Chapter 23: To the Sky
Chapter 23:
To the Sky
To the Sky
T
HE COMMAND CENTER
was physically separated from the rest of the facility by its earthquake-dampening structure, and its occupants didn’t feel anything at all. The thickly armored walls completely insulated the noise, too. The room fell silent as everyone waited for any news to come.
A second later, an operator shouted, “Outside!”
The main display switched to a rooftop camera elsewhere on the base, and there was Super Eva. Having blasted its way through the cage’s armored roof, the giant sprang into the sky.
“Not again!” Toji moaned. “Can’t you ever leave the normal way?”
“But…” Aoba said. “That’s incredible. It’s flying.”
“Its flight wasn’t scheduled until
this afternoon.
And the test was supposed to take place on the floating deck on Lake Ashi. But now look at all this destruction. That fool! Who does he think has to pay for all this?!”
Not long ago, the teenager would have been hollering in celebration, but in a short span of time, he’d completely assimilated into his role as Acting Deputy Commander. Aoba and Hyuga looked at each other and snickered.
On its maiden flight, Super Eva wasn’t going to win any points for style. Not only had the giant gone ass over teakettle, it was spinning around and around.
Having gotten accustomed to breathing in the LCL, Maya suggested, “Shinji-kun, open up the Vertex wings as far as they’ll go and spread them to their full width.”
“O-okay.”
The retractable wings extended a little farther, and the outer edge of the field guidance plates distanced themselves from the Eva’s body. With just that slight change, the Eva’s uncontrolled twirling motion stabilized.
“Oh,” Shinji said. “Is that all I have to do to control the flight?”
“No. Extending the wings increases stability at the expense of slower responsiveness and decreased mobility—like widening the arms of a balancing toy. It’s grade-school-level science. But it’s up to you to find the right adjustments.”
Maya had given the system a Latin name—vertex, referring to a point of rotation in the sky, like those that occurred at the celestial poles. Later, when the wings were formally assigned a name, a clerical error resulted in the English spelling being used in conjunction with Super Eva, which led to most people calling this configuration the Super Eva Vortex or Vortex Eva.
Quatre was watching. “Those wings will provoke Armaros,” she remarked.