WHERE THE OCEAN BLEEDS RED AND THE SAND IS AS GOLD
On the Abandoned South Georgia Island
Everything hurts. I can feel the cold. My body is freezing and wet like I just walked through water, yet I have no memory of swimming in it. It hurts as I open my first eye followed by my second and take in an agonizing, painful breath, which is followed by hoarse coughing which hurts my chest so much.
The feeling of my wet clothes hanging onto my body doesn’t feel good either; the wet, ripped t-shirt is clinging to me, as are the jeans, and I’ve lost a shoe somehow. Why can’t I remember anything? My last memory I have was being in the prison room, but it’s all so blank after that.
I realize that I’m lying on a beach of white sand surrounded by red sea and old wrecked buildings that are empty and ancient. The buildings are much like those in Tokyo Three’s old ruins, but I know this isn’t Japan; the ruins are different. It’s also night; I can see the moon’s light beaming down on me. I turn my head, realizing for the first time that I’m not alone and that Asuka is lying directly opposite me in her now torn black suit. She is on her back, staring upwards blankly into the sky, my hand within inches of her.
She has this strange, haunted look in her face that bothers me deeply. It’s almost dead-eyed and staring, and her left eye is not glowing; it’s grey and faded. I’m not even sure if she’s conscious or passed out with her eyes open. I know that when her left eye is grey, it means something serious is going on mentally. I pull myself upright, taking a harder look, seeing that she still isn’t moving. It’s like she’s frozen like a statue.
She barely notices when I get on top of her body, straddling her gently. I move my hands gently downwards, putting them on both sides of her neck very gently, seeing the darker bruised skin where the metal restraining collar had been.
Asuka’s black suit jacket was missing and only the white shirt remained, though it had lost its red tie and was ripped, revealing her bra strap. The knees of the black trousers were torn and she only had socks and no shoes. There were bruises on her wrists where the chains had been.
Rei moved her hands gently up to Asuka’s shoulders, trying to talk only to realize that she couldn’t. Her throat was stinging in pain. She tried again, but it hurt too much. It felt so bad, like sandpaper in the back of her throat. She felt her grip tighten due to the mounting frustration of not being able to speak. She grabbed Asuka tighter, shaking her even harder at the shoulders, still not getting any response.
She stopped, lowering her head. This just couldn’t get any worse. They were on some island, and she had no idea how she’d even gotten here. She couldn’t get her girlfriend to respond. She’d never felt as helpless as she did right now in this moment. She breathed in, only to suddenly feel a hand come up, gently stroking the side of her face with a warm caress. She looked up sharply, seeing Asuka’s grey left eye come to life. It sparked up, going black with burning red light, only to change to dark neon blue, which meant real emotional pain as her hand left Rei’s face.
Rei watched as Asuka’s eyes finally moved, very slowly, looking directly at her. Maybe it was the pain of all this, she couldn’t really say, but the tears started before she could stop them. Her voice returned all too suddenly, and her pained cries hit the air as she leaned forward, crying into Asuka’s chest. She felt the other woman’s arm wrap slowly around her, pulling her closer as her other hand moved through her hair softly and gently. She carried on crying, unable to stop it or hold it back. She didn’t know how long she was crying, for time just seemed to slip by without meaning. The thing that broke it was Asuka’s pained voice hitting the air. “I feel sick.”
Rei eased herself up slightly, only to watch as Asuka’s whole body shifted sideways sharply under her, her hands moving away from her body as she clawed at the sand throwing up violently into it, heaving painfully in the process. She moved despite her tears, keeping the other woman as steady as possible until she stopped.
Asuka turned onto her back again, breathing in painfully. Her teeth were normal as she spoke again. “Where… are we?”
Rei looked around her as she wiped her tears away, trying to recompose herself even though she really couldn’t, as her emotions felt like they were in turmoil. “I have no idea…. last thing I remember was being in the prison room on the ship… I was watching you. They changed you with some device. You somehow took the were-tiger form and it looked so real.”
Asuka breathed in deeply. “The last thing I remember is them changing me. It gets so hazy after that.”
Rei looked at the red sea behind them. “Do you suppose we swam?”
Asuka sat up painfully, trying to ignore the exhaustion and the fact everything hurt so badly. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep, while another part of her, despite just throwing up, desperately wanted to eat. “No, not from that depth; it would have crushed us both. Also, I can’t swim in blue water, and even in red I can breathe but you can’t, not without diving gear.”
Rei eyed the wrecked buildings behind her. Clearly, there had been a community here once, but it had long been abandoned, likely because nothing green would grow in red waters, only these strange ugly red veins, like plants which were not native to the earth and wouldn’t die off until you purified the water again, turning it back to blue. The red veins were covering the buildings behind them, which were decaying.
Rei wiped her tears away sharply as she got to her feet, slowly helping Asuka gets to hers, which was difficult as Asuka was clearly quite disoriented and tired, and it took her a while to even get her bearings. She looked around her. “We need to find some water, food, and some shade.”
Asuka looked up slightly. “Yeah, that…”
Rei eyed the old, decaying tourist apartments which weren’t all that tall in height, which meant once upon a time, this must have been an island for tourism, which meant there had to be old hotels around somewhere.
She ignored the pain in her body as she started to walk along the sand, helping Asuka, who wasn’t steady and was slow on her feet. “Let’s look for an old hotel. There must be one around here that still has storage cupboards; they may even have medical supplies.”
Asuka breathed in deeply as she started walking forward, which hurt with every step. “Yeah…. maybe they have a radio.”
Rei looked up slightly. “Yeah, maybe….” She paused for a long moment before speaking. “I just wish I knew where we are; I don’t recognise anything here.”
Asuka tensed sharply, really not liking that she had to say her next words as it made her feel deeply uncomfortable. “I do.”
She watched as Rei turned to her in surprise. “I’ve seen this place, or something similar to it, in the vision Shamshel gave me, the one where Shinji was strangling me. And before that, I had a recurring dream as a child of pulling myself onto a beach like this.” She paused, looking down at the white sand under her feet. “The moon was different though. In both it had a red halo, and in both I felt that I had seen the end of the world. But they’re dreams and visions; they’re not real.”
Rei looked at her for a long moment, remembering the artwork, which had slipped her mind until now. This was the first time Asuka had ever mentioned this dream to her, and it made her feel deeply unsettled. Even more so since they’d escaped from people claiming she was the destroyer of worlds. Should she be afraid of that, if Asuka truly had been? No, because Ankh had not been successful.
They’d both gotten away, so it would be okay, wouldn’t it? Maybe the more pressing question she was avoiding asking herself was, would she still love Asuka if that side ever resurfaced, and the truth was, she still would. It changed nothing in how she felt about her deep down in her heart, because she was her monster and no one else’s. She believed in Asuka’s statement. She believed that was why they were here now and not still trapped on the ship.
8
So this is it. With Ritsuko’s information, we now know for sure that this is the Hyena and it isn’t Gryphon. Gryphon is clearly a ruse to throw us off balance, make us look the other way. The only question now is, does the Hyena know about the destroyer of worlds and Asuka’s purpose? The younger man and woman saying it in the footage would suggest so. Yet so far, we have not seen the end of days, which means Asuka could be fighting back, resisting what they’re trying to do. We just need to find her, and I feel that Maya will finally give us the rest of the puzzle, the final piece, from Mari.
All of this will go to Gendo and Ritsuko. We’ve all had a call to go to the specialist science lab, as they found something really important and a possible way to track Asuka. Kaji and I slept here last night; it was easier, as we had too much to go through and we both needed the sleep. It was nice to just curl up on a company bed and doze together in the quiet. Right now though, Kaji is just finishing the last of the report while I’m waiting for Maya to bring her part to complete it so we can go over it officially with the commander.
Misato looked up, watching as Maya appeared, looking quite tired and not her normal self.
Maya raised her tablet slowly. “This is from Mari. I believe with this, all of our puzzles will be solved.” She paused before putting her hand in her pocket, pulling out a bunch of notes and putting them on Misato’s desk.
Misato blinked, eyeing the money. She felt two and two click together as she took hold of the money, a smug smile forming. “Oh, I do believe this is a thousand yen Maya, so would I be right to assume I was right and you had fun with Mari last night?”
Kaji looked as he spoke. “Really, you did? What was it like?”
Maya watched as he took a sip of his coffee, as she spoke in a deadpan tone. “She’s a sexual Tyrannosaurus rex.”
Misato watched as Kaji almost coughed up his coffee. “Are you being serious?”
Maya eyed her with tired eyes. “Yes.”
Misato leaned forward, seeing Kaji do the same, as he was clearly really interested now in where this conversation was going. “So best friend, are you going to tell us more?”
Maya turned, still speaking in a dead pan tone. “No.”
Misato blinked in confusion. “What? That’s not fair!”
Kaji sat up slightly. “Yeah, she’s right, that’s not fair; we tell you everything!”
Maya turned, giving them a cold look. “Yes, you tell me even though I don’t ask, so I don’t have to tell you anything.” She adjusted her lab coat. “Plus I have to go see Sumire now as she’s in the office, so I’ll see you in the science teams special briefing later.”
Kaji watched as she vanished. “Well that was unexpected…”
Misato felt a sly smile form. “Not completely. I think someone’s tired; it’s rare, but I’ve seen her like that before a few times. She gets cranky without enough sleep.”
Kaji put his feet on the table. “Must have been a really vigorous heavy night then… I want to be surprised, but I kind of expected that from Mari; she’s not quiet when it comes to talking about sex.”
Misato eyed up the report, looking at it. “Yeah well, I’m curious about this report, and if I’m right I have a feeling that this will confirm my thoughts that that older man and older woman who resemble her are related. Hopefully this will give us names.”
8
Toji walked slowly across the Arcade Zone’s tenth level. He turned to Sakura, who was eyeing up all the cute toys in one of the windows of one of the stores, though she was clearly not really in the best mood. He could tell by her face and her tone had been sad when speaking. Today wasn’t a school day but she had wanted to come in with him, and Misato had upgraded her Nerv card so she could come into the pilots’ rec room. She was dressed in casual clothing like him.
Sakura looked up meeting Toji’s gaze “Have they found Rei and Asuka yet?”
Toji walked to the next storefront, which was filled with clothing. “No, not yet, but the scientists think there might be a way.” Sakura turned to him. “Yeah, I remember you saying something about Bardiel’s DNA still being inside her which might allow them to track her.”
Toji put a hand on her shoulder. “I have faith it will work.” He paused as they looked at another shop. “See anything you like?”
Sakura shook her head. “No, not really.”
Toji raised his hand, about to speak, only to be hugged from behind as Mari’s happy voice hit the air. “Good morning friend!”
Toji blinked in surprise as he turned to her, feeling a sly smile form. “We got your message, must say, didn’t expect it to go that way.”
Mari felt her grin widen as she spoke loudly, not caring who was listening around her. “Maya is so good in bed… we had a really long night of fun!”
Toji grabbed her shoulders, pulling her close, ignoring all the general staff who were suddenly looking in their direction. “I’m so happy for you, I know you really like her.”
Mari moved away from him turning to Sakura, ruffling her hair. “Hi there, trouble.” She moved close to the twelve year old, who gave her a hug. “Sorry I wasn’t able to visit last night or the night before. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
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Sakura turned, pulling out her Nerv card. “Misato’s changed my card privileges since I’m closer to being thirteen, so I can join you all in the rec room now on the holidays and weekends and lunch breaks.”
Mari felt her smile widen. “That’s so good to hear! We’d love your company in the rec room.” She raised her hand. “Plus we have some fun retro video games and a pinball machine up there. Granted they’re Asuka and Rei’s, but you’d be welcome to play them.”
Toji put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Yeah, and we can get you your own chair to sit on.” He looked up, seeing that Sumire was walking towards them, though not fully paying attention, as she was clearly looking in the shops for something else. “Sumire!” He watched as she looked up sharply, the surprise showing in her face. “It’s great to see you.”
Sumire felt a nervous smile form. She still wasn’t used to this kind of attention, even though it was very clear to her now that he did genuinely still like her, despite the truth coming out. It had been nice the other day to just sit and talk with him; one thing that was very clear was that, like her, he loved food and enjoyed trying new things. Today she felt more at ease, as Maya had given her a better anti-depressant this morning which clearly wasn’t colliding with her other medication, and she had told her that she wasn’t in any trouble, despite her remarks. She looked up, meeting his gaze, speaking calmly. “Hello Toji.”
Toji smiled as he turned to Sakura, who was looking at the woman he was talking to with curiosity. “Hey Sakura, I’d like you to meet someone.” He moved her gently forward. “This is Sumire; she’s new on the bridge staff. This is the woman I was telling you about.”
Sakura moved forward, feeling a smile form. “So pleased to meet you. Toji has told me about you.”
Sumire looked up nervously. “Nothing in too much detail, I hope.”
Toji looked at her, feeling his smile widen. “No, I only told her that you’re very nice and that you’re from Mexico.”
Sumire looked at Sakura. “I see.”
Mari walked forward, looking at Sumire who eyed her with uncertainty. “I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour some time ago. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Sumire breathed in deeply. “It’s okay, I understand what it’s like when you feel that tense.”
Mari looked down sadly. “I’m sorry for the family member you lost.”
Sumire put her hand on her pendent. “It was a long time ago, but thank you all the same.”
Mari shook her head. “I’m trying to stop myself behaving that way; it’s just hard sometimes.”
Sumire raised an eyebrow. “Well, I can’t fault you regarding emotions, since I told Ritsuko to go fuck herself.”
Mari raised her hand, feeling a sly smile form. “Oh, so that’s what you said.” She turned hearing his phone going off, she pulled it out, looking at it. “Damn it, I need to pick up some stuff from the above levels.” She paused realizing this was one shop they couldn’t take Sakura in, since it was regarding her sexual plug suit.
Toji leaned over, looking at the message he wanted to see those new plug suits he was really curious as he’d heard staff talking about them. “We could go up there real fast. We’ll be twenty minutes at most plus I want to see those new…”
Sumire moved closer. “Is there a problem?”
Toji breathed in deeply. “Yeah, Mari needs to pick up a few things.” Mari eased up the phone so she could see it but Sakura couldn’t. “Those kind of adult things...you know that look like plug suits”
Sakura turned suddenly, taking hold of Sumire’s arm. “Hey, Sumire could go shopping with me while you two get your adult things and your weird plug suites whatever they are.”
Toji turned sharply. “That’s a great idea.” He paused, looking at Sumire, who suddenly looked nervous and completely out of her depth. “Could you please take her? Honestly, we’ll be right back here, and we’ll be back before your shift starts.”
Sumire spoke, though her voice sounded weak. “Sure.”
Mari turned, looking at her. I’ll make it up to you I promise, plus Misato and the others are in a special morning meeting, so you’ll have more time than normal. I heard they could be in there for well over an hour.”
Sumire watched them go. By the gods, what had she just signed herself up for? She had zero clue how to take care of teenagers, and now her mother and father’s words were coming back to haunt her, that she should have done babysitting in her early teens because it would be a great exercise for her to learn.
Sakura looked up, feeling the taller woman tensing. She turned, giving Sumire, her best smile. “What were you shopping for today, Sumire?”
Sumire turned, looking at her. “It’s going to sound odd, but I was looking for a gift shop somewhere around here that sells Alebrijes; it’s a carved wooden Mexican figure. I heard there was a place down here that has them for sale.” She paused. “What were you looking for?”
Sakura raised her hand. “Some tacky item, but what you’re looking for sounds way more interesting.”
Sumire began to move forward with the twelve-year-old, who had long flowing brown hair which was the same colour as her brother’s. “Well, I’m sure we can find you something interesting too.”
8
Vitor looked up, seeing everyone standing in the science lab, waiting for them to begin. He put his hands together, feeling a smile form as he looked at everyone. “Welcome to our briefing, glad you could all make it here.” He eyed the dark-haired man who was Shinji’s and Rei’s father, who he had seen in the last briefing along with Misato, Kaji, and Maya, but not the rest of the bridge crew.
He eased up his device as he pressed it, bringing up a holographic date along with the pilot’s face. “First off all, does anyone recognise these dates?” Maya blinked, recognising three of the dates. “Yes, the ones for Shinji, Rei, and Asuka I recognise. These were three days after pilots got in the Evangelions. Each of them came down with flu and sickness. We assumed it was from the stress of piloting for the first time.”
Chilam pressed her device, bringing three other reports forward. “Yes, but don’t you find it strange that Kaworu, Toji, and Mari, who were not even in this country, after piloting for three days also got sick, same symptoms, high fever, flu, and sickness?” She looked up slightly. “One person is strange, two is baffling, but when you have all six, I’d say that’s very odd.”
Ritsuko raised her hand. “I thought you were finding out how to find Asuka and Rei. I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”
Vitor looked at her as he spoke darkly. “Oh, believe me we are just getting to the really good part.” He turned slightly. “They all got sick because the Evangelion gave them something, in a literal sense.” He breathed in deeply. “Allow me to introduce you to the reason, and the thing that seems to have avoided Nerv’s gaze for almost ten years.” He pressed the device, causing all six real-looking hologram skeletons to fly up, with their worms on full display. “This is the reason why they got very sick. Allow me to introduce you to the Spinal Web Worm, as we’ve dubbed it.”
Chilam felt a wide grin form, watching as everyone’s face turned to utter shock only for Maya to literally drop her electronic paper files. “You never spotted it in your scans before, because it’s a perfect mimic. It blends into the spinal cord perfectly, pretending to be a nerve, and we only found it by mistake when we were stripping Asuka’s hologram down to raw bone. We poked it, and because the hologram imitates real internal function, it caused it to show and reveal its natural defence.”
She picked up the tool for skinning holograms, moving it over to Toji’s hologram spine. She jabbed it in hard which instantly caused the spider web coating to come flying out, covering the whole spine protecting it. “Hence why we use the term, Web. When it gets any serious impact to the back, it protects the host’s spine.”
Vitor watched as the webbing pulled back. “From the neck to pelvis, the spine is fully protected. If you’re wondering why Asuka got a fracture, it doesn’t quite protect one of the spine’s disks near the neck, but you fixed this medically, and the reason it never reacted was you never touched the nerve it poses as.” He paused. “Also, it’s interesting to note that unlike all of Asuka’s other bones that were reset, the disk has healed so much it’s hard to tell it was ever seriously damaged, as the fracture is now hairline.”
Chilam walked forward, bringing up the video of the primal unit 02 crashing in to Uluru. “We believe these worms protect the host’s spine at all costs. So, it’s not just the Evangelion changing, this creature protects the pilot as well, hence why when Asuka smashed the Uluru Mountain, her back was protected; all she suffered was serious pain in the neck and shoulders.”
She changed the image to a three-dimensional hologram which showed the worm’s veins in the nerves and spinal cord. “We believe this is your answer as to why the pilots’ eyes and teeth change and in some cases they become as strong as an ox. Our theory is that this thing sends an enzyme of alien origin into the whole spine, giving the transformation and strength ability.”
Vitor pressed his device. “We also saw that one of its tendrils is attached to the lower oesophagus and feeds directly into the stomach. Like a tapeworm on earth, it’s stomach acid-proof. It absorbs all it needs, but unlike the parasite version on earth, it does not starve the host; it only takes what it needs.”
He paused. “The older ones, we dated to be nine to ten years old. The youngest is nine months old, so they’ve been in the pilot’s body for a long time.” He brought up the image of the big man who had beaten up Asuka. “So, to answer your question from the other day, this hulking bastard could not have gotten his ability unless he’s got one of these growing on his spine, which means he has to be the Ankh pilot.”
He felt a smug smile form. “The best part though, is the alien worms have signatures just like Angels, Evangelions, Archangels, and the Evangelion hybrid. They’re clearly alien by nature, and we believe they are a possible symbiote of the true Evangelion who may have picked the pilot for reasons we don’t understand.”
Chilam pulled up a device. “Best part is, Asuka’s worm still has part of Bardiel in it, mixed in with its own signature, so we copied the program from the Magi and had it help us create a tracker. This one’s purely for Asuka, but we believe this prototype, once in the Magi’s system, will track her location anywhere on earth if you feed it into the worldwide Nerv system and bases, and you can use it in future to track any pilot out of plug suit.”
Vitor put his hands together. “So, anyone have any questions?”
Ritsuko breathed in as she spoke, unable to keep the shock out of her voice. “Are these parasites, I mean can we remove them?”
Vitor eyed her, pausing before he spoke. “I wouldn’t recommend that. It would probably kill the pilot, and they are not like Bardiel; they are not parasites. To me, this looks more like mutualism with endosymbiosis, as it’s a balanced relationship where the symbiote lives with the host in perfect union. If anything, they are not hurting but helping the pilot.”
Maya leaned down, picking up her file, throwing it on the table opposite. “But they’re worms! Worms on earth are vile things that hurt human beings.”
Vitor looked at her. “These are alien. The reality is on the home world where Adam comes from, their purpose might be the same as good bacteria is for us. Hence why they want to help the pilot. We have no idea how intelligent they are, and if Bardiel was anything to go by, they could be as smart as him, but we need to test that on a real pilot to know, as well as see them eating, because we are very curious about that.”
Ritsuko folded her arms, feeling a sly smile form. “Oh that’s fine, you can just get Maya to bring her new girlfriend Mari up here and shove her in some device while you give her meat sandwiches and scan her guts….”
Maya turned sharply, seeing Kaji and Misato turn looking at her as both just seemed genuinely surprised. “How do you even know about myself and Mari!?”
Ritsuko raised her hand. “Because you went home with her last night, and everyone saw you get in her sports car; it’s not hard to put two and two together, since you don’t entertain.” She pushed her hair back. “Plus, your new girlfriend was bragging to Toji about how great the sex was with you, and people overheard her. So yes, the whole of Nerv knows now…hope that wasn’t intended to be a secret.”
Maya put her hand on her face. Great, just great, this was what she had not wanted to happen. She turned, eyeing the other woman. “Who I take home and sleep with is none of your business, so back off!”
Misato breathed in, feeling the need to stop this and get everyone’s thoughts elsewhere. “Just to clarify this for me, Asuka had Bardiel, so does that mean Bardiel was controlling this thing?”
Chilam looked up slightly. “Bardiel could hijack any organism, alien or human, but we believe the reason he might have hung out in her brain for so long might be because he didn’t want to take on this thing all the time, despite tricking it and possibly bypassing it to get up to her brain. It’s very clear it was fighting back though, as twenty percent of his matter is now part of it, though it’s somehow been neutralized and is completely harmless.”
Gendo stroked his beard as he spoke calmly. “Why is the one on Suzuhara’s spine smaller than the others?”
Vitor turned to the holographic skeleton. “We believe this one is younger, so it might be age-related, but we have a second theory that maybe they get stronger and bigger after the unit turns to primal state.”
Gendo breathed in deeply as he spoke again. “Well, clearly bringing you both on to do projects wasn’t a complete waste of time after all. Though, your project will now go into top secret and be considered classified. No-one is to speak of any of this to the pilots from this day forward, not until we know more about this.”
He turned, eyeing Maya, who suddenly looked nervous and embarrassed. “That includes any of you who have had sexual relations with the pilots.” He raised a gloved hand, pointing at the device. “That though, I want plugged into the Magi and ready as soon as possible.”
Misato turned slightly. “Yes, Commander.” She breathed in deeply, raising her tablet as she passed it to him. “This is also the full report regarding the capture of Asuka and Rei, and it’s clear to us now it’s not anything to do with Gryphon, it’s the Hyena of Vasai.”
She looked down slightly, realizing that she couldn’t say everything, as Maya in her report had said that she only wanted her, Kaji, Ritsuko, and Gendo to know the truth about Mari and for it not to be published. “I can tell you that the man and woman are named in this report and are very dangerous. The source of this would prefer to remain unnamed to the command crew at present.”
Gendo eased up the report. “I see, Colonel. Well, I will take my time reading this back in my office.” He walked away, watching as Ritsuko followed him as he spoke calmly. “See that this team is rewarded.”
Misato watched him go, along with all of the others except for Maya, who looked truly pissed now. “Hey, maybe you should get some sleep… Clearly you’ve had a very long day, I’ll inform Mari.”
Kaji moved toward Maya as he breathed in sadly. “We read your report. That’s fucking horrific… What kind of person pulls that on their grandchildren?”
Maya put her hand on her face. “The worst part is, she views herself as being fully to blame as she knew the difference between right and wrong… and she thinks she’s a coward, yet she was the better one.”
Misato looked down sadly. “Well, I don’t see this changing how Asuka feels about her. I think she’ll stand by her no matter what.”
Maya shook her head. “Yeah well, I hope that’s how it turns out when we get Asuka and Mari back together.”
Kaji put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be fine, believe me, but right now get some sleep; you earned it.”
Maya nodded calmly. “Yeah I think I will. So much for keeping Mari and myself secret.”
Kaji felt a smile form. “Maybe it’s better that’s it out in the open, as hiding it makes it harder.”
Maya turned to him. “Yeah, maybe that is for the better.”
“Hey… Um, not to interrupt, but is that a normal response for the Commander?”
Misato turned, looking at Vitor. “Yes, that’s very normal.”
Chilam felt her eyes dart. “Oh. I was concerned he wasn’t impressed or hated us.”
Misato felt a wide smile form as she raised her finger. “Speaking of your reward, bonuses aside, I’ll make sure to get all the pilots to this lab up close and personal as I promised, and you can run tests on Mari when the time is right and everything is more settled… Just do not hurt her.”
Maya looked up sharply. “Don’t I get a say in this, since she’s now my girlfriend?” Misato turned slightly. “You can be down here with her. She spends some of her off time down here anyway, so it means you get more time with her.”
Maya raised her hand to speak, only to stop as she thought about that before speaking. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Plus, if I tell her it’s some new test, she’ll buy it.”
Vitor put his hands together. “Finally, a real pilot! I can’t wait to see what’s under the hood.” He watched as everyone turned to look at him.
Chilam raised her hands, feeling a wide grin form. “He’s speaking purely figuratively. I mean, they are incredible scientifically, since they pilot alien beings and clearly are part alien themselves, though the spine worm.”
Maya stood up, taking her electronic paper files. “I’m going to bed.” She turned, eyeing both scientists. “When we do this, you don’t break or hurt my girlfriend. If you do, I will not be impressed with you. Do I make myself clear?”
Vitor put his hands together. “It will all be good, we can promise you that.”
Maya rubbed her eyes. “I hope for your sake that it is.”
End of part 31
Silvermoonlight