Chapter 22:
Airborne Theater

 

TROIS MOVED EVA-0.0 into aiming position like a gunshot. Two seconds passed, then three. The giant stabilized its trajectory.

The long barrel of Eva-0.0’s gamma-ray laser cannon now pointed to the detached lunar landmass a hundred thousand kilometers away from it. Specifically, it was pointing at the Angel Sahaquiel, which had suddenly appeared on Yomotsu Hirasaka. Firing at objects with a fixed trajectory was simple enough, but firing at a freely moving body at this range would prove difficult. She silenced the assistance of her FCS and took a gamble on where the creature was going to be.

“Stay where you are, Six… Now!”

2100 gigawatts of focused gamma rays traveled the ultra-long distance of space at a third of the speed of light, blasting one of Sahaquiel’s wings, now over a thousand meters long, just as it was about to grab Six. The effect generated a miniature sun on the Angel Carrier’s back.

“Trois…?! Ow, hot!”

Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica was a good kilometer away from the attack, but sparks formed on the alloy of its restraint armor from the burning radiation of the plasma explosion.

The focused energy of the laser vaporized the right half of the Carrier’s body, and with it, the Q.R. Signum on its shoulder. Having lost its trunk, the arm that hovered over Unit Zero’s head blew away like a storm cloud. Six yelped from the recoil.

 

A sudden bustle had taken over the command center of Nerv Japan. They’d received word that Yomotsu Hirasaka, having lost half its mass, would return to the moon without making contact with Earth. Now Six, who’d gone missing in space, had been found against all odds.

“What’s all this now…?” Misato said, surprised by what she was seeing. The map of Yomotsu Hirasaka gradually populated itself, first with Ayanami Rei Six’s Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica and then with several other icons. One belonged to Torwächter A1, the Asuka/Eva synthesis, while the other belonged to Torwächter B, the giant in possession of Super Eva’s heart. Soon, the replica Lance of Longinus, which Shinji had thrown into space, made itself known. Several Angel Carriers then appeared on-screen, as if to complete the diorama.

“Even the U.S. Eva’s on Yomotsu Hirasaka!” Misato said. “Is there some kind of space carnival going on?”

Fuyutsuki brought his confused commander the data he’d compiled. “The U.S. Eva was last seen in Norway, where it lured the Torwächters with an imitation heartbeat. They proceeded to drag Wolfpack through a gate.”

“At least our little prodigal’s doing all right,” Misato said. As soon as those words escaped her lips, she thought of Shinji. He was gone. She wondered how Six would take that news.

Ayanami Rei Six’s vitals were now on the screen. She was exhausted, and her heart rate had shot up because of the battle. Still, she looked healthy. On numbers alone, you’d never know that the little girl inside the Eva had been stranded in space.

“How’s her oxygen?” Misato wondered. “She’s going to hit critical levels a lot sooner at the rate she’s going.” She turned to the operators. “Inform Nerv U.S. via Trois of Wolfpack’s whereabouts. Also, ask them about the terrestrial unit’s space combat capabilities, as well as the pilot’s status. I want to know whether she’s alive or dead.”

 

Ayanami Rei Trois made her appeal from the orbiting Eva-0.0, since no one on Earth seemed like they’d make it for her.

“Hakone command, requesting permission to take Unit Zero out of orbit.”

Now that she’d found Six, Trois wanted nothing more than to rush to her aid on the surface of Yomotsu Hirasaka.

Eva-0.0 levitated using FSB technology, which used the explosions from tiny N2 pellets. These reactions were controlled by the A.T. Field surrounding its waist, and they were powerful enough to propel the three-thousand-ton giant into low orbit. However, with the maximum thrust provided by the field propulsion technology of the Allegorica unit, the Eva would have no problem flying past even the distant moon.

<<Permission denied,>> came the heartless response through her comm link. <<You are to maintain course and continue your mission of shooting down the falling rubble.>>

Trois fell silent. She shifted her feet restlessly in her experimental red-and-black plugsuit. It was a special model, made specifically for Asuka. The wearable device was part of a plan to salvage Asuka’s personality from her Evangelion and turn her back into a human. The suit was made of orichalcum, the same orichalcum that Kensuke had entrusted to Misato. Scans conducted by the science division identified the metal as lead, but they’d managed to weave it into a synthetic skin as thin as fiber.

The suit was a humanoid medium for Asuka and thus had the quality of a charm. It worked on the concept of electromagnetic frequencies being attracted to antennas tuned to the same wavelength. In theory, a human soul should be attracted to a humanoid body, in the same way that people often saw the human form in something completely unrelated. The plan was to use this phenomenon to give Asuka a specific information filter so that she could recognize her own form. Unfortunately, she’d since gone rogue, lowering the plan’s chance of success even further.

An interesting characteristic of the plugsuit was its high rate of mental shielding. At its peak, it far exceeded the current model. The same held true for the model Trois was field-testing.

That’s right. Torwächter A1 is on Yomotsu Hirasaka. That’s where Asuka is.