Chapter 15: Earth Simulation

Chapter 15:
Earth Simulation

 

A BRILLIANT BEAM of golden light struck the barren mountain, vaporizing the sand and rock. The ground detonated, as if it were made of explosives.

Shinji counted the seconds. “Two, three, four, five…”

But how long, he wondered, letting the count trail off, until the mutant Eva-0.0 recharges its cannon?

“Fifty-seven seconds,” Ayanami Rei Quatre said. It had been her Eva, after all.

“Fifty-seven seconds,” Shinji repeated. Then he winced. “I lost track.”

“Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…” Quatre filled in.

The mutant Eva-0.0’s gamma-ray laser cannon was the most powerful human-made long-range weapon, and it could pierce the ridge of a mountain as if it were air. But for all its unnatural modifications, the mutant Eva still couldn’t see through solid rock. The targeting systems relied on predictions based on Super Eva’s last known movements. As long as he could find cover, Shinji had a chance of evading the blast.

“Fifty-five, fifty-six… Now!” Shinji shouted as he slid across another mountain ridge. He dove down the slope on the other side, kicking up sand clouds. In the next instant, the mountain split open just to his right, and a tremendous wave of heat grazed Super Eva’s head. The beam struck and exploded another sandy rise ahead to his left.

“Jump!” Quatre shouted. “We don’t know the terrain.”

The cannon’s recharge time could allow them to survey their surroundings.

“I was just gonna!” Shinji said with the indignant tone of a child being nagged to clean his room.

Preparing for the jump, Shinji planted Super Eva’s feet firmly on the ground, while Quatre began drawing power from the Q.R. Signum—at a far greater rate than Shinji had yet been able to access.

“Is the Q.R. Signum connected to Armaros through the ground surface?”

“Yes,” Quatre said. “At least, I think so. The gateways to the tunnel network seem to work on the ground, too. Every time my feet left the ground, I could feel the power source fading. You feel that, too, don’t you?”

With more experience using the Q.R. Signum, Quatre had already drawn the necessary power by the time Shinji was ready to jump. Super Eva hurtled skyward into the cloud of sand and smoke that had risen from the last laser strike.

Shinji gasped. The power felt different from what he’d tapped into through Super Eva’s heart. It was like a drug.

With tremendous energy, Super Eva shot through the mushroom cloud, through the gathering bands of electrified lightning clouds, and into the open sky above. For the first time in too long, Shinji experienced the thrill of flight.

Then he looked down, with full view of his surroundings. “The valley is sloped!” he said. “It runs down that way, and then…”

 

But Shinji’s sentence ended there. The valley’s edge led to…nothing.

The land abruptly terminated at a dark blue sky that faded into darkness below.

What is this place? Shinji thought. Can’t anything make sense?

In exasperation, Shinji called out to the man who was trying to kill him. “The sun is stopped. The ground is missing. Kaji-san, can you tell me what the hell is going on here?! The Lance of Longinus isn’t in orbit, and the bloated moon is gone!”

<<There’s no moon here at all,>> Kaji replied. Electromagnetic interference from the ionized air caused the signal to crackle and made his overly casual tone somehow even more grating than before. <<The moon that was here was carried off long, long ago on a collision course with Earth, to provide the material and energy to form your moon.>>

Shinji couldn’t process what he was hearing. His mind seized up as he tried to work it out.

“Huh?” he blurted in confusion. “Where are we? Where on Earth is this place—”

The Kaji-vessel continued, not waiting for Shinji to catch up. <<As I understand it, the natural satellite didn’t have enough mass on its own. But since this place wasn’t needed once the test was over, the material to make up the difference was torn off from this land. That’s why it looks like it does. And without any moon, this place eventually stopped rotating. The side we’re on now permanently faces the sun. Does that answer your questions? Are we good now?>>

Shinji glanced to Quatre, next to him in the flowing LCL. She frowned and shook her head. At least Shinji wasn’t alone in his confusion.

“My question is,” Shinji replied, “where on Earth is this place, and why is it like this?”

<<Come on, Shinji. This isn’t the Earth.>>

“What?” Shinji gasped, though less from surprise than denial. This wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear.

But he’d known it was a possibility the moment he’d looked up and seen the sky without the now-familiar presence of the Lance of Longinus.

And yet, he still fought acceptance.

“But there’s air here. There’s gravity!”

<<Of course there is. This was the testing ground for the Instrumentality Project, after all. It wouldn’t make for a very good simulation of Earth without air and gravity.>> The Kaji-vessel paused, sensing Shinji’s confusion. <<Oh, I see. You didn’t know. But then, why are you here at the Apple’s Core?

“The Apple’s Core?”

Super Eva began to descend, and Shinji quickly appraised the updated topographical map. He was seeking cover behind another ridge, when—

Boom!

The mutant Eva-0.0’s gamma-ray laser cannon blasted the brittle rocks of the mountain and sent a shower of sand onto Super Eva. In order to maintain a high enough transmission rate, the reciprocal comms link used a rather high frequency, which had the unfortunate side effect of making the transmission source easily detectable.

“Wait! Simulator? Core?” Shinji shook his head to refocus his thoughts. He could figure the rest out later. Right now, he had one question. “If this isn’t Earth, then where is Earth?!”

While Super Eva moved around behind cover, the mutant Eva-0.0 slowly turned to keep facing him. Standing atop the giant’s chest armor, the Kaji-vessel brought his right hand out from the shadows of his coat—keeping his other hand wrapped around Trois—and pointed skyward to the motionless sun.

<<Forever hidden on the other side of the sun. You now stand upon a mirror Earth on the exact opposite side of the sun from the Earth you call home. So, if you come across an electrical outlet, be careful which way you insert any plugs.>>

Neither Shinji nor Quatre caught the reference to an old science fiction movie.

The Kaji-vessel chuckled to himself. <<Welcome to the Apple’s Core. Maybe you’ve heard of its other name—the garden of paradise, Eden—where humankind was created and tested.>>

“What, like the myth?” Shinji blurted.

<<You know, I’d appreciate it if you stopped interrupting and just listened. Anyway, this planet and its moon were packed together and hurtled into the Earth. In other words, ultimately, the Earth itself is what bit the apple. Isn’t that funny?>>

All trace of humor vanished from the Kaji-vessel’s face, and he whispered into Trois’ ear, “Fly, Ikari’s puppet.”

Ayanami Rei Trois jolted but then immediately opened a gateway to the tunnel network. Shinji was still trying to figure out what was going on when the mutant Eva-0.0 abandoned the fight and began sinking into the ground.

<<On your way here,>> the Kaji-vessel said, <<you probably noticed that the connection to this place is thin and faint. I’ll give it one last nudge and then separate it for good. You’ll die here with no way to return home.>>

Shinji moved quickly, but it was too late.

By the time Super Eva jumped over the ridgeline, the mutant Eva-0.0 was already gone.

“Quatre, follow them!”

“I can’t! I don’t know where they went. If we were closer, I could have tuned in to the same flow, but we’re too far.”

Super Eva landed with a thud sending up a cloud of sand and dust.

Shinji raised his fist, but he had nowhere to direct his anger. Instead, he screamed. “Let’s just go home. Hurry, while we still can!”

With Rei Trois out of sight, Rei Quatre’s temper quickly subsided. But Quatre and Shinji had been at a frustrating impasse from the moment they’d stumbled onto this world, and Shinji could already sense that impasse returning.

He gave his head a vigorous shake to snap out of it. Patience, he told himself. Calm down.

Now that the target of Quatre’s rage had gone, the Q.R. Signum was easing up on its assault against Shinji’s psyche. But if he let himself succumb to fear and anger, he might still be swallowed by the darkness of the black scale.

 

Much like Super Eva’s heart had been stolen from his chest, the moon had been stolen from this unfamiliar planet.

According to prevailing scientific consensus, the Earth’s moon had been formed from the debris of a collision with a Mars-sized body. Though the moon had been Earth’s companion through the ages, humanity was only recently beginning to understand the satellite’s vital role in regulating Earth’s celestial movement and ecology. In that sense, the moon was like a metronome…or even a heart.

Was the former satellite of this strange planet the object that had slammed into Earth and created the moon?

Regardless, this planet had lost its beating heart and grown still. Then Shinji had arrived, his heart stolen as well.

Now everyone else had left, and the place was quiet once more.

 

Shinji brought Super Eva over to the edge of the land he’d seen from above. The deep blue sky darkened into a rich navy-black hue at the horizon and continued down, below the edge of the world, into a pure black void dotted with stars.

If the Earth had been flat, as was once believed, the edge of the world would have looked just like this. It was an overhang, and Shinji couldn’t see the underside. But far below, a sphere of clouds had gathered as if surrounding something. Super Eva’s feet knocked a few rocks over the side, and they tumbled down toward the clouds.

When Shinji’s thoughts calmed, he realized something didn’t add up.

“Wait a minute,” he said. If Seele wanted to leave us here to die on this forsaken planet… “Why did he bother telling us?”