. gLars is tearing his hair out, h she said kin dly to Rei. gSince you all took two extra days. h She paused. gThat is not meant as a criticism, Lt. Hall. h gUnderstood, h Lt. Hall said tensely. gYou did very well, losing less people than the last expedition, h Commander Katsur agi said. gThey have bombs now. Crude ones, but bombs, h Lt. Hall said, frowning. Commander Katsuragi grimaced. gDelightful. h They now sat down in the meeting room, and Rei reported on the dream predator. don ft know if it followed us, h Rei said. Lt. Hall frowned. gAre these things common? h gI have not had to fight many, thankfully, h Rei said. . h gI will watch for it, tonight gI

Commander Katsuragi frowned. gIs there some way to reinforce you? I don ft like you having to face something dangerous alone. h gMother can assist me. Most people do not have enough mental strength to be any u se, h Rei said to her. gIn this fallen world. h They discussed the matter a little longer, then Rei left and Lt. Hall gave her r eport to Commander Katsuragi. *************** Rei could feel Lars relax as he hugged her tightly. gI am sorry, h she said softly. gI was very worried, h he said.

gBut this is going to happen over and over. h

gI know, h he said, sounding pained, his strong limbs trembling around her. She was utterly still, holding him tightly. They were at her home; she fd be returning to the base later to watch out for the creature and see if it tried stalking any of the soldiers that night. gI hope I am not keeping you from practice, h she said to him. gYou are more important than practice, h he said, then grimaced. gMother was being a bitch last night. h gDid you wake her up at 2 AM again? h Rei asked a little chidingly. gI didn ft WANT her to wake up, h he said, sounding angry. thing. h gShe needs earplugs or some

Rei let it go. It was between Lars and his mother. She never woke her Mother up. But then she didn ft have the problems with her Mother that Lars did with his. gLet me help you tonight, h he said. gYour mother would be angry if I brought you into it, h Rei said to him. She wished Commander Katsuragi could come, but while she was an intelligent commander of c onventional battles, she did not have the strength of will that Mother did or th e knack Lars possessed for it, due to his Eldar heritage, distant as it was. Mot her c Rei could see her ancestry too but Commander Katsuragi was humanity incarnat e, rather like Kevin. But humans were more adept to war than the Eldar from what Rei understood, so th at was only appropriate. The human propensity for violence could be used to good ends as well as bad, turned into the desire to protect instead of to destroy. Just as her kind fs urge to creation sometimes had turned to darker ends, even suc h a beautiful creation as the Silmarils. For a greedy love of the work of your h ands and excessive pride in one fs creations were flaws that the Eldar might blame Dwarves for but only because they shared them. And in the end, the sins of the soul could do more damage than the more human si ns of the flesh. She reminded her body to stop giving her weird signals from being so close to La rs and it shut up. But humans didn ft have that option. On the other hand, even if they went bad, they would not be able to cause trouble for millennia like her o wn kind.

Or become as stubbornly arrogant as some had. Rei forced herself back to reality. gI can ft just do nothing, h he said, frustrated. gYou can help me practice, h she told him. They sat down on the couch, each nd slid over to the other world, an alike, the world of creation, hemeral and enduring sub-created ************** The world was ocean and upon it a great white ship sailed, the wind billowing it s sails as the sun shone down; it was a little warm, enough to be pleasant witho ut being oppressive, as the air was rather humid and would turn high temperature s into hell. The crew flitted about, imaginary people, though some resembled real people, for ged to greater stability by long practice at controlling his dreams. In a normal dream, Rei would have expected most of the crew to be naught but shadows. But s he felt proud of Lars for his elaboration of his creation and his control here. gGood day, h she said to Nils, the first officer, who anyone would easily see as re sembling Kevin. Right down to his bad habits like trying to palm an ink packet t o burst on her hand when he shook it. She deftly evaded it, letting it fall on h is pants but he just laughed. gOne day, one day, h he told her. She found this unlikely but she went round greeting everyone; it was easy here t o forget they were not real. They moved naturally. She could see Ronald busy pic king his nose when he thought no one was looking. Lars stood at the wheel and she went to join him. gWhere to? h he asked. That was the question. They could probably try and seek out the predator but his mother would likely forbid her to see him even if it went well. The thought of that made her stomach churn, though she forced it to stop. Best to just work on training him. He had to remain safe. She needed him to be s afe, if she must be in danger. As safe as any place in this world. **************** Olga was busy doing homework with Hikari and Evelyn when her father got home; he looked rather shaken up. gDid it go badly? h she asked, frowning. gNo, it was a success despite three deaths, h he said, coming over and setting a bo x on the table. It was about the right size for a large book in length but too n arrow for one. gThis is for you, h he said. gFuyutsuki studied it briefly, then said it was meant for you. h holding the other fs hand and closed their eyes a the world forged by the thoughts of Eldar and m of ideas made real. The world of dreams. The ep world. gI want to do something to help you. h

Olga blinked and everyone looked curious. Then she opened the box and stared; it was a NERV combat knife but it had the soft glow of HALO on it. gIs this a new m odel? h she asked, confused. gThis was your mother fs blade, h he said softly. gRei recovered it for you. She said you were to have it and Fuyutsuki agreed. But if you do anything crazy with it, I will be very angry. h His hands were shaking, though the rest of him was sturdy. gMother? h Olga whispered, hands trembling as she picked it and its sheath up. gThey tried to explain but it more or less came out as florgle blorgle blah to me , h he said, frowning, but he put a hand on her shoulder. gDon ft use it unless someh ow c you end up face to face with a Wraith. I fm serious. h gI won ft stab Touji with it even if he deserves it, h Olga said, frowning. gDon ft even joke about it, h he said intensely, while Olga fs friends tried to pretend they weren ft here and watching this. gI can ft deny your mother fs wishes but you hav e to be responsible with it. I fm counting on you. h He stared her in the eyes. gHope fully it will never come to that but if something somehow gets loose, you may ha ve to fight it. h That clearly displeased him. gYou know I fm ready to fight, h she said urgently. gYou shouldn ft have to, h he said. en your friends go home. h gWe can go now, sir, h Hikari said. gBut just in case c h He slumped. gIt fs just homework. h

gWe can talk later w

gThank you, h he said; the others left and he ended up telling Olga stories about h er mother fs war experiences until they got so hungry they had to eat sandwiches f or dinner because anything else was too slow. ****************** gI don ft know if that was wise, h Ritsuko said to Rei as they got ready to meditate together in a lounge near the soldiers f dormitories on the base. gIt was meant for her, h Rei said. gIt would not happily serve another master except perhaps her father. It is not a factory made weapon. h Ritsuko did not like the idea of tools that cared who used them. It would make m odern society a lot harder. gReady? h gI am glad to have you with me, h Rei said softly. Ritsuko smiled, feeling vindicated as a mother. Rei could be difficult sometimes but moments like this made all the moments of wondering how her own mother had not killed her worth it. gYou are the best daughter I could have. h gI know I do not always live up to your expectations, h Rei said sadly. gI fm sure I don ft live up to yours sometimes, either, h Ritsuko said. gGaiseric was unworthy of you, h Rei said flatly. gHe only wanted your body. h

She fd only wanted his body. A woman had needs. Though Rei apparently did not. Eve n though she was pretty sure Rei was infertile, it was for the best that Rei not be running around with boys. Too much and too far, anyway. Just having a boyfri end would be fine.

But Ritsuko tried to avoid just sleeping with someone just because her body want ed it. It felt weak and she didn ft like being weak. And it wasn ft as satisfactory as the few times she fd done it in a real relationship. But none of those had last ed, to her frustration. gI decide that, dear, h she said to Rei. She could be so blunt. But she came to it by me and Mother, Ritsuko thought. Female Akagis were blunt; the men usually nee ded it. gYes, Mother, h Rei said, though Ritsuko suspected the incidents of Rei trying to d rive off unworthy men would continue. She got the stonewalling from me too, Ritsuko thought ruefully. gI fm here, h Misato said, coming in, still in her uniform with a gun that wouldn ft ma tter, since she could dream any weapon she wanted. gYou are not very good at this, h Rei said. gYou would be better advised to go rest. h gWhile my waifu and one of my only two pilots risk themselves? No, h Misato said bl untly. gI decide what I do. You fre normally good at obeying orders, Rei, so listen . I am coming. h If she can manage it, Ritsuko thought. Misato had learned to defend her dreams b ut usually got too wrapped up in them to do more. She was not really good at thi s. gCome here, h Ritsuko said. gAnd I fm not your ewaifu f. h gThat fs what Daisy thinks, h Misato said, sounding amused. gDo not call her your waifu if you do not mean it, h Rei said more heatedly than us ual, but then said, gYes, commander Katsuragi. I do not mean to challenge your au thority. I am sorry. h Yes, you do, Ritsuko thought. But you fre a teenager and teenagers always challeng e authority. gBe respectful of your commander, Rei. In the end, she decides who g oes to battle and who does not. h gYes, Mother, h Rei said stiffly. Ritsuko took Misato fs hand with one hand and Rei fs e, both of you. A single, floating flame, h she said e to guide them into the world of the mind together. erstand it from half-translated, highly metaphorical sessed. with the other. gMeditate on fir to them and began the exercis She was still trying to und bits of Eldar lore they pos

Soon, she was in the astral realm, World Two. The NERV base was very solid and r eal there; it was constantly reinforced by many minds. It was quite possible the predator would be unable to even enter it as a result. Whatever it was. Again, they had only fragmentary lore and limited experience. S he would have... not killed for more information but probably done quite a bit. She had a constant feeling of not knowing enough about what was going on. Ritsuko did not like to act on incomplete information, unlike Misato, who seemed to thrive on it. But Misato lived by intuition, like Rei, instead of logic and reasoning, like Ritsuko. Rei showed up quickly, but Misato took longer and kept flickering because her co ncentration wasn ft good. But if they let Misato sleep for real, she fd likely never

get out of her own head. gDammit, I feel like I fm in a strobe light, h Misato grumbled. From her perspective, it was like the world was flickering, not her, Ritsuko knew. Rei made the eI told you so f noise, so subtle that only those who knew her well wo uld notice it. It helped that Ritsuko fs ring helped her to read people. It was how she fd known Ga iseric just wanted her body, even if it couldn ft stop her deciding that was okay at the time. It also let her easily read Misato fs concern for her and Rei. In a crisis, Misato would act fiercely to protect those she cared about, Ritsuko knew. From that an gle of things, she was glad to have Misato here. If Lars was not a child, she wo uld have wanted him here for the same reason. But he was a child and she agreed with Rei that it was better not to risk him. If Rei was not so potent here, and so well trained, she would not have risked Rei. Probably this thing was just sne aky and not a major threat. But it might be. Ritsuko ran her finger along her ring; it never changed here, however she might shape things with her will. It existed here and in reality at once, like the kni fe did now. She did not dream of the Ring; it dreamed of itself. If they had known Berg could make things like that, they would never have put he r on combat duty. But then the previous mission might have failed. Her sacrifice c had that somehow caused the other changes too? She had died just b efore the Incident. Too many mysteries taunting her with a lack of evidence. She needed evidence to address things with logic. gHow do we find it? h Misato asked her. Rei was looking at her too. gWe patrol and listen. I should be able to track it once I hear it whispering, tr ying to lure its victim, h Ritsuko said. They walked through an eerily silent version of the base, up and down the hallwa ys, trying to be silent themselves so they could hear the predator if it was her e. Rei had her pendant covered so it shed no light, but the night time lights we re on here as they were in the waking world. And then Ritsuko heard a soft whisper. gRitsuko c h It sounded like her mother, which made her frown. She held up a finger to the others; Misato and Rei did the same and then Rei tou ched their minds. ~You hear it?~ Rei asked via the mind-touch. ~I hear it,~ Ritsuko replied. Misato mumbled something incoherent, made worse by her flickering. She tried aga in. ~I h a i.~ Misato grimaced and became solid. ~I hear it.~ she said, trembling with the forc e of her concentration.

The next part was risky. Ritsuko listened to the voice, each of them with a hand on her shoulder, and walked towards it. The dream around them distorted and twi sted and then they were in another place. ***************** Ritsuko felt disoriented. Her body wasn ft quite right and Rei was five and Misato wasn ft here and she was on the bridge but it had much cruder equipment. Some man was in a plugsuit, not anyone she knew c Dr. Koln. It was a contact experiment. T hey had managed to grow the first Ranger but they couldn ft figure out how the thi ng was controlled; working with fragmentary records was extremely difficult and things kept going wrong. Rarely as wrong as they had with Yui, but wrong. And then Ritsuko understood. This was the day her mother had died. This was the trap the predator had laid for her. No. She began the chant Fuyutsuki had taught her, silly as it was, and the world began to waver, voices becoming distorted. This thing was not strong enough for her. Not when she had Rei and Misato here with her. She would not let them be h urt. But it pressed harder and she was along for the ride, listening to Mother fs voice as the experiment progressed. Rei looked angry and kept kicking the wall despit e her c Mother fs c efforts to make Rei stop. There had been a fight or something c Rits uko wouldn ft let the information into her mind. Or she fd succumb to this as Rei cl early had. I am Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and I will not let this go forward, she told herself, won dering where Misato was. Misato looked like her younger college self at a party, enjoying herself and hav ing fun. Ritsuko even glimpsed her own younger self at said party. Then it started to become more real. No! She pushed it away. She would not abandon Rei; Misato was in little danger i f she remembered that party; the predator clearly couldn ft handle three of them d irectly at once. At once. gMisato! Suit up, we need you! h she shouted. Misato-in-the-dream looked around, confused, then looked at Ritsuko-in-the-dream , who was dancing with some tall brunet whose name the real Ritsuko had long for gotten. gRits-chan, you okay? h she asked. The guy Ritsuko-in-the-dream was dancing with looked offended. nothin f wrong! h he said angrily. gHey, I ain ft done

gMisato, I *need* you, h Ritsuko said urgently; she could see the experiment headed for its disastrous ending with one eye and the party with the other. She knew e nough to know what happened next, even if she didn ft know the full truth. Misato-in-the-dream looked around, confused. m I? h gRits-chan, what fs wrong? How drunk a

She could feel the predator trying to kick her out, into Misato fs dream; it wante d Rei.

She would not let it have what it wanted. gMisato, PLEASE! h she shouted. Misato-in-the-dream fs eyes hardened and she reached out to Ritsuko, who grasped h er hand and drew her over; as she pulled, she touched Misato fs mind; it was far e asier here in dreams. Misato turned from the college party girl back to her curr ent self and landed in the room and as the cultists broke through the door c Ritsu ko wondered again how they had gotten this far into NERV, though she knew there had been a traitor and this was just a dream c Misato gunned them down, killing th ree, injuring three and sending the rest fleeing; they had counted too much on s urprise. It made Ritsuko shiver; she knew Misato fs job but she fd never been this close to i t and it normally happened where she couldn ft see it. And it wasn ft like Misato wa s an assassin. But she did what she had to. For a few seconds, Misato grimaced and closed her eyes. Then she said, more of them? h gAre there

Ritsuko was about to answer and then the predator turned its full strength on he r. The world tore away around her and she fell into darkness, darkness whisperin g her name with her mother fs voice. gYou were busy on another continent at a party while I was dying, h it whispered. gDamn you, h Ritsuko said as she forced the world to give her something to stand on . gYou are not my mother! h gNot that anyone there wanted you. You couldn ft even party well enough to get Misa to fs interest, or a boy fs, not even when they were drunk, h the voice said bitterly. The shadowy outline of her mother could be seen now, standing on the floor Rits uko had forced into existence. Not that night, but there had been times she fd been with someone. Not that she fo und it something to brag about. gShow your true face and stop pretending to be my mother! h she said angrily. Instead, it looked even more like her mother, her mother at her angriest, most b itter worst. gYour grades were never as good as they could be, you chose to stay with your father instead of coming with me, and you pretty much just rode my coa ttails to get your job. Which used to be *my* job. h It hurt. That was her mother all over, except her mother died before she took he r mother fs job. But she had *earned* it. gI *earned* my job. h gBy brainwashing a child to fight to kill people, who you sat back and kept your hands clean, h her mother said bitterly. No, not her mother, the monster. gI died p rotecting our daughter but you just sit back and let her fight while you remain safe in your fortress. But you fve always been good at letting others take the fal l while you fre safe. You didn ft help me either. h gI was in JAPAN, h Ritsuko said. No, focus, she told herself. If I engage it like i t *is* my mother, it will get into my head and I will lose. She fingered her rin g determinedly. She charged at the creature and punched it in the gut, knocking it down. It tumbled, looking utterly shocked, then rose and kicked her, sending her flying. gOne punch does not make up for a lifetime of cowardice, h the creature sneered, th

en rushed her and they grappled in the dark, punching and kicking. There was som ething strangely liberating about it, shouting angrily and just unloading on the shadowy semblance of her mother. This turned the metaphorical battle of minds into a literal one; it was strong b ut so was she and she felt a need to prove herself. She got it in a hold but it squirmed and she was getting tired; eventually, she would wear out and then it would have her. Until light pierced the darkness; it was Misato and Rei, armed for battle; Rei fs light pierced the darkness and she carried Orcrist in her hands. Misato was in h er uniform, armed with her gun. gRitsuko! h Misato shouted. gDo not shoot, the bullet may pass through its shadowy flesh and hit her, h Rei sai d urgently. gMother, turn it loose and I will kill it. h Maybe. Or it might make it past her to Misato; Misato fs prowness in reality might not translate as well here, though she had mowed down those cultists. Ritsuko fs stomach churned at the memory of death and her grip wavered. She fd felt Misato fs gentleness but now she fd seen her tough side. The warrior. Which she fd kno wn was there but she fd never seen Misato kill someone, even just dreams of people . It nearly reversed the hold but she rallied as the two hesitated, fearful to hur t her if they attacked her foe. If she lost her grip, it would have a hostage. I t would hurt them, the two people she most cared for. Her daughter and her best friend who had once c The world started to change and she banished the memory. Not that, not now. It w ould never happen again. gShe only did it because she was drunk, h it hissed at her. gNo one will ever love y ou for real. h Rei looked confused for a few seconds, then her expression and stance changed. gI love you, Mother, h Rei said, with an oddly disapproving tone. gDo not listen to i ts lies, Mother. Turn it loose so I can stab it safely without risking you. h gShut your fat face, you stupid monster, h Misato said angrily. gI won ft let you hurt my best friend! Ritsuko, is there some way to either restrain it or pass it to one of us? How do we stop this thing? h gPass it to me, and I will kill it, h Rei said. gI don ft define myself by my ability to get a boyfriend, h Ritsuko said angrily to t he creature. gName yourself. h gI am your c h gNAME YOURSELF. h Her ring blazed and it howled. gDakglarak, h it howled in pain. gDakglarak, I bind thee, h Ritsuko said, forcing the world of dreams into golden ch ains which wrapped around it. She let go of it, keeping it bound by the chains o n which its name was written. It now hung down, through the eground f, away from he r, like a spider fs prey caught in its web.

But she was tired and now it began to wiggle loose. She couldn ft hold it for long . I need to practice more, she thought. gGet it, h she said angrily. Bullets rang out, and backed by Misato fs will, they injured it, then Rei hacked i t into pieces which burned and dissolved into blue powder that fell into darknes s. Ritsuko sagged, exhausted. rong. h gI fm surprised it didn ft strike before if it was that st

gMaybe it got stronger, h Misato said. gIt may have feared to show itself around fifty people at once, h Rei said. gAlso, w e came to it; without it luring us to it, it may well have been weaker. h They woke up now with Ritsuko breathing hard. Misato put an arm around her. okay? h she said softly. gYou want some company tonight? h gYou

Rei squeezed Ritsuko fs hand and pulled it up to her own heart, then studied Misat o carefully. She fd just killed something, Ritsuko realized. She fd been part of it. Something th at could think. It was a horrible thing that preyed on people fs dreams, but c She s uddenly felt ill and she could tell they saw it. We had to do it to protect everyone, she told herself, but it wasn ft easy. It had c gBucket, h she said. gBucket? h Rei said, confused. gGet the trash can, h Misato said urgently, but her face was sympathetic. Rei got the trash can as fast as possible. gI threw up too, later, h Misato whispered sympathetically to Ritsuko. We had to do it, Ritsuko told herself. Please let that have been necessary. She was trembling and she suddenly felt so cold. She fd seen things die, done dissections, but it had all been animals, creatures w hich were not sapient. She threw up dinner, then sent Rei to get her some bottle d water to drink. gI fm staying with you tonight, h Misato said to her firmly. gI fm fine, h Ritsuko lied, feeling weak, which she hated, and guilty. She knew its n ame but still didn ft know what it was. Just that she fd killed it. Having Misato holding her was an intense comfort. She wanted c but no, Misato had only done that, that one time, because she was drunk. And Kaji had been drunk. A nd I was young and naive, Ritsuko thought. She fd surprised herself too. Also, dru nk. gYou need company, h Misato said to her. gI fve been there, I understand. We had to st op that thing. It was a Wraith and it would have hurt or killed people. It fs only natural to feel like this. Killing should never feel good or easy. But I fear w

e fll see a lot more of it. h Maya, Ritsuko thought. This would break her. But hopefully, Maya would not have to kill anything directly. She feared just working on the bridge during battles would be hard enough on her. But I am going to have to work with her on dream defense, in case more of these things show up, Ritsuko thought. Her stomach churned. gSo hungry, but if I eat, I will throw it up, h she said, frus trated. gWe will go to your house, make you some vegetable soup, even I can cook that, an d then I will stay with you, h Misato said to her. gI will make soup, h Rei said to Ritsuko, holding the water for her. It made Ritsuk o feel like a baby but she didn ft stop Rei, drinking until her mouth didn ft feel h orrible any more. gLet fs go home, h Ritsuko said softly. They got up and headed out. ************** Ritsuko felt better with food in her. Tired but good. Rei finally went to bed an d she changed for bed; Misato just stripped down to her underwear, which was how she usually slept to Ritsuko fs memory. They hadn ft actually slept in the same roo m in a long time. gJust like old times, but with a nice big bed instead of two cramped singles, h Mis ato said, looking more nervous than Ritsuko was used to seeing her. gIf you hit me in your sleep, I will bite you, h Ritsuko told her, then laughed sof tly. gWell, lots of people think I fm tasty, h Misato said, relaxing a little and smiling. She pulled down the sheets. gYou don ft have to wear that much; I have seen you na ked, you know. h gI fm used to it; I fve seen you naked, too, you know, h Ritsuko said to her. Too often, given Misato tended to shed clothing when drunk. They got under the sheets and then Misato cuddled up to her. Ritsuko froze up ne rvously, but then slowly relaxed. gYou fre so warm, h she mumbled. gDon ft feel guilty, h Misato said softly to her. gOr believe its lies. h She shivered. g It said some horrible things to me about Father. And I. And Mother. h Ritsuko realized she hadn ft even asked Rei about her experience and she felt like a bad mother. gI hope Rei is okay. h gShe is fine. This is what we do. We are as used to it as it fs safe to get. But yo u fre not. This is only the start, though, you know, h Misato said softly to her. gYo u fre going to have to see a lot of death. h gI can handle it, h Ritsuko said, her head on Misato fs arm and shoulder. gI have to h andle it. NERV needs me and I can ft be on the bridge if I can ft handle this. h She fd seen people die in the first Wraith attack but it wasn ft the same; it was on a mo nitor and that was no different than watching TV. And now she was mad at herself for realizing that.

gThis is why I hate having to bring the kids into it, h Misato said to her, soundin g guilty. gI didn ft have to do anything like this until I was an adult. I feel ter rible for Rei and Asuka and Shinji. h Not terrible enough to stop using them, though, Ritsuko thought, then regretted it. She wouldn ft stop either. It was necessary. Was that good enough? Rei and Asuka would say they did this by choice, but they were made by adults into kids who would say that. And Shinji c he had been hustled into it by them. gPart of me wishes for an amnesia pill to forget this, h Ritsuko said, then sighed. gBut that would be cheating and cowardly. h gWanting to forget things like this is normal, h Misato told her. gIf we remembered everything all the time, we fd go mad. I could use an amnesia pill. h She frowned at some memory she did not share. gRei remembers everything, h Ritsuko said, moving her hand down to take Misato fs han d. gReally? I know she claims that but c I mean, really remembers it? Eidetic memory? h Misato asked softly, sounding a little scared. gYes. She will never forget tonight, h Ritsuko said. gShe can go back to it in her h ead any time. h gI wouldn ft be here if I couldn ft forget things, though I wish I could remember wha t exactly happened on that damn island. h Misato had been at the disastrous end of the Katsuragi expedition, an event probably somehow connected to the Vanishing, though if NERV knew exactly how, Ritsuko had not been told. But she wanted to know. gIf there fs anything I can do to make you feel better, I fll do it, h Misato said soft ly to her. gI have no amnesia powers, though I do know the things I do to forget my worries a while. h Sex and beer, Ritsuko thought. It was tempting but getting utterly drunk and sle eping with Misato was something she fd only done once and she fd been c she fd thought c B ut as far as she could tell, Misato didn ft even remember it. She fd been crushed but eventually gotten over it. How anyone could forget that, s he didn ft know. Sex did not mean love, something everyone needed to learn but some never did. It had been a valuable learning experience for all the awkwardness it caused her. gThe only alcohol we have is for Rei to cook with, not enough to really get drunk and I don ft want to get out of this bed, anyway, h Ritsuko said to her. Misato laughed softly. gRei would no doubt go get us some if we asked her. h

gI don ft think women with our responsibilities should be sending a fourteen year o ld for beer, anyway, h Ritsuko said. Though Rei would be fifteen tomorrow. Misato studied Ritsuko, looking nervous; she could feel Misato fs nervousness with her ring. gWe could c never mind, h she said. gI shouldn ft even ask. h

Was she talking about sex? Ritsuko felt a sudden thrill at the thought but was n ervous to even breach the subject. Misato didn ft seem to normally chase women c as far as she knew, she was the only woman Misato had ever slept with. And Misato d idn ft even remember that. What else could it be, though? But if it wasn ft c She didn ft want to push things into awkwardness. And she wasn ft de sperately wanting it, though sex probably would make her feel better. But she sh ouldn ft just use Misato as a living sex toy to make herself feel better. Though now she felt a sudden need to connect to someone. But the specter of past experience floated in her mind, holding her back. gI fll make breakfast in the morning, h Misato suddenly said. gFor you and Rei. h

gRei will make her own and go swim with Lars, but you can make me breakfast, h Rits uko said. Maybe Misato had been trying to offer to cook all along. It made more sense than her suddenly offering sex now after all these years of not. On the other hand, her memory was that Misato had been very good at it. No, don ft push things, Ritsuko thought. She preferred sex as part of something co mmitted, anyway. Misato yawned. gWe fd better sleep. h

She eventually drifted off to sleep and slept solidly; if she dreamed, she had n o memory of it. ******************** Rei felt a little embarrassed that Shinobu had insisted on delaying the party un til they knew if she was okay. Doubly so when she had realized she had not thoug ht to buy them presents. Triply when she realized her mother had thought to buy her presents to give them: a three DVD set for Shinobu of recent musicals and a new tablet for Kensuke; there had been a spate of remakes of older musicals the last decade or so; there had been remakes of a ton of things, really, since the Vanishing. Further, her mother had dragged her to the bathroom and insisted on dressing her up and fancying her up. gI am not seeking to be the belle of the ball, h she said to her Mother. Her Mother laughed at that. gHow very Kevin to say that, h she said, ruffling Rei fs hair, then combing it carefully. gI would give you a perm if we had more time. h gIt would be impractical, h Rei said, studying herself in the mirror and wishing he r body would grow taller quicker. An Eldar should not be so short. gI know but you will only be fifteen once, h Ritsuko said, now washing Rei fs face ca refully. gMisato offered to help but I wanted to do this for you myself. h Her mother worked in silence and Rei let herself enjoy it, just a little. It was one of her mother fs presents to her, along with a new biology book she fd been wan ting. If she ever got the chance to be a woman of peace and not of war, she want ed to study botany, so her mother had gotten her a very good book dealing with n ew breakthroughs in the field. Rei liked plants. gI got you a new dress. It should fit and the orange should set off your hair nic

ely, h her mother said, continuing to slowly paint Rei fs face. Rei hoped this was t he right way to do it and did not know how to judge for she rarely used makeup. It was shallow, her mother usually said, so she was not sure why her mother was fancying her up like this. But she was a good daughter and let her do it, trusti ng her judgement. The orange dress fit Rei very well and showed off the calves of her legs; she ha d strong legs, so it made sense to Rei. The matching orange rose earrings made h er wonder exactly how much money her mother had invested in all this. gDid your m other do this for you on your fifteenth birthday? h gShe called me from the lab and father took me out to dinner. Then we rented a mo vie and watched it and I did homework and went to bed, h her mother said softly. gA typical birthday for me. h She sighed, reached for her purse, then pulled her han ds away. gProbably how my next one will go if you substitute Misato for Father. h S he studied Rei. gAnyway, don ft get drunk, but you should have fun. Try things you normally would not do. It fs easy to get in a rut. h And then she sighed. gI will do so, h Rei said and her mother smiled and patted her shoulder. gGo have fun, h her mother said. Her mission for the night was now set. ******************** The Aida apartment was crammed with people; Rei knew the ones her age but most o f those who were Shinobu fs friends could have been aliens for all she knew. She d id recognize Kevin fs sister Melinda, who was on the tennis team and the same year as Shinobu and Kyoko. She also noticed she was dressed up *much* fancier than e veryone else. Shinji stared at her in surprise; everyone did, really. Kevin immediately did a double thumbs up and came over to her, Lars right behind him. gRei, you look *gre at*, h he said. gI am armed and dangerous with your present. h Kevin Sarkowski was a tall boy a touch older than her with short dark hair and a constant smile. gYou fre Japanese, right? h he said hesitantly. gYes, h she said. That was her cover, anyway. gOkay, here fs the riddle. Which club was never invited to the annual School Cultur al Festival? h Kevin said eagerly, as if he would get a huge pile of money when th e joke paid off. gHard to answer without a list of clubs, h Rei told him. Lars laughed. gI told you she fd say that. h gThe biology club, because they kept misunderstanding and putting bacteria everyw here! h Kevin said triumphantly. Melinda, Kensuke, Evelyn, and one of her friends all laughed loudly. Everyone el se looked confused. Shinji continued to just stare at her. Then Rei fs brain raced to its conclusion, and she smiled a little. evin. Did Mother tell you that one? h gVery clever, K

gShe helped me polish it, h he said, though now he looked disappointed. gI got you t his too, h he said and passed her a book, badly wrapped in green paper; it was a c

ookbook of Thai cooking; she rather liked spicy food, so this pleased her. gThis is a good present and I will get lots of use out of it, h Rei said to him, then to ok his hand and shook it. gThank you. h She then came over to Shinobu and Kensuke, handing each a wrapped package. gI hope you will enjoy these. h gYES! Grease: the Revenge! h Shinobu crowed and then hugged Rei after unwrapping. gHoly shit, this must have cost you an arm and a leg, h Kensuke said, staring in sh ock at his new tablet. gMan, I was hoping maybe I fd get this for Christmas. Maybe. h gUse it well, h she said. gTo broaden your mind. h

gMan, my gift isn ft half as cool, h he grumbled, passing her a CD which he had label ed eViola pieces f. gIt fs all MP3s, so you fll need to move it to your player. h gHere, Ken helped me make this, h Shinobu said, handing an envelope to Rei. It was large and held a framed picture of everyone in the Special Talent Program; they fd all signed their names by themselves. gIt fs kind of weak but I didn ft know what to get you. h gIt fs the best quality photo paper I could get, h Ken said. gI can send you the elect ronic file too. h It was clearly a composite, as Rei had never even seen Asuka in the dress she wa s wearing in the photo. gI will hang this up in my room, thank you, h she said, smi ling a little. More presents came and she soon wondered how she would get them all home. *************** The sound system produced wonderful music, so Shinobu was dancing with Shinji; w hile he was not as good at it as her, she could see him smiling as they danced a nd she laughed for joy; this was how things should be. She could see Rei dancing with Kensuke, who kept stumbling into her and looking embarrassed. She wanted t o help them but couldn ft let go of Shinji, not when he was happy for once; he alw ays seemed so sad. Being able to perk him up made her feel better. She spun him around and then they promenaded around the edge of the living room; they fd had to move the furniture to have room and even then, there wasn ft a lot o f room. She accidentally bumped butts with Olga, who didn ft even notice as she da nced with Kevin. gSo why did the photographer swear never to photograph mice again? h Kevin said to Olga as they made their way past the TV. Olga concentrated then gave up. gWhy? h

gWhen he said cheese, they kept raiding the kitchen, h Kevin said, grinning. Olga didn ft laugh and he sighed. Olga launched into a long story about her father on maneuvers, which Kevin clearly struggled to follow and Shinobu moved on. Shinobu dipped Shinji low and imagined him with a rose in his teeth and laughed and he laughed too, though she didn ft know why. But that was okay, she wanted him to laugh. For her. Then suddenly Asuka cut in, seized Shinji and danced off with him, though now th ey were crashing into other couples and Shinji looked rather like he fd been hit b y a typhoon. Shinobu frowned, then went and got herself a drink.

gSo then it turns out the woman giving the directions was an *enemy plant*, h Olga said excitedly. gWhich is why they got horribly ambushed and lost the wargame. An d that woman was Commander Katsuragi. That fs how Dad met her. h She laughed merrily and Kevin laughed. Shinobu felt a little jealous but shook her head. She wanted everyone to be happ y and Asuka deserved some happiness too; how Asuka could enjoy crashing into thi ngs and c Shinobu ran and snagged a vase and moved it to her room. gNo crashing int o things! You break it, you buy it! h she shouted into the living room. She prayed nothing would break. **************** Hikari was not a great dancer, but Kevin was an enthusiastic one, so she enjoyed it anyway, letting him spin her around; she fd never actually danced with a boy b efore and he was handsome and smiled at her in a way that made her shiver. Evely n was dancing with Touji and they way she eyed him c Hikari just didn ft know what t o do. Kevin dipped her low, then spun her up and around and for a moment, she th ought he was going to fling her into the wall but he brought her around smoothly and she laughed, feeling her mood improve. Dancing was just so much fun. gYou fre from Hokkaido, right? h he said. gI fm surprised you know it exists, h she confessed as they circled the room. gI looked it up to plan for the party, h Kevin said. gSo it fs kind of rural, like Ken tucky, right? h gYes, h she said. gIs that where you fre from? h

gIt fs where my mom fs parents would be if they were alive, h he said, then sighed. gGra ndma and Grandpa froze to death when the power went out during the Long Winter. And my folks both graduated from the University of Kentucky. But we lived in Mas sachusetts before we came here. h They now dodged around Olga and Lars, and then h e double-spun Hikari, who got a little dizzy from the spinning. gBoth sets of my grandparents died when a Tsunami hit Japan during the Long Winte r and drowned their village, h Hikari said sadly. gAnd Mother died when animals esc aped at the zoo, and she died defending me. h Kevin winced at that. gI fm sorry, h he said, oddly reminding her of Shinji. gIt fs okay, h she said softly. ure shows. h gI still can ft stand to go to zoos, though or watch nat

He sighed, then dipped her again and smoothly flowed into a double spin which wa s interrupted by a collision with Asuka and Shinji. gSorry! h Shinji shouted and Hi kari giggled and so did Kevin. Then, to her surprise, he dipped her again and when he pulled her up, he kissed her. Her eyes widened in utter shock, and then suddenly, Asuka and Shinji were o n them again and now Asuka danced off with Kevin, leaving Hikari staring at a sl ightly befuddled Shinji. gDid he just kiss me? h Hikari said weakly. gAre we supposed to kiss our partner at the end? h Shinji asked weakly. why Asuka wasn ft happy with me. h gMaybe that fs

Shinobu now swooped in and stole Shinji, leaving Hikari to get a drink and watch people dance. She was now approached by one of Ken fs friends, a stout boy named Conrad; she had some classes with him at school. gHey, I fm Conrad Kruger, h he said, shaking her ha nd. gYou fre in the STP with Ken, right? h gYes, h she told him. gSo what fs your talent, if I may ask? h he asked, getting his notepad out. gI seem to have exceptional vision, h she told him. Especially if she had a ring on . She couldn ft talk about the rest because it was classified. gLike X-ray vision? h he said excitedly. gI just see further and better, h she said. She always had but it was even moreso n ow. She fd read a newspaper this morning. Being read by someone on the balcony at the apartments across the street. gI guess Kyoko fs talent is being really loud, h he said. gAnd yours is *dying*, h Kyoko said, seeming to appear from nowhere. She soon was chasing him while Hikari tried to get them to stop. ******************* Shinobu sat on Kyoko in her bedroom. gBut he c h gThis house is full of things which will result in my death if they break, h she sa id sternly. Kyoko sighed. gHe fs a jerk, h she muttered. gYeah, well, he fs Ken fs friend, so suck it up, h Shinobu told her. gI fm sure he has his good features. h gHe fd make a good doorstop, h Kyoko muttered. Evelyn stuck her head in. gKyoko, what fs wrong? h gI need a rescue, h Kyoko said, sighing. Evelyn laughed softly. gYou can dance with me if you want. h gNo running. h

Kyoko turned a little red. gI fm not mad no one wants to dance with me. h Evelyn took her hands. gI fll make sure she doesn ft chase boys to steal kisses, Shin obu. h gI would rather DIE, h Kyoko said but let herself be led off. Shinobu stared and wondered what power the Scotts had over Kyoko. Then she decided to go find someone to dance with and not worry about it.

**************** gYou fre old enough to kiss your girlfriend on the lips, you know, h Kevin said to Sh inji as they both got more cake. gShe likes it like that, h Shinji said defensively. Kevin raised an eyebrow, then watched Hikari dance with Kensuke. one she has a thing for? h gWhat kind of thing? h Shinji asked, then ate some of the cake. Kevin laughed, then said, gIs there anyone she fs looking to date? h gNot as far as I know; I would expect she fd just walk up to him and tell him to da te her, h Shinji said. gHikari makes things happen if she wants them to happen. And plans them. h gThat fs what I thought, h he said, smiling, then stuffed his face with cake. great. h gI made it, h Shinji said. gFeel free to make us cake any time you want, h Kevin said, then got some lemonade and washed it down. gTime for me to embarrass Rei, h he said cheerfully, heading fo r her. Shinji wondered if that was something Kevin regularly scheduled and decided he p robably did. ************** Conrad probably would have stood around trying to muster the will to ask Rei to dance until the party was over, except that she came over to get some lemonade. Hello, Conrad, h she said as she poured herself a glass. gHey, h he said. g gThis is gSo is there any

gEnjoying the party? h Every time he looked at her, his brain melted.

gI am not much for frivolity but dancing is fun, h she said. gWould you like to danc e? h gYes, h he said urgently and they danced; he wasn ft very good at it; he saw Kevin da ncing with Hikari and the man moved so lithely and Conrad felt rather like a tre e sloth. They danced for a while and then he had one of his flashes. Asuka was g oing to spin Touji around, lose control of him and send him all over the drinks table, resulting in drink apocalypse. Why they were even dancing, she didn ft know, though Touji was pretty good at it, or so Conrad thought. So he deliberately moved himself so that Touji would colli de with him, though it hurt like hell when he went down with Touji on top of him . gShit, I fm sorry! h Touji said to him, then glared at Asuka. g! h She glared back, hands on her hips. gLook at what you fre doin

gYou fre the one who hit him! h

gYeah, stop crushing him, Suzuhara, h Olga said angrily. gNo killing at my party! h Shinobu said urgently. gThis place is fragile! h

Rei helped Conrad up, as did Touji. d off.

gI fm really sorry, man, h he said, dusting Conra

gIt fs okay, I know you didn ft mean to, h Conrad told him. Touji stalked off to the bathroom, while Conrad and Rei resumed dancing. gYou did that deliberately, h Rei said softly to him. gI could see he was going to hit the table and destroy everything, h Conrad said so ftly. Rei fs eyes widened a moment. She looked thoughtful as they danced and then she bo wed to him when they finished and he bowed back. Then she kissed his cheek. gThat is for being responsible at cost to yourself. h He smiled brightly, fearing he might as well write forehead. eI HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU f on his

gAnd now I must talk to Asuka. h She took off and he kept smiling. gWhat is wrong? h Rei asked Asuka. gNothing, h she said, frowning. gYou have been jumpy all night, h Rei said. gWhy? h gWhy is it always you and never me who gets sent down to the Deeps? h Asuka asked a ngrily, stabbing a finger at Rei. gI can fight as well as you! I fm stronger! I wre stled down a *dragon*. And why was this boy given a Ranger instead of Olga? Or L ars? He fs not impressive at all, other than being a good musician. h She frowned at Shinji. gIt was his destiny, h Rei said calmly. gDestiny is bullshit, h Asuka said angrily. o go into the Deeps too? h gYes, h Rei said. gAre you going to say it fs your destiny t

gAlso, I have two years of experience. h

gI can ft *get* experience if they never let me try, h Asuka said angrily. gYour time is better spent on your research, h Rei told her. Asuka opened her mouth, then shut it, clearly thrown off balance. gI cannot do your work; you cannot do mine, h Rei said. gYou need to finish your mas ter fs and I am still in high school. h Asuka squirmed under a pile of logic. gThough it was nice to fight by Mother fs side, h Rei said softly and now Asuka grima ced. gMy mother is dead because she was weak, h Asuka said, sounding like she was chuggi ng poison. gShe fd be useless to me if she was alive. h gShe was a brilliant scientist, h Rei said hesitantly. gDon ft you want to be like her

? h gI am *better*, h Asuka said. gAnd I certainly don ft intend to just wither away and d ie and abandon *my* children. If I have any, which I certainly don ft want right n ow. h She stood defiantly, hands on her hips. gI may not be able to have children, h Rei said softly. Or it might just be that as an Elf, she had really low fertility. gYou fre better off without any, h Asuka grumbled. gI have to take care of my siblings as if I was their mother, because Barbara is a damn weakling. h Lars and Olga danced past them and Rei waved at Lars, who nodded to her. t mind? h Asuka asked Rei. gMind what? h Rei asked. gLars dancing with other girls, h Asuka said. gHe may dance with anyone; I would not mind if you dance with him as long as you do not throw him at the drink table, h Rei said. gI asked Makoto to come but he had work, h Asuka said, frowning. gAnd I didn ft *mean* for that to happen, he fs just a klutz. h Rei could see Shinji coming her way and noticed again how pleasing his appearanc e was. She pushed such thoughts aside. They came from her human side, which had to be restrained. It was weak and she could not afford that. gDid I see you kiss Conrad? h Asuka asked, now with an oddly naughty smile. gHe earned it, h Rei said to her. gWho earned what? h Shinji asked. gRei kissed Conrad, h Asuka said gleefully. gOkay, h Shinji said; Asuka looked nonplussed. gWant to dance, Rei? h gYou don f

gYes, h Rei said and let him lead her away. She did not know what to do about Asuka f s anger. Rei never had, really. Soon, she was enjoying herself and let the issue slide back to the back of her m ind. **************** Hikari was surprised when Kevin kissed her again. gWhy? h she squeaked. gYou fre pretty and I like you, h he said. gWhat more reason does anyone need? h

She turned bright red and didn ft know what to say, so she let him spin her around and then move into a fancy series of steps which rotated them through the corne rs of a box. She definitely enjoyed that but Touji c Was dancing with Evelyn and she was smiling at him and now Hikari kissed Kevin; it felt so sweet and she shivered and he smiled brightly. She could see Conrad dancing with Kyoko; they kept crashing into each other, tho ugh, and he looked more like a bunny trapped by a wolf than a man enjoying it.

Kissing someone I hardly know shouldn ft feel this good, she thought, then thought about her father and Commander Katsuragi and fled in a sudden panic, running to Shinobu fs room and locking herself in, then falling down on the bed. I fm being just like Dad, she thought. Kevin knocked on the door. gI fm sorry, whatever I did, what fs wrong? h

gNothing! I just need some rest! h Hikari lied. gDid I embarrass you? I fm sorry, h Kevin said. ain. h gIf you didn ft like it, I won ft do it ag gI just need rest. h

gI liked it, h she said. She couldn ft lie to him. gOkay, h he said, sounding hurt and now she winced.

A minute later, there was another knock; she pretended to be sleeping. gIt fs me, Evelyn, h Evelyn said. gAre you okay? h

gI fm fine, h Hikari lied, shivering. I shouldn ft kiss someone just because I can ft kis s Touji. It shouldn ft feel so good. She wanted to do it again. gYou don ft sound fine, h Evelyn said, sounding worried. gI fm just tired! h Hikari shouted. gOkay, but I fm here if you want to talk, h Evelyn said and left. Hikari laid on the bed, trying to figure out what to do. *************** gIs she okay? h Kensuke asked Evelyn, who now came back out. gI don ft understand, h Evelyn said, sighing. he ran off. h gWant to dance? h Kensuke asked eagerly. gSure, h she said and danced with him, but she wished she fd been able to get a read on her through the door; all she had felt was anxiety. Why she was anxious, Evel yn didn ft understand. Maybe it fs because today is the anniversary of the Vanishing, Evelyn thought. She knew her parents had been down all day and the adults at school as well. **************** Misato wanted to be drunk but not in the middle of the week; she generally got d runk out of her mind if the Vanishing anniversary happened on a weekend, because it was the last time she fd seen her father alive. The guilt always hit her worst on this day; she was glad Shinji was off at a party so he wouldn ft see her like this. gThey seemed to be doing fine and then s

Also, she was naked, in bed with Tom, so that was another good reason. She fd gotten used to not having to worry about embarrassing people, so rememberin g things like not walking around the place naked was taking some adjusting. Fort unately, he was a good natured boy. And at his age, he likely enjoyed the show anyway, she was sure. gYou could take tomorrow off, h Tom told her; he was tall and somewhat strong due t o working out regularly; he actually worked in NERV fs insurance division. gNo, I want to get drunk out of my mind but I shouldn ft. h Being responsible, sucked . She laid on top of him, feeling a little better. She wished she could tell him about everything but too many things were secret. She couldn ft get close to anyone because of that; the only people who could know were people she couldn ft sleep with because they worked for her. If Ritsuko had a ny interest in women c but as far as Misato could tell, she did not. And Misato usually preferred men, anyway. At least today, she had an excuse not to talk about things beyond esorry, it fs the law f. Father, I fm sorry, she thought. She could see him putting her into the boat and p ushing it into the water. She wondered again how he thought she fd survive in it b y herself. But she had and she didn ft know how; she fd somehow slept through most of it when s he should have frozen. She fd somehow drifted all the way to Norway. But she fd lost an entire year to catatonia. And several more to adjusting. Father, I fm sorry, she thought. She wanted to cry but military commanders couldn ft do that, so she just clung to Tom and tried to forget everything. ***************** gYou can ft lock me out of my own room, h Shinobu said, pounding on the door. Hikari let her in and Shinobu stormed over. going on? h gEveryone fs worried about you. What is

gNothing, I fm just tired, h Hikari lied stubbornly. gWell, come on out and be tired with us because everyone is worried! h Shinobu said , trying to drag her. She was not, however, strong enough to drag even Hikari. Hikari let herself be dragged. I shouldn ft mope, she thought. A boy actually like s me and I fm hiding in someone else fs room. gHey, you okay? h Touji asked when she came out. gI was just tired, h she said and tried to look tired. gI should get a drink. h

Then she danced with him afterwards, wanting to kiss him but afraid to try. Pret ty soon, she was smiling and so was he, spinning her around and moving quickly a cross the floor with her. gI promise I won ft throw you at the drinks. h Olga scowled at Touji as they went by her and another one of their classmates, B ert, who was tall and skinny and dark haired and aspired to be a god of rock and

roll, Hikari knew. Because he would not shut up about it. Touji stuck his tongue out at Olga, then spun himself around and then Hikari, th en both of them at once. gFeeling better? h gYeah, h Hikari said. Kiss him, she thought. But it didn ft happen. She was too worri ed he wouldn ft like it, that he fd get mad at her. Finally, at the very end of the dance, when they were about to switch partners, she managed to make herself kiss her cheek and he kissed hers. It felt good but not as good as kissing Kevin. Because she knew she fd wimped out. gGood, h he said. gI fm glad you feel better. h

And then Kensuke swept her away. **************** Things were winding down; some people fs parents had already come for them. Shinob u was exhausted but she kissed Shinji on the cheek and he kissed her and then sh e held him tight. gThank you so much, h she said softly. gYou too, h he said and smiled weakly at her. gYou okay? h she asked, worried. gJust thinking about the monster, h he said softly. She felt terrible for him. gAnything I can do? h

gOne more dance. I can ft remember it when we dance, h he said to her. So she danced with him until she was exhausted and Ken had to drag her off to be d. *************** Rei didn ft need Kevin and Lars to walk her home but she didn ft stop them. hink she was thinking about the battle, h he said to Lars. gI know Shinji was, h Lars said. He looked over at Rei. gI am used to it, h Rei said. gBut Shinji is not hardened to war. h Nor does he relish it as Asuka does. She felt bad for Shinji, but proud that he would do his duty despite his fear. gDid you really kiss Conrad? h Kevin asked. Lars frowned. Probably worried Conrad has ill intent, Rei thought. et someone he could, h Lars grumbled. gHe probably b gSo you t

gHe deliberately blocked Touji fs tumble with his own body to save the drink table and avoid a messy disaster, h Rei said firmly. gHe earned it. h gI fve just never had a girl run away like that; she didn ft seem the type, h Kevin sai d, worried. Lars still looked worried, so she embraced him when they reached her door. eDo no

t worry, he had no ill intent, f Rei told him. Then she kissed his cheek and he ki ssed hers, looking embarrassed. She could feel his embarrassment. He could be overprotective, but she cherished his friendship and did not like to see him sad. gDo I get a kiss too? h Kevin said, grinning. gWhen you make me laugh, I will give you one, h Rei told him. gA challenge! Hah! h Kevin crowed, likely happier than if she had kissed his cheek. gHappy birthday, Rei. h gHappy birthday, Rei, h Lars said to her. gThank you, h she said. It felt strange to celebrate with so many. It felt good. But after all, the sagas were full of comradeship. Lars was her Beleg. Or maybe she was his, given the races. This was not going to end with her accidentally killing him, though. Neither of them was as prone to jump pointlessly to violence as Turin, thankfully. She slept after that and dreamed of being Luthien dancing upon the sward, though she knew her Beren, the one meant for her, would be long in coming. But she was Eldar, she could afford patience. ********************** gI fm fine, h Hikari insisted to Evelyn, who was walking home with her. She couldn ft t ell Evelyn of all people about this. Not when she wasn ft even sure of Evelyn fs int entions towards Touji. gIf it fs about the battle, I understand. I see horrible things and sometimes I jus t want to hide in my room, h Evelyn said softly. gI know you see past things, h Hikari said hesitantly. gYes. I can try to do it but sometimes I just see things, h Evelyn told her. She sh ivered. gAnd then I want to hide but it fs always better if I have someone to c h She l ooked embarrassed. gComfort me, h she mumbled. gWe fre too old to run to our parents, h Hikari said. gI know, h Evelyn said ruefully. They reached Hikari fs door. gAnyway, I fll see you tomorrow. h

gWill you be okay by yourself? h Hikari asked, worried. She held up her ring. gYes. I can scare people off with this if I have to. h Hikari hoped she was right, then remembered what wearing the ring in battle had felt like. She fd be okay, Hikari knew.

She went to her room to change and her dad came to say hello. gDid you have fun a nd kiss some boys? h he teased her. gYes, h she told him. gCool, h he said. gI just got back from my party; we all moped and got drunk and now I am going to pass out. h At least he didn ft bring someone home, she thought. She fd kissed Kensuke too, since it was his birthday and then several other boys h ad asked her and she hadn ft been able to say no c hadn ft wanted to. And now her head was spinning and she prayed sleep would bring clarity. She suddenly wondered if this was what happened to Kaede. Sleep eventually took her but it wasn ft easy. ***************** gThere is something inside Toba, h VANDA-06 announced to Gendo and the others in th e conference room. gNamely? h VANDA-04 asked. gWas I right? h

gI don ft know. Something is going to have to go down and look more closely; I am h esitant, however, because it may just be some sleeping Wraith and awakening Toba would be catastrophic, h VANDA-06 said. gThis is especially problematic in light o f what happened with the Lonely Mountain. h gI have good news, h Gendo announced. gExperiments in using the Arkenstone look frui tful but may take weeks or months to refine the process. Still, we believe we ca n increase HALO production by fifty percent once we work out the bugs. h gThat is excellent news, h VANDA-02 said. gAnd construction of Unit-03 has begun at NERV-Arkham, h Gendo said. gCompletion wil l depend on how fast we work out the bugs of HALO production. h gSo, back to Toba, h VANDA-04 said. gI believe we need to look; the recovery of the Silmaril which Maedhros lost may also bring us Maedhros himself. We need him. h gI fear he is in a bottle somewhere like most of us were for so long, h VANDA-06 sa id, frowning. gIf he is trapped within the bowels of the Earth, I do not know if it will be possible to heal his mind within any amount of time we likely have le ft. h His voice was torn with sorrow. gAnd we are missing your twin, h VANDA-05 said. Mandos, though. h gIt is possible they both went on to

VANDA-06 let out a soft sigh but did not speak further. gI will study the problem of Toba and attempt to devise something to enable safer further study, h VANDA-05 said. gI think it important for us to know but also impo rtant not to move too precipitously. h Gendo nodded. gI agree. h They soon came to agreement and moved on to other business. But hope and fear ov er what might be found at Toba lingered on in their minds.

******************* gCome and dance with us, h one of the maidens said to Alassanyere, who was busy rea ding a book in a quiet room in Nienna fs halls. He blinked in confusion; there was normally a dearth of young elf maidens his age (physically anyway) at his mothe r fs halls. He was trying to learn English, which he had discovered was a common l anguage on Arda now. It seemed likely to him that contact between the worlds wou ld soon resume. gI am studying, h he said. gI am sorry, but I am busy. h

gYou never have any fun and it fs our job to give you some, h another said, taller th an the rest and with red hair, which was unusual among the Elves as it was with humans. She was actually substantially older than him but Elves come to full phy sical maturity slower than humans. Though technically he was older, but that was a complicated story. gThere is much work to be done, h he said but he let her drag him along. Laicahen w as quite pretty and he had discovered he liked the look of red hair. He could feel his body stir, but he pushed it aside. His body gave him odd signa ls at times lately. But being Eldar, if partly of human ancestry, he could ignor e this as necessary. He also had a tie to the Valar and they too mastered their bodies. There were other young men his age out there too and soon they were dancing in a circle outside the gates of his mother fs house as several older elves played the lute and the harp. As they circled the green, flowers began to bloom and birds to sing and his blood pounded harder. Then they changed dances and now he and the other boys were in a circle on the i nside and the girls on the outside, dancing a few steps with each lady, then rot ating to the next. Laicahen stole a kiss from him, giggling, then several others did as well to his surprise. It felt very good but made it harder to tell his b ody to be silent. And then, suddenly, the music stopped. Lord Aegnor and Nienna, one of the Queens of the Valar, had come forth from the hall, clad in finery. Aegnor wore his gol den hair long and gathered it at the back of his head with a braided silver cord that ran also across his forehead, set with an opal; he wore a green tunic and brown leggings and boots, made of fine materials, and a silver ring with an opal upon his right hand where a wedding ring would be worn. It was said to have bee n given to him by his love Andreth, a human, Alssanyere fs mother, long ago. Despite him being known to be waiting for her to come again, he was often seen i n the company of Nienna, who had long silver hair which flowed freely over her s ilver tiara, set with an opal and a topaz, both cut octagonally. She wore a long blue dress, quite modest and probably too warm for the heat of the long, long V alinorean summer. Her lips smiled but her gray eyes were sad, despite Aegnor fs ow n blue eyes glowing with an inner light. gI am sorry if we have bothered you, h Laicahen said, bowing. ng a little joy into this place. h gWe just wished to bri

gIt is a time for love, h Nienna said softly. She could speak to make her voice ech o across the hills but she chose to speak gently most of the time. gAnd for joy. Never let it be said I am the enemy of happiness. Do not fear sorrow, but do not fear joy either. We will join the dance. h

They did not kiss anyone but they did not stop the others kissing either and dan cing and enjoying themselves until finally the stars came out and they all becam e very tired and hungry. After dinner, Alassanyere tried to slip away to his book but Laicahen found him and they ended up reading together and she kissed him good night to his surprise . It was all quite pleasant and surprising to him as he didn ft think kissing was quite so common. But perhaps it was merely normally rare in his mother fs home. He had not gone too far afield of it in his fourteen years of wakefulness. He had slept as a baby for ages and then woke in his crib and began to cry at th e very moment of the Vanishing. In his moodier moments, he felt vaguely guilty a bout it, not that a baby in a crib could make Earendil vanish or take Elwing as well. To his embarrassment, he actually fell asleep and dreamed instead of having a pr oper reverie that night. Incoherent dreams about swimming and sunken Numenor and elf maidens. He made sure not to tell anyone in the morning; this happened to him sometimes b ut not to anyone else and he was quite sure it wasn ft proper. He wanted very much to live up to his father fs expectations of a young elf lord. And Mother Nienna fs as well. He felt the mother-longing in the morning as well. He had never seen his mother, except in pictures. He had pried every story he could out of his father but she was gone beyond the ken of Valar and Elf alike now, being mortal. And thus he found himself in one of the western towers, gazing out on the ocean and beyond it, the Wall of Night; Morgoth lay beyond that but his mother as well , in the Halls of Eru. gLet it out, h Nienna said softly, hand on his shoulder. He nearly jumped. gI have cried for this too many times, h he said, feeling frustra ted. gSorrow must be released, not suppressed or dwelt on too long. I know it is hard to find the balance, h Nienna said, then kissed his cheek. gI am sure she is proud of you. h gI wasted yesterday, h he said, frustrated. gChasing a pretty girl. h

gIt fs only normal for a boy your age, h Nienna said. gAdulthood will come but if you try to skip childhood, you will end up bent. One must crawl before one can walk. h She took his hand and stood with him. gI can feel time, h he said softly. impatient. h gI can ft c I am too impatient. Elves should not be gAnd for them, to feel

gYou are not a normal Elf. You are Human too, h Nienna said. the flow of time pressing is normal. h

It was not just his impatience which bothered him. gAnd this English is a very st range and nonsensical language, h he complained. gIt fs so full of exceptions and the words c it utterly lacks Euphony. It is more a pidgin than a language. I don ft kno w how the people of Arda stand it. h gI think perhaps by absorbing everyone fs words, it feels less alien to them, h Nienn a said, speculating. gI understand that humans have been working on a science of

languages which shows some promise of creating better languages, though. But I f ear that the end will come before they succeed. h That was worth looking into, Alassanyere thought. gAnd where did all these elf ma idens suddenly come from? h Distantly, he heard Laicahen. gAlassanyere, where are you? h Nienna laughed softly and Alassanyere turned a little red. gMother! h gA lot of families have moved west to help build the forts, h she said. gTheir paren ts are all either building the forts, in the army, or providing support to those two groups, h she continued. gThere are some nice young men you should make friend s with too. h gI will outgrow them like the friends I had when I was five, h he said sadly. That had been rather traumatic, realizing the simple games of that period no longer c ould hold his attention and that he was aging so much faster than them. gIf you spend your time anticipating sorrow, you will miss the joy of the now, h Ni enna said a little chidingly. gMuch joy brings sorrow in its wake but sorrow will come, joy or not. Do not fear my gift; it will make you stronger, my son. h She ruffled his hair. gI am very fortunate, h she said softly. gBreakfast will get cold if you don ft come! h Laicahen shouted. She was clearly star ting to get irritated. gMorwen will eat your food if you don ft hurry! h gBest you go, h Nienna said. gI will ensure you have some time to study but I want y ou to spend some time with people your own age too. h They won ft stay my age for long, he thought but soon he was being chased by Laica hen and had other things on his mind. End Book 2, Chapter 1 Alassanyere had been half watching the construction of the fortress in the dista nce and half reading his book as he continued his language studies. He read alou d, since the sounds were as important as the letters. More important, unless he wanted to write signs to show anyone from Earth he met. And he suspected he woul d meet many more soon. The end was coming. He suddenly wondered why Mother Nienna had put her halls her e, where it would surely be destroyed when the end came. The Halls of Mandos wer e here to ease the travel of those ready to pass on. But why Mother Nienna fs home ? His thoughts were interrupted by Laicahen fs gentle touch and a kiss on his cheek. gCome with us, h she said. gWe fre going to scry to see who one day we will marry. h Alassanyere was quite sure this was impossible. Yet, curiosity drove him to join a dozen girls and seven guys in sitting around a large silver bowl of water and singing the chant with them. It was an odd mix of Valarin, Quenya, Sindarin, an d other Elven languages. It made no sense. Yet the water stirred and the reflection in the water changed. Almost immediatel y, he heard one of the women say, gIt fs c it fs c no one I know at all. h She sounded disa ppointed. He did not know the woman he saw; for a moment, he thought it was Laicahen, but

he quickly realized she was too short to be Laicahen and didn ft quite look Elvish . The woman was not yet an adult but she looked a little older than Alassanyere or Laicahen. She wore a long white coat over a white blouse and a knee-length gr een skirt. Oddly, she seemed to be wearing a red noose around her neck, tucked u nder the collar of the blouse and hanging down her bosom. A little black and whi te pin of some sort of strange animal had been added to the bottom of the cloth e tongue f which hung down from the noose. She was busy excitedly addressing a group of people a little younger than her. H e could make out some of it; she was talking about how birds fly; fascinated, he watched as she explained how their wings caught the air and then she compared t his to something called an eairplane f. They were all inside a room with strange wh ite walls that she wrote on with a black tipped white stylus, then used a black rock to erase. What marvel was this? Many of the students wrote down her words, while others looked bored and one was busy trying to fold paper into animal shapes in the back. She had power, more than a normal girl of her age, even here among the Eldar of Valinor. Yet she was clearly wise beyond her years to be trusted to teach others , barely younger than herself. The image flickered and now she was wearing a strange c it was perhaps the oddest clothing he had ever seen. It looked like some sort of skin-tight satin but with thick clunky armor plates around the chest and groin. She had a rounded helmet, like a sphere with chunks cut out of it to hold a head with an oddly glowing cr ystalline plate in the front, over her eyes. The woman held a white-bladed sword in her hand, a sword with Tengwar runes upon it; was it some ancient legacy of her house? It looked like Elvish make, so it must be. She seemed to be battling some invisible foe inside a black metal room. And she laughed as she fought. He knew, suddenly, that she was the dragon slayer, that her hand had somehow bro ught down that dragon. No wonder she was so greatly respected. How could a human of that age face down a dragon? He felt his heart pound as he looked at her; his mother too, his human mother, a nd his elven father, they had faced dragons together, during the Dagor Bragollac h, before they died. He wanted to meet her, to know her, to somehow c He had never felt like this befor e. Kissing Laicahen felt good but this c Was this love? Was she the one, as Andreth had been for his father Aegnor? He had to meet her somehow. He had to know, though he did not know the way. gWell, am I that beautiful in the water? h Laicahen whispered in his ear. , my dear Alassanyere. I saw you. h gI will age, h he said softly to her. . h gI saw you

gI may not have any more lifespan than a human

gTo the other half-elven, the choice was given which Kindred to choose, h she said, suddenly panicked by the thought. gSurely your aging is merely meant to catch yo u up to where you should have been by now. h Much, much older than you, he thought. If I was my true age, I would be long wed and not a boy to catch your fancy. And yet c the bowl showed me this woman who reminded him of the mother he had neve

r known, a memory I have long wished for c and Laicahen c saw me, he thought. Does i t only show what you want to see? gI do not know if it is safe for me to love anyone, h he said softly, sadly. gI shall convince you otherwise, h she said with an absolute conviction. Their visions could not be both true and they were both too young for marriage, anyway. And they both might see only a passing fancy, a whim reflected in water. Mother, he hoped, would know more. ***************** gIt is meaningless babble to me, h Nienna said thoughtfully to Alassanyere as he he lped her work on a tapestry. It showed people who looked human, mourning fallen relatives in a mountain town. On Earth. gWhat is this? h he asked softly. gI mourn for those who have fallen in the mountains of a country on Earth. There has been a battle, though I am not sure who or what, h she said softly. gThis will help them to work through it, once I am done. h gWas it another dragon? h he asked. He worked thread into the tapestry at her comma nd. As he did, it changed color to fit into the growing image. gI find it hard to imagine the humans of today could slay a dragon at her age, h Ni enna said softly. gMy understanding is that humans must generally be decades old to lead in the current era. I do not know the truth of what you saw, though Vair e might. I suspect the bowl showed you what you wanted to see. h She ruffled his h air fondly, though her eyes remained sad as they usually did. He had feared that. gOne day, you will meet your mother again. She was a strong, fiery, proud woman. I can only imagine she does great things with our father, our maker, Eru Iluvata r, h Nienna said with a fondness that reminded him that she had existed in Iluvata r fs home before this world began. Even having seen her power, it was sometimes hard for him to remember. The Valar had power but they looked like mighty Elves, not as some other sort of being. Nienna fs handmaidens began to sing, a soft and sorrowful song, and Nienna sighed. gWhat tidings abide? h she asked. gRains come now where in times past they did not, but they come too much and too hard and the people now find themselves beset with floods where once they prayed for rain, h one of the handmaidens said softly. Nienna nodded and led them in a song to strengthen those beset in Arda; it was t he most she could do for their suffering right now, but soon, she feared, she wo uld see many of them face-to-face. ****************** Neon Genesis Silmarillion (an EVA/Tolkien Legendarium fusion) Book 2: Sharpening the Sword Chapter 2: Toba

****************** Having been given Rei fs old sword felt too much like getting hand-me-downs to Asu ka, but the feel of it c It felt natural and right in her hands. She was fighting virtual monsters in one of the training rooms, hacking and slashing at air, but which her visor depicted as monsters. The room appeared as part of the Deeps, al l flow-stone and dripping water, and she felt the slickness of the ground throug h her plugsuit; it conveyed fake sensory data to her body; when a fake monster h it her, it hurt, though it could not injure her for real. She ducked under the last Ogre fs swing, then cut his belly open, watching black b lood spurt out, and he fell, clutching his stomach. I win again, she thought triumphantly. No one would ever call her weak. gAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! h Shinji shouted in the next room. Unlike some people. ***************** Shinji was looking at himself with that dumbfounded look she found so *annoying* on his face, because she knew he could do better. So why did he do so badly in training? gIf you turn your back to your foe, he will strike you down, h she said i rritably. gI fm not used to this, h he grumbled. gWell, you fre going to have to get used to it, h she said sternly, using the teacher voice. She could see him stand straighter and she smiled. gRei and I can ft afford to carry you on our backs. And your girlfriend will be disappointed in you if y ou run away. h gI fm not going to run away, h he said, eyes flashing and now seeming taller than her , even though she was just a touch taller than him. She smiled broader. Much better. gThen get back in there and show them who fs boss! h

Soon she was listening to him wail again and decided this was going to take a lo t of pep talks. For all that Rei sometimes creeped her out, she didn ft scream as much as Shinji seemed prone to. ******************* gPen-Pen, any luck today? h Asuka said, striding into the laboratory; she hoped so because she fd been working on this project for a very long time and she was start ing to get frustrated with it. Pen-Pen was a giant penguin, nearly as big as a human, with an odd red frill on his head reminiscent of a rooster and a metal box with large buttons on his righ t flipper. He also was wearing goggles which fed him information; you could see it flickering across the surface as you looked at him. gWaaRRk, h he said, sounding frustrated. Pen-Pen was her dear friend and companion, her greatest success, but also her gr eatest frustration. She fd made him sapient as her senior project but the process didn ft work on other penguins and she didn ft understand why. She hadn ft even intend ed to make him this smart, it had just happened. Her ring, she felt, was likely connected.

She had refined a process created by the head of her committee for her Master fs d egree, Dr. Pfizer. Refinements around when she fd started her final year had impro ved the process and she fd improved it further. But in Pen-Pen, she fd exceeded expe ctations. Pen-Pen was *fully* sapient; he was learning to read and could communi cate simple messages with a special device that the school had made him, a colla boration between the engineering, biology, and computer departments. Asuka sighed and studied the young penguins in their habitat on the other side o f a glass wall; they were busy having fun and swimming and goofing off. gSo no su ccess with the children, either. h gWaaaaRRkkk, h Pen-Pen said, then waddled over to the holokeyboard and began typing with his beak. Asuka didn ft know how he could stand to bob his head so much but it helped that the MAGI easily anticipated his commands and this was a specializ ed terminal for their work. Data now came up on the wallscreen and Asuka studied it. A massive fifty-percent increase at ability to hunt and catch food. Awareness of spatial relationships up twenty percent. Able to use crude tools demonstrated to them. *Not* able to i nvent their own. Forty percent enhanced sense of smell. Asuka blinked. gEnhanced sense of smell? Isn ft your sense of smell as weak as a no rmal penguin, Pen-Pen? h gWaaAArrK, h he said, then sighed. It was time for some tests. ******************* Asuka sighed. gI didn ft need to increase the efficiency of the olfactory center of their brain, h she said, frowning. The fundamental problem Asuka faced was that while Pen-Pen fs brain functioned at a higher level than a normal penguin, she still had not been able to figure out why the treatments which had augmented his intelligence by improving his brain fs efficiency were a flop on other penguins. Even genetic surgery to try to pass it to descendants was mostly a flop. She could make better penguins. That was easy. Almost trivial. But not *enough* better. Or in the right ways. Time to check on experiment two. She gently patted Pen-Pen fs shoulder. gYou should take a break, h she said. She could tell he was frustrated. gI fm going to go check on the seeds. h He followed her down the hallway and up an escalator to the botany lab. The grow ing trees were located in section 8 of the greenhouse, five of them growing in a row in deep soil, much taller than they should have been, their silver-grey bar k smooth to the touch. They looked, to the casual eye, like unusually colored bi rch trees, but the leaves were silver on the bottom and green on top with white flowers sprouting as if it was not early October. But it was forever spring here . The seeds had refused to sprout, and they fd feared them long dead, but Asuka, a rmed with her ring, had brought them to life with an ancient song from the recor ds. She knew it by heart; it was easy for her to memorize things. Just looking at them, she felt comforted for her setbacks with the penguins. Thi s had come back to life after thousands of years of slumber at her command.

Many other plants flourished better now with her care. She fd always had a green t humb but now it was greener. So why can ft I make Pen-Pen a companion? He must be so lonely with no one else of his kind who can understand him, she thought. The way she was lonely sometimes. She frowned, then started when someone came up behind her. Hikari, h she said, calming down. gHi, h Hikari said, studying the tree. gDon ft sneak up c oh, hi,

gI can ft believe it fs growing so fast. h

gI fm awesome and they know it, h Asuka said proudly. gWe should go see how yours are doing. h gNot as well, h Hikari said ruefully. gBut faster than I thought they would. I can ft c how can singing to them help? h she asked. gWe really haven ft gotten into how these things work, h she said. gIt fs the power of World Two, channeled through creative things, h Asuka said. gAs to why c well, there comes a level in science where you are stuck with saying ethis i s how it is and we can ft get deeper for explanations, f though I hope we will dig d eeper into this successfully. It fs kind of like asking why light goes at the spee d it does, and why *that* speed is the fastest anything can go instead of 3 kilo meters an hour or 3 quintillion. We don ft know, we just know the consequences. h Hikari fs plants were slightly, but only slightly more developed; in fact, you had to be as expert as Asuka to really tell; Asuka could tell she was frustrated. B ut without a ring or Asuka fs power level, she couldn ft do much. Yet. But Asuka knew she had both been lucky enough to have a very strong soul *and* H ALO exposure had greatly strengthened her soul. gYou have to make sure to come to tomorrow fs meeting. h gOf course, I would never miss a program event, h Hikari said, sounding a little of fended. gI know. I expect Touji will sleep through it and Kensuke will be busy with porn. h Asuka sighed. gThey fre both huge disappointments. h gBut you like Shinji? h Hikari said teasingly. gI expected someone tougher, h Asuka confessed. gHe fs not actively *bad* like they ar e, but he fs not very impressive. Except as a musician. h gNot everyone can do everything well like you, h Hikari said, then sighed. gSo true, h Asuka told her. urned a little red. gBut you come closest. h She smiled at Hikari and Hikari t

gI fm not very impressive, h Hikari said, shuffling her feet and staring down at her trees, which were just little sprouts coming up. gI fm certainly not an athlete lik e you. h gYou work hard and hard work always wins, h Asuka said. gHere, let fs sing together. h

They began singing to the trees and the arbor echoed the chorus and for the mome nt, Asuka was content. *************** Asuka had intended to go home but to her surprise and pleasure, she was called t o a meeting with Commander Ikari, Commander Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko, Misato, and some one she didn ft know, a middle aged black man who had shaved himself bald and was portly with glasses. gDr. Nkambe, this is Asuka Soryuu-Langley. She fs part of the Special Talent Program, h Ritsuko said. gAsuka, Dr. Nkambe is a volcanologist. We fve called him in to consult for a special mission where you will be taking the lea d. h Asuka smiled brightly at that, feeling excited. Finally, a chance to prove mysel f, she thought. gWe have drilled down into the Toba supervolcano in Indonesia and discovered anom alies which have to be investigated. This will require a dangerous descent into Lava, using a special suit of armor we will be building for your Ranger, h Gendo t old her. gOnly Unit-01 can handle the temperatures, even with the armor, though w e will be arming the other Rangers with it in case there is trouble. We are not sure what is down there but it is powerful; you must descend, discover what it i s and then we will develop a plan, h Gendo finished. gI fm ready! h Asuka said enthusiastically and listened carefully as Dr. Nkambe deliv ered a long lecture on volcanoes; she used her phone to record it for later cons ultation. She knew the basics of volcanoes from her geology courses for her scie nce degree but they fd only lightly skimmed the surface of it. gWhat about pressure? h Asuka asked afterwards. gLava is much heavier than water and as I go deeper, more and more will press down on me, right? What about communic ations? h gYou fll be on a cable and the armor will account for the pressure, h Gendo said. They worked through the technical details; the meeting went long enough that Asu ka was going to be late for dinner, but she felt she fd shown them she was taking this seriously. She listened to the lecture again on the bus on the way home, tr ying to think of anything that could go wrong. The cable was her biggest worry; if it broke, she might find it hard to impossible to press up through the lava w ithout any sort of leverage, unless you could swim in it. But it would be hard t o swim through it. And what sort of thing could survive inside a supervolcano, anyway? ****************** Rei knew what Bert wanted before Bert even asked. gI am not interested in a date. h They were at school but their mutual first class of the day, Biology, taught by Asuka, had not yet begun. All of the Special Talent Program members were in this first class together, along with a lot of other kids their age. Most of whom we re goofing around before class started. Rei, as usual, had been busy reading one of the many journals she tried to keep up with; piloting and training for such often got in the way. Or had been, but n ow she had Bert looming over her. gCome on, give me a chance, h he said urgently. She could feel the hormones churnin

g inside him, and knew they were talking; he hardly knew her. gI will know the man for me when I meet him, h Rei said calmly. n. h gYou are not that ma

gOh come on, that fs impossible, h Bert said, frowning. He tried to casually lean on the wall but there was no wall and he nearly fell on Gretchen Adler, who sat nex t to Rei, one column of desks over. Gretchen dove out of the way, but this caused her to crash into Hedda Sommer, an d when that desk toppled, Hedda fs books smacked the unfortunate Ernie Mehler in t he face, causing him to stab his pencil through several sheets of paper and mark up his desk. For a few seconds, there was silence, then Evelyn ran over to Gretchen and Hedda , Sam Braun helped Ernie get back in order, and most of the class laughed at the m all. gShit, sorry about that, h Bert said ruefully. gYou okay, Gretchen? h Rei could feel h e was worried; he could know shame, he just didn ft know any sort of foresight. gI fm fine, h she said as Evelyn dusted her off. gI fm dying! h Hedda wailed and Bert looked guilty, then frowned when she laughed at him. gI fm okay, h she said. gSorry about that, Ernie. h gIt fs okay, h Ernie said, getting his mess straightened out. Rei could feel how emba rrassed he was. gAnyway, I am not interested, thank you for asking, h Rei said, then turned back to her tablet. gCome on, just one chance? h Bert pleaded. He was really determined, which would ha ve been admirable if not applied to annoying her. Rei ignored him until Asuka showed up with a push-cart full of models. g3D printe rs are the best printers, h Asuka said proudly and laid out the animals she was go ing to talk about today. gTurn to page 228! The game is afoot! h Bert fs mind turned to lusting after Asuka and Rei was both relieved and disappoin ted. The fickleness of so many always disappointed. Eldar found the right person when the time came, got married and were devoted to the other for life. They di d not waste time on lust or chasing after every woman in sight. Why the Creator had saddled humans with that desire, she didn ft know. Her brain chose this moment to notice how handsome Shinji was and she wished her human heritage didn ft saddle her with it either. But she pushed it aside. He had a girlfriend and while her body sometimes pushed ideas into her head, he was no t the one; she would have known on their first meeting, as she had learned from the tales of her people. The stories she visited in the world of the spirit. She just wished her body would shut up. **************** gIt is almost certainly a strange accident like the way I got a city when I went looking for a person some days ago, h Galadriel said to Alassanyere. They were in her gardens; she was overseeing her maidens in the preparation of lembas. They w ould need huge amounts for the war. Endless fields of the plants from which it w

as made spread out west of her home now, where once gardens had stood. Some of t he gardens were preserved but now they were growing huge amounts of food, antici pating a time when it might become much harder. gI don ft know how we could have seen different people, h Alassanyere said, frowning and studying the fields. gThere is no way to tell for sure who you will marry. Not all Elves recognize the ir one even when they first meet them, like Findis and her husband, who original ly thought they hated each other. We marry for life but we don ft just look at som eone and know for sure instantly, h Galadriel said, stopping to sniff some of the lembas. With her keen senses, it was enough to tell if it was right. Given how f illing lembas was, you really couldn ft taste test it. gAnyway, you are far too young to marry. Just have some fun. If Laicahen is right , you fll come to see it in time. If not, then it will be someone else. h She now to uched his mind. ~Assuming Arda lasts long enough for you to grow up.~ Galadriel frowned at that. ~Have you seen something, Auntie?~ he asked softly, mind-to-mind. It came very e asily to him, more so than anyone else his age that he knew. But he was not a no rmal Eldar. ~The banes within Arda, imprisoned since the War of Wrath, or even before the ri sing of the Sun, are waking,~ Galadriel said softly. ~I have seen a great many-h eaded beast with a huge bulky body and great serpents for necks and heads destro ying a city. Soldiers fighting it and dying. A mighty fortress falls when its de fenders turn on each other.~ She frowned. ~Two young adult humans, a boy and a g irl, killing each other.~ She shivered and sagged a little. ~The future is never clear. It may not be what you think,~ Alassanyere said, put ting a hand on her arm. She towered over him, so reaching her shoulder was awkwa rd. She was tall even for an elven woman. ~I fear it will be for men what the first age was for us, as our dreams dissolve d into betrayal, murder, and kin-slaying.~ She held herself tightly as she stood , remembering the fall of Doriath. Alassanyere began a song, the song of the fall of Doriath, and soon everyone was singing it, though it brought work to a standstill. Galadriel slowly began to s ing as well, remembering it all, the death of Thingol and the coming of the Sons of Feanor to take the Silmaril and how they fell, how they failed. The flight t o the Havens and their fall. What a waste. They mourned for the fallen and for the failures and mistakes of time past, unti l their emotions were purged, leaving them all feeling tired but better. It was easier to work now, having let out their fears and worries, having touched the p ast and put it behind them for now. Elves dwelt often on the past that they might overcome and release it, instead o f it haunting them always. This didn ft always work but it rarely hurt. gThank you, nephew, h Galadriel said to Alassanyere. gI am glad to help, h he told her. It was his duty but he also liked to help others . gLet me see the image of her, h Galadriel said and their minds touched; he could fe el Galadriel studying the image and then her breath caught.

gWhat? h he asked urgently. gShe bears Thingol fs blade, Aranruth, h she said, amazed. ruin of Numenor. h gI believed it lost in the

gDoes that make this more or less likely to be true? h Alassanyere asked softly. gIt makes her more likely to be real but that does not mean she is fated for you, h Galadriel said kindly. gBut I am pleased to see she is a teacher as well as a wa rrior; I have known too many who had no time for wisdom because of the necessity of war. h gAunt Finduilas says they spend thirteen years minimum educating their children n ow, and sometimes more, h Alassanyere said. gBeginning with teaching them to garden . h gOne thing we share in common with men is that we must ensure there is enough foo d for all, h Galadriel said, smiling a little. gAnd learning to live in harmony wit h nature is good. h Then she frowned. gTheir cities are strange; some parts are bea utiful and some are quite hideous and even look like orc-work. h gThere is a little of Morgoth in everything outside Valinor, h Alassanyere said sad ly. gWhich is why everything fades; probably some parts of their cities have run down and with so many dead from the Great Dying, they cannot maintain what once they built. h Galadriel nodded. gI see sense in that. They must retain some memory of the elder days, if they have found the ruins of Numenor and delved for what was lost ther e. h They continued to speculate as the day wore on. *************** Kaji was hidden on a rooftop in a small village near the Toba crater. Most of NE RV fs security men were out in the open; they fd moved in to secure the area, first for preliminary drilling and now for the effort to send Unit-01 diving deep into one of the subsidiary volcanos within the crater. One of those continued to lea k fumes into the air as it had done for many years now. Another had gone up duri ng the Long Winter, though with only a tiny fraction of the power of the greates t eruption ever to happen here, so many years ago. But now, most traces of that eruption were gone; the only real sign was damage t o homes, for the rice paddies and other fields were being cultivated again outsi de the great crater and greenery grew within it; nature recovered from its own e xcesses easier than people. Much of the caldera was a lake and the region as a whole was wet; rice cultivati on had driven the economy of the Batak people for centuries; the local villages had modern equipment but were still built in the traditional style, wooden with red roofs that curled up at the ends to form rain gutters. Some of those roofs w ere still damaged and others fixed, but life went on, and the village was prospe ring. Kaji prayed it would stay that way. His homeland had recovered but it was changi ng and many buildings laid empty. He noted that here, like his homeland, few of the elderly had survived the havoc of the Long Winter and the Valentine fs War, th ough this part of Sumatra, lacking anything to tempt attackers desperate for res ources, had not been hard hit by that war.

There was an old shrine on the side of one of the volcanoes; ape than almost anything else here and parts of it were new. were officially Christian or Moslem, for their old faith had d by outsiders. But Kaji knew that mountain was said to have of the first humans in those old traditions.

it was in better sh Most of the locals been long suppresse been the birthplace

And if NERV fs theories were correct, it was in a sense, having passed humanity ra ther literally through the fire and sifted out all but a few from whom modern hu mans descended. Kaji couldn ft decide if what was about to happen was hubris or a necessary precau tion to avoid another disaster. Perhaps only the result of your actions could te ll the difference between justified pride and hubris. Sometimes people gamble an d win. But from the scraps of knowledge of the elder days Kaji had wiggled out of his v arious masters, Kaji had a feeling this was not the first time humans had monkey ed around with Mount Toba. It just might be the last. ******************** gThe one problem with this is that parrying don ft feel like you fre parrying anythin g, h Touji said, blocking an attack by a VR Grey, then kicking him in the gut and knocking him over to where Rei cut his arm off with her VR weapon. They were tra ining to fight side by side in one of the VR combat rooms. gBehind you! h they heard Shinji shout in the next room. gI had it! h Asuka protested. Touji grinned a little, while Misato, observing them by monitor, said, gWell, it fs the best we can do, other than you drilling with actual people, which we also d o. h Touji dodged another Grey thrusting at him and then stabbed it in the gut as Rei disarmed her foe, who fled. gHah! Did we win? h gYou win this scenario, h Misato said. gAnd thank you for not chewing on each other. h

Touji patted Rei fs shoulder. gHey, we fre teammates and Rei ain ft crazy like Berg or Asuka. h gYou need to bury the hatchet and not in their skulls, h Misato said. s to be able to work together, whether you like each other or not. h gThey seem to like teaming up, anyway, h Touji grumbled. gCommander Katsuragi is right, h Rei said to Touji. gDivision among themselves was d isastrous for the Quendi in times past. Or for humanity in its entire history. h gYeah, well, some people are just impossible to deal with, h Touji grumbled. gOkay, let fs try another scenario, while the others try to finish this one, h Misato said. gMakoto, fire it up! h They were soon deep in a forest, and had other things to deal with than interper sonal relations. gEveryone need

************** gShe fll eat you for breakfast, h Kyoko said to Shinobu; the two of them, Kevin fs sist er Melinda, and Shinji were studying at the Aida house, seated around the small table which the senior Aida had bought for his kids to eat on and study at, in t he living room. Kensuke was off training late with Commander Ikari on some special project. gI don ft like how she treats Shinji, h Shinobu said, then stared at her math homewor k, which clearly hated her. Kyoko had finished hers and was busy studying Aduni again, while Shinji worked o n his Latin. Melinda was busy trying to compose a poem for English class. gIsn ft that Shinji fs problem? Guys don ft like it when a woman tries to solve their p roblems for them, h Melinda told Shinobu. Melinda was middling in height but still growing, though slowly, and middling in build but with strong arms and legs, fr om playing tennis. She wore a golden cross on a chain which dangled down in fron t of her green blouse. Her long brown hair was gathered into a braid she pinned up when playing. gHey, Shinji, what do *you* actually think about this, h Kyoko asked Shinji, frowni ng at him. Shinji seemed focused on slowly translating English sentences into La tin and filling in Latin words into sentences on the worksheet. He looked up and said, gI fve never changed another person fs behavior in my life. h Th en he went back to his homework. gOh come on, that has to be an exaggeration, h Melinda said. gYou fve changed my behavior lots of times, h Shinobu said, now feeling worried again . I hope he doesn ft feel I fm pushing him around, she thought. gNo wonder you fre such a doormat, h Kyoko said. gIf you just let people walk on you, you fll be stomped flat. You have to push back. h Shinji squirmed in his chair, fingering his ring with his thumb and still lookin g at his homework, not at her. gI just don ft like wasting time on futile things. h gShinji, are you mad at me? h Shinobu asked, worried. Shinji looked confused. gNo. Why would I be mad at you? h She wished he could be like Kyoko, where you could *tell* what he felt. But he w as so hard to read; he was uncomfortable about something, but he fd probably never tell anyone *what*. Even me, she thought. Melinda said, gCan we just study instead of having a stupid fight? h gYes, let fs study, h Shinji said urgently. gOkay, h Shinobu said. She just wished she knew what to do about Asuka being mean t o Shinji *all the time*. *************

Barbara did not expect to find Asuka in the kitchen with a huge glass jar full o f a dozen smaller jars of jam with a toy model of Unit-01 in the jam with a cord tied to it while Asuka tugged on the cord. If it had been Karin, it would not have surprised her. Olga was here, leaning on the kitchen counter and studying the model. gI like the idea, but the jam isn ft hot and the cord can go through jam all day without brea king. h Asuka had jam on her hands up to the middle of her forearms. Barbara. h gHi, Mrs. Langley, h Olga said, waving. gWhat is this? h Barbara asked. gClassified, h Asuka said. Barbara narrowed her eyes. gYou fre jamming my kitchen and it fs classified. h gI know, but c oh, hi,

gWe fll clean up, h Asuka said. gI can ft carry this much jam on the bus or I fd do it at my lab, h she said very seriously. gBut you can ft say why, h Barbara said. gNo, h Asuka said. Barbara sighed. gWell, you have fifteen minutes or else you fre cooking dinner. h gThis is important. h

gI fll pay for takehome, h Asuka said.

gI told you we ought to use computer modeling, h Olga whispered to her. gWe will, but I needed to get a *feel* for it, h Asuka whispered back. Barbara wondered if they knew she could hear them. She sighed and went to go cha nge out of her work uniform. ****************** gThis is laen, h Commander Ikari said to Kensuke and Evelyn. They were all wearing arctic survival gear and armed with large hammers and other tools. They were in a massively refrigerated room with a work table, a large supply of a clear, crys talline substance in large chunks, and some blueprints. gWe fre going to make a mod el which will then be used to guide the technicians in making the full scale arm or. Further, if you fre going to work with me, Aida, then you fll need to learn abou t the special substances. h Kensuke was eager to do so, even if this all seemed a rather primitive set of to ols. A three foot tall model of Unit-00 without armor stood in the middle of the table; it was made of some sort of synthetic and resembled a naked human man wh o had no genitals; a massive Ken doll. The oddest thing was the happy smile on i ts face; the armor looked grim, but the model was strangely cheerful, like it mi ght burst into song about how it loved fighting and you should always put on a h appy face. Its skin tone was the same as Commander Ikari, though the features were differen t and for a moment, Kensuke wondered if Commander Ikari had genitals. But it was

a ludicrous thought and he dismissed it, though he had heard the Commander had never touched a woman since his wife died and had turned down a fair number of w omen. gThe reason the room is cold is that laen becomes more and more pliable as it get s colder, and stronger and more durable in the face of heat; it is ideal for fir e-related safety, h Commander Ikari said. He then demonstrated how to work it with the hammers; some of it was soft enough you could even mold it like clay. Kensuke rather enjoyed whacking it; further, as he worked on it, he started to get a feel for how to work it more effectively . Then he saw Evelyn had already made three plates for the armor while he was gett ing the hang of it. But this sort of thing was her thing; he was more an electro nics guy, though he could do other machines too. Commander Ikari mainly directed them, though he fd designed the plans. The armor e nded up kind of loose, though. gThis is going to fall apart when hit, h Kensuke sai d, frowning. gOnce heated, it will expand a little, enough to be sturdy. But we can ft take it o ut until we fre done, h Commander Ikari told him. gBut it is good you noticed. h gI fm good at fixing things, h Kensuke said. gBut I fm not used to this. h gYou have a lot to learn; Evelyn outpaced you by quite a bit, h Commander Ikari sai d sternly. gYou will have to do better. h gI learn fast, h Kensuke said stubbornly. gI hope so, h Commander Ikari said. gEvelyn, you have done very well. h gThank you sir, h she said, smiling nervously; she glanced over at Kensuke, then sa id, gHe fs just starting out, sir. h gHe has a lot to learn, h Commander Ikari said. I fll show him, Kensuke thought, frowning. I fll be the best student he ever had. Ke nsuke was not someone to settle for second best at things he cared about. He wou ld show him. *************** gYeah, he said I was great, h Kensuke said to Shinji, Shinobu, Kyoko, and Melinda. He made the V-sign, then said, gAnd now it fs time to do my stupid homework. h Shinji could tell there was something odd about Kensuke but didn ft know what; hav ing Kensuke closer to his father than he was made him feel frustrated. He fd been here all this time and still hadn ft gotten to spend time with his father. Not that he wanted to. Except when he did, like right now, when he wanted to yell at Kensuke for c someth ing. Why does Father want to train him and he hides from me? Is something wrong with me? Why did he send me away? Why doesn ft he want me to live with him? gIs he a good teacher? Dr. Scott is really great, h Kyoko said excitedly. gYeah, he is, h Kensuke said, then told them about the Laen and how they had to ham

mer it and it was like weird crystalline clay. gShinji, h Shinobu said mournfully, then glomped onto him. gHe looks fine to me, h Melinda said. gWhat fs wrong, Shinji? h Kensuke asked, now worried himself. Shinji could feel it; h e wasn ft good at sensing other fs feelings unless they were obvious and this really was. He could feel Shinobu fs worry and he couldn ft tell her the truth. Couldn ft tell any one. The only one he could tell about this was his uncle and he didn ft share feel ings with his uncle. Not even now. gHe just wants attention, h Kyoko said, waving her hand dismissively. If he told Shinobu, she fd tell the universe, he knew. But if you can ft tell your g irlfriend, who can you tell? gKiss me, h he said, though he had not intended to. Shinobu smiled and turned his chair, then kissed him softly on the lips; they ha dn ft done that before. Kyoko made gagging noises, Melinda laughed softly, and Ken suke made incoherent noises, then said, gI fll be right back, h and bolted. Shinji was suddenly keenly aware Shinobu was female and the scent of the rose ba sed perfume she wore and suddenly in his mind, he was in the forest with the dan cing maiden, kissing her against a tree while a giant dog stood watch over them. All his worries went away, though they soon enough began to ebb back in, as you couldn ft kiss forever. gYou fre lucky to have a nice boyfriend, h Melinda said. gMy first date was a *disaste r*. Mom scared him off. h She sighed. gAnd I think Dad threatened to kill him if an ything happened at all. More or less. h gMy dad probably wouldn ft care if Shinji and I did it on the table in front of you , h Shinobu said. Silence ensued for about three seconds. Then she panicked and fled to her m and shut the door. Shinji stared at the very idea, then imagined it and ery* glad no one else at the table had a ring. Melinda fs jaw dropped and ed back from the table a little, then said, gI fm getting some lemonade, the kitchen. Kyoko now said, gTry that and you will die. h Her voice was very firm. bedroo was *v she push h and ran to gWhat fs wrong? h

gShe said it, h Shinji protested. The doorbell rang. Kyoko got it; it was Touji and Evelyn. tudy party? h Touji asked. gHey, can we join the s

gYES, h Shinji said very loudly, enough that Evelyn jumped and Touji stepped back. gWhat fs wrong? h Evelyn asked. gNothing, h Melinda said from the kitchen. g*Nothing*. h Her voice was urgent.

gWhere fs Kensuke and Shinobu? h Touji asked, coming in.

gGetting things in their rooms, h Kyoko said and ran into the back of the place. gShinji, should we just turn around and go over to Evelyn fs? h Touji asked Shinji, s ounding wary. gYou are *staying*, h Melinda said loudly. gIt fs fine, h Shinji said weakly. He and Touji were soon deep in the painful throes of Latin together. ************* gI fm worried about the cable; the ISTARI can ft agree on if it will hold or not, h Asu ka told Commander Ikari in his office. gAiwendil won ft commit to yes or not, Olori n says yes and Merlin says no, h she continued. gMy jam test made me wary too. h gJam test, h Commander Ikari said slowly, then took a sip of his coffee. There was a half-eaten box of donuts next to it. gCable design isn ft my expert area, h Asuka said seriously. gBut I think that if I ha ve to go too deep, there fs going to be issues. h gThis must go forward, h Commander Ikari said. gBut I am sure it will not burn. h

They ended up in his workshop with a demonstration of the laen armor on the mode l; thrown in a fire, it did not burn. gBut how is this even c that doesn ft make any sense, h Asuka protested. gLaen has a strong tie to World Two and uses it to cheat, h Commander Ikari said. gU ntil the Incident, I could not even make Laen. Now I can and other things are ea sier to work. h He studied a shelf with a series of molds on it. gI believe the Inc ident made your breakthrough with Pen-Pen possible. h gBut he c You can duplicate the Laen, so why can ft I duplicate Pen-Pen? h Asuka asked, frowning. gLaen is trivial compared to what you have done, Pilot Langley h Commander Ikari sa id. He reached for the donut box, stopped his hand, and had more coffee instead. Asuka couldn ft help but smile. to be expected. h gWell, of course. I am a genius and great deeds are

gYou likely drew on World Two, h Commander Ikari said. gBut great deeds worked with it have their price. This armor will do its job, but it will not be accounted a great work. And many will work on it together. But to create a true wonder is no t something you can mass-produce. It is possible that Pen-Pen will be unique, or that you fll have to engage in generations of breeding to produce more like him. h Asuka fs smile collapsed. gScience is about reproducible results. h gAnd it is the great power of this world. With it, you can make great things. But if you wish to break the rules of this world, you must play by the rules of Wor ld Two. And it has its own costs and benefits, which may not match those of scie nce, h Commander Ikari said. gThe rules of art and creation, instead of deduction, induction, and observation, h he said. gEach has its place. h gI can ft let Pen-Pen be alone with anyone else of his own kind who aren ft c monkeys i n comparison. Imagine if you had to live surrounded by chimps, h Asuka said urgent

ly. Commander Ikari sipped his coffee. gSome days do feel like that to me. h

gThey do to me too, but you know what I mean, h Asuka said, frowning. Being a teach er could feel like that, some days. gYour desire to aid him is commendable, h Commander Ikari said, then finished off h is coffee. gHe is effectively your child. h Asuka froze at that. My child? She didn ft want to be a mother. Not yet. Maybe one day but probably not. And if s he was, she certainly wasn ft going to malinger and then drop dead like her *pathe tic* mother. gHe fs my student, not my child, h Asuka said. gI mean, he fs a penguin. He fs a good guy but he fs not c I mean, Huan isn ft Misato fs child. h She felt unnerved in a way that she hadn ft felt since she fd gotten her ass kicked by a football player in college. She fd eventually got even with him but for a whi le, she fd been entirely dysfunctional, worried he might jump out of anywhere and attack her. Hopefully, he fd drunk himself to death or died in a car wreck by now. She fd never be vulnerable like that again. She fd rather die. gIt may be advisable to change your master fs research to something soluble by pure ly scientific methods and work on this on the side, h Commander Ikari said. gAnd ta lk to Dr. Scott and Fuyutsuki about our archives on Eldar methods with animal br eeding. With your ring and the power of your soul, you will likely find that mor e productive. h Giving up was *not* in Asuka fs nature. It wouldn ft hurt to take a look at the material, though. ****************** Dr. Scott was delighted by Asuka fs request to a degree she found unnerving. gI wou ld love to work with you on this, h he said excitedly, rising from his desk. gSadly , there fs a lot less written down than we would like; they lacked a Virgil to tur n farming into poetry, more the pity. h The archives turned out to be full of tons of photocopies of documents, actual a rtifacts of various kinds, wall scrolls, regular scrolls and a ton of other thin gs, organized, so far as Asuka could tell, by stream of consciousness. gNo electr onic archives? h Asuka said, frustrated. gI fear not and lots of things, we fre still trying to translate, h he said. gBut once we find one of the bio-researchers, they can help you! I know they fve revived qu ite a few species, like those trees you fre growing. h gThey fre in another part of the base, h Asuka said, now feeling she probably should have gone straight to them. But she fd already read their electronic reports and n ot found what she needed. This is going to take a while, she feared. But scientific research always did. B ut it could do incredible things.

************** gWhy did you put your foot behind your head? h Lt. Aoba said to Shinobu, frowning. They were in a room which had been turned into a edance studio f, which mostly invo lved padding the floor and having technicians install a sound system. Which Kens uke had then upgraded. With the realization she fd put her foot behind her head instead of up next to it, Shinobu now fell down; Touji tried to rush to her aid but was too slow. gDo we h ave to wear these stupid outfits? h he asked. He didn ft like wearing a leotard. gYes, h Lt. Aoba said sternly. gIf I have to do this, we all wear the damn uniform. h He was dressed the same as Touji and clearly not happy about it. gPay attention, Aida. h She fd been thinking about Shinji and c she fd regretted what she said a thousand time s. She was too scared to do anything like that and probably her father wasn ft tha t lax but she was frustrated that he clearly had better things to do than be aro und them. Shinji hadn ft said anything about it, either to say with you f or elet fs wait f or *anything*. gAIDA! h Lt. Aoba snapped. gCalm down, Shigeru, h Sandi Woods said, coming in; she was always friendly but her body constantly reminded Shinobu she still looked way too much like a kid and w as skinny and too much like a pole dancer fs pole. Not that they were doing pole dancing. And why did the wall need a mirror, anyway? gI never thought I fd use that dance minor at this job, h Sandi said, grinning. gOkay, kids. Now we can get the party started. h gShe has to *pay attention*. I did not work this hard to end up teaching someone who zones out all the time, h Lt. Aoba said angrily. gI fm sorry, h Shinobu said weakly. gLet fs just get going, okay? h Touji said quickly. gYes, I fm sorry I was late. h Sandi bowed to everyone. gWe fve got huge shipments of st uff coming in and keeping it all straight isn ft easy. And Lucy fs section is workin g their ass off on the top secret project she can ft tell us about but hints at co nstantly. h Lt. Aoba groaned. gYes. Now, Aida, are you going to pay attention? h gYes, sir, h Shinobu said, saluting. He frowned. gISTARI, Activate Music Course 3. h esure, let fs do it f or eno, never

A recording of a string quartet began to play; Shinobu knew Shinji was the celli st and smiled a little. She could tell one of the violinists was a little off, t hough.

He led them through a series of exercises which she found easy and clearly strai ned him some; Sandi had an easier time of it; she wondered when he learned to da nce. Then they formed into a box and began an elaborate one which required switc hing partners. As she danced, her mind drifted off into snatches of visions of d ancing, of people dancing like this long ago, dozens, maybe hundreds of pairs in terchanging elaborately to the sound of the harp, the lute, the flute, the mando lin, and others, in great halls and deep, beautiful caverns. And at the center, she glimpsed a lithe woman dancing with a big bulky laughing man who reminded her of Hikari fs father, his hair running wild, dressed in gold a nd black. Many others celebrated around them and it was their wedding feast. One of the technicians monitoring them from the next room announced something ab out Orange Sign levels; she fd stopped trying to understand their constant technob abble and just went by the tone. The tone was good. It now hit her that while Lt. Aoba seemed to hate her completely, she at least k new what he felt. She wobbled and nearly swept Sandi fs legs with her own but Sandi jumped lightly a nd Shinobu recovered. gFocus, h Lt. Aoba said. Which she thought was his way of saying eFuck you and the h orse you rode in on f. She fd never had a teacher hate her so much. Or teach her so much. She already could do things she fd never thought possible wi th her clumsy body. And she didn ft even have a ring yet, like he did. I guess there must be a test, she thought. She was determined to pass it. ******************** There was a ton of things which might be relevant c in ancient languages Asuka had never had time for. And finding someone willing to devote effort to it when the y had their own work was not easy; Dr. Scott had promised to try some but he did n ft really have *time* for it. Everyone was already on projects. And she could spend months translating this. So she had a huge stack of photocopies and pictures, which wouldn ft help her. It was in a box in the corner of her room, while she flopped out on the bed, exh austed and frustrated. And she had homework to grade. gI fm sorry, Pen-Pen, this is going to take a while, h she said wearily. gWaaRk, h he told her, sitting at her desk and reading something on her tablet. I guess I fll read over the reports again, see what I can figure out. But the gene tic surgery method they have didn ft work before and I can ft figure out *why*, she

thought. Stupid World Two, why can ft you play by the rules like I have to, Asuka thought. For a moment, she felt like someone was there and she sat up and looked around, frowning. gEdgar, did you sneak into my room again? h gFUCK YOU WHITEY, h Edgar shouted from the living room. gEdgar, don ft say things like that! h Barbara said angrily in the living room. , I fm sorry. h gAsuka

gIt fs not your fault, h Asuka shouted. This time, anyway. And I fm half-Asian, anyway, Asuka thought. gYour father is going to give you a good talking to when he gets home, h Barbara sa id angrily. gYou shouldn ft say things like that to anyone, especially not your sis ter. h gHalf-sister, h Edgar said. gShe fs mean and stupid and ugly! h gI fm goi

Asuka grimaced. I fm better than you fll ever be, and I fm beautiful and smart. ng over to Olga fs, h she shouted. gI fll be back by ten. h gOkay, h Barbara said. gHave fun! h

It would mostly involve grading but she needed some company. ***************** gHe fs at the bratty age, h Olga said to Asuka. gSo tell me about your volcano diving! h

Asuka explained it over chips and beer; she made sure to just have one; the one time she fd drunk too much while grading had been a disaster. Olga sighed. gSounds pretty cool. But if you fre the only one who can do down, what will you do if something like Lintaleuca shows up? h gThey fll pull me out and make it come out, h Asuka said. gWe fre not even sure what I w ill find but they fre worried it may cause trouble with the volcano, and that fs one volcano we don ft want to go up again. h She shivered at the thought. Humanity had almost been destroyed. gI wish Dad would change his mind, h Olga said, frowning. gI wish Dad hadn ft decided to spawn that brat Edgar, but we can ft change the world just by wishing or we fd both be treated like we deserve, h Asuka said. As adults, d ammit. gAny luck with Shinji? h Olga asked. gI still can ft get a handle on him, h Asuka said. gHis girlfriend sent me eight texts telling me to stop being mean. h She grimaced and rattled her fingers on the tabl e and took a swig of beer. That brat does not even begin to know what *mean* is. Olga munched on some chips thoughtfully, then said, gShe fs a hell of a dancer. h She sighed. gSuzuhara fs an asshole but he fs a good dancer too. h gI can make you a better dancer, h Asuka said. Then she sighed. ve to grade before it gets too late. h gBut not today; I ha

gI fll get my stuff and study, then, h Olga said. They soon got to work. ************ gI am so exhausted, h Sandi said, lying on the couch at Shigeru fs place. It wasn ft ju st his; all four of the male members of the primary and secondary bridge crew li ved here and she and Lucy had the last two rooms; Shigeru had tried to convince Maya and Andrea, who did the same job on the two teams to move in but they fd want ed their own place and were next door. So Lucy and Sandi had moved in. The place s were so huge, they all had their own room. Sandi considered it to be like bein g in college again. She fd loved college. gMe too, h Shigeru said, slumped in his chair. gDamn, those kids are so energetic. h

gSee, if you fd take breaks, you fd be fine, h Makoto said. gI fm not tired at all. h He wa busy making everyone dinner; Lucy had run to the store. Kimo and Ulrich were on shift. gBecause your work with the Horaki girl just requires using your eyes and shoutin g at things, h Shigeru said. gI could shout at things *all day*. h Makoto laughed and laughed and Sandi tried to laugh but was too tired. Makoto be gan slicing up the meat he fd grilled; everything was almost ready. gAnyway, Horaki is very well behaved and a pleasure to work with. h gBetter be careful, or she fll end up like Langley, h Shigeru said mournfully. Makoto grumbled to himself. He didn ft know what to do about her; she didn ft seem t o give up but he feared he fd wreck her effectiveness when they needed her most if he was blunt. Also, he was not any good at all at being blunt. gI can dump her for you, h Sandi said. She grinned. gIf she catches us getting it on, she fll know. h

Makoto turned red and Shigeru laughed. gAs if he fd be bold enough for that. Especi ally somewhere she fd actually see it. h Lucy now returned with the last things he needed, and some other supplies. gWhat are you two doing to torment poor Makoto? h She frowned at Sandi and Shigeru. gI offered to make out with him in front of Asuka so she fll move on, h Sandi said. gYou shouldn ft tease him like that, h Lucy said to Sandi sternly. gOr you could, h Sandi said and now Lucy rubbed her forehead. gShe fd have to get drunk, then she wouldn ft care, h Shigeru said. gLucy, please help m e sit up. h He sighed. g*Stand* up. h Lucy pulled him to his feet, he wobbled then said, gI fll set the table. And I don ft c I mean.. a few times c h She laughed nervously. gThere fs nothing wrong with you two doing whatever you want, h Sandi said. gJust like

there fs nothing wrong in me lying here until I die. The kids kind of wiped us ou t. h gI know, work Eida has gone ing groceries, we fre making wiped me out too, or I would have gotten the groceries earlier. Dr. mad scientist mode again. h Lucy shook her head as she began unpack while Shigeru set the table and Makoto tested his vegetables. gBut progress. h

gAny idea how soon? h Makoto asked her. gBefore Christmas is all I can say, h Lucy said. Soon, dinner was ready and they got down to eating. ****************** Watching Ranger armor be constructed was fascinating to Kensuke. The hard part f or this special armor was the need to work the Laen in a cold room and then atta ch it to underlying plates; the problem with Laen as armor was that it shattered once too much force was applied, instead of denting. The armor would grow stron ger under volcanic conditions but they didn ft want to make the armor just Laen; i t was basically a coating over other materials. This work basically involved giant waldoes and felt weirdly like making a giant toy to Kensuke as he watched, bundled up; one of the armor techs, a man in his l ate twenties named Terrell Jager, explained everything as they went along. He wa s the grandson of Kensuke fs history teacher, he fd discovered. gI still don ft get why you have to handforge it like this, h Kensuke said to him. mean, I was told but it doesn ft make sense. h gWhat is, is. Engineering is about what works and not about theory, h Terrell said, shrugging. A lot of what Kensuke did was intuitive, but he knew there was science backing i t up. So something like this just seemed weird to him, especially the combinatio n of hitting things with hammers with super-high-tech giant waldo-controlled mec hanisms. But I suppose quantum mechanics and relativity seemed freaky to those who grew u p without them, Kensuke thought. He just wanted to better understand how it worked. ****************** gAnd of course, Sirius, h Kyoko said, finishing a long list of star names; Asuka wa s surprised; she fd heard Kyoko bragging about being able to name any star and she f d gotten all the ones Asuka had pointed out on the chart. The rest, Asuka didn ft know herself. gSo why are they getting brighter? h Kyoko now asked; they were in Asuka fs lab, usin g the wall monitor of the ISTARI. gThe stars? We don ft know. The Hubble observes the same effect, h Asuka said. gAstron omers have been tearing their hair out; this has been going on to some degree si nce the Vanishing. Objects in the solar system are a little brighter; things out side it are a lot brighter and lots of stars are now bright enough to be seen on Earth that you needed a telescope to see before, h she continued, then had the IS gI

TARI call up two pictures to compare. The second was full of more stars and brig hter. gThe only thing I can think of disturbs me tremendously. h She frowned at the chart. gWhat fs that? h Kyoko said softly. gThat the entire basis of everything we understand about Astronomy is wrong. Or t hat some weird effect is moving towards the Earth and has been for an incredibly long time. Remember, the light of the most distant stars started here millions or even billions of years ago. So if we see all stars getting brighter, it means that this effect has actually been converging towards the Earth for a very long time. So it looks simultaneous to us. Or else we totally misunderstand the star s. h Asuka ran her hand across the monitor, frowning. Kyoko looked around the room, frowning. Then she relaxed a tiny bit. them singing. Especially when Dr. Scott lets me use his ring. h gI fm amazed he lets you use it, h Asuka said. gI can hear

gI fm not sure if that fs wise. h g

gI can handle it. I am not a child, h Kyoko said firmly, looking Asuka in the eye. He *trusts* me. Isn ft he qualified to decide if I can handle it? h Asuka could feel her determination. Her ring was more attuned to augmenting her body than her mind, since she was a pilot. But she could touch minds. And Kyoko fs determination was so strong, you probably didn ft need a ring to see it.

gWell, it fs his ring, h Asuka said. gAnyway, I should let you get back to your traini ng. You have a knack for commanding ancient things, right? h gAnd I have extremely good hearing, h Kyoko said. gAnd I have a knack for the ancien t languages. And modern ones. h She paused. gAnd don ft lecture me about math and sci ence, I get that from my dad. h She turned and stared at all the equipment. gI am a scientist, I have the right, h Asuka said. gA *genius* scientist. h gAn

gEveryone around here thinks they fre the specialist thing ever, h Kyoko grumbled. yway, I need to go practice prepositions. Good luck with your work, h she said cur tly and stormed off. I don ft *think* I am special. I know it, Asuka thought. Then she decided to go ch eck on how the armor was coming. ****************** Asuka felt like the cold chamber was trying to eat her, but seeing the armor com ing together pleased her. gHello, Kensuke, h she said to him. gHey, Asuka, looking good, h he said cheerfully. gI always look good, even in all this, h she said, pointing to her arctic gear and they both laughed. He began excitedly explaining everything to her; she already knew most of it but let him ramble on. He had mastered it all, to her surprise. gVery good, thank yo u, h she said. She had manners, regardless of what *some* people would say. gYou fre welcome. I expect you fve seen them work before, though, h he said. gI was finishing college when they made the armor for mine originally, h Asuka said

gIt fs such a weird mix of high-tech and ancient tech. h

gHey, what works, works. Theory that gets in the way of results is useless, h the l arge man next to them said. Asuka noted he was very handsome but she already had someone. Was trying to, anyway. He was a tough nut to crack. gBumbling around without an idea of consequences, an idea you get through having theories of how things work, will only lead to *disaster*, h Asuka said. gImagine i f people making nuclear reactors had just made things up until they got a workin g one. We fd all be swimming in nuclear waste. h gMost technological breakthroughs until recently were made by people just experim enting until they found what worked; a lot of early tech would have otherwise re quired theories no one could have come up with at the time, h the man, Terrel Jage r, said. gYes, and look how many centuries it took to go from fire to, say, smelting metal , h Asuka said. gCompared to what we fve accomplished in the last twenty years becaus e we know the route we fre following! h gWell, I fd say it depends on the situation; there fs a lot of times when it fs not a m atter of figuring out something new but how to apply it, h Kensuke said. gYou can ft make a car without understanding combustion but a better braking system is going to take practical experimenting. h They went round and round on this until Asuka ran out of time and had to go but she rather enjoyed it. I guess there is more to Kensuke than just ogling people, she thought. It was a strange feeling to know that. *************** gIt fs very nice of you to come help us, h Barbara said to Kensuke, who was on the fl oor, half inside the entertainment center the TV was in. gGlad to help out Asuka and you, h he said; she couldn ft even see what exactly he wa s doing, though it involved cables and screwdrivers and moving things around. gSo meone connected everything in the wrong order and that fs why you can ft record anyt hing. And you needed another cable here so it would get two-way feedback. Man, t hese DVD recorders are sweet. I fm going to get one once I save up. h gPieter is very well paid, h Barbara said. gKarin, the shampoo is not a toy! h Asuka shouted distantly; there was a sound of r unning. gDare I ask? h Kensuke said. gNo, h Barbara said, burying her face in her hands. With his foot, Kensuke tapped one of the many widgets Barbara didn ft know the pur pose of. gPlease pass this in to me. h She did so and now Asuka streaked across the room into the kitchen, grabbed many paper towels and ran back. gI have to go prevent a disaster, h Barbara said. gGood luck, h he said.

She felt she would need it. ************** Kensuke rolled out of the cabinet, took a deep breath, and tried to ignore the s ound of a child shouting and another child shouting and Asuka shouting and Barba ra pleading for sweet reason. He pitied the poor woman trying to herd these cats . Everything now checked out and he recorded three minutes of news to make sure th at worked, then played it back. gHah! I win again! h Asuka, a frazzled mess, now came out with shampoo up and down the front of her. Thank you, Kensuke. h g

gYou fre welcome! Glad to help any time. And good luck on the volcano dive. h He cont emplated asking for a kiss as a reward, but decided not to press his luck. Not y et. He fd wear down her resistance, he was sure. But it would take some subtlety, as Touji always told him, even though Touji was *not subtle at all*. gYou want a soda or something? h Asuka asked, seeming oddly subdued. gSure, h he said. She got him a drink and ran off; by the time he finished, she fd ch anged outfits and was cleaned up; he fd heard her take a shower and now her hair w as rather shiny. gI guess that made cleaning your hair easy, h he joked and she laughed weakly. gYes, h she said. gKarin fs not mean but she fs kind of rambunctious. h She went and got a beer and sat down at the table. gDo you get on with your sister? h gWe fight sometimes but I guess we fve each got our own thing, so it fs not too bad. Everyone fights with their siblings. She fs not Kyoko, thankfully. h He shuddered; h ow Touji put up with her, he didn ft know. gThey fre half-siblings; Dad remarried, h Asuka said, staring off at the TV, which wa s busy doing a news piece on how a lunatic had tried to mow down a bunch of peop le at the mall, but his gun had exploded, riddling him with bullets instead. Kensuke said, gBut c h He rewound the footage. that. h Asuka blinked.

gThat fs not even c guns can ft blow up like

gWait, you can rewind a live broadcast now? h

gHere, let me show you how it all works, h he said and ran through the whole busine ss. Asuka picked it up very quickly to his relief. even do all this. h gI added a few gizmos, h Kensuke said. ting but I got it to work. h gVery nice. I didn ft think it could

gMachines like me. It took a little experimen

gI fm more of a life scientist, h she confessed. gI fm terrible at it, h he said and sighed. . So I envy you that. h gAt least compared to the other stuff I do

gWell, I fm a good pilot but I fm no engineer, h Asuka said softly and finished off her

beer. gEveryone says the system for the dive is going to check out but I have a bad feeling and I don ft know why. h gToo many disaster movies, h Kensuke said. ithout risking the Ranger first, though. h gIt might be a good idea to test it all w

gNothing but the Ranger can survive the conditions. Only *my* Ranger, h she said pr oudly, then got up and got another beer. gWant more soda? h gSure, h he said. The news people were now boggling over the event; the bystanders all thought thi s normal but the engineer they brought in was quite sure guns didn ft explode like that, no matter what you jammed in the end of them. gThat has to be some kind of trick or something, h Kensuke said. gBest to test it. h ******************* The next day, Asuka watched half the guns explode when the end of them was clogg ed up; she felt her skin crawl and Kensuke shuffled uncomfortably on his feet as they watched the rig work from the other side of a wall, observing via camera; Terrel stared, eyes open wide. gThat *is not possible*, h he said. gAlso, why only h alf of them? They fre the same model! h Asuka rubbed her forehead. gI fm going to tell Commander Ikari. ******************* The mission was delayed by the work of testing every system in the Geofront. The weapons, the air conditioning, even a thorough going over of the ISTARI. This took two weeks but almost everything worked reliably under normal condition s. But if you did odd things, you sometimes got odd results. During this time, they ran further tests at Toba and by late October, everything was ready to go, but now Asuka felt rattled. What if some weird thing happened with the cable? Or her armor suddenly just popped open or something? Asuka hated being rattled. Kensuke organized a eGo, Asuka! f party for her for the program members and staff at the base, and she tried to look confident, to make herself feel confident. She had to do this and she had to be *strong*. But she kept seeing the gun explode impossibly and was glad she didn ft use guns. She was lying on her bed, trying to sleep and failing. She kept seeing her Range r exploding because she chewed gum or something. Not that she chewed gum in her Ranger. Finally, her father stuck his head in. gHoney, we can hear you thrashing. Are you sick? Barbara is worried. h Asuka sat up, glad she wore pajamas. gI fm fine, I just can ft sleep. h

gToo excited? I fll be flying the Sword Wing to take you out there, h he said proudly .

She smiled a little at that.

gThey built a proper landing field, right? h gI fll be there, watching you go

gYes, no parachuting. Everything fs set up, h he said. down. h

gI fm c wait, I thought Airman Johnson was going to fly, h Asuka said, remembering the briefing. gHe fs been vomiting for twelve hours and can ft hold fluid down, h her father said, no w coming in and leaning on the wall. gI haven ft been to a volcano since Kyoko and I went there on our first big vacation. To Hawaii, that is, h he said. Kyo c oh, Mother, Asuka thought. She hardly ever thought of her Mother anyway but she never used her mother fs name and now she felt like an idiot. gMauna Loa? h she a sked. gYes, h he said. gIt fs weird, she spent the whole time creeped out, thinking she hear d a ghost talking to her, h he said, shaking his head. gBut she could be silly like that sometimes, h he said fondly. Asuka grumbled and he sighed. gHoney, she didn ft want to die. h gShe gave up and abandoned us and it was *pathetic*, h Asuka said angrily. you waited long before remarrying! h gYou needed a mother and I needed a companion, h her father said pleadingly. gShe fs not my mother and she can *never* take her place, h Asuka snapped. He sighed and rose off the wall. way there, too. h gGood luck sleeping. I guess you can rest on the gNot that

Running away, she thought. How I could come from two weak parents, I fll never kno w, she thought. Eventually, exhaustion knocked her out. ******************* Shinobu had carefully avoided any mention of her several-week-old outburst; Shin ji hadn ft said anything either. So she just kissed him in the morning, having com e over for breakfast. gBe safe, I fll be here fretting myself to death, h she told hi m. gI fll just be standing around watching Asuka from inside my Ranger, h he said, then shivered. gAs long as it doesn ft go up. h gDon ft say that! h she squeaked. gIt is going to be fine; everything is well tested. Just don ft stick anything in a gun fs barrel, h Misato said, then grimaced. gAll my men are jumpy now. h Shinobu noticed she didn ft strap on her gun but had it in a container. Hopefully explosion proof. gAre we going to drill? h Shinji asked. Misato had run him and Shinobu every day th rough gun safety drills even though they weren ft even training to use guns. And M isato kept disassembling her guns, cleaning them, and reassembling them every da y.

Shinji felt he could clean a pistol or a rifle in his sleep now. gNot time. I should not need this but c Anyway, let fs go, h Misato said, a little more subdued than usual. gI fll get your homework for you, h Shinobu told Shinji. They kissed and he said, gThanks a lot, Shinobu. h

gYou fre welcome, h she said, smiling. He always said thank you and it made her feel good. Please be safe, she thought. ************** Hikari fingered Evelyn fs ring; she fd loaned it to her because she was going to rid e down with Asuka; she had a knack for seeing things, and Ranger sensors became more accurate and sensitive when she rode along with someone, they fd discovered. Asuka looked confident but she could *feel* Asuka fs tension. gThey really should m ake you your own ring if you fre going to do this kind of thing, h Asuka told her as they waited for the LCL to fill up. gMaking rings is hard, h Hikari said. gI already asked about when we get one, and it seems to come down to ewhen inspiration strikes Commander Ikari f. h Asuka scowled. gThat fs fine for an artist but I think you need it now. Not that I want Touji or Kensuke using a ring to peep or project their fantasies. h gTouji isn ft like that, h Hikari said sternly. Then she sighed. But he did seem to b e into Evelyn. And vice-versa. She prayed they weren ft kissing right now. gWell, Kensuke does have his useful side, h Asuka admitted. anic and less the teen perv, he fd be better company. h Hikari had to agree. ******************* gIs Rei down in the Deeps with Asuka and Shinji? h Kevin asked Kensuke at school; K ensuke could tell he knew more than he probably was supposed to. gDon ft mention those in public, h Lars said softly to Kevin, who nodded. gAnd Hikari fs gone too, h Kevin said. hing. h gI didn ft think she was ready for that kind of t gIf he was more the mech

Kensuke felt a sting of jealousy he didn ft get to go. gIt fs classified, sorry, man. h gI was going to see if she fd go to the dance with me on Friday but I guess not, h Ke vin said, disappointed. gShe should be back next week, h Lars told him. gSo you fre sweet on Hikari, hmm? h Kensuke asked, grinning. gI like her. It fs not anything grand, but I like her, h Kevin said. gAnd Mom will lik

e her, unlike Kathy. h gKathy was a senior and I think she just wanted to make her boyfriend jealous, h La rs said. gYou fre better off for once with the Mom slapdown. h gYour mom is a hardcase? h Kensuke asked. gVery much so, . eBURN AT THE ed but the Long s along with it h Kevin said. gI mean, I believe in Jesus but I don ft think he fs all Mr SLIGHTEST BAD THING f like she is ever since c I don ft know what happen Winter drove her crazy or something. h He sighed. gMelinda just goe but I can ft be so utterly straight-laced. h

gAhh, church-fanatic, h Kensuke said. Kensuke remained neutral on religious issues; you couldn ft prove or disprove it, so he just tried to be a decent human being a nd assumed that would work out in the end. gYeah. She loves me but she fs always right, or so she thinks, h Kevin said. It was soon time for class and Kensuke lost himself in study so he wouldn ft have to worry about Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Hikari. *************** gThe HALO will ensure you don ft get hungry, h Ritsuko told Shinji, who suddenly real ized, as they were getting set up, that he had not eaten in nearly a day. Or gon e to the bathroom. He had slept. gIt can enable you to go without sleep but that seems to leave people feeling strung out. h Shinji studied the huge equipment they fd set up to lower Unit-01 through a huge t unnel down into a sleeping volcano which was itself within the larger sleeping s upervolcano; much of Mount Toba was a lake now, but it was full of islands which were subsidiary volcanoes. He could see a shrine on the side of one of them. Lo cals were crammed into it, praying. Asuka looked confident; Hikari looked nervous. He wasn ft surprised. Asuka didn ft s eem to worry about anything, but at least she hadn ft badgered him on this trip, f or which he was glad. He wasn ft even sure what she wanted; she just clearly wanted *something* from him . gRei, Shinji, pretty much you will be watching; if you have to do something, we fll tell you but otherwise, you can just relax, h Misato told him. It was hard to relax when Asuka was going volcano diving. **************** Several meters hovered in a square in the Halo to the left of Hikari and Asuka; they indicated the temperature and pressure and how well the armor was handling them. It felt comfortable to Asuka, but she kept thinking about the jam. She was basically climbing down a huge probe/rod which had been inserted into th e volcano; this allowed sensors to detect things ahead of her. It was coated in laen, like her armor, and had handholds; it was basically a clumsy ladder. gHold, h Dr. Nkambe said. . h gWe fre getting odd viscosity and heat readings ahead of you

gAbnormally hot? h Asuka asked. gAbnormally cold, h Dr. Nkambe said. gIt fs heating up and the readings are changing c a nd now they fve shifted to what they should be. h gHow cold is abnormally cold? h Hikari asked. gMerely at the boiling point, h Dr. Nkambe said. ther. h gThe viscosity wasn ft quite right ei

gDid it move upwards or was it stationary? h Asuka asked. gIt was stationary, h he said, and frowned. gIt must have been a sensor glitch. h Hikari and Asuka both frowned at that. Normal visibility was nil here; Asuka had to rely on touch, on a kind of magma s onar Dr. Nkambe had developed, and on other sensors like the ones in the probe. They kept going, reaching the depth where the odd things had happened; there was some sort of gunk stuck to the probe here, which they had to scrape off; it was as if something had baked onto the probe/ladder. gI wish so much I could get vis ual, h Asuka grumbled. gI know, h Hikari said. gIt feels like some sort of resin, h Asuka said hesitantly. g sense of touch with the armor on. h gBut I don ft have a stron

gPut it in the first sample box, h Dr. Nkambe said; the armor had several attached containers; they weren ft sure what exactly they would find down here. gWe fre still safe, h Hikari reported, studying the meters. Asuka scraped some off and fumbled it around into the sample box, though this no w mostly filled with magma. She fd expected that to happen. Then the whispers started, just barely audible and not in any language Asuka und erstood. gI fm hearing whispers, h Asuka said. gMe too, h Hikari said, frowning. gI get no audio of any whispers, h Makoto announced. gMental contamination, five percent, h Maya said tautly. gIt fs coming from below. h gTemperatures are starting to drop slowly down below you, h Dr. Nkambe reported. gAsuka, Hikari, can you repeat what it fs saying? h Dr. Scott asked. Asuka and Hikari began repeating it as best they could. Dr. Scott concentrated so hard that Asuka had to put a hand over her mouth to av oid laughing at how silly he looked. gIt doesn ft make any sense; it fs all incoheren t battlecries and threats of death and replies to the threats, like there was a fight here and somehow the sounds were preserved. h gThese are thoughts, though, h Asuka said. gMaybe there fs leakage from World Two? Cou ld there have been a battle here and it deformed World Two? Can we sense the str ength of the dimensional barrier here? h

gI believe Langley fs theory is correct, h Commander Ikari said, startling Asuka, who hadn ft realized he was in the Bridge. gThis may be the source of the strange read ings. h gThat sounds pretty dangerous. Any way we can fix it? h Misato asked. A long discussion ensued while Asuka continued to relay fragments of dialogue to Dr. Scott. gOkay, we have a plan, h Misato finally said. worth trying. h gIt may not do anything at all but it fs

gYou will need to link your minds and then together, command the dimensional barr ier to become stronger; we hope this will be like the doors, h Commander Ikari sai d. Hikari said, gI don ft have much experience at joining minds yet. h She sounded nervo us. gIt fs okay, rookie, h Asuka said, grinning a little. gIt fs not my area of expertise, b ut with both of us wearing rings, it won ft be hard. h She kept bouncing off Hikari fs nervousness; Hikari would start to calm down and t hen she fd panic and her walls would slam up, cutting off Asuka. Asuka had seen th is kind of performance anxiety in students she called on in class. gIt fs okay, h she said. gYou can do this. You fre probably the most sensible of the roo kies. Just sit with me and open your mind, h Asuka said. gThink about c jam. h Shigeru grumbled and Asuka laughed softly. Thinking about jam soothed Hikari more than Asuka expected and now she reached o ut and touched Hikari fs mind, feeling her tension, held down but still there and she tried to soothe it. gSome of the sensors just went out further down, h Makoto said, frowning. a temperature drop and then they went out. h gCome on, you fre not Shinji, you can do this, h Asuka said to Hikari. gHey! h Shinji said, frowning. gIt fs a huge responsibility, h Hikari mumbled. eI don ft know if I can handle it, f she t hought and Asuka didn ft know if she meant to share that or not. gYou must, h Rei said sternly; this did not really help. gI will handle this, h Asuka said to Rei. Being gentle was not Asuka fs nature but sh e had to try. gYou fre a class rep c well, you were. Isn ft responsibility what you do? h gNo one was going to possibly die or the fabric of space and time rend forever, h H ikari said, starting to panic again. gThink of the eagle, h Makoto now cut in, surprising Asuka. ky. Be the eagle. Soar high. h gHe is the king of the s gThere was

Shigeru mumbled something the microphones didn ft quite catch, something about sea gulls; he sounded aggravated.

She could feel Hikari imagining becoming a bird and flying over the landscape, c ircling a small town by a large mountain. Her hometown, Asuka realized; she felt wistful for some reason, though Asuka couldn ft imagine wanting to live in a rura l backwater like that. Asuka was a city girl and liked it that way. Her future was always better than her past; she had no nostalgia for anything. gAsuka, h Makoto said and she came to attention. gImagine yourself in royal robes, l ike a queen. h gWhy? h she asked. gDo what he says, h Misato said. Asuka imagined herself in a long green dress with a red vest over the top of it, a necklace of rubies and gold dangling down her chest, a golden crown set with rubies on her forehead and in her ears, two earrings which were emerald spheres, ringed by red gold like the earth eclipsing the sun. Her great hall was held up by mallorn trees; their branches interwoven formed the roof and tapestries of h er scientific accomplishments hung from branches to form the walls. There was a great throne and at her side stood Pen-Pen, wearing blue robes and holding her s cepter in his mouth; it was silver and the atomic symbol formed the capstone. High above her hall vaulted the sky and an eagle with blue-grey eyes circled and now descended down, landing on the branches of the roof and gazing in all direc tions. It called out and she exited her hall and gazed off across the forest; th ere was a crack in the sky and voices came through it. She held out an arm and the eagle descended, landing on her arm; the talons dug in as it clamped on and it hurt, but she pushed the pain down. She was a queen a nd no pain could stop her. Cold and heat both leaked through the rent, she could see, for she saw with the true sight of the eagle, her herald. Also, jam was leaking through the rent. Noticing this made the world wobble, and for a moment, she was just Asuka in the LCL, lying down with Hikari sitting on her arm. Her connection wobbled and she concentrated, reasserting her will. She could hear voices dimly, but she pushed them away; they would destroy her concentration. gScepter, h she said to Pen-Pen and he handed it to her. Armed with its power, she could see clearly now. This would be difficult to solv e, for her power here was the power to destroy and you could not destroy the rif t; more fire would only make it stronger. Whereas if it was on the surface, she could easily fix it. But she could not move it. And then she heard the beating of waves. The sea grew restless. It wanted in. Th e eagle cried, counseling entrance. But she did not want the glory of this to go to the sea. The sea crashed more urgently and the eagle cried again, advising a cceptance. So Queen Asuka surrendered, letting the sea flow in and form up into Rei in her plugsuit, which then dissolved into a blue and white dress. Her crown was set wi th opals. gAsuka, you are not responding to anyone, h Queen Rei said chidingly.

gI cannot see things and hear them at once, h Queen Asuka told her. Then Queen Rei fs eyes widened. gI can hear them, h she said softly.

The eagle gestured with a wing and then another, pushing them together. gPerhaps if we bring HALO down, it can restore the rift, h Queen Rei said hesitantl y. gAre they still reliving the battle? h Queen Asuka asked. Queen Rei fs breath caught. ing further. h She frowned, intelligence agents on the the whispers since the Long at times for millennia and gThey slew a balrog here to stop the volcano from erupt concentrating. gMakoto says they now have a report from ground that sometimes people around here have heard Winter, h Rei now reported to them. gThey have happened the shrine was built to fend them off. h

gThis would be much easier if I could just burn it, h Queen Asuka said. gMy trees ca n ft grow inside a volcano. And we don ft have proper dimensional science yet. h The eagle made a gesture with its wings as if it was pushing the rift shut. gEasy for you to say, h Queen Asuka said. gAren ft you supposed to be trying to command it to shut, like with the mountain do ors? h Queen Rei asked. Surely you couldn ft just command it to shut. Her arm was getting tired from havin g an eagle on it too. On the other hand c gYou have been a very naughty rift! h Queen Asuka said angrily. gI am sending you to DETENTION! h And then she drew power from her eagle companion, who gave a great cry and gestured with her wings and Queen Asuka swung her staff and she felt it move, felt it shutting but the air turned turbulent around her and she continued to push; she could hear something about HALO levels. She felt so tired but the eagle pushed and Queen Rei began to play her viola and the musi c strengthened her. It pushed back, trying to bake and freeze her, images of battle flickering, tryi ng to crawl into her mind and use her power to make themselves real. The battle wanted to happen again, wanted to be remembered. She stood outside the volcano, chanting, and the trees marched against the great spirit of fire c no! I wasn ft there, it was not me, I am Asuka. ASUKA. Pen-Pen shouted out in pain and she wondered how he was even here now but it did n ft matter; she interposed herself when flames came for him and the sea rose and snuffed the flames and dimly, she could hear a cello playing and she played her violin with her scepter as the viola notes twined around her. gHalo levels down to 80%, h she heard Maya say. That could be a disaster and her will flickered, showing her HALO churning wildl y around her, but she forced herself to concentrate, as she fd taught herself in s chool, when she had studied relentlessly so she could get to the good stuff, the stuff that would *prove* her greatness, that she was not weak like her mother. Who had just withered and died after she had a child.

Asuka refused to wither and die. If she ever did have kids, she wouldn ft abandon them. And then the world changed. ****************** Asuka was really excited to go to the zoo; she especially loved the bird exhibit ; they had all sung to her and her parents had been amazed; she was still young enough for her father to carry on his shoulders and she felt like she could touc h the sky. But he fd had to put her down when she had to go to the bathroom and afterwards, h e was a little too tired to carry her, so she walked. In fact, her parents had to restrain her from running off ahead of them and her mother firmly took her hand. Her mother was so tall and pretty and made the best pies. She fd tried to help but she fd covered herself in flour because she hadn ft followed her mother fs directions; she fd been too excited to try it. And likewise, she was too excited to sit still when her parents wanted to sit do wn. And thirsty. So she badgered them into letting her run to the water fountain if she fd come right back. But then she saw the monkeys and she had to go see the monkeys and then there we re the alligators and then she heard her parents calling her name. So she tried to run for them but she got lost and then the animals escaped; ther e were booms and cages got broken and people were screaming and she ran and hid under a bush until her mother found her. And then the tigers came; their eyes were red and something was wrong with them, they ignored other people and came straight for her and her mother told her to run to her father and grabbed a tree branch, snapping it right off the tree and then she attacked one of the tigers as it came on. Everything was wrong, her mother was already dead, this wasn ft *her* mother, and her father was screaming but he wasn ft *her* father, who wasn ft so tall or so stro ng but they thought she was their daughter and she tried to tell them not to die for her but all that came out was gMommy! h and gSave us, Daddy! h gHikari! Hiroko! h People were fleeing and her father c Hikari fs father c was trying to press through the mob but it was too much for him. gRun! Get Hikari out of here! h Hiroko shouted, even as she got chewed on. Hikari fs mother was willing to die for her, Asuka realized. Did die for her. Fought to the death with a tiger with a *tree branch* because s he fd rather die than see her husband or daughter hurt. Asuka screamed her rage at a world where this kind of bullshit happened. She did n ft know if in reality a little girl could bite a tiger fs ear off, but she gave it her level best as her mother screamed, tearing it off and spitting it in the ti ger fs face and flailing away at it and now the branch struck home and it grew, gr ew through the tiger at high speed, tearing it apart and it burned and screamed

and died horribly and she fell over, triumphant, though she fd gotten clawed, but she didn ft care. But though she could triumph here, her real mother was dead, had still abandoned her. This was just a dream. But dammit, even in Hikari fs body at age six, she fd won. So suck on that, universe , she shouted at the world inside her mind. **************** Hikari felt quite sure that the universe had gone mad. Reality kept changing and at times she strode through a battlefield, commanding armies and at other times , she was watching her mother malinger and die slowly as she cried and at yet ot hers, something c but she could never remember it, like something pushed it out of her mind. She was a bird, a queen, a young child, another young child c gSTOP! h she shouted and the world stopped spinning and she could see the problem; stars were drifting out of alignment and with them, the fabric of the world. Asu ka appeared and Rei and she could hear Shinji but not see him. Asuka was a mangl ed mess, her plugsuit torn and her flesh torn but it was already starting to hea l somehow. She looked triumphant. gWhat do you see?, h she asked. gI see disorder and disharmony, h Hikari said. close. h gI don ft know if we can command it to gB

gI think it would help if we had Kyoko but there is no time, h Asuka said softly. ut the rift is not large, yet, for I have faced down chaos. h gWe have to treat your wounds, h Hikari said urgently. gThe HALO will heal me if we win, h Asuka said, then grinned. gI will work from the other side, h Rei said. ll connect us all. h Then she stepped through. gHow will she get back? h Hikari asked, worried. gShe can freely travel back and forth; it fs her trick, like Shinji and the invisib ility thing or my fire resistance, h Asuka said. gOr your sight. h gI think I turned into an eagle for a while, h Hikari said weakly. gNow, let us close this, h Asuka said. Hikari was not sure exactly how they grabbed hold of it, but she was dancing and Asuka somehow played her violin and they heard Rei and Shinji playing in the di stance and slowly the stars moved into place and the rift closed, then the wall grew strong enough it would not happen again. And then the world returned to normal, but they could see the plug was half-empt y of HALO, though it still submerged them. gWe will win. h

gAnd you two from this side. Shinji wi

gThis is going to be tricky, h Asuka said. gIf we bend too much, I won ft be in the HA LO and I fll lose synch and c it can ft be good. h Her wounds were healing quickly enoug h that Hikari could *see* it, but the HALO dropped slowly, consumed to heal Asuk a.

gTell me you can hear me now, h Misato said urgently. gWe hear you, commander, h Asuka said. gThe rift is closed but it wasn ft easy. But we kicked ass, as you fd expect! h She sounded triumphant as if there weren ft hideous c law-marks now fading on her and her plug suit wasn ft well rent. Hikari wasn ft so sure she fd kicked ass so much as just been along for a long drug trip. gYou fve lost half your HALO, h Misato said. strange readings from inside your plug. h gWe lost contact, and we got meaningless,

gWe fve defeated the rift, h Asuka said. gWe fre coming out. It fs not safe to stay now. h A long, slow climb began. ******************* gAsuka is fine but she fs likely to sleep the whole way back, h Dr. Akagi told Pieter Langley, her father. gWe fre going to need a long debriefing but she won. h He fd sat around the airbase, nervous but bored the whole time. me? h gSo we fre heading ho

gWe have to fly in more HALO, refill her, then take her home, h Dr. Akagi said. gSo you might as well go get some rest. She may wake up before we actually can leave ; I fll let her talk to you then. h gThanks, h he said. gI fll let Barbara and the kids know. h He sighed. of trouble with Rei? h gDo you have a lot

gRei has, despite my best efforts, blindly swallowed a huge amount of old mytholo gy and decided it is true despite evidence to the contrary. She is obedient but if I am not supervising her, she acts on this superstitious twaddle, probably to the detriment of her social development, h Dr. Akagi said, then sighed. gShe is we ll behaved but no matter what I say, I cannot change her mind. h gShe fs still mad at me for marrying Barbara and having more kids. She gets on with Karin usually but she and Edgar hate each other; Barbara tries to be a good mot her, but Asuka acts like I keep a whore. h He could tell he sounded frustrated. gI love her but it isn ft easy. h They traded stories for a while and finally she wished him well. He decided to g o get some sleep once he made the call; he was exhausted. ************** Kensuke was in school when he got a text from Barbara. eAsuka is fine, so is ever yone else, let your friends know. f He immediately forwarded it to Lars, who had been chewing the walls, and to ever yone else. I wish I could pilot, he thought. But maybe it just wasn ft the e, given the weird stuff with World Two. Yeah, that fs it. Or maybe I have to help build it, given the things Commander Ikari fs been teachin g me, he thought. eright f Ranger for m

But right now, he had to go to detention for using his phone in class. ************* Kyoko stared at the night sky; something was different. Wasn ft it? There was some sort of subtle change, but she couldn ft see anything. gWhat are you looking for? h Shinobu asked her. Melinda silently looked up at the sky with them; they were all on the balcony-wa lkway in front of Shinobu fs condo. Up on the fifth floor, it connected all the fi fth floor suites and connected to the other floors by two central elevators and stairs at the end. gI don ft know. I feel like something is different but I can ft tell what, h she said, then sighed. gI guess we should just get our homework done. h gHello, everyone, h Evelyn said, startling them. Kyoko turned and smiled brightly. ced over at Melinda, who sighed. gHi, Evelyn. I heard c things went well. h She glan

gIt went well. I wasn ft there, but Father is home now, finally and he told me to g o let you know everything is okay. h gI already got texted hours ago, h Kyoko said, but smiled more. to let us know. h gNeed any help with your homework? h Evelyn asked. gSure thing! h Shinobu said. gCome save us! h gCome save you, h Kyoko said, but she ruffled Shinobu fs hair playfully. tudy. h ****************** Touji was not happy to be woken up at 2 AM, even if it was Evelyn; also, if his phone had woken up Kyoko, there would be death and destruction soon. gHey, h he sai d softly. gI fm sorry, I had a nightmare about the Toba volcano going up, h Evelyn said, her vo ice wobbling. gAnd Dad fs too exhausted to wake up. And Mom has to work tomorrow. h gIt fs okay, babe, h Touji said. gTell me all about it. h He yawned. Tomorrow is gonna s uck but it fll be worth it. ***************** Asuka eventually woke to find herself in flight and Hikari sleeping. She read on e of her journals via a link to the ISTARI until Hikari sat up groggily. Her plu gsuit had repaired itself, which made her wonder if you could fix anything by pu tting it in HALO. gIt fs like it never happened, h Hikari said softly. gIt fs still kind of tender, h Asuka said. gAnd we burned a *lot* of HALO. h gYeah, let fs s gIt was nice of him

gAnd it may well have effects on you, h Andrea said. She was the Secondary Crew IST

ARI Operator, a black woman of middling height with braided black hair, who wore a lot of bracelets off duty but just her uniform and two simple pearl stud earr ings on duty. gI fm surprised the plug suit fixed itself, h Kimo said; he was the Secondary Crew Ta ctical Operator. gYou fre over Iraq right now and should be home very soon. The pla ne fs decelerating, I believe. h He was a pudgy Hawaiian with short black hair and c heerful green eyes. gYou must be starving. h gI fm not hungry, I just feel kind of weird, h Hikari confessed. gI think your eyes are a lighter brown now, h Asuka said softly. gAnd I fve got that t oo long in HALO feeling too. h gWell, I fd be wanting to put on something less hideous than a plugsuit if I was yo u, h Andrea said. gRight, Ulric? h gDon ft ask me about fashion, h he said, frowning. He was a big blonde man with a cre wcut and strong features, especially his jawline. Ulrich was the Secondary Crew Strategic Operator. gYou fll be home very soon, yes. So let fs run over the return to base procedures. h That kept them busy a while. ******************* Eventually, in the changing room with Rei, Asuka touched Hikari fs mind. eI saw you r mother fighting to protect you, f she said softly. She looked sad to Hikari. Hikari shivered. She wondered if she fd seen Asuka fs mother dying. And there had be en c but she couldn ft remember it. gJust thinking about it scares me, h she confessed. gJust be brave like her and you will be fine, h Asuka said, shivering a little. The n she relaxed. gThat was the most absolutely weird thing I have ever seen. h gIt became real inside the plug, when they could see anything at all, which was o ften not the case, h Rei told them. They both jumped. gWhat? h Asuka said. gApparently it was very chaotic but whenever we were all in the same vision, it a t least appeared to become real inside the plug as much as it could in a confine d space, h Rei said. gExcept when it did not. h gDid I really turn into an eagle? h Hikari squeaked. gNo one is sure how real it was but getting that close to the rift caused a react ion in the HALO, h Rei said. gDr. Eida is going to have to step up the experiments on using the Arkenstone to make HALO, I think. h gI didn ft mean to use up so much! h Asuka said angrily. gIt was not an accusation of blame, h Rei said calmly. amage. h gIn battle, there is always d

Asuka touched her side and Hikari remembered the damage c it had come from a tiger . Her mother had injuries like that. Hikari sat down hard, burying her face in her hands. I have to be strong, she to ld herself. Everyone is counting on me. I won but it was so c chaotic. Messy. Risk

y. Doing her own thing had gotten her mother killed. They wouldn ft have had to look for her. Asuka and Rei hovered near her, watching her in silence. She knows I got my moth er killed, being an idiot. She probably hates me now, Hikari thought, feeling mi serable. Intellectually, she knew tigers wouldn ft show up and hurt people when rules were broken but if she was stressed enough, it felt like it. gHikari, you have to be strong like your mother, h Asuka said to her. lucky. h gYou are very

She didn ft feel lucky. She fd just kind of bumbled through this, not knowing what s he was doing. I have to do better. People are counting on me, she thought. gIt is a daughter fs duty to be like her mother, h Rei said solemnly and Asuka glared at her. gI fd rather die than be like my mother, h she said and stormed out. By the time Hikari started to finish changing, Asuka ran back in and actually pu t her bra and shirt on, saying nothing, the left again without a word. I hope Shinji didn ft come out early, Hikari thought weakly. She glanced at Rei. Rei said softly, gI understand, h but left without explaining once she had changed.

It helped a little. ***************** gSo, any problems? h Asuka asked Ritsuko and Maya after a long array of tests. gThere is no internal or lingering damage, h Ritsuko said. gWe knew HALO had healing properties, but it normally takes much longer. h She frowned. gWell, the damage wasn ft ereal f, it was just in a dream, right? h Asuka said. gSo the H ALO erased the dream effects quickly. h Ritsuko rubbed her forehead and leaned back in her chair. gMaybe. Your soul has g rown a little stronger, as it did after the last fight. h They were in the testing room, which had a vast array of equipment for studying pilots. Asuka was seated on a long examination bed. Ritsuko was in a chair and M aya stood at a keyboard on a large boxy device. gIs Hikari okay? h Asuka said. gShe fs next, h Ritsuko said. gHer eyes changed color some, I think, h Asuka said softly. gYou seem largely the same, h Ritsuko said. gIf you changed, it fs in ways we don ft kno w how to measure, which is unfortunately possible. Soulprints are hard to interp ret even for experts. h

They showed Asuka hers; it looked like a 3-D pile of sparkles shaped like Asuka. They slowly rotated it; it was a computer model on one of the wall monitors. And it meant little to Asuka beyond esparkles f.

gI think I saw your mother, h Asuka said softly. gShe had brown hair, kind of bowl s haped, right? h gMother would have been very cross at you calling her hair bowl-shaped, h Ritsuko s aid, then laughed softly. gWhat was she doing? h gShe was yelling at Rei for not taking her duties seriously; Rei was really littl e, h Asuka said, staring at her soulprint. gRei told her to eat cheese and die. And Rei had brown hair. h gEat cheese? h Maya said, confused. gRei likes cheese, h Ritsuko said softly, then frowned. gI have never heard her say that, even when we fought. It doesn ft even sound like Rei. And her hair changed c olor from when she was little. h gWho knows, so much weirdness was happening c I led an army of trees too, h Asuka sai d, then shrugged. gI had better go. I have *so much* work to catch up on. h gWe fll call you if we find anything, h Ritsuko said to her. Asuka nodded and headed out. *************** Hikari had not expected the first question to be, a. gDo you like cheese? h It was May

gI c I like it on some things, not others, h Hikari said hesitantly. gIt fs a good sourc e of your dairy nutrition, right? h Dr. Akagi laughed softly and then an array of tests from blood to running on a t readmill followed. Dr. Akagi kept making small noises and checking boxes or fill ing in numbers on her tablet. gI feel kind of tingly, h Hikari said. They did a soulscan, which involved standing in a big tube while it spun and mad e whooshing noises. Then she got to see her soulprint. gThe silver is the same co lor as the door, h she said softly. gI know, h Dr. Akagi said. gAnd of the colors of HALO. h

gWhich is made out of souls? h Hikari said nervously. gIt fs the power of World Two, h Maya said excitedly. gNow look at this. h

A second soul c with Hikari fs shape c appeared. But it was a little dimmer. gYour soul has grown stronger. There may be other changes, we fll have to take weekly readin gs, h Dr. Akagi said. gBut no permanent damage. h gI think we shared some memories. I c how did Asuka fs mother die? h Hikari asked nervo usly, shuffling on her feet.

gShe had a very rough birthing and never quite recovered and died when Asuka was little; it just wore her out and she died, h Dr. Akagi said, sighing and studying Hikari fs soulprint. gI was still in Japan, so I don ft know the details. h gAnd she helped invent all this, right? h Hikari asked. gAsuka fs mother was involved in the first stages of NERV fs work, h Dr. Akagi said. gWe have the Rangers in part because of her research. She was a biologist. h Like Asuka, Hikari thought. Then she remembered the things Asuka said about her mother; she just couldn ft understand that. gAnyway, you can go home, but we fll check on you periodically, h Dr. Akagi said. gI c an take you home once I check Shinji; I don ft know if your father is around. h gHe sent me a text; he fs on a supervised run, h Hikari said. learning. h gWhy don ft you stay with us tonight? h Dr. Akagi suggested. gThank you, h Hikari said. Company would be good. **************** gI was awesome with a pile of cool on the side, h Asuka told her father, Barbara, a nd Karin. Edgar had stuck out his tongue at her and gone to pout in his room. gI made ribs for you, h Barbara said hesitantly. gThank you, h Asuka said and Barbara relaxed. Asuka rather liked ribs. She ate and went to bed early, but her father came in, surprising her. gDon ft just walk in, I could be naked, h Asuka said, frowning. gI can tell something is wrong, h he said to her. gI can ft talk about it without violating a confidence, h Asuka told him. gMy body and soul are okay. And my mind. But I have a ton of stuff to grade and I don ft even know how I fm going to catch up. h She sighed. gBut all I want to do is sleep. h gWell, I c suppose I am not allowed to grade the things for you, h he said, then sigh ed. gI will handle it, h she said firmly. . Handle everything. h gIt fs my job and I have to show I can handle it gSo he can show what he fs

gAre you sure you can handle all these hats? h he asked. gI have to, h she told him. gI have to show I am an adult and can fulfill my respons ibilities. h He idly kicked Pen-Pen fs fridge and Pen-Pen stumbled out, then Waarked in an irri tated way at Pieter Langley. Asuka rose, came over, kneeled and hugged him tightly. He made soft penguin noises and tried to pat her back. gBarbara said he got really frantic when we were at the volcano and you were in i

t, h Pieter said softly. gYou fre the best penguin, h Asuka told him firmly. ome friends if it kills me. h Her father squirmed uncomfortably. gThe *best*. And I will make you s

gAsuka, you shouldn ft say things like that. h

gYou were there, right? Somehow? h Asuka said softly to him. gWaaRK, h he said, nodding his head. gKarin keeps saying she wants her own penguin too, h Asuka fs father said to her. gWell, if I make more like Pen-Pen, they fll need to live with us anyway, h Asuka sai d. gAt least some of them. h gSo what fs the problem? h Pieter Langley asked. gThe universe isn ft fair, h Asuka said, now rising. gSorry to wake you up, Pen-Pen. h gWaaaarRKk, h he said, then waddled back into his fridge. gToo true, h her father said and sighed. gI fll let you sleep. h gI will find a way to help him, whatever it takes, h Asuka said solemnly. it takes. h Her father kissed her forehead and stepped out of the room. proud of you for wanting to help him. h Asuka scowled and he sighed and departed. Sleep soon took Asuka. ******************** Chuchi pla kaphong was snapper in a thick red sauce; Rei, Hikari, and Dr. Akagi had that with noodles and a mix of vegetables for dinner. gI hope you like this; Rei is a big fan of Thai food, h Dr. Akagi explained. gI am very grateful for you feeding me, h Hikari said to Dr. Akagi. They all tapped chopsticks and began eating. gI fm glad to help you, h Dr. Akagi said. gI made sure everyone fs homework was collecte d so you can catch up. h Hikari groaned at the thought but you do what you have to do. Play by the rules and you fll be okay. Sometimes that could be hard. The food was very tasty, if a big hotter than she liked. Rei actually slathered more sauce on her food. gRei, do you dislike cheese? h Dr. Akagi asked hesitantly. gNo, h Rei said. She paused, studying her mother and laying down her chopsticks. gWh y do you ask? h gNothing, h Dr. Akagi said and Hikari wondered what was going on. gWhatever

gYour mother would be

Eventually, Hikari borrowed one of Dr. Akagi fs nightgowns, though she felt odd in it and it was too big. She was about to sleep and Rei came in. gWhat is having a father like? h she asked softly. Hikari froze. gIt fs c sometimes good and sometimes bad, h Hikari said finally. gSometim es I have to take care of him and sometimes he takes care of me. He fd do anything for me. He came here, gave up everything for me. I have to be worthy of that. h S he felt rather guilty about it. Rei studied her silently, then nodded. gGoodnight, Hikari. h

gGoodnight, Rei, h Hikari said and soon sank into a dream of flight. ***************** gSo there were random bio-carbons which had baked into a resinous material, h VANDA -05 said to Gendo in the meeting room. gYes. It fs no longer possible to determine what; I would guess the leaking energy somehow caused it, h Gendo told them. gThis could have become catastrophic but it h as been checked. h gPerhaps it tried to create bodies and they charred, h VANDA-04 speculated. gThe loss of contact is problematic, h VANDA-05 said, clearly displeased. ave to be very wary about bringing HALO close to any rifts. h gHow are Eida fs experiments progressing? h VANDA-03 asked. gWe will fully test the current model in early November, h Gendo said. gOne of the t echs suffered psychic contamination and is still recovering; he still only speak s in song. h gNo one essential I hope, h VANDA-04 said. gThe work will continue with better precautions. The object was not made for this , so it fs tricky, h Gendo said. gThe faster the better, h VANDA-05 said. gA pity this site did not contain the Silma ril. h gI am glad, as it reduces the odds it was responsible for the Toba eruption, h VAND A-06 said. gAnd reduces the odds we might have to fight the Valar head on to get that one, h V ANDA-02 said. gWe are nowhere near ready for a fight with them. h gWith the Valar proper, no. I cannot but imagine the armies of Valinor would stru ggle to cope with modern technology, h VANDA-04 said. gWhile our armies would struggle not to fall at their feet and worship them, h VAND A-02 said flatly. gAnyway, let us focus on the present and not things which may o r may not happen. Keep us posted on Eida fs progress. h gOf course, h Gendo said and they moved on to other business. **************** gThe Valar do not interfere with natural processes, h Nienna said to Laicahen, tryi gWe will h

ng to be kind. gI know you like Alassanyere, but he ages according to his nature and so do you. h gBut in a few years, he fll be c I don ft want to be left behind, h she said weakly. gI do not know if he will age like a human forever or not, h Nienna said to her. Th ey sat in one of her parlors, decorated to resemble a pleasant field in fall wit h leaves on the ground and everything in orange, brown, and dark green. gIf he st ops aging, you will catch up. If not, it is best you not get involved. I suspect it will depend on which of his heritages he embraces. h gI want him to be one of us, h Laicahen said. gPlease, I fll do anything you ask. h She shivered and nearly spilled her tea on herself; she drank from a delicate porcel ain glass decorated with musical notes of the style created by Nessa long ago. gThat is up to him, h Nienna said. gI bore him for the sake of the love which Andret h bore for his father, but while I love him, it is not my role to decide his fat e. h She sighed. gHeartache is inevitable when the Eldar love those not of their ki nd. If you choose this road, it will bring you strength. But also pain. For the cost of strength is suffering. Those things lightly gained are less valued. h She sighed and as usual, her eyes glistened with the tears she cried for the world. g Do not choose lightly. Many a childhood crush proves unfounded even for our kind . h gIt fs not a crush! h Laicahen protested. gIt is love! It is fate! h Nienna gazed into her eyes and for a moment, Laicahen heard a thousand women or more say words like those. Some came to grace and joy, but many c most c found that love faded in the end. Some broke and others rose and walked on, stronger for th e experience. Then she broke eye contact and sipped her tea as Laicahen sat in h er chair, paling. gThat is all I will say, h Nienna said. gI will not oppose you pursuing Alassanyere. You are a fine young woman and whatever may come, it will bring you both some j oy. But even if you win through in the end, there will be sorrow. And I cannot, will not change him for you. Would you change for him? Give up immortality to wa lk the short road of mortal man? h Laicahen paled at the thought, shaking. gDo not rush things. You are Eldar. I do not know his fate, nor you. But I will s ay this, would you have been happy if he had come here and asked me to change yo u? h Nienna said softly. Laicahen now began to cry and Nienna rose and came and put a hand on her shoulde r until the storm stopped. gLet it out, h she said softly. She feared this would end badly; she had seen many loves crash and burn. But it was her nature to comfort those in sorrow and help them to recover and gain stre ngth from it. She knew Laicahen would need that strength in the days to come. They all would, for many sorrows were coming. And as always, she would help the world through it. It was her nature, a nature she could not and would not deny, while this world endured. Which might not be much longer. END BOOK TWO, CHAPTER TWO

Kensuke did not have as much time to spend e cherished the time he could spend there, riends from Rangerwatch were on there, and . And some of his friends here played with

on World of Conan as he used to. So h especially since several of his old f he couldn ft go on Rangerwatch any more him as well, when they could.

The early November weather encouraged everyone to stay inside, anyway. Four degr ees Centigrade was the universal estay inside f signal for Kensuke. He wished Shinj i was on, but Shinji was in the living room with Shinobu and her friends, tutori ng them. Quitecontrary, whose character was named BlueSonja, had her usual swordswoman. gL ook, Luscious can tank the goblins with Lars. Then Touji and I will ambush them from behind and you and Kevin can dump support fire on them. And July stays hidd en and heals. h Quitecontrary, July, and Luscious were all friends of Kensuke fs fro m Rangerwatch; he still didn ft know their real names, though his friends hadn ft bo thered using pseudonyms when they got on here. In fact, he fd had to harangue them not to give their characters their real names. gAnd then July will get attacked by crabs again or some shit, h Touji said. gLike la st time. We have to keep someone to guard the healer or she dies and then we all die. h gI fm sorry, h July said. She was a woman, which Ken had expected but now with them u sing voice communications, he knew Luscious was a guy and July was a woman; he fd known Quitecontrary was a woman because they fd traded pictures and sometimes vide o-chatted. gIt fs fine, you fre just kinda fragile, h Touji said. flimsy. h

gYou fd think clerics wouldn ft be s

gI maxed out my healing instead of my hitting, h she said apologetically. gIt fs fine, you did what I told you, h Quitecontrary said. armor. h gWe need to get you better

gKen, are you writing porn with your boyfriend again? h Shinobu asked, sticking her head into his room. gQUITECONTRARY IS A WOMAN! h Kensuke shouted. need Shinji! h gAnd I fm playing World of Conan and we

gToo bad, he fs all mine, hahahaha! h Shinobu said. gWe need your help with math. h gYou fre out of luck, h he said. ha tonight. h gI promised everyone we would go after the goblin pas gNow I am a deaf woman. h

gI am certainly a woman, h Quitecontrary said.

gDammit, Ken, I can ft hear shit now, h Touji complained. Oh dammit, I still have the headset on, Kensuke thought. d. gKeeeeennnn, we need your help, h Shinobu whined. gI am busy! h he shouted at her. gKEN! h Touji shouted. Kensuke winced as now he felt a little deaf. gSorry, everyone, h he sai

gFine! You leave me no choice! h Shinobu said and left. Kensuke went over, locked his door, and tried to get the mission going, praying for no more interruptions. ****************** Neon Genesis Silmarillion (an EVA/Tolkien Legendarium fusion) Book 2: Sharpening the Sword Chapter 3: Gravitic Wells ****************** The safe outfits for the HALO Research and Production section made the wearers l ook rather like giant Twinkies. But they fd been further beefed up due to recent p roblems. The biggest problem with using the crystal matrix was that it kept vary ing how much it augmented HALO production by a pattern they couldn ft make sense o f, even with the ISTARI analyzing it for them. The result was that it kept blowing the mounts. HALO production had several stages, and Ralph Harmon was not proxy to all of the m, only the later stages. The fluid production area was off limits to anyone wit h less than Seraph level clearance. He was only Dominion level. This still meant he knew more about it than most people. The base fluid came out of the restricted sector via a pipe into a tank. A pair of giant lasers pushed energy through the crystal matrix into the tank. What the laser did was to open a portal to World Two inside the matrix, confined and com pressed, which flowed into the liquid, triggering an impossible increase in its mass and volume and turning it into full blown HALO. Other pipes then sent the H ALO to production tanks. Then more liquid was piped in and the process began aga in. This was the new tank room; the original one was still pumping out HALO as i t had been for a long time, with the original crystal matrix, which was much str onger than this one. But every little bit would help if it ever worked right. It pretty much took Conservation of Matter and Energy out back behind the forge and beat them to death, as far as he could tell, though he wondered if they migh t end up draining World Two of all of its power by doing this. The new sensor rig was supposed to open excess drainage pipes when necessary and to cycle the laser in power to turn down production if it surged too much. Ralph finished screwing the new equipment into place, then ran through drills wi th several other technicians of the features, including him manually modulating the lasers to see if the rest of the rig worked. As always, he could see images in the HALO as it formed; often it seemed to pick up TV signals of some of his favorite shows, but he could see his girlfriend Na ncy and his roommate Terrell too and his parents back in the States and even Dr. Eida, who was running paper into a shredder for some reason. But he knew better than to ask. gWhere fs Judy? h he asked. She was supposed to be on duty. gShe lost twenty pounds in 3 days and while she wanted it gone, that fs not healthy , h Doug said. He studied the sensor rig. gI don ft think it fs even possible if you ju st didn ft eat and exercised a lot. Anyway, I can handle this, thank you, h he said

irritably. The HALO rippled, and everyone jumped back and waited for it to calm. This usual ly didn ft lead to anything, but HALO doing anything on its own was never good. Th ere were ongoing rumors it had once exploded in the early days of the program, t hough everyone who still worked here from the early days had Seraph clearance an d refused to talk about it. gI heard Judy drank some, h Katya said as she now studied another set of sensors. They all winced at that; all of them had been cleared as safe to have contact wi th HALO but it was still considered wise to avoid physical contact if possible. They still remembered how Heinrich had ended up with his hair all over his body growing an inch a day for a week. And who knew about long-term effects? Ralph suspected it had finally killed his long-term acne problems from his expos ure when the damn tank had burst a few weeks ago during a particularly high surg e. Not that he was going to argue with clear skin. They finished the tests and now turned it on to try and run it on a long test, h oping they would finally get reliable results; by the time Ralph got off shift, nothing bad had happened and he hoped it would stay that way. ***************** Shinji ran down the court; thanks to Asuka forcing him to run every day, it was easier than it used to be. He was surprised when Kevin actually passed to him in stead of taking the shot himself; they were playing basketball in gym class. Shi nji was wide open, though, as no one had expected this, so Shinji took the shot as a tide of boys bigger than him closed in. He fd gotten a little taller since co ming here, but he was still short. Unfortunately, the shot bounced off the backboard and now Bert got the ball and drove down the court laughing, passing back and forth between him and Sam as Shi nji fs team tried to stop them. Over on the other court, he could see Hikari make a successful scoring throw eve n as a mass of girls closed in on her, and he felt a little jealous. Hikari seem ed to trip over the ball half the time if she tried to dribble it and move at th e same time, but she could shoot really well. This gym is really huge, he thought. Everything in the Geofront was huge, bigger than it needed to be, as if it had b een designed for nine foot tall people or something. Bert scored, but Touji got it on the rebound and drove down the court; Shinji ra n off to one side to make himself available and also to avoid being trampled by the other team. But Touji tossed to Ken, who made a short run, then got blocked by Leon Barth, who was hugely taller than him and stole the ball, running down t he court with it until Kevin managed to come in and steal the ball, which he now passed on a really long throw to Shinji, who had lagged behind. Shinji drove down the court and took the shot and it went in! Then it bounced ba ck in his face and he fell down but he was smiling as he did so. Then Leon got the ball, ran down the court, and scored. While Shinji was trying to get up. But it was okay, he fd actually scored!

gGood job, h Kevin told him after the game, slapping his back in the changing room. Shinji nearly fell down but said, gThanks. h gYou should get Hikari to give you some tips. She fs a hell of a shooter, h Kevin sai d admiringly. gOlga fs probably their best player, h Leon said. Then he sighed. . h gShe doesn ft just hog the ball like you, h Sam grumbled. gHey, I get results, h Leon said, pointing at Sam. gUnlike you. h gHey, it fs just a ga gBut kind of a bitch

Touji had to pull them apart from each other with Bert fs help. me, h Touji said. gA game we won, so *ha*! h

gYou should work on your shooting, h Kevin said softly to Shinji. gThe other team ne ver notices you fre there, so a sudden pass to you is really effective if you can follow through on it. h Shinji was suddenly keenly aware of how good looking Kevin was, standing there i n his underwear and he felt that weird brainfreeze Misato often gave him when sh e wandered around the apartment in her underwear. gYou okay? h Kevin asked, looking worried. gHe certainly can ft be tired with all the standing around he did, h Leon said, shaki ng his head and pulling his uniform shirt on. gLay off, h Touji said angrily. gI ain ft gonna let no one crap on my friends. h

Now Sam and Bert had to pull Leon and Touji back. gMan, did they flood the AC with testosterone today? h Kevin asked. se cannot be divided by zero! h No one laughed except Kensuke and Kevin sighed. . h gRemember, a hou

gI guess that one was too obscure

gWhy would you even divide a house by zero? h Sam asked. The song esaved by zero f now came to Shinji fs mind, so he began humming it. gNot oldies, please, h Bert said. gI am so tired of how my parents won ft even listen to anything made after 1992. Dad once got drunk and told me for *three hours* th at Kurt Cobain was the Devil fs son. h He gagged. gWho is Kurt Cobain? h Shinji asked. gYou don ft want to know, h Bert said. if Dad insists he is *new*. h gHe fs not bad, but he fs still oldies music. Even gSo it fs all in my head now. h

gWell, Misato listens to a lot of oldies, h Shinji said.

gMan, you are *so lucky* living with a hot chick like that, h Bert said, grinning w idely. gAnd you don ft have to feel guilty about peeping on a sibling like Bert does, h Leon

said cheerfully. The coach soon came in and broke up the ensuing riot. ******************** gSo, Melinda has a date on Friday and Kyoko is sleeping over at Evelyn fs c, h Shinobu said to Shinji as they were studying. Misato now wandered past them in denim shorts and a bra and Shinji tried not to notice with his girlfriend looking but he couldn ft help but notice. He could feel her aggravation with his ring; he wasn ft good at reading emotions but Shinobu c he thought probably people on the Moon were feeling Shinobu fs emotions. There were people on the Moon, in fact, thanks to the Lunar base. gIt would not hurt you to wear a shirt! h Shinobu said, drumming her fingers on the table. gWell, I am trying to pick one out, but I wanted a beer, h Misato said. gI fll be over at Richard fs tonight. And feel free to be shirtless. We fre all friends here. h Shinji fs eyes crossed. He could feel Shinobu drawing up for an explosion, so he kissed her, which sent her into the confusion spiral; much easier to handle. Then she smiled nervously. gThanks, Shinji. Anyway, so, umm, Friday c h gI kind of promised Ken that I fd help him deal with the goblin pasha on Friday, h Sh inji said. gThey got wiped out without my bard. h gWhat about me? h Shinobu said angrily. He heard Misato making an odd noise in the kitchen. gI fm sure Ken wouldn ft mind you playing, h Shinji said hesitantly. gI don ft want to play Ken fs stupid game! h Shinobu said angrily. of that kind of thing at the Program? h gWell, Ken loves it and it fs kind of fun, h Shinji said hesitantly. Then Misato dragged him out of the room. gI need Shinji to move furniture, we fll b e right back! h Misato said. Shinji knew he was *not* the ideal person for that, though he was, at least, str onger than Shinobu c well, stronger than her arms. Her legs were pretty strong. gShinji, your girlfriend wants you to spend time with *her*, h Misato said. gSo I wi ll go help Kensuke and *you* will take Shinobu out to a nice restaurant and go d ancing or whatever you two do for fun. I fd been meaning to try that game, anyway. h Shinji wished so much there was a manual or something for dating someone. They now moved her bed around pointlessly for a while and then she put on a blue shirt and hustled Shinji out. He could feel Shinobu fs aggravation from the hallway. Approaching her was like wa lking through molasses. But then he said, gHow about if we go dancing Friday? h gDon ft you get enough

gMisato told you to say that, h she said irritably. gWell, what do you want to do? h he said, frowning. gI don ft know, h she said. gI just want to do something with you without you having t o save the world or save Ken or whatever. h gDon ft you like dancing? h he said, feeling confused. She sighed. gYes. h

gJust pick something and we fll do it on Friday, h he told her. gI fll figure something out, h she said wearily. She was brittle the rest of the night and he wished he understood why. ************** gMan, you promised me. I don ft need some newb messing everything up, h Kensuke compl ained at school the next day to Shinji. gI fm sorry, h Shinji said. gBut Misato fs really good at fighting. h

gThis isn ft the same as real fighting, h Kensuke grumbled. gYou fre complaining about a hot woman getting online with you, Ken? h Touji asked, g rinning a little. gI c yeah, but she fll be in Shinji fs body and now I need to wash my brain out, h Kensuk e said, making a face. Kevin laughing loudly did not help. gSorry but I have to do this, h Shinji said, apologizing. Misato had been very insi stent. And she knew about dating, far more than him. Since she had all those boy friends. How she did it, he didn ft know. ****************** gWith that ring, there fs no excuse for him not understanding your feelings, h Kyoko said at lunch to Shinobu, shaking her head; they were eating lunch with Melinda as usual, sitting at a table in the cafeteria; it was way too cold to eat outsid e and there wasn ft even *snow*. Kyoko consisted snowless cold to be wasted cold. Either be warm or have snow. End of story. If she was queen of the universe, you f d just go straight from summer to snow and back. gYou really can read minds with those? h Melinda asked nervously, touching her cros s. gShinji knows your every thought of how you lust for Touji, yes, h Kyoko said to he r, though she actually thought Melinda had a thing for Lars, who would notice he r around the same time the Sun turned into the Moon and the Moon became a potato . Kyoko was keenly aware that Lars either was in Rei fs skirt or wanted to be. gI do not lust for Touji or anyone! My heart is pure and I am chaste as the falli ng snow! h Melinda said, touching her cross again.

gSnow can ft be chaste or slutty, h Shinobu said hesitantly.

gI think. h

gShe shuffled her words again, h Kyoko said and Melinda buried her face in her hand s. gI think Touji fs into Evelyn, h Shinobu said. gI fm sorry, Melinda. h gBrother!

gI am not into Kyoko fs mother; he fs too much like mine, h Melinda insisted. Brother! h

gJust calm down, h Kyoko said, patting her shoulder. gYou only misspeak when you get agitated. h She felt sorry for her now. gI shouldn ft have teased you. h Melinda sighed. gI fll probably accidentally say eI don ft f at my wedding one day. h gIt fs not fair, he always looks the same, no matter what and I know I wear my hear t on my sleeve, h Shinobu said, frustrated. gAt least you have a boyfriend, h Melinda said, sighing. gNo one wants to do battle with my Mom. h No one even wants to ask me out, Kyoko thought, then sighed and wished for her b ody to finish being such a gangly mess. **************** Shinobu took Touji fs hands and they danced together and then he lifted her up and spun her over his head as she tried to keep her body from wobbling, but it wobb led and Lt. Aoba snapped at her *again*. She didn ft cry this time; she was determ ined not to let him bully her more. gGood form, Touji, h Sandi said. gWe should show them how it fs done, h she said teasing ly to Lt. Aoba. gI haven ft got the strength to lift you since we fre not starving ourselves like my old instructor, h Lt. Aoba said, then sighed. gI guess I didn ft waste all those hour s after all. h gYou were forced to dance? h Shinobu asked, baffled by the idea of having to be *fo rced* to dance. gMy family was wealthy and I did a ton of things to make me *cultured*, h he said. g I can play the violin and piano, fence and dance old dances and make pleasant co nversation, h he continued. gMy fair lady Sandi, would you indulge me in a dance? h h e said, his voice turning softer, smoother, almost silky. Shinobu stared from up in the air and now Touji set her down and they followed S andi and Lt. Aoba fs lead as they danced together. At the end, he bowed to Sandi and kissed her hand and said, gDear Sandi, you danc e like a dream of a soft summer wind on a moonlit night, when all the trees bust le together and whisper of days gone by. h Sandi fs eyes were wide and she looked a little red. hen you want. h gWow, you can be a sweet one w

Shinobu wished intensely that Shinji would talk to her like that. gIt fs all fake, h he said. gBeing rich is all about being fake, taking too many drugs and destroying yourself in style, h he said and sighed. gI fm the first person in fo

ur generations to be worth anything. h gYeah, well, being poor ain ft so great either, h Touji said, frowning. gAll things in moderation, another of my tutors would say, then go home, get drun k and hit his wife, h Lt. Aoba said, slumping in on himself a little. gYou both did better at that. Shinobu, we fre going to have to work on enabling you to stand st ill and to hold a position when needed. h gI fm not good at that, h she confessed nervously. gWhich is why we have to work on it. Touji fs good at standing still. You could lea rn from him. h *************** gDo you *have* to stand there, staring at me without moving? h Kyoko asked. Shinji and Shinobu and Touji were all standing absolutely still, looking at her and Evelyn and Melinda as they studied together in Shinobu fs living room. Shinobu shivered a little, then tried to get still. Shinji and Touji were really good at it. Then they moved into a step together, holding their legs in the air. ng, h Shinobu said. Kyoko rubbed her forehead. Well, at least Shinji is helping her. ****************** gPleeeease? h Kensuke begged Dr. Eida. gI bet I could figure it out. h gI am studyi

gNo, h she said flatly. gYou have neither the clearance nor the technical skills wit h these kinds of equipment and I can ft risk something happening to you either. h They were in her office; Kensuke had heard of the ongoing problems with the new device and wanted to help. Her office was quite bare: desk, computer, two chairs , her diploma and a picture of her with Lars in front of the base. gI fm working with Commander Ikari, h he protested. gWe can handle this; I do not need a child to save me, h she said, frowning. gGo do your work. h She shooed him out and he sighed; I bet I could fix it, he thought. **************** Commander Ikari studied the knife. gWorkable but not good enough, h he told Kensuke , who was dripping sweat. The forge room was always very hot; Evelyn fs clothing w as sticking to her and so was his. Commander Ikari looked a lot fresher and Kens uke wondered again if the man was a statue come to life or something. He turned to Evelyn fs which was very fancy with a kind of fluted channel down the middle of it and little runes she fd carved into the metal. gMuch better, h Commande r Ikari said solemnly and Kensuke felt his gears grind. Trying to catch up to Ev elyn was proving difficult, but he was going to show he could do this. Seeing her knife pierce a breastplate while his bounced off didn ft help either. H

e was following the procedures, so what was he doing wrong? Evelyn now took the knife and sheathed it. ong shower, h gI think I am going to need a really l

Do not think about it in front of a man with a ring, Kensuke told himself but he couldn ft help it. Fortunately, Commander Ikari never commented on such things. gI think this is a good place to stop before you both boil, yes, h Commander Ikari said. gAnd I should shower as well, as I have a meeting. h **************** Kensuke had never expected or wanted to see Commander Ikari naked; the man was c overed with an immense number of scars which made him intensely uncomfortable; i t was like he fd fallen into a pit of razor blades or something. Some of them were as much as forty or so centimeters long! Kensuke bathed quietly, curious but unwilling to ask. Commander Ikari didn ft offe r any explanation or even seem to think any was needed. How did he survive that, Kensuke wondered. ************** gScars? h Shinji said. The guys were studying together at Shinji fs place; the gals w ere off at Evelyn fs. gYeah, he fs like this mountain of scars, h Kensuke said. vered at the thought of it. gI was afraid to ask. h He shi

gI expect Hikari fs dad must be scarred too, h Touji said thoughtfully as he doodled idly in the margins of his notebook. gYes, h Shinji said, then buried his face in his hands. gGeez, you must see a lot of naked guys too, h Kensuke said apologetically. ean to add to your mental storehouse. h gIt fs okay, h Shinji mumbled and they turned back to studying. ***************** Touji kissed Evelyn hello at her door before school. gWe fre probably all gonna die tonight, so I hope you have fun. But I gotta go down with the ship. h She laughed softly and rested her head on his shoulder. gBecause Shinji can ft come ? h gHe fs a pretty good bard, but I expect Commander Katsuragi won ft know what the hell she fs doing, h Touji said. gIt fs weird, Shinji just really took to it. h They started off down the balcony-walkway. gWe fd better hustle. Langley bites my head off whene ver I fm late to class. h gI think Misato fs kind of excited about it; she played games like this in college, h Evelyn told him. gYeah, this ain ft no eight-bit crap, h Touji said. He had no nostalgia for those old gDidn ft m

games, unlike his dad, who wouldn ft play anything new. And would probably sit at home tonight, reading; that was no way to live in Touji fs opinion. He would have run to school but Evelyn couldn ft keep up with him at full tilt. Hikari, on the other hand, passed them, running like crazy. He gave her a thumbs up but didn ft know if she saw it. Man, she fs going like a hou se on fire, he thought, and wondered why. *************** gBWAAAHH!!!! h one of the technicians shouted from inside the room. gKill the laser, kill the laser! h Danielle Eida shouted. The lasers powered down but you couldn ft see anything. The other sensors indicate d excessive numbers of photons and not as much HALO as there should be. gOkay, I fm alive, h Tobias said. ee, but I fm alive. h gI may have been bleached white by that and I can ft s

His vision returned after twenty minutes but now he had purple irises. There had been another fluctuation and the laser fs beam had not remained focused and contained and the room flooded with light; two of the techs had gotten their arms over their eyes in time. Tobias had not. For a moment, Danielle Eida wondered if this thing was cursed. gDr. Eida, I fm sorry to interrupt, h Ambassador Fang said; she fd known him for years, though not well; he had Seraph clearance and thus knew more about HALO producti on than most of her crew. The things no one could be told. He was a middle aged Chinese man with short black hair, tall and more muscular than most diplomats; h e had a beard the last time she saw him but he was clean-shaven now. With a burn scar on his cheek. gAmbassador, if you fve had one of your moments of insight, I would be most gratefu l, h she told him. gI need the measurements for your device and then we can use the workshop, h he tol d her. gCommander Ikari has graciously allowed me the use of it. h gWhat are you thinking? h she asked him. gYour device is too utilitarian, h he said. gThe flexible response system c I would ne ver have thought of that or even that it was possible. h He sighed. gIt is hard for me to learn new tricks, I fear. But the Arkenstone is not a normal scientific l ight filter, as you know. We must combine your precision and my artistry to make it work. h Danielle Eida knew he had studied the ancient arts of smithing and metalworking which helped things to channel the power of World Two. She was not good at such things. But she was discreet and fully committed to NERV, so she had been entrus ted with this job anyway. Yet there remained things out of her grasp, things ent rusted to Akagi in a *blatant* act of nepotism. She sometimes wondered who exact ly Akagi was sleeping with, being so young and pretty. I *earned* my job, Danielle thought bitterly. Against all the odds, while Akagi just slid into her mother fs position.

gThank you, Ambassador, h she said softly.

gHow are things with your son? h gYou are a fort

gStill estranged, h he said wearily as they walked down the hallway. unate woman. h

gI wish. Yours at least followed the path you blazed. Lars will never be a scient ist. I had hoped he could pilot but the Ranger rejected him. h And mysteriously, t he boy who lives with Akagi fs best friend made the grade. And that fs not a coincid ence *at all*, she thought bitterly. gThere will be more chances once we get this to work. The UN is not in session, s o I will stay here a while, h he said. gUntil we can get this to work. h gI hate to impose on you, h she said. gIt fs fine, h he said to her. gYour work is very important to the steering committee. We want to give you all the support we can. h She couldn ft help but smile at that. *************** Kyoko was generally good with language classes but it was strange, studying Adun i with Dr. Scott was just so easy even compared to them. Like she fd known it befo re and just needed reminding. {And so Rapunzel left the cruel baron tied up with locks of her own hair and rode off into the sunset to find someone who didn ft ex pect a woman had to get married to have any value. The end,} she said in Aduni. He laughed softly. {Write it all down, we can use it as a practice exercise for my future students.} They were in her office; Evelyn fs friends were busy arguing over what movie to wa tch tonight; she would go join them in a minute; she fd been flattered Evelyn invi ted her but she wanted to get this checked off first. {Really?}, she said, turni ng a little red. {Yes,} he said and she shivered a little. Her father never wanted to hear her st ories. Admittedly, most of them were not very great, but he always said she was wasting her time. And Shinobu liked them, but Kyoko knew she could probably vomi t on a piece of paper and Shinobu would find a way to like it. She was a wonderf ul friend, but praise from someone she knew was also capable of criticizing her felt even better. He *got* her, and that was nice too. {But I fd best let you go; everyone fs waiting for you,} he said to her. She nodded and shook his hand, then bowed to him. gThank you, h she said in English . gYou fre welcome; I fll email you the next assignment, h he said, turning to his comput er. She rushed out to the living room to join everyone. **************** Shinobu was not sure how her date with Shinji had turned into a *triple* date wi

th Rei, Lars, Kevin, Hikari, Shinji, and herself. Especially since Rei and Lars were not dating, in theory, and Rei had *better* not be after her Shinji. Also, for some reason, Hikari was wearing exactly the same makeup as Rei, though it looked terrible on her; she and Rei didn ft have similar hair color or complex ion. Or eyes. Hikari fs dress didn ft fit her right, either and had clearly been bou ght as cheaply as possible; Rei fs on the other hand, fit her perfectly and comple mented her hair. Of course, everyone had longcoats on over their clothing, tendi ng to hide it. Shinji at least looked nice in his suit. Except it was a touch too small; he was having a growth spurt, she could tell. Hikari too. Further, the restaurant they were at was really nice, but Hikari kept staring at the menu in abject horror. gHow can anything cost this much? h she said weakly. gI fm thinking Rei will just spin straw into gold for us and we fll be fine, h Kevin sa id, cheerful even though he was going to be paying for Hikari and himself. The place was the Red Oven; it was a German cuisine place; Shinobu was not sure what half the items were. gUmm, Shinji c h gOrder what you want, h Shinji said. gI have money. h

gI don ft know what all this is, h she confessed. Lars and Kevin had to guide everyone; Shinobu ultimately ended up with potato du mplings, roast pork, and red cabbage. Shinji got the same as her. The others ord ered and Hikari lingered over her menu while the waitress tapped her foot and Hi kari became more and more frantic. gHikari, the roast beef is really good and so is the cauliflower, h Kevin said to h er. gIt all costs so much, h she mumbled. gIt fs okay, get what you want, h Kevin told her. gCabbage is really good, h Shinobu told her. gIn any form. h gFor a healthy girl like you, I recommend the Frikadellen and some pan fried pota toes and the red cabbage; it really is good, h the waitress urged her. Kevin put a hand over the menu; they could see Hikari start to add the cost. gCom e on, I fm covering it. h gI don ft want to use up all your money on the meal, h Hikari said weakly. Rei touched Hikari fs shoulder and they looked at each other for a few seconds. gI fll take your recommendation, h Hikari said to the waitress. Kevin let out a sigh of relief and now they chatted until the food came. *************** Danielle was rather tense about using HALO in constructing something to produce HALO. It smacked of perpetual motion. gNot powered by it, h Ambassador Fang assured her. gBut it will give it more power a

nd flexibility. And overcome our mutual limits. h Handling HALO without the safety suits was unwise but she felt desperate to make this work; she kept getting more and more ewhen will this be done f memos and she kept missing deadlines. And the Ambassador seemed to know what he was doing. Also, Commander Ikari fs workshop was rather hot despite good ventilation. She had to take off her coat and unbutton her shirt a little. Especially since they the n put on leather aprons. gI will guide you, h he told her. gBut you must do the work, for this is to be your tool. I can tell you copied the senior Akagi fs design but that was *her* design. This must be yours, h he told her. It now struck her; he didn ft have a ring but he had bracers on his arms which rem inded her of the rings, worked with the ancient runes. gMy own design, h he told he r. gOn similar principles. h gWhat is first? h gWe take a container and mix a little of your blood into the HALO, and then we wi ll use it as the coolant as we work the metal, h he told her. gThat fs c blood? Seriously? h she said weakly. gWorld Two responds to symbols and creation, h he told her. gWe will work the metal until it is ready and then we will work *your* symbols into it, h he told her. gI w ill tell you what to do and you must do it. h gI fve never worked metal like this before, h she said, feeling nervous. gYou are a ringbearer and your will is more powerful than you know, h he said. I know what to do. We will touch minds and I will guide you. h gAnd

That made her nervous too; she had extremely good mental defenses but wasn ft so g ood at reading others. gI will do my best, h she said, hoping this wasn ft a mistake. ****************** Kyoko was nervous, surrounded by girls a year older than her and all rather pret tier than she felt. None of them bumped into things or had their clothing fit ba dly or got ignored by boys. Rosalinda was yakking on the phone with her boyfrien d, Gretchen was smart and pretty, Evelyn was dating Kyoko fs brother Touji (or so Kyoko thought, anyway), and Hedda, though as skinny as Kyoko, seemed utterly com fortable with herself. And was on the phone with someone. gConrad, it fs not the end of the world, h Hedda said. gI dunno what fs going on but if they were going to jump each other fs bones, it would have happened by now. h While two of them were on the phone, Kyoko, Evelyn, and Gretchen were *trying* t o watch one of Gretchen fs cartoons. Kyoko was not into cartoons, but Gretchen had been so excited to have someone actually Japanese watch them with her, she had been unable to say no. gThis is really good animation, h Kyoko said. gI could have sworn I fd seen a more ter rible version of this. h gIt fs a remake of an older show; they have enough budget to actually *show* the fi

ghts and not just have a few cut scenes and ten seconds of animation, h Gretchen s aid. gFurther, the fact that her friend goes *evil* just because she wants her friend fs boyfriend is kind of depressing, h Kyoko said. gI don ft think the show advocates Yui fs decision as a rational choice, h Evelyn told Kyoko. gBut I guess this hits home because you fre so loyal to Shinobu. h Kyoko now turned red and Gretchen glanced at her curiously but didn ft say anythin g. gSo then Olga threw her down the hallway, but she *totally* had it coming, h Rosali nda said to whoever she was talking to. gYou fll never know if you *don ft try, h Hedda said to whoever she was talking to. gShinobu and I would do anything for each other, h Kyoko said softly. gA lot of peop le didn ft like me because they wanted me to be a doormat and I fd rather die. h gYou sound like Mom, h Gretchen said, smiling. gShe won ft take guff from anyone. h

gDad always tells me to be more agreeable, h Kyoko grumbled, watching the battle no w unfolding on the TV. gSee Miaka? Dad would totally swap me for her. Uncle Hiro would swap me for a donut. h She could feel herself getting more and more aggravat ed. gSo, Donny, he totally got caught cheating on Linda, h Rosalinda said to her phonefriend. gNo, not *me*. He isn ft dating me, ergo he cannot cheat on me. Quid pro qu o. h gThat isn ft how you use that phrase, h Gretchen said to Rosalinda, sounding aggravat ed. gIt fs too cold for me to join your whacky sitcom plot or I totally would, also, I can ft just run out on everyone, h Hedda said to whoever it was. Evelyn sighed. gWell, I don ft want you to change into someone else. I admire your courage. h Kyoko smiled a little. gI wish my family did, h she mumbled. gAnyway, gotta go, Conrad. Just remember the first law. Shit or get off the pot. Good luck, h Hedda said and hung up. gSorry about that, had to give someone a littl e push to do what they want to do. h Kyoko said, gWhat? h gHave we gotten to the man-sex yet? h gI didn ft bring anything

gLong story, h Hedda said.

gThere is no man-sex in this! h Gretchen said, turning red. we fd get in trouble for. h Kyoko turned a little red. gBut you have stuff that does? h

gDon ft say it so loud where Evelyn fs parents will hear, h Gretchen said frantically. gDoesn ft Kyoko have really pretty hair? h Evelyn said to Hedda. Hedda had short brown hair which was very wavy; there was a lot of body to it. gI

t fs so shiny. h

gI fd rather have lighter hair, h Kyoko said. gThis is so c h She didn ft know how to say i . gIt creates expectations I don ft like. h Hedda blinked. gIt does? h

gI wish I had hair like Gretchen fs or Rosalinda fs, h she said. They were blond and re dhaired respectively. gWell, I think April has hair dye, h Hedda said, rising. Kyoko was soon having her hair dyed by a bunch of people working together; she g iggled nervously, hoping she wouldn ft end up purple. Then again, that would show her father not to dump his expectations on her! ******************* Dancing with Shinji at a formal ballroom was a dream come true for Shinobu; she was getting good at this, though the fancier stuff, she couldn ft do in this dress , like when she put a foot up on Touji fs shoulder and they spun around together. But she could show off a little, following Shinji fs lead; it was easy to read him when they danced, admittedly because he gave her directions with his hands. Kev in and Hikari were just kind of swaying together; Lars and Rei were pretty good. Just not as good as she was with Shinji as he spun her around and they then exec uted a box step with him dipping her on the third corner. Then he spun himself a nd they promenaded and he looked proud of himself. Seeing him smile, smile *at h er* made her heart sing and she wished it could always be like this. Why couldn ft it be? **************** gIf we fall back to the bushes there, then Quitecontrary and Touji can hide behin d them and come out by surprise; position July back with them, so they guard her in the process. If you can go up to c I wish I could highlight things c See that ca ve? South by southwest? Kensuke, you can hide there and then dump support fire f rom there, where they fre safe. Luscious and I will lure the goblins out; if I rea d the manual right, my taunt power will make them berserk and they fll chase us mi ndlessly, h Misato said. gShinji never uses taunt or he gets slaughtered, h Kensuke said. gHe hasn ft got the c oordination. h gI do, h Misato said confidently. gI think it fs a solid plan, h Quitecontrary said. good, though. h gNot having Kevin and Lars isn ft so

gKevin ditched us for a date and Lars would jump off a cliff if Rei asked him to, h Kensuke grumbled. gI could talk Ritsuko into making a character, but I guess she fd have to install i t first, h Misato said. gAnd Shinji said that takes forever. h gAnd the updates and c Yes, too long and she fd be first level and die, h Kensuke said.

gAnyway, I vote for Misato fs plan, h Quitecontrary said. gYou fre Shinji fs sister, right ? h gHis big sister, who he now lives with, h Misato said. The final vote came down to Touji and Kensuke voting for his plan, while Quiteco ntrary, July and Luscious all backed Misato to Kensuke fs frustration. ##Thanks, Touji##, Kensuke paged him wearily. ##Friends to the end, man,## Touji told him and Kensuke smiled. Having someone h e could absolutely trust always made him feel better. He couldn ft believe the others were all going with someone they fd just met over hi m, though. It fs not like they knew she was the commander of the Rangers. They fd shit themselves if they knew, he was sure. But he fd promised not to spill s ecrets. But they fre so close to what they want to know and I know and they don ft. HAH!, he thought. It made him feel a little better at being *usurped.* ***************** ****************

Danielle Eida wiped the sweat off her face again, wishing she carried more handk erchiefs. Normally, you didn ft really need them in the Geofront. This place needs paper towels, she thought. Her muscles ached but somehow she kept going, heating metal, banging it, then co oling it in the oddly orange tinged HALO, and then doing it all over again. Some times she took tongs and Ambassador Fang held the other one and twisted it. Then they cut out indentations from the red hot metal and once it cooled, set ge ms which had been soaked in HALO into it and etched lines. The fundamental equat ions of HALO production were worked into it, along with the patterns of variatio n she fd observed in the fluctuation of the gem fs response to the lasers. The results reminded her suspiciously of the Sailor Moon toys which had been pop ular with some girls (younger than her) in the mid-nineties in her homeland. Yet , she could feel the power in it, and somehow she kept going despite being tired and spilling HALO on her fingers repeatedly. She didn ft know how it was possible for her to do this but she was caught in the throes of it, like when she worked out problems in her research. She could not stop; she had to finish this, come what may. Ambassador Fang was s weating hugely, and that was a relief. She felt like some revelation was hovering in her mind fs dark reaches and she cou ldn ft quite find it but she would. Oh yes, she would.

****************** gI fm sorry I used all your dye, h Kyoko said to April Scott, Evelyn fs mother. Her hai r was now auburn; they fd tried to make it red but her hair was so dark it hadn ft b een fully successful. They fd even done her eyebrows to match. gOh, I can buy more and you look lovely, h April said warmly and Kyoko felt gooshy inside and laughed nervously. gRosalinda is very flattered. h Kyoko thought Rosalinda was a fluffhead. But she was a nice fluffhead. gShe fs very pretty. h gMaybe we should braid your hair. h Having Evelyn and April braid her hair only made it even better in Kyoko fs opinio n. ********************* Hikari felt weird with her hair swishing about; it had grown faster than usual a nd she fd braided each of her two tails, which reached halfway down her back now. She fd insisted on paying to get into the ballroom since the meal had been *stupid ly expensive*. Admittedly, it was really good too. And she fd gotten the recipe from the chef for the meat dumplings, which her fathe r would love. Kevin was smiling at her so brightly it made her embarrassed. gYou fre so beautiful tonight, h he told her and she turned a little red. gYou look great, h she squeaked, wishing she was a better dancer; she could see Rei and Lars doing this dance where they strutted along side by side and it looked cool and she feared killing someone if she tried it. gI have to be home by ten, t hough. h gIt fs a Friday and your Dad is gone on a run, h he said. come home. h gNo one is going to make you

She nearly tripped onto him and felt anxious. She wanted to stay here, especiall y as she didn ft like being all alone at night; when he fd been gone in Japan, her ousins f and euncles f were usually around. At least some of them.

ec

gDoesn ft your mom want you home by ten? h she said, then spun around, nearly falling down. gIt fll be fine, h he told her. gWell, it is a Friday, h she said hesitantly. gYou can stay with us tonight, h Rei said, startling her by suddenly strutting up t o her. gHowever, I must steal Kevin so he can learn to actually dance. h Lars took Hikari fs hands. gAnd I fll help you. h Hikari turned a little red but soon was actually learning how to do it better. A nd that was reassuring. She liked to do things the right way. ****************

Kensuke kept spamming his lance of fire until his fire demon recharged; it had b een killed by the Goblin shaman but for once, Shinji fs character hadn ft died; Misa to had nimbly kept out of range of the Goblins *and* had successfully nailed the shaman with a Conundrum so he couldn ft counter Kensuke fs spells. This let Lusciou s pin the frontline in place while Quitecontrary and Touji attacked with flankin g and slaughtered the shaman fs minons. July was having a hard time keeping Luscio us healed, though, as he was trying to do two people fs job, tanking. In fact, he went down and goblins began to spill forwards to slaughter July and then a screaming man in a dragon helmet, a loincloth and bracers and boots with a two handed sword came howling out of the rocks; it was an actual Cimmerian! Yo u had to level two characters to max just to play one; Kensuke had done it, but he liked the flexibility of sorcerors more. But the man, whose character name was eTurin f, now plowed into the enemy ranks, sl aughtering them left and right as his sword howled and lifestole them, for it wa s black and had stars in it and was a *total* ripoff of Stormbringer and Kensuke did not know how the game had not been sued at all. The man was slaughtering everything in sight, goblin heads flying everywhere. Mi sato was laughing and laughing and laughing and standing right behind him and ev ery goblin she taunted ran into his sword of death. Meanwhile, July revived Luscious, who now joined the fray. gDamn, what a hot guy, h Quitecontrary said appreciatively. gI fear I am not so pretty in real life, h the man said; Misato had let him into th eir voice chat. Kensuke was sure he knew the man from something. gHe fs extremely gorgeous but way too old for you, Quitecontrary, h Misato said. gAnd you shouldn ft dump on yourself, Makoto. Don ft you and Shigeru have two lovely girl friends? h gThey fre our suitemates, h Makoto mumbled and Kensuke stared. gLt. Hyuuga? h he said in shock. There was nothing but bodies now. Which faded, leaving treasure. Scads of it, wh ich Quitecontrary began looting. gI might have arranged a backup plan, h Misato said gleefully. gYou could have told us you had a barbarian boyfriend, Misato, h Quitecontrary said . gBut I fll back off. h gI couldn ft risk the Goblins hacking our comm line, h Misato said. gI don ft think they can; they fre just AI controlled, h July said hesitantly. gWait, these things are AI? Not run by game administrators? h Misato said, surprise d. gI thought it took a Trinary system to get AI this good. h gThey fre kind of predictable, h Kensuke said, coming down from the cave. gOr they fd pr obably be impossible to beat. This is binary computing, just pretty well done. h Quitecontrary finished looting. It was haggling time. gAnyone need magic boots? h

****************** The revelation came as she continued her work; the Arkenstone was probably a Cas ari knock off of the Quendi gem which the primary HALO production unit used. Or maybe it had been shifted to suit their needs. Where the Quendi were wildly creative and organic, the Casari had favored perman ence and structure, beauty through patterns and repetition. She was more Casari in her inclinations than Quendi, seeing the beauty in the laws of nature more th an the wild growths of plants and animals. She wanted a predictable, stable universe. And that stability let her operate sa fely around HALO. It could not twist her fundamental nature. It was probably why she was chosen and tempermental Akagi was not. And so she hammered her nature into her work, commanded it to be a thing of stru cture, order, logic, reason. It would tame the wild nature of World Two and its fantasies and imagination and yearnings into productive ends. The work was like a dream itself, one she could remember only in flashes afterwa rds. Inspiration was on her and she rode it like a tiger, not knowing where it w ould go until she got there. And finally, she slumped with exhaustion. The HALO was used up and her work comp leted, a new rig for the jewel. They just had to install it. **************** The HALO Research and Production unit had a nightshift; their job was just to ma ke sure nothing was malfunctioning. Most of the time, they watched meters and tr ied desperately to stay awake. So having actual work to do was a relief, as it w as far more interesting than just watching meters and wondering if today, the wo rk myth about the tank having exploded once would turn out to be true. She was utterly exhausted, but Danielle stood by Ambassador Fang, watching the m eters as they powered it up. The result was a steady, clean flow of energy and g rowth of the HALO. She left the variability detector in place, just in case, and continued observation but she felt quite triumphant. This wasn ft just maintaining another person fs legacy, this was her own breakthroug h. Well, hers and Ambassador Fang. gThank you so much, h she told him. It felt stra nge to be alone in her own head again. gI have been told that the experience of true creation is a little like giving bi rth. Is that true? h he asked her softly. But he ha c oh, yes, she thought. gIt fs rather less of a gamble than giving birth, h s he said softly. gBut I certainly feel as drained as I did after giving birth to L ars. h gAlways the sign of a great creation, h he said. Then he yawned. hotel room. h gAnd now I go to my

gI fll drive you, h she said, though she gave new monitoring instructions to the nigh t shift before they left. ******************

Kyoko couldn ft decide if she was happier knowing the two girls reconciled in the end or if she wished for the traitor to get killed like all her servants. I supp ose mercy is better, she thought; Kyoko had never been good at mercy or forgiven ess, though. She couldn ft weep as much over everything as Gretchen either. Everyone but her sa w this all as tragic, it seemed, except Hedda, who seemed amused the more of a d isaster it turned into. gWait so the gay guy just suddenly turned out to be faking it? h Hedda said, starin g at the TV. gI fm not sure what exactly is the point here, h Evelyn confessed. Gretchen launched into a long explanation which Kyoko dismissed as bullshit. But even with that, it felt good to be surrounded by people who liked her. She was so used to being on her own, except for Shinobu. And, well, her brother loved he r, but they often didn ft get along. And her father c she sighed. gWhat fs wrong? h Evelyn asked her. gYou fre lucky to have a great Dad, h Kyoko said, frustrated. gDad fs probably going to lecture me tomorrow because I fm not studying, even though Touji never gets yelled at for having fun or not being serious enough. h She clenched her fists. gMy dad just gets cranky if I dance, h Hedda said. sighed. gLike Mom, who ran off on us. h She gW

gI have an A in all my classes except stupid ePhysical Education f, h Gretchen said. hich is for stupid people and doesn ft count. So I can relax. h gHey, that fs my one A, h Hedda protested. gI get pretty good grades, h Kyoko said. In the classes which don ft suck, anyway. gAnyway, don ft let your parents get you down, h Rosalinda said. gLife has enough trou ble without us letting things that make us happy slip by. h gAs long as you do your duties, you have the right to a little fun, h Evelyn said f irmly. gI fd go crazy without it. h Kyoko smiled, feeling better. Having people to back you up was good. ********************** Hikari shivered a little as Kevin teased her cheek with one of her braids; the n ight air was cold as they walked home with Rei and Lars. The boys were going to drop them off at Rei fs place, then walk home together. gI had a good time, h she sai d softly, then yawned. It was *so late*. gMe too, h he said, smiling. gI guess you fre not ticklish. h gNot really, h she said. He looked disappointed and now she teased his cheek with h er braid and he laughed. gOkay, this is for you, h she said nervously, hoping she fd tell it right. gA psychology instructor walks in front of his class and asks them a question. gHow would you diagnose a patient who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one minute, then sits in a chair weeping uncontrollably

the rest? h gManic-depression, h Rei said, making her jump; she fd nearly forgotten Rei existed. gI don ft know, what? h Kevin asked, grinning in anticipation. gA basketball coach, h Hikari said hopefully. Rei blinked, while Lars and Kevin laughed and laughed and Lars stumbled into Rei . gSorry, h he said, then laughed more. gGood one, h Kevin said. gHere fs your reward. h He embraced her and kissed her and she shivered and leaned into it, feeling her body come alive. Then he let go and sai d, gIt feels good to be alive, doesn ft it? h gYes, it does, h she said softly. Touji c. But he had a girlfriend now. Or something. She couldn ft just hold on. And with all the work I do, I deserve a little fun, she thought, so she kissed h im again; he looked startled but soon they both got into it. She would have liked to do more but she was tired and Rei and Lars were waiting. But she hoped to do it again in the future, somewhere warmer. ***************** Shinobu came inside with Shinji and took her coat off. Shinji hung his up as she f d invited him to have some hot chocolate with her. gDAMMIT, I AM ON FIRE! h her brother shouted. gKen! h Shinji shouted and ran to get water in the kitchen. gIt fs just his stupid game, h Shinobu said, but Shinji filled a big mug and ran to K ensuke fs room anyway, with her trailing after. gOh, hey, guys, h Kensuke said, eyes fixed on his giant monitor. gSorry if I scared you. The damn pasha lit me on fire but I fm out now. h Shinji gave a sigh of relief. gGood. h gI c did you really think I was on fire? h Kensuke said, amazed. Shinji mumbled, turned and stared at the wall, then said, gDid Misato do okay? h gShe fs really damn good and now I don ft c aaargh, she sort of took over, h Kensuke mumb led. Shinobu laughed. gShe is the head of tactics here, you know. h gQuitecontrary even keeps calling her sir, like Misato was her officer, h Kensuke s aid, rubbing his forehead. gMaybe she fs really Maya or something, h Shinobu said. gI fve seen video footage of her; we fve Facetimed, h Kensuke said to them. gAnyway, you two can finish your date; Shinji can ft get on from here anyway. h Shinobu dragged Shinji back, then made hot chocolate and sat down on the couch w

ith Shinji, putting a classical music station on the TV. iend, right? h she said softly.

gYou like being my boyfr

gI wouldn ft do it if I didn ft, h Shinji said, looking confused. gYou never talk about it, h she said softly. gI don ft talk much, h he confessed, then sipped his hot chocolate. She cuddled up to him and he put an arm around her. out. h gMaybe I should grow my hair

gI like short hair, h he said and she smiled at that and sipped her hot chocolate. gWhat the hell is this damn Efreeti doing here? h Kensuke shouted. le? Nooo!!!!! h gWho are you peop

And so much for anything romantic, Shinobu thought as Shinji looked back and sai d, gWandering monsters? h gAnother party is trying to kill us and take the treasure and somehow we got set to PVP even though I told everyone to turn their flags off after the arena fight s! I c nooooo!!!!! h Kensuke shouted. We c no, Misato fs probably doing this at his place, Shinobu thought. My Dad fs gone h alf the time and I still can ft even have privacy with my boyfriend. Stupid brothe r! *************** *************** They would have died except for Turin and his ludicrously powerful sword, wh ich finally forced the barbarian woman leading the attack to flee with her mage friend and all their monster flunkies. Kensuke wasn ft sure how those two even *go t* monster flunkies but they were clearly PCs. He, Touji, Luscious and July were all dead, Quitecontrary was barely standing, Turin was barely standing even wit h a lifestealing blade and Misato c basically untouched. gMisato, did you hack the game with the ISTARI or something? h Kensuke asked, f rustrated. gI c damn, our cleric is dead, how are we c this is gonna cost an arm and a leg, isn ft it, h Misato said, frustrated. gYou have to haul us back to July fs temple so we can be raised, yes, h Luscious said, sighing. gYou going to stick around in the future, Turin? h gI don ft really have a lot of time to play these days, h Turin said. gBut Misato asked me, so I skipped the post-concert party to help. h gYou fre in a band? h Quitecontrary said eagerly. gAngel Attacks, h he said hesitantly. gI didn ft realize you had a concert. You should be off with groupies right now ! h Misato said, sounding apologetic. gWe don ft have a lot of groupies, h Turin mumbled.

gDamn, now I wish I wasn ft all the way in France, h Quitecontrary said. gNice web page. h gYou can flirt with someone too old for you later, h Kensuke said irritably. gWe need to get everyone back so I don ft have to spend the next few days dead. h gI do not date anyone who is not post-college, h Turin said very firmly. Misato laughed softly and Turin made unhappy noises. st 22, h Turin now said loudly. d. July and Luscious began laughing. gSoryuu-Langley, h Misato said, laughing. gYou know her? h gPost-college and at lea

gWh c oh god, does Asuka Sorbet-Langley have a thing for you? h Quitecontrary sai

gKen likes to talk about how hot she is and he fd mentioned she has a degree, h Q uitecontrary said. gI can ft imagine actually teaching at my age. h gI can ft imagine a schoolboard hiring you, h Luscious said. gNo offense. h gNone taken, h Quitecontrary said. gShe is kind of hot. h

Misato yawned. gAnyway, Ken fs right, let fs get the bodies to the temple before I fall asleep and mash the keyboard with my head and drive you all berserk or so mething. h gNot many of us left to berserk, h Luscious said mournfully. They now got in motion. **************** Danielle said to Ambassador Fang, gThank you so much. h gI am glad I could help you, h he said, shaking her hand. on. You are lucky to have him. h gGood luck with your s

Sometimes she regretted having a child; it had wrecked everything she fd wante d, but she fd overcome it. gI wouldn ft give him up for anything. I just wish he had more drive and didn ft just follow Rei around like a puppy. h gChildren are so much harder to shape than a blade or a hoe, h he said, soundin g tired and old. Then he got out of the car; they were parked in the circular dr ive in front of the hotel. gLet me know how it works out. h gI will, h she said. But she felt it would succeed. Her body ached and she want ed to sleep forever, but she felt she had turned the tide. And success was sweet . ***************** gDad fs gonna freak, h Touji said to Kyoko when she came home the next morning. gDad can kiss my ass. It fs not like it fs green or something, h Kyoko said. gWhat? h Jiro said, coming out of deeper in the apartment.

gI dyed my hair, and that fs the way it fs going to be, h Kyoko said defiantly. gNot bad job, h Jiro said. . h gYour allowance should cover it, h Jiro said. gDid you both have a good time? h gHow much did it cost? h

Kyoko stared in surprise. gIt was free, but I owe Mrs. Scott a new box of dye

gSome crazy bastards ambushed us, stole half the treasure and killed most of us, h Touji grumbled. gAnd I have to tell Misato to give Shinji bard lessons, I gue ss. h Jiro said, gThat fs what happens when you have multiple players in a game. It o nly ends in tears. h He shook his head. gAnyway, I am going shopping. See you both later. h And then he left. Kyoko touched her hair, wondering if she was in the wrong house. **************** Olga knew that eventually, looking at screenshots of Touji and Kensuke fs char acters wiped out would lose their thrill, but for now, she laughed every time sh e looked. gI have so much homework to catch up on, h Asuka said, lying tiredly on the cou ch. gBut it was worth it. h gYou really are a genius, h Olga said, sitting at the living room table and stu dying pictures on her phone. gThat was pretty fun, really. h gWe can do it the right way some time, h Asuka said. gIt might be a good team bu ilding exercise, too. h gAs long as they never find out that was us, h Olga pointed out. gThey fll never know, h Asuka said. ************** gI fm not going to use the ISTARI to track down a pair of gamers for you, Misat o, h Dr. Akagi said on the phone at lunch; they were having shrimp soup, a kind of gumbo, in fact. Hikari wondered what was going on but didn ft ask. Dr. Akagi had been asleep w hen she and Rei came in and hadn ft commented on them being out late, so she guess ed it must be okay but was afraid to ask. Dr. Akagi fs phone now beeped. gHold on, let me make sure this isn ft urgent, h she said, then tapped some buttons, grimaced and tapped more. gIt looks like Eida ha d a breakthrough on HALO Production. We fll get a brag c a report soon. h Hikari hoped that was good news. *************** Ralph was not sure why it was necessary to inscribe pictures of short, stock

y men and women, both with beards, doing forgework, all over the room but it was kind of fun. But he quietly snuck in versions of himself, his girlfriend Nancy, his friend Terrel and Terrel fs grandfather into the art, along with a couple of other friends. He felt kind of tired afterwards, though not as much as Dr. Eida, who was drinking coffee like it was water and looked strung out. gIs that the President? h he asked one of his co-workers. gEx-president now. Lame Duck, I guess is the right word, h Tobias said. a of her with a beard just amuses me. h gThe ide

gI c dammit, I totally forgot to vote! h Ralph said, feeling embarrassed. gLiving here, I forget all about politics back home. h He sighed. gShe fs been a disaster. At least she fll go back to Alaska now. h gWell, she fs gone now and we fll see how Anderson does, h Tobias said. gProbably not much better, h Ralph grumbled. Then it was time for more art. ***************** Dr. sed -03 by Danielle finished her presentation to Commander Ikari, Commander Fuyutsuki, Akagi, and Commander Katsuragi. gIf things remain steady, we will have increa production by 70%. This will enable us to meet current needs and finish Unit by late April 2017. Assuming no further increases, Unit-04 could be finished late December of 2017. h

gVery good, h Commander Ikari said, though his face did not change from its usu al grimness. gWe will need to find further ways to increase production but this i s a huge break through. h gVery good indeed, h Commander Fuyutsuki said, smiling. Danielle smiled. Few things were better than having your accomplishments rec ognized. gI will inform Dr. Calvin we can increase the shipments to NERV-Arkham, h Comma nder Ikari said. gIt would probably be safer to build it here, h Danielle said hesitantly. gPolitics, h Commander Ikari said. gBut also, the construction bay can now be us ed for healing the Rangers of combat injuries. We fre going to build a second one if the budget is approved. I fd like three but it fs expensive. h gFortunately, Lintaleuca fs attack ensured an emergency increase in the budget but we already should be planning towards the request for fiscal 2016-7, h Command er Fuyutsuki said. The meeting now turned into a discussion of budget issues. ************** gYou could, in fact, go listen directly to the children playing instead of sp ying on them, h Fuyutsuki pointed out to Gendo in his office later. gHe is better off with as little contact with me as possible. There are quest ions I can ft answer and it fs for the best for him, h Gendo said firmly; they were in

his office and he was, in fact, listening in on his son playing with Asuka, Rei , and Dr. Akagi. gYour mere presence c, h Fuyutsuki began. gYou know better than that, h Gendo said sharply. gWe influence everyone around us, even when we don ft try. Even normal people do, let alone us. h He sighed and mu nched on a cookie off the plate on his desk. gEveryone influences each other all the time. But where most people exert a tug like the gravity of a sandwich, we e xert the gravity of a moon, pulling people into our orbits and reshaping them. h gThen why are you training Aida and Scott? h Fuyutsuki asked. gI have no choice, only I can bring out their skills in craft, since sending them to study with Fang both isn ft wise and isn ft really possible, h Gendo said. gHe is likely to have more influence on Eida now, h Fuyutsuki pointed out. gI know, h Gendo said, sitting back in his chair and sipping his coffee. gScott could do with some strengthening, anyway. Or she will break at the things to com e. h gI might say the same of Shinji, h Fuyutsuki said. Gendo grimaced. gHe was not to be part of this. h

gBut we could not escape that fate, h Fuyutsuki said softly. gIt came to him, dr awing him in. And it pulls him still, whether you will it or not. h Gendo sat a while, eating, drinking and listening without further comment. gWell, I have a meeting, h Fuyutsuki said, rising. gI will see you later, h Gendo said softly, and Fuyutsuki left, leaving him los t in thought. ****************** Quitecontrary seemed to always smile, at least when Kensuke had a Facetime c hat with her; she had c it now hit him that Hikari fs twin tails were as long as Qui tecontrary fs now. Quitecontrary was stronger looking than Hikari, though and had blue eyes and glasses. gFrom what Luscious found, those two logged in from inside the Geofront; that fs all he could find out, h she told Kensuke. Kensuke wanted to get even with those treasure thieves. He had *earned* it a nd they had come in and ruined *his* game. He didn ft know how but he would get even. She had such a tiny bedroom; it a bed, a dresser drawers and a desk y any room for anything else. And a cert posters practically serving as gI owe you, h he told her. gOh, I think I know how you can pay me back if you have privacy, h she said wit h a sing-song voice. It was time to ensure he had privacy, most definitely. kind of reminded him of Japan, really. Just that was really just a small table and hardl closet. And a ton of movie and anime and con full-blown wallpaper.

**************** gNo, it fs okay, Lars is discreet, h Danielle said to Ambassador Fang on the phon e. gHe won ft reveal any secrets, and he can ft hear you anyway. h Dinner with his mother was sometimes okay but he often didn ft regret missing it due to times like this. When he might as well be eating alone. At least the cod was good. And she fd gotten a raise, so now they had better f ood, though he was pretty sure they could have had better food before and his mo ther was just used to hoarding cash. Lars ate and tried to ignore the tech talk; it was mostly gabble to him, any way. I should have accepted Ms. Sarkowski fs offer to eat with them, he thought. S he has her flaws, but she doesn ft spend her time with her family talking shop wit h someone else on the phone. He ate gloomily but at least he was full in the end. ************** gIt cannot be done unless Iluvatar commands it, for it would violate the laws laid down at the beginning. You know that, Thingol, h Mandos said to him, sitting on his throne in his halls. Thingol kneeled to few but the Valar were the main ones. gLord Mandos, they w ill be helpless victims otherwise, if the war comes soon and our numbers are few . Humanity, it seems, has bred greatly despite their wars. h He remembered the Gre at Dying, trying to help contain the dead as they spilled out of the Halls over everything. He remembered the man who had died, rescuing people from a burning building. The woman who had starved so her children could eat. The old woman, barely able to move even without aged flesh, who had begged him for anything he might know about her children. The dead soldiers. So many, the weak and the strong alike ca st down. His descendants. There was a touch of his line in them all. Even the weakest . He felt a responsibility for them. gI cannot violate the laws of Iluvatar. It is not *possible* for me to do so, even if I would, h Mandos said. gThe grace given your daughter and Beren was only for a time, and only because their fate was fulfilled and Iluvatar allowed it. h Nothing galled one accustomed to command more than being unable to act. Thin gol kneeled long in silence, trying to gather his thoughts and restrain his ange r. gWe have great power, yet we are the least free of all, h Mandos said to Thingo l. gEach of us can only act according to our nature. We wove ourselves into the s ong and we cannot escape it. And now it heads into its final notes. h He gazed awa y at some sight Thingol could not see. gWhat lies beyond that, we do not know for sure. h Thingol knew his daughter had once touched Mandos f heart and moved him to pit y but he did not know the way. It was not in his nature to beg, to plead, or eve n to persuade with gracious words. He felt trapped by his own nature. He remembe

red the dead, their desperation, and how little comfort he could offer them. many have moved on of the fallen of the Great Dying? h he asked softly.

gHow

gHalf, h Mandos said. gThe rest linger on, unable to let go and move forward. h Th ere was no judgment in his words, neither condemnation nor pity. It was simply a fact. gWith time, they will let go. h So many. Thingol fumbled for words and found them not. Especially not withou t Melian by his side. But she was too busy directing the Entwives in food produc tion. War would disrupt it, so they had to store up lembas and other foods which would keep now, so as to have them when war overran everything. Mandos simply waited, neither telling him to go nor requesting that he speak ; he could feel Mandos f power reaching out around him, no doubt communing with hi s servants. gWhat happens if they are still here when war comes? h Thingol asked softly. gI have prepared a hidden refuge for them; it should last until the end, h Mand os said. gThat is allowed within the law. h gHow long do we have? h Thingol asked, feeling a little relieved. gNot as much time as we would like, h Mandos said. Then he rose. gI must depart, for I am needed elsewhere. h gThank you for the audience, Lord Mandos, h Thingol said, rising and bowing. gYou will see your daughter soon, and your foster son as well, h Mandos said, h is voice trying to approximate kindness and falling short. gAnd now I must go. h An d then he was gone. Thingol left, wrapped in his thoughts of hope and fear, and wondered what wo uld become of those bound to fate when fate came to its end. END BOOK TWO, CHAPTER THREE