Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book One)

E3 Part 3: The Sun's Gone Wibbly

NERV Headquarters - Central Dogma

Shinji stood just outside the door to the command deck, sweating. What the Doctor had asked him to do hadn't sounded so bad at first. But now that he was here... well...

He took a deep breath and stepped out onto the floor. He saw Misato standing by Lieutenant Ibuki's station, surrounded by a gaggle of subordinates and technicians. He quietly moved to the outskirts of the crowd. "Misato?" he asked. "Um, Captain Katsuragi?"

She didn't hear him. No one did, over the throng of conversation in the room. They didn't have time for this. There was only one thing he could think of to do.

He shut his eyes and yelled at the top of his lungs: "MISATO!"

"What, Shinji?" Misato said, exasperated.

Shinji opened his eyes. She was looking at him now, clearly annoyed. As was everyone on the bridge, actually. He felt the blood rush to his head. Oh, God. He couldn't do this. He was going to hell for this. But the Doctor had said that everything depended on it. On him.

"What - what if," he said, as clearly as he could manage, "we trapped the Angel in the... Angel?" Oh, God, he was blowing it. He desperately tried to remember what the Doctor had told him to say. "I mean - the big crystal.. thing. Up above. What if we used that to cage Jet Alone?"

Misato stared at him, her eyes narrowed. She turned her head. "Hey, Ritsuko?"

"What?" Ritsuko said from the other side of the room. She sounded exhausted.

"That's not a bad idea. Using the Fifth Angel as a container. Why wouldn't it work?"

"Oh. Huh." Ritsuko looked up and thought for a moment. "Oh, the dismantling problem."

"Oh, right." Misato turned to Lieutenant Ibuki. "Maya, would you mind explaining it to him? I need to go check on the trucks."

"Yes, ma'am," Lieutenant Ibuki said.

Misato strode away, the technicians following her. The lieutenant leaned towards Shinji. "It was a good idea, Shinji," she said kindly. (Don't look at her chest, Shinji thought. Don't look at her chest.) "But it won't work. The skin of the Fifth Angel is much too tough. It can only be cut with a special substance called antimatter, and we've been having a lot of trouble getting ahold of a supply for the workers to use. That's why it's taking so long to dispose of the body."

"Um." Shinji swallowed. "Ms. Ibuki... Lieutenant..."

"Maya's fine, Shinji."

"Um... Maya... thing is... have you been outside recently?"

"No. Why?"

Shinji pointed to her station. "Could you... I don't know... bring up a camera on the construction site, or something? Please?"

"Well... I suppose." Maya turned back to the console and typed in a few commands. A live feed came up on her screen. "There we go. Now -"

She looked at the monitor. Her jaw dropped.

"Uh," she called out. "Captain?"

***

Fifth Angel Crash Site, Downtown Tokyo-3. Earlier.

The massive form of the Fifth Angel lay split in half, an immense crack running straight through its center from top to bottom. Right. That ought to give them a good start.

The Doctor tossed his screwdriver into the passenger seat of the blue Renault Alpine he'd borrowed out of the NERV parking lot. (It was in rough shape compared to the other cars that had been there. But he'd liked the color.) As he shifted it into gear and sped off, he picked up Shinji's cell phone and dialed a number from memory.