Chapter 33:
Confined Space
“THAT VOICE… That was Shinji, wasn’t it?!” Toji turned to Maya as they attempted to activate the pristine Q.R. Signum Super Eva had left behind. He took a step back. Now probably wasn’t the time for questions.
“It sounded like him…I’ll give you that much.” Maya’s answer was immediate despite her general refusal to entertain the supernatural. She wasn’t quite sure of herself either, so she turned to one of her operators.
“We’re still maintaining radio silence with the surface.” The operator answered her question before she could ask it.
“I see… I suppose this cone is working as we hoped.”
“Because we’re at the heart of the Babel effect.”
“We’re now at 616 rpm.”
“All right, keep it steady at this speed.”
Conversations took less than a few words to settle inside the provisional laboratory lined with observational monitors. They’d successfully replicated the phenomenon that had occurred on Novaya Zemlya when the Angel Carrier used its staff. So far so good.
According to their records, the Q.R. Signum could greatly increase the size of Angel Carriers. They were still under radio silence, however, and couldn’t have known about Super Eva’s reappearance on the surface of the detached lunar landmass.
And yet…they’d all heard Shinji’s voice.
They were at the bottom of the former resting place of Lilith’s Chronostatic Sphere. The Carrier’s staff, which Shinji had retrieved from Novaya Zemlya, was spinning on the circular rail surrounding the shielded and prefabricated provisional lab. A young researcher appeared on one of the screens, looking confused.
“Show me the findings on the quantum flow inclinometer,” Maya said.
A specific portion of the graph was filled with wide-band scratches.
“I wonder what caused it. It doesn’t look like random quantum noise.”
“A powerful discharge? It looks like Niagara Falls… But I’ve seen it before.”
The question now was where.
Toji joined the conversation with a meaningless tidbit of his own. “Niagara Falls… Don’t they have tours where you get drenched while wearing a raincoat?”
“That’s right!” Maya exclaimed. “Our raincoats got drenched!”
“Uhh, so are we going to start sliding around now?”
“No! We were soaked with quantum waves the last time we were adjusting the mirror!”
Toji had barely been around during Super Eva’s birth. He stopped himself from jumping to conclusions and summed up the events that had happened so far to make sure.
“Shinji already died once, and Unit One’s S2 Engine made a trip to the other side. Now we have this hyperdimensional window, which could mean we’re moments away from the Third Impa—What?”
Toji jumped out of his steel chair, and it fell to the floor with a crash.
“These readings are from Shinji’s newly formed heart. Are these wavelengths the same as when he almost self-destructed?!”
Maya shrugged, but Toji was too excited to stop.
“Super Eva’s gone, but the Q.R. Signum inside this pool should still be connected to him, right?!”
“Still… Considering the spacetime properties of this place…things could end up poorly.”
The screen showed another set of new wavelengths.
“Is this just feedback…?”
“Interference. And it’s coming.”