LNCrawler

Chapter 13: The Lance’s Logic

Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 13:
The Lance’s Logic
I T WAS EARLY MORNING in Nerv Japan’s headquarters when two people happened to cross paths in the elevator lobby en route to the command center.
“Good morning, Commander Katsuragi.”
“Ah, good morning, Deputy Commander. Another early start, Suzuhara-kun?”
“After we sent out Soryu—and Cinq—I’ve been calling out to them every morning,” Toji replied.
“Did you finish reading the report from engineering?” Misato asked.
Toji nodded. “You mean the analysis of Euro-II’s lance that Shinji brought back? They found a clump of salt in a sixteen-by-twenty-millimeter reliquary at the spearhead.”
A reliquary was simply a container for housing something significant or sentimental.
The concept sounded unscientific—magical, even—but by placing an object of personal significance inside these containers, an Eva pilot could more easily manifest their A.T. Field on the weapon’s cutting edge, which dramatically increased the effective strength and penetration of the weapon.
This phenomenon could largely be attributed to the placebo effect. The effect had been known to continue when the object was taken away without the pilot’s knowledge, and to go away when the pilot feared the object was lost, whether or not it actually had been. Because their effects couldn’t be reliably calculated, Maya disliked the use of reliquaries in the field. Nevertheless, after the Battle at Nerv HQ three years prior, nearly every Eva’s weapons (aside from energy-based ones or ammunition shared between models) now contained reliquaries so that each pilot could take advantage of them as desired.
Embedded within the Powered 8 ammunition Asuka had brought to the lunar expedition were several of Shinji’s hairs, which she’d forcefully insisted he cut and give to her. They’d both watched over the manufacturing process. That step, the watching, seemed to be important to the reliquaries’ effectiveness, though the reasons were as yet unknown.
Toji said, “If the pilot of Euro-II really was…”
“Yes?” Misato prompted.
“Nothing.”
Toji disembarked the elevator on the command center’s control booth floor. But he thought, If the pilot of Euro-II was Horaki-san, as you say, then someone close to her—family, even—might have been exposed to the Lance’s light in Europe and turned into a pillar of salt.
When Misato exited the elevator on the commander’s deck one floor above, she was greeted by the cheerful, energetic sound of an electric guitar.
Taking the lead from a routine established by a previous spacefaring superpower, at precisely 7 a.m., Shinji had aimed an ultra-shortwave antenna in Tokyo-3 toward the moon and begun broadcasting music, whether or not anyone was listening on the other end.
He spoke into his headset. “This is Tokyo-3. Good morning, Asuka. Are you awake?”
After the question, he left a brief pause, and all voices in the command center fell silent. The morning song carried across every deck of the open room. Two seconds passed—enough time for the radio signal to make the 380,000-kilometer trip and return—then three, then four, then five…but no reply came.
Not letting himself lose hope, Shinji continued, “You must be awake. It’s a sunny day here. Aoba-san chose your music this morning. I suggested ‘What a Wonderful World,’ but Toji said that was a bad idea because it would sound like it was going to be our last transmission or something. Oh, and I have some good news about Unit One.”
On the upper deck, Misato mouthed Super Eva , but Shinji ignored her.
From the deck below, Toji waved to get the commander’s attention and transferred a separate transmission to her station that had come in through Hyuga’s booth.
Shinji kept talking to Asuka, though no response came.
“It looks like we’ve found a way to get Unit One to fly. I said, why not launch me from Tanegashima like the 0.0 Evas, but judging from that whooping I took, I guess I don’t do so hot without my feet on the ground, so everyone but me is saying that outer space is a complete no-go until I get the right equipment. And—”
Misato’s voice cut in, drowning out Shinji.
“Kaji-kun… Ryoji! What happened to you?!”
Misato fell apart in full view of everyone.
Startled, Shinji turned to the commander’s station. “What’s happening?”
Toji intercepted the video feed and redirected it to the main display. It was a low-resolution video from Cyprus. Kaji’s expression was completely lifeless.
In shock, Toji called out, “Kensuke, what’s wrong?!”
Kensuke’s voice came over Toji’s headset.
<< It’s like I said, we found a Seele relic, and it’s turned Kaji-san into a completely different person! He’s saying he’s Seele, like Kiel, but he’s Kaji-san . I don’t know if he’s putting on an act or what, but… Look, I tried to ask Commander Katsuragi. You get her to listen, man. I’m not handing Kaji-san over to nobody . We need an emergency evac! >>
“Hold on,” Toji said. “You’ve got to give us more than that.”
<< It’s not something I can talk about over the air. But I’ll tell you one thing—he says he’s inherited the memories of past worlds. Don’t ask me what ‘past worlds’ are. His role is to make the right adjustments to progress the Human Instrumentality Project and to make sure the same mistakes aren’t repeated. He doesn’t seem to know how many of him there have been, but get this—the first Seele’s name? It was Noah . >>