Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book One)

E6 Part 5: is he alive or dead?

NERV Headquarters. The Eva Cages. Inside Unit 1B
T-6 Hours, 53 Minutes

"Umm... Misato?" Shinji hesitated. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Everything looked right, as far as he could tell... "It's... um. It's not moving."

***

Central Dogma

Misato glanced at Maya. "How's his sync ratio?"

"Everything's in the green, ma'am." Maya ran her eyes over the console. "As far as I can see, we should be operating normally."

"Shinji, are you sure?" Misato narrowed her eyes. "You're not just faking, are you?"

***

Unit 1B

"I'm not! I'm really not!" Shinji said desperately. Once again, he closed his eyes and tried to flex the Eva's hands. He could feel them -- the weird, phantom-limb presence of the gigantic body around him -- but they wouldn't move. It was almost like --

It was almost like it didn't want to move.

He opened his eyes and blinked.

***

Central Dogma

"Hold on." Ritsuko reached over Maya's shoulder and tapped a command into the console.

Misato looked up in surprise. Where the hell have you been? she mouthed.

The other woman shook her head, as if to say later. "Here. Look at this." She pulled up an image of a brain onto the screen, neon-yellow highlights flashing across its surface. "This is Shinji's motor cortex. He's definitely trying to move the hands. But the Eva isn't mirroring his patterns."

"What does that mean?" Misato asked.

"I don't know." Ritsuko tucked her hands into her pocket. "We haven't seen this before. Not without a synchronization failure. And until we figure it out..."

"... Unit 1B is out of action," Misato finished. She ran her hands through her hair. Of course something like this was going to happen.

She walked over to Ritsuko. Being angry could wait. "Have any options for me?" she whispered.

The scientist shook her head. "Anything I could suggest would require further research to even be workable. We just don't have the time."

Misato pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down. No time. No other options... except, of course...

Bastard, she thought. A tiny smile crept onto her face.

Ritsuko eyed her. "What?"

"Nothing," she muttered. "There must be something wrong with my brain."

"All right! Change of plans, people!" Wiping off the smile, she turned to the command deck and raised her voice. "Get in contact with the transport! Tell them to turn around and come back! They're to rendezvous with the pilot outside of the city at a point to be determined. Shinji, get out of there and get ready to move! Everyone else, let's get Units Zero and Two prepped and topside!"

***

Kannami Forest Preserve. 3 km south of Tokyo-3.
T-3 Hours, 54 Minutes

Shinji raised his hand to block the early morning sun as the jet he'd just emerged from powered up its engines and leapt back into the sky. It was a pretty view, at least. He was standing in a clearing on a mountainside, ringed by tall trees. He could see a town a few kilometers in the distance -- Yugawara, he supposed, or maybe Ito -- and the ocean beyond.