Jaclyn Kaiser, age fifteen, decided that this time of the day must be the ONLY time Logan International Airport wasn’t full of people. A few Red-Eye Flights across the country to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and a few across the Atlantic to London and Paris.
Then there was her mother’s flight, bound for Santiago, Chile. Or rather, that was her final destination. The large American 747 outside the window was bound for Mexico City. Santiago wasn’t even her mother’s final stop, she was going, as Jaclyn often stated, ‘ a hell of a long way down’ to the Ross Ice Shelf.
Dr. Lydia Kaiser often wondered why she, of all people had been selected to be the head of the geological survey team on the Katsuragi Expedition. There were many more qualified people. But for the pay check, she didn’t dare turn down the job offered by SEELE.
“Now, I should be back near the end of September.” Lydia looked from her husband to her daughter. “It won’t be for very long.” That was a lie , it was the middle of July. She gave her daughter a hug. “Now, I don’t want you giving your father a hard time while I am gone, do your back to school shopping with Cassidy...understood? That girl...” Lydia spat the word out. “Ashley is a bad influence on you.”
Jaclyn shoved her hands into her pockets. “I know mom, I know...and I also know , mind your manners, do your chores, and don’t get into any sort of trouble or you’ll come all the way back from the Ross Ice Shelf to ground me.”
Benjamin Kaiser watched this exchange with a grin. “Don’t worry Lydia...things will be fine.” He hugged his wife. “Now , is there anything else we need to know before you head off to that desert of ice?”
Lydia kissed him. “No, not at all.” She shouldered her carry-on bag. “Oh yes...I did sign that insurance policy. It’s on your desk.”
“Good.” Ben kissed her cheek. “You stay warm down there...and don’t let that bastard Ikari get on your nerves to much.”
Lydia laughed. “Gendo Ikari isn’t that bad of a man...you just don’t like him because he acts -just- like you.” She shrugged her shoulders. “On occasion, that is.”
“FINAL BOARDING CALL - FLIGHT 413 TO MEXICO CITY. REPEAT, FINAL CALL.”
“That’s me...” Lydia hugged her daughter. “You be good now, you hear?”
“Yes mom.” Jaclyn returned the hug and she and her father watched as Lydia picked up her other bag and started down towards the gate, waving. “I’ll call you from Santiago!”
Jaclyn and her father watched as Lydia vanished down the gate. Normally, when someone left for a flight in their family, they left as soon as the person was gone. But for some reason, her father stood watching the silver plane until it pulled away from the terminal. “Dad? Is something wrong?”
Ben snapped out of his reverie. “I’m fine, Jaclyn. Let’s go home, its a long drive back to Westfield.”
Long drive was an understatement. It was two hours back home. Why they couldn’t have driven to Albany was beyond Jaclyn. Then again...SEELE wasn’t the brightest company in the world...It was WINTER in Antarctica...why go to the coldest place on Earth during the coldest season? Jaclyn yawned and stretched out in the front seat of the car as her dad slid in beside her.
“I never got to ask you, how was lacrosse camp?” Benjamin eased his way out of the parking lot and headed out of the city.
Jaclyn glanced down at the bruise on her shin. On her high school team, the John Adam’s Memorial Bearcats, she played center. “It was all right...those girls from Virginia are a lot tougher than most of the girls in New England.”
Ben chuckled. “Remind you of back when we lived in Richmond?”
“Yeah...” She sighed. “Why can’t I drive home? I’m going to be sixteen in November.”
“Because, its late and Boston,” Ben swerved around a grey Lexus. “Is full of lunatic drivers.” He shook his head. “Hard to believe your mom is going to be gone for a few months...and Dr. Akagi is paying a visit here shortly before school starts , I except you to act like an adult while she is here.”
“Yes dad.”
“Now, when the time comes, you are to come straight home after lacrosse practice, no late nights, no parties...oh why am I telling you this?” Ben swerved onto an entry ramp. “I just don’t need anything to worry about while your mom’s gone, Jac, okay?”
“Sure dad.” She leaned back in her seat and stared out the window. Two and a half months , her mom was going to be gone for a long time, or at least it seemed to be a long time. Yawning quietly, Jaclyn leaned back in her seat and fell asleep.
****
Lydia Kaiser was tired. Seventeen hours on a plane with almost no rest wasn’t a good thing for her, especially not since she was staring forty in the face. She shouldered her duffel as the pilot of the VOTL settled down on the Ross Ice Shelf. “Finally here...” She finished buttoning up her coat. “Made it ma, bottom of the world...”
A man came across the small landing field towards the craft as she got out. “Dr. Kaiser, you’re early.”
“Dr. Katsuragi.” Lydia shrugged across the heavy snow towards the man. “Good to see you.”
“Let’s continue this discussion out of the wind...” The VTOL crew was handing supplies to some other men near the rear of the craft. “The weather is going to get nasty tonight.”
“You mean its going to get worse than this?” Lydia chuckled as the pair walked to the warehouse like structure several hundred yards away , in truth, Lydia wondered what was keeping it from lifting up and flying away with the wind.
Once inside, Lydia was shown to her small corner and she went about getting settled. There were a few other beds in the area, and she assumed that this was the women’s quarters. The only other person in the area was a young girl, who was hunched up in a ball, her nose stuck in a copy of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” What in the name of all things holy was a CHILD doing here?
The young girl noticed the woman and lowered her book for a moment. “Who are you?”
Lydia smiled. “I’m Dr. Kaiser, I bet your Dr. Katsuragi’s daughter Misato, aren’t you?”
Misato nodded. “I hate it here.”
Lydia opened her duffel. “I bet you do. You’d rather be home with your friends, right?”
“This place sucks.”
Lydia rolled her eyes. She was used to teenagers, and she hated it when Jaclyn used the term “sucks” But she wasn’t about to harp on the poor child’s manners. She had enough problems. “Good book?”
Misato sighed inwardly. She didn’t know if she should be happy or not, at least the woman wasn’t talking down to her like nearly everyone else was. “It’s okay...” She shrugged. “So what kind of doctor are you?”
“I’m a geologist, Misato. You know what that is?”
Misato snorted and turned back to her book. “I’m not stupid.”
“I didn’t say you were, its just my daughter sometimes tells her friends that and all she gets is a blank stare.”
That interested Misato a little. “How old is your daughter, Dr. Kaiser?”
“She’s nearly sixteen, she’s at home turning her father’s hair grey.”
Misato laughed. “Really?”
“More than likely.” Lydia decided it was best to keep her coat on. “I’ll talk to you later, Misato.” She picked up a data file that had been left on her bed and walked out of the corner, studying it.
The object called “Adam” was located roughly thirteen miles from their current location. It was covered over with a mixture of ice and rock, and that rock was the sole purpose of her being there. While she was not entirely sure what Adam was, it was encased under a layer of quartz, and probably the reason it was hard to tell from ice.
“Dr. Kaiser.” A voice came towards Lydia and she looked up as a Japanese man wearing a heavy green coat came towards her. “Good to see you again.”
Lydia shook Gendo’s hand. “Mutual, Gendo Ikari. So is the weather always so lovely?”
Gendo smirked. “Oh this? This is warm, wait until nightfall...then it really gets cold.”
Lydia shook her head and tucked the file under her arm. “How is the drilling process going?”
“Adam is going well...he’s located fifty meters down , and with the current weather conditions we should reach him in twenty days.” The pair started over towards the canteen. “The preliminary tests will go for ten days afterwards, and the probe three days after the end of testing.”
“September thirteenth?” Lydia shrugged. “That sounds about right. I am extremely intrested in seeing Adam’s affect on the quartz that is encasing him.”
“What day are you slated to leave?” Gendo poured both himself and Lydia a large mug of coffee.
“Not until September twentieth, after that there’s not much left for me to do here, I’ll be taking some of the encasement quartz back with me and study it in Massachusetts.” She took the mug from Gendo. “So what else has occurred so far?”
“Not much that I’ve been told...all though there’s something very strange going on, according to Dr. Katsuragi and Dr. Leu.”
“Dr. Cera Leu? The zoologist?”
“Yes.” The two sat down and Gendo shrugged his shoulders. “According to her, there’s something wrong with the penguin population. She states that several of the nests she’s been watching are showing an increase in dud eggs.”
Lydia snorted. “Isn’t Dr. Leu one of those bleeding heart liberals who would like to blame everything on the capitalists polluting the environment?”
“She’s worried the expedition will put the penguin on the endangered species list.” Gendo shook his head. “Or something like that.”
“There’s nearly a million penguins in captivity, what the hell is she worried about?”
Lydia shook her head and took a long sip of coffee. It did little to keep her awake. “Why is Dr. Katsuragi’s daughter here?”
Gendo folded his arms and leaned back, staring into his own mug of coffee. While he wasn’t a parent, he knew that this was no place for a child - this wasn’t even a place for humans. “I do not know. I am under the impression that Dr. Katsruagi was forced to bring her along due to some sort of agreement in he and his wife’s divorce.”
Lydia shook her head. “I’d rather leave my child under the nose of my over-bearing mother in law than bring her here.”
“I don’t think the doctor had that choice.” Gendo took a sip of coffee. “She’ll leave the same day you will, so things will be fine.”
“I still think its a bad idea having her here , what if something happens to her? God knows, she could wander outside and freeze to death before someone noticed she was gone!” Lydia finished her coffee. “I need to go speak with Dr. Fitzgerald about the drilling process. Good day, Ikari.”
“Good day doctor.” Gendo watched the woman leave and went back to his coffee. He’d rather not be here either. He’d rather be back in Kyoto with Yui.
That was the first time Gendo Ikari asked himself what the hell he was doing with SEELE.
****
Ritsuko Akagi stared out the window of her mother’s rental car with disinterest at the passing landscape. She hadn’t wanted to come to America at all, she would have rather stayed with her grandma in Tottori. But her mother decided it would be good for her to start seeing more of the world. “Where are we going again?”
Naoko swerved around a group of teenagers in a mini-van. “A town called Westfield.” Naoko sighed to herself. She wasn’t the best mother in the world, but she and Ritsuko had made it over an ocean and a country without ripping each other’s heads off, and she just hoped they could arrive at Dr. Kaiser’s without doing so. “This is a very important meeting I am having with Dr. Kaiser, you understand that, don’t you?”
“Yes mother.” Ritsuko didn’t care what her mother did. Just as long as she left her alone.
“If it helps, we’re staying at Dr. Kaiser’s so that he and I can work late into the night without having to worry about driving , his daughter Jaclyn is just about your age , perhaps a little older...I can never remember.” Naoko eased the car off of the turnpike and into a small town on the other side of Springfield. “And if you don’t want to do anything with Jaclyn, well, you have your books to study.”
Ritsu glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eye. If there was one thing her mother demanded from her - it was excelling in school. Nothing but perfection - would be accepted.
Ritsu had never met her father, whom her mother refereed to as ‘that son-of-a-bitch’ but she had a feeling her parents inability to ever be together probably had more to do with her mother’s attitude than her father’s.
“Here we are...” Naoko turned up a long curving driveway and came to stop in front of a white house. For a moment, Ritsuko merely watched the girl in the front yard dressed in cutoffs and a grey T-shirt toss a small ball back and forth in a strange sort of net device, which looked like a baseball mitt on a pole.
“What’s she doing?” Ritsu got out of the car and looked at her mother.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Naoko wished her daughter was better at making friends.
Jaclyn turned at the sound of the car and caught the hard rubber ball she had been tossing back and forth in her hand. “Hello, Dr. Akagi.” She glanced at Ritsuko. “You must be Ritsuko...my dad’s mentioned you a few times...”
Ritsuko didn’t know if she should start tearing her hair out or not, the girl, Jaclyn, didn’t speak Japanese. More practice with her English skills, her mom would say. “Yes. I’m Akagi Ritsuko.”
“Where is your father, Jaclyn?” Naoko shoved her hands into her pockets and watched as the young girl walked over to the front door of the house.
“Why don’t you both come in...” Jaclyn watched as the two came forward and she held the door open for them. “My dad is probably in the basement...” After the two came inside, Jaclyn followed and leaned her lacrosse stick against the wall. Out of habit, both Naoko and Ritsuko removed their shoes as the young girl swung a door open in the kitchen. “Dad...Dr. Akagi and her daughter are here.”
“I’ll be right up, Jaclyn, see if they want anything...” Ben sighed and punched a few buttons on the laptop in front of him. “I just need to finish loading the virus scan into the network...”
“All right.” Jaclyn shook her head. “Would either of you like something to drink? Tea? Lemonade?”
Naoko shook her head. “No thank you. Ristuko?”
Ritsuko shook her head, she was looking around the large front room of the house, wondering how three people could live in such a large space...what did they do with all this room? “Huh?”
“Do you want anything, Ritsuko?” Naoko frowned slightly.
“I’m fine, mom, just tired...that’s all...”
“It’s to be expected.” There was a thudding sound on the stairs as Benjamin came up to the first floor. “Ah Dr. Kaiser...” She smiled. Together, she and Benjamin had started working on a trio of supercomputers, true, they were still in the theorem stage, but when they were done...
“Dr. Akagi, how was the flight?” Benjamin walked over to the woman and shook her hand.
“It was fine.” She returned the handshake. “Long and tedious, but you know that from your own travels.”
Benjamin nodded and then looked at Ritsuko. “You’ve grown some, haven’t you?”
Ritsuko shrugged. She was tired. “Hello, Dr. Kaiser.”
Ben called over his shoulder. “Jac, why don’t you help Ritsuko get settled, Dr. Akagi and I have things to start discussing. And I’m sure Ritsuko would like to lie down for a while.”
“Sure dad.” Jaclyn started across the room to the front door. “Are you coming?” She asked the brown haired girl.
“Yes...” She hurried after Jaclyn and they went outside. “What was that sport you were playing when we drove up?”
“Lacrosse. I play center for my high school’s girl’s lacrosse team.”
“Oh. I’ve never heard of lacrosse.” Ritsuko watched as the girl swung the door of the rental car open and hauled out both her mother’s suitcase, her suitcase, and the two carry on bags. Ritsuko had gotten her school bag out of the front and still was asking herself how the girl was hauling all four heavy bags at once. “You want some help?”
“Na...I can handle it...” Jaclyn shut the car door with her foot. “Though I’ll need someone to open the front door for me...”
****
Roughly ten miles away, another sort of meeting was taking place. Christopher Van Sleet, another one of SEELE’s employees, looked over the abandoned airport that had once served as an emergency landing area for flights from Boston.
It wasn’t so much its location, as what was UNDER the location. The whole area underneath him had been excavated during the construction of the airport, back when Springfield had been predicted to explode in size and become a second Boston. The construction of NERV 04 would not begin for one entire year, but it was still nice to look at the place where there would be a stronghold for mankind. Lord, how droll that sounded - a stronghold for mankind - as if mankind had to cower and hide from the horrors of the world.
He let out a deep sigh and opened the door of his SUV. Stepping outside, he ran his hand through his hair. Here was where it was to be, the first American Branch of Geherin. The fourth branch that was going to be started. What the mission of Geherin was - he was not sure at this moment. He slammed the door shut and smiled to himself. Commander Christopher Van Sleet , he liked the sound of that.
Chris had not met many of the people with whom he would be working, he had only met Chairman Kiel once in a civil manner.
The low hum of a car caused him to turn as a State Patrol officer pulled up next to his SUV. “This is private property, sir.”
“I know that.” Chris turned around and approached the man, holding out his ID.
The state trooper took the card and looked it over. “I see...” He handed it back. “Sorry to bother you sir, but we have a lot of problem with vandals around here near the end of the summer. You’d think the scum would stay in Boston and not come out here...Though some of the local teenagers like to come out here and get into trouble.” The man sighed. “Such beautiful country here...”
Chris didn’t have the heart to tell the man that his Maine accent had given him away - and that HE knew how really beautiful country looked. “It’s rather nice...I miss the wide open spaces of Kansas, however.” He tucked his ID back into his pocket.
“Well, I reckon you’re not in Kansas no more!” The state trooper slid into his car and pulled away.
Chris shook his head and sneered. “Asshole.” He walked around to the front of his car and leaned back against it. “This sure isn’t Kansas...and this sure as hell is going to be Berlin.”
****
Lydia turned the large rock over in her hands for a moment and then set it down on the table next to her. “This is a typical sample, correct?”
“Yes, Doctor.” Richard Fitzgerald added a second piece of quartz to the Lydia had set on the table. “Most of them are shown to be normal milky quartz, however, the further we have drilled, the more the crystalline patterns have shifted.”
“In other words, the deeper we go, the purer the stone gets.” Lydia shrugged this off as nothing. “It’s only to be expected. Thank God we’re not drilling through iron ferrite.” The wind outside howled, causing the structure to tremble and creak. “If this blizzard doesn’t let up, we’re not going to reach Adam in time to make the probe on the thirteenth.”
“True.” Richard shaved off a piece of quartz and stuck it under the microscope. “There’s something odd about this quartz, however, take a look for yourself.”
Lydia obliged and glanced under the microscope. At first, she saw only the uniform patterns of the stone, and then little by little, she could see small breaks connecting to one another. “That’s not possible. Rock is not alive, this has to be some sort of mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake, I’ve tried it to find a reason myself, and strange as it sounds, the further we go down, the harder the quartz seems to be get through - as if it doesn’t want us to reach Adam.”
Lydia looked up. “Perhaps God doesn’t want us near Adam.”
Richard laughed. “If God didn’t want us near Adam, wouldn’t He send a more clear message? Have the ice cap explode?”
Lydia shook her head. “The odds of that happening are around nine hundred million to one - not even a rock the size of a baseball traveling at sub-light speed could cause Antarctica to just vanish.”
“True, to true.” Richard leaned against the table as Lydia looked back into the microscope. “So what’s your analysis of the amazing regenerating rock?”
“My analysis?” Lydia raised her head. “Is to drill like hell so we can all go home.”
****
“There’s a total of thirty nine theorems...and we only have four of them done.” Naoko leaned forward in her chair, holding her head. “At this rate, we’ll have all three computers perfected by the year 2010.”
Ben nodded and pushed the ashtray towards the woman. “I can sympathize. I have both this and - another project to work on. I’m going to wake up one of these mornings and Jaclyn will be asking me why I never visit my grandchildren.”
Naoko frowned. Unlike Dr. Kaiser, she had no part in Project-E, of which Dr. Yui Ikari was the forerunner. Her and that other woman, Dr. Souryhu. How the man could work on both projects at the same time was beyond her. “I doubt that will happen, unless Jaclyn decides to have children before she’s thirty.”
Ben thought for a moment. “I don’t think so, more likely after she’s thirty. By the time I’m an old man and won’t be able to play catch with them.” At forty-five years of age, Benjamin Kaiser made some of the other people on the project look like children.
Naoko lit a cigarette and sighed. “There will be a total of eight MAGI systems, one at each of the Geherin Headquarters.”
“MAGI?” Ben arched an eyebrow. “The three kings of the Orient?”
Naoko nodded. “Yes. And as I was saying...MAGI 01 will be at the main headquarters in Japan. The one you’re in charge of, MAGI 04, will of course, be located here in Massachusetts.”
Ben rested his chin on his folded hands. “Thirteen theorems to a computer, each one working separately and yet together for the common good.” He nodded to himself. “It would be best if we focus on them collectively , rather than one at a time.”
“That will be more difficult than if we took them one system at a time.” Naoko squashed the butt of her cigarette in the ashtray. “But I suppose it makes greater sense to do that.”
****
The early August sun poured down through the leaves, giving the road a dappled look, and were it not for a breeze, the heat would be worse. Ritsuko had been reluctant to leave the house, claiming she had to much studying to do before school started up again in a week.
Jaclyn would have none of it and promptly swiped her books, saying she could have them back after they did some sort of activity. Much as she hated to admit it, Ritsuko was glad to act like a normal teenager for a few hours. Nor did she relish the idea of trying to take back her text books from someone who stood a head above her , and was ten pounds heavier. And nearly all of the girl’s weight being muscle.
“We’re to young to think like we’re old, Ritsu, I mean, we have almost our whole lives to be adults, and not much longer to be kids, may as well make the most of what’s left.” Jaclyn kicked a stone into the ditch by the side of the road. “Do you know what I mean?”
Ritsuko shook her head. “I’ve always been studying, or so it seems, and well, I guess taking a break is unnatural.”
“Do you live under a rock over in Japan or something? I would think you would have some sort of activity that you do, a club or anything?”
“No, I don’t really have time for friends, I’m to busy studying.”
“Blech. Studying sucks. Summer isn’t supposed to be a time to have your nose in a book. At least, not until you’re in college or something.” Jaclyn looked up the road and down it before the two crossed into the outskirts of Westfield. “I mean, sure, I read some books over the summer, but that’s usually to get a head in my literature class.”
“Schools are different in Japan. Our school year starts in April.” Ritsu folded her arms and glanced at the older girl. “Yours starts when?”
“I go back to school on the eighteenth of this month, and go until the end of May. Is that a problem?”
“No, no problem, its just, well, each country has its own system of teaching their children, and Japan just puts more effort into it than America.”
Jaclyn stopped and gave Ritsuko a look. “Well, last time I checked, Japanese students weren’t bringing guns to school and getting their funding cut.” She shrugged and started walking again. “Besides, John Adam’s Memorial is a prep school.”
“So you’re planning on going to college?” Ritsu ran a few paces to catch back up with the girl.
“Of course , my first choice is Notre Dame.” Jaclyn ran her hand around her neck. “But unlike my mother, I am not going to be studying rocks.”
“What do you plan to study then?” Ritsu had her life pretty much planned out until she was forty. Attend Tokyo University with majors in mathematics, computer science, and biology, and eventually join Geherin, one day becoming one of the top scientists there.
“Mathematics and Chemistry. My two favorite subjects when it comes to school...since being on the lacrosse team doesn’t count.” Jaclyn chuckled.
“I would think you’d take your studies more seriously.” Ritsu followed Jaclyn into the parking lot of Uno’s Pizza. “If you want to get anywhere in life that is.”
Jaclyn grinned and pulled the door of the establishment open. “I take my studying very seriously. I just don’t want to have a nervous breakdown when I’m twenty-five.”
*******
AN: I decided to start completly over with Raven , and here it is! My first chapter all nice and done! Thanks to Zoro50, Lord Deathscythe and Epyon Zero for being such wonderful pre-readers. Feedback is always welcome at grey_angel17@hotmail.com Characters copyrighted to their respective owners. All Characters are fictional.
Jaclyn glared at her left ankle in annoyance. Last night, in her lacrosse’s team against the Lady Hawks of North Springfield, she had collided with a defender. The results had been rather ugly, as their legs had hooked around one another as they fell, and when they finally got untangled, both girls had broken ankles. It wasn’t the fact that her ankle was broken that annoyed her - it was the fact that the ankle was going to keep her from going with the rest of her team to Provincetown tonight. A game that was scheduled to start at eight - the team’s one overnight game of the season.
Cassidy Granger, the team’s goalie and Jaclyn’s best friend had reassured her that the Provincetown Pilgrims were going to eat grass. That had been two hours ago, when Cassidy had brought by her books an homework. The doctors had insisted that Jac stay off her feet for at least a day, and that had meant no school. Thankfully, as it was only September twelfth, and lacrosse was a double season sport in New England. The top ten teams per state would carry into the spring, leading to state, and then to regional...and finally, on May fourteenth - nationals.
Ritsuko Akagi had told her that her devotion to an althetic event was an unfruitful persuit, and she’d do best to forget it. Jaclyn had to resist the urge not to knock the younger girl senseless. So she took her sports more seriously than her homework. Big frickin’ deal! She’d kept on the honor roll every semseter, she failed to see what the harm was.
“So I’ll be back in the spring, like a bat out of hell.” Jac had told her friend laughingly when the team came to see her at the hospital last night. Leslie Webb had told her she was nearly as fast on her crutches as she was on the field. The phone ringing brought her out of her thoughts. “Kaiser Residence.”
“Jaclyn, hi honey, how’s your ankle?” Ben Kaiser leaned back in his chair, nodding in thanks as his assistant handed him a clipboard and left the room.
“Better, is something wrong? You never call in the middle of the day.”
“No. We’ve been invited to dinner, and I thought I better call to give you more time to get ready.”
“Dinner? Dad, its two in the afternoon!”
“I know, Jaclyn. You don’t have to get dressed up, just presentable.”
“Awards banquet presentable or school presentable?” Jaclyn leaned back on the couch, grinning.
Ben smiled, glad to hear that his daughter was feeling better. “Awards banquet presentable. And don’t you wear a uniform to school?”
Jaclyn laughed. “True, who’s invited us to dinner? No one does that when mom’s not here.”
“Dr. Van Sleet’s invited us to dinner Jaclyn. He wanted to have a... small informal meeting, and well, he’d also like to meet you.”
“Dr. Van Sleet?” Jaclyn thought for a moment. “I don’t know him...”
“Well, just be ready to go at five. Did your mother call you?”
“Yeah. She called around ten, she says that she won’t be able to call again until she’s headed home, something to do with Dr. Katsuragi and that thing under the ice. Then she went into one of her ‘my poor baby’ rants when I told her about my ankle.”
Ben laughed. “Not surprised. I’ll see you at five, and Jaclyn?”
“Yes dad?”
“Love you sweeite.”
“Love you too dad. Bye.”
“Bye.” Benjamin Kaiser hung up the phone and walked out of his small office and into the main room where he worked, where sixty processors were hooked up into one server. “Now, what is the problem here?”
“We’re unable to get a sufficient firewall up around EMP. We may just have to create a whole new one.” Cedric Brothers sighed. “There’s probably a hacker in your daughter’s class who could get into this thing...”
Ben shook his head and hooked his laptop into the system. “Well, the Experimental MAGI Procedure isn’t going to be the actual MAGI. That’s why it’s experimental. Dr. Akagi is working on the theorems, and that’s her team’s job. Our job is to make the MAGI as secure as possible.”
“No system is ever completely hacker-proof.”
Ben gave Cedric a look. “Then we make it as hacker proof as we can. Even if it means creating a new type of firewall.”
Cedric snorted. “And what do we call it? A type 666 firewall?”
Across town, Jaclyn had stumbled from the living room upstairs to her room, and was glaring in her closet. “This sucks, I can’t go to Provincetown, but I can go to dinner.” She reached in and pulled out a grey jonquil patterned sundress. “This just plain sucks.” The cat lying on her bed watched with a little interest, stretching in the early September sunlight.
The New England Indian summer that year would later be remembered as one of the most beautiful one in many years. The leaves were just starting to turn from green to gold, and many had traces of red on them. In a matter of weeks, the whole countryside would be alive with color. Jaclyn glanced out the window. “And its such a beautiful day...”
****
Someone else was thinking of how much things sucked. That person was fourteen year old Misato Katsuragi. She wanted to be back in Japan, back at school. Holding buckets everyday for a month was starting to sound better than being stuck on this sheet of ice for another minute. That seemed hysterical to her, wanting to be in trouble at school rather than be here. Well, ANYWHERE but here was looking great at this point in time. Why couldn’t she have stayed with her grandparents for the summer? Either of them would have been fine with it. After all, Grandmother and Grandfather Katsuragi swore that she went from infant to young woman in two years, probably because Misato only saw them once every seven years. And Grandmother and Grandfather Shibano ran a small restraunt in Nagasaki, so the food was always good there.
Today, whatever her father had become so devoted to was finally going to happen. Good. Then things could get back to normal. Her summer vacation had been ruined, and now, now her father was so busy he’d not noticed the date, she was supposed to have left two weeks ago. Her father, ever dedicated to his work, saw only his work. But the rapid development in the Adam Project had prevented a VTOL from coming to get her.
Misato had called her mother, whom was still on HER vacation. Mrs. Katsuragi told her not to worry about it, she had contacted the school and her absence was excused. So what was the big deal about that Adam thing anyway? It’s not like SHE cared...her father called it an angel. Well, good for Adam.
In Misato’s opinion, they should all just pack up and go home, and leave that Adam thing alone. It was probably going to be nothing more than some stupid sea creature who had become trapped in the ice during the early stages of Earth’s development. Big deal...so what...another stupid ass dinosaur thingy. So what if it was the missing link or something?
“Misato?” Dr. Katsuragi came into the small room where the women slept, the only other person being Dr. Kaiser, who was half asleep under seven blankets.
“Yes dad?” Misato shrugged into her coat.
“It’s time to go, I want you with us while the probe is underway.” Dr. Katsuragi came over and helped his little girl bundle up in her coat and other winter clothes. “Don’t worry, you get to leave in six days. Won’t that be nice?”
Misato fastened the buttons on her coat. “I still don’t see why I can leave with Mr. Ikari yesterday.”
“I know you’d rather have left yesterday, honey, but he’s taking all of the research back with him, and your mom won’t be back from, Italy or wherever she went until the day after tomorrow. And well, sadly, there wasn’t any room on the VTOL for you, and no one could take care of you. I couldn’t get a hold of either of your grandparents.”
Misato groaned inwardly and pulled the hood up around her head. Her father was a rotten liar. There had been ten feet of space in that VTOL, plenty of room for her and her two duffel bags. And as for a place to stay? Since when were friends of the family excluded as people who could take care of her? Her dad probably just let time slip by and realized it was the eleventh of September and still hadn’t called Japan. “Doesn’t Dr. Kaiser need to be with the group to?”
Katsuragi looked over at the sleeping woman. “She’ll be along shortly, won’t you Dr. Kaiser?”
In reply, a gloved hand waved from under the pile of blankets and then pulled some clothes from the bedside under them.
“Come on sweetie, let’s go...this is going to be the most exciting event you’ll ever witness.” Dr. Katsuragi turned and Misato followed him out towards the main research building.
Lydia was out of bed a few moments later, shoving her feet into her boots and lacing them tightly. A feeling of unease had settled over her the past few days. More than it had before. The quartz encasing Adam was bored down until there was roughly two feet between them and the creature. Enough for the probe to commence. She was starting to agree with Dr. Leu, scary as that sounded.
They shouldn’t be here, none of them. What in the world was SEELE up to? She sighed and shrugged this off. She’d heard Misato complaining about how much ‘this place sucks’ almost from he moment she got here. She didn’t blame the girl. Jaclyn would probably think the same thing. Of course, Jaclyn was laid up with a broken ankle, and a few other scrapes. In her opinion, the twentieth of September couldn’t come fast enough.
****
In this day of so called random events, at Kyoto International Airport, a young woman stood at Gate 13, watching the passengers from Flight 87 from Ho Chi Minn City arrive. The men in suits, the tired tourists, and those people speaking in Vietnamese didn’t interest Yui Ikari. No one would pay much attention to the young woman in jeans and an old Kyoto University sweatshirt.
Only one man held her interest. A man she’d not seen since June. Summer had been agony without him. As soon as the dark haired man came into view, her eyes lit up as he broke into a run, ducking around a family arguing over something. “YUI!” Gendo Ikari ran towards her and swung the love of his life into an embrace and kissed her deeply, not caring who was watching them. This was a woman he’d not seen in nearly four months, and things like decorum could be overlooked.
Yui returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around Gendo tightly. Those that passed the two lovers smiled at them, some envious for their joy, others happy to see that true love was not dead. A few teenagers that saw them chuckled and some small children covered their eyes. Eventually, Gendo broke the kiss, but not the embrace.
“I believe you’ve become more beautiful since I was gone.” Gendo kissed her cheek and reluctantly set her down.
Yui grasped his free hand, as the other clinging to a carry on bag. “It’s so wonderful to see you...I’ve missed you so much...”
“And I you, my love.” Gendo shouldered the bag as they headed towards the luggage claim area. “Did I miss anything earth shattering while I was away?”
Yui forewent the hand holding and put her arm around his waist, her head on his shoulder. “Nothing to major...other than I had a fight with the garbage disposal.”
Gendo kissed the top of her forehead, wrapping his arm around Yui’s shoulders, just as determined to keep close to her as she was to him. “I take it you were the victor.”
“Of course, but as a precaution, I’ve not had instant ramen since then.”
“Since when do you eat instant ramen?”
“When I get caught up in my work and don’t realize I’ve not eaten until ten thirty at night.” Yui hugged him again as Gendo leaned over and pulled his two duffel bags from the conveyor. “Let’s get home..” He gave her a look that expressed his exact thoughts. “I want to show you just how much I missed you...”
****
Jaclyn finished pulling back her red hair into a braid and sighed. Her father would be here soon, and then she’d have to meet this Doctor Van Sleet person. Granted, the man was going to be her father’s boss, but he was only about fifteen years older than Jaclyn herself. Studying her face in the mirror, she opted to not cover the bruise that she had also received with her broken ankle. As her foundation, which her mother had bought, went with her normal skin tone which was somewhere between dead white and bone white. The sun had turned her skin a dark brown, and therefore, foundation would pretty much be worthless. The young woman hauled herself up onto her crutches, and after shoving her right foot into a Mary Jane style Doc Martin, slowly went downstairs. She had a half an hour to kill.
Flopping down on the couch, Jaclyn flicked on the television. “Let’s make ourselves feel better...” Turning the station to Channel 17, the local ABC broadcast, the familiar sight of Jerry Springer came into view. She nearly laughed when she saw today’s topic for discussion.
“Nazi Psychics???” Jaclyn threw back her head and laughed, and settled into the couch as Anakin, her one year old calico cat curled up on her lap. “The things people will admit to these days...” Her foot didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had two hours ago, but swinging around on crutches was not her idea of how she wanted to spend her fall. She rubbed the back of Anakin’s neck thoughtfully.
“Well, it could be worse, it could have been my leg.”
****
Lydia hurried across the barren land to the main research facility, her body bent against the wind. The red scarf around her neck whipped in her face like a flag. When she reached the building, Dr. Leu opened the door and hauled her inside. “The weather’s getting worse. We’re probably going to have to stay here until tomorrow morning if it doesn’t let up.”
“Agreed.” Dr. Leu bolted the door, as Lydia was the last to arrive. “I just hope this wind doesn’t put us in a delay, I want to get back to my nice calm research facility in Madagascar.”
“I’ve never been to Madagascar, though I hear its nice.”
The younger woman snorted. “Nice and humid.”
Lydia came up to the small bank of computers she was assigned to, along with Dr. Leu and Dr. Keith Jacobi, the team’s seismologist. “How’s the probe going?”
“We’ve come in contact with the spear, and we’re preparing to remove it.” Keith glanced over at the rapt face of Dr. Katsuragi. “And then I have no idea what we’re supposed to do....”
Lydia snickered. “I guess we get to wait and see what Adam does to the rocks...”
Across the room, huddled up on a chair, Misato sat fuming. All this fuss for a paltry five hour probe. How stupid can you get? “This is so stupid.”
Dr. Katsuragi leaned forward. “How soon until we can remove the lance?”
“Five hours, Dr. Katsuragi.”
“All right, given our position here, roughly along both the International Date Line, or the Prime Meridian, which ever you choose...”
Here some of the crew shook their heads while others covered a small grin, save Misato Katsuragi who snorted softly.
“We’ll just make the date September thirteenth, in the two thousand, and let history work out the details of how we figured that...” Dr. Katsuragi leaned forward. “Send in the Alpha Probe.” He took a deep breath. “It’s time to start what we’ve waited nearly six years to finish...”
****
Another thing Gendo had sorely missed while in Antarctica were hot showers that lasted longer than three minutes. While there, the group went in rotation, everyone getting a hot shower every three days. When they had arrived home, Gendo had told Yui he wanted to get cleaned up before he did anything else - and Yui, who’d had her share of eighteen hour flights didn’t want to deny him that.
Gendo let out a long sigh and leaned his head back into the stream of steamy water. Right about now, he thought, right about now the Delta probe is starting... He shook his head and put it out of his mind. He’d much rather think of something more pleasant...such as the fact he was home again, with the woman he loved more than life itself.
Yui had crept into the bathroom very quietly, not wanting to let Gendo know she was there. In the past four months, Yui had done plenty of work for SEELE on Project-E, consulted with Drs. Akagi and Kaiser, and basically had buried herself in her work to keep her mind off of her husband. Gendo wasn’t aware she was in the bathroom watching him. She watched him through the shower curtain for a moment, and then, discarding her robe, slipped into the shower right behind him.
Gendo stretched, still unaware of Yui’s presence until a thin pair of arms circled his waist. He chuckled softly as Yui pressed herself against his back. “Haven’t you already had a shower today, dear?”
“It’s after midnight, so technically, no, I haven’t.” Yui smiled and pressed a kiss against the nape of his neck. “Any objections?”
Gendo slowly turned around and raised her chin with his finger. “I may be many things, but one thing I’m not, is a fool.” With that, he pressed his lips tightly against hers, pulling her into a tight embrace.
Yui tightened her arms around his waist, letting the kiss deepen. It had been to long since they had been together, shared a meal, shared a kiss like this, shared their bed...Gendo’s lips moved from her lips down to her neck, kissing the area softly, savoring the taste of her skin. Yui reached out and shut the water of the shower off, smiling slightly at his surprise. “Something wrong, Yui?” Gendo stared down into her emerald green eyes, tracing her cheek with his finger.
Yui smiled and gazed up at him, her eyes telling her intent.
****
Christopher Van Sleet looked up from his menu as he caught sight of Dr. Kaiser and a young girl on crutches coming towards him. Out of courtesy, he rose when they reached the table. “Benjamin, how are you tonight?”
Ben shook the man’s hand. “Rather well. Dr. Van Sleet, allow me to introduce my daughter, Jaclyn.”
Chris gave the girl a warm smile and held out his hand. “Nice to me you young lady.”
Jaclyn took the man’s hand lightly, keeping her balance the best she could. “It’s nice to meet you to, Dr. Van Sleet.”
After getting settled at the table, Chris turned to Ben. “How are things going?”
Jaclyn studied Dr. Van Sleet with some interest. She predicted he had to be well over six feet, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. While he was far from ugly, he wasn’t Grade A handsome either. Her father had mentioned that Dr. Van Sleet was part Argentinean, which would explain his appearance. He had the appearance in her eyes to be that one guy friend that every girl seemed to have. One they wouldn’t date, but one that was always there for them.
“Rather well, we’re getting closer to maintaining a security shield, but at the moment, its not near where it should. I predict, however, if things continue to advance at the level they are now, we should have a moderate level of security in a year. Given that Dr. Akgai believes the actual MAGI won’t be complete until 2009, the security it will have would only be breached by someone with a clearance that would rival Ikari’s.” Ben took a sip of water as Chris’s attention turned towards Jaclyn.
“Your father tells me you play lacrosse.” He folded his menu, leaning forward slightly to look the girl over.
Jaclyn swallowed uneasily. “Yeah...that’s how I broke my ankle.” She looked back down into her menu. “The girl who ran into me is in worse shape than I am.”
“Really?”
“Uh huh. She’s in traction.” Jaclyn gave the man a small smile. “They really need to check for rocks in the playing field.”
Christopher shook his head. “Well, I certainly hope you start feeling better soon.”
“Thank you, Dr. Van Sleet.” After that, the waiter came for their order, and attention was focused on food for the moment. Jaclyn poked the straw around in her soda for a few moments as the two men’s topic of conversation went back to Geherin.
“Have you talked with Essex, Kaiser?”
“Leah? I talked with her earlier today. However, she wasn’t able to talk for very long. Apparently, she reached the start of the labor during our conversation.”
“I don’t talk to Jacob Essex much. I have a rather strong belief that there’s going to be a great rivalry between our branch and the one in Nevada.” Christopher poked at the salad in front of him. “A shame, really. Our work will be much the same...” He face faulted and speared a tomato chunk nervously. “I just wish I better understood what Kiel has us doing...”
Jaclyn shrugged. “Ignorance is bliss.”
Ben stared at his daughter and shook his head. “Agreed, I have a feeling Akagi knows something about what’s going on. And isn’t talking.”
Christopher leaned forward in his seat, his elbow on the table. “Naoko Akagi is a self absorbed bitch. I don’t like the woman. I only tolerate her as I have to, and if she’s hiding something, odds are, it will kill her.”
“She seems fake.” Jaclyn hadn’t thought much of Dr. Akagi herself.
“Jaclyn Celine Kaiser!” True, Ben had thought the same thing about Naoko, but he would never say it.
Christopher chuckled. “It’s quite all right, Ben. I think you’re daughter’s analysis of Dr. Akagi is very accurate.”
Jaclyn glanced at her watch. It was seven o’clock.
****
“How much longer?” Katsuragi folded his arms and leaned back on his heels.
“Three hours. That sudden wind storm caused a delay of three hours.” Dr. Kira Foster adjusted a few calculations. “Temperature outside is minus forty degrees Fahrenheit. Wind chill is at minus eighty.”
“No change in heat generated by Adam, internal temperature is estimated to be at ninety-seven.” Dr. Leu looked over a few sheets of paper.
“Gamma probe commencing.” Dr. Benson glanced over at Dr. Katsuragi. “After this probe, we can’t reverse any process.”
“Understood.” Katsuragi walked calmly over towards the main screen, patting Misato on the head as he did so. “Two hours and forty five minutes from history.”
Misato glanced up from the book she was reading. She still didn’t see what the big deal was. “I wish I could just go home.”
Lydia Kaiser glanced at the young girl. “I agree.” She rolled a piece of quartz in her hand. “Back home, safe and sound.” She glanced at her watch. It was just after four in the morning. It would be nearly ten at night in Westfield. Three more hours. It was then Lydia felt a feeling of unease start to build in her stomach. She set the piece of quartz down slowly, and she turned her attention to the large screen in front of them.
“Mu Phase has begun.” Dr. Brothers took a deep breath. “Taking in wind shear velocities and other weather conditions, Omega Probe will reach Adam in exactly two hours.”
****
Yui let out a long contented sigh and snuggled closer to the man lying next to her. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
Gendo slid his hand slowly up and down his wife’s spine. “As am I...” He turned and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Of all things I missed, what I missed the most was this time...” He traced her jaw line with his finger. “Being with you.”
Yui smiled and slowly closed her eyes. “Sleepy.”
Gendo chuckled and held onto Yui as he leaned back against the pillows. “Sleep...sounds wonderful.” He glanced at the clock out of the corner of his eye. It was just after four-thirty. Sleep overtook him and he fell into a very welcomed state of rest.
****
Jaclyn sat up in her bed, her eyes scanning the assigned chapter of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Anakin lay stretched out near her feet, snoozing. It was late, just past midnight. “Enough of that crap.” She stuck a bookmark into her place and tossed the book somewhat gracefully across the room to land on her backpack. She flicked the light off, adjusted her ankle on the pillow underneath the covers, and laid down herself.
It was quiet for a few moments, a car driving by - crickets chirping. She closed her eyes and then she heard a dog howl. It wasn’t the normal sort of “howling at the moon” sort of sound. It was as though the dog sounded terrified. Then another dog joined in, creating an ugly sound. Jaclyn sat up as Anakin woke and let out a wailing meow...then dived into her lap, as if seeking protection.
Jaclyn rubbed the trembling animal softly. What in the world was wrong?
****
“Omega probe has reached Adam. Breach in five, four, three, two...” Dr. Katsuragi’s breath suddenly left him as the probe shot away from Adam and the ground started to shake.
Dr. Brothers grabbed hold of the screen in front of him. “Oh shit...”
The roof of the building tore off in a howling shriek. Dr. Leu screamed. “Evacuate to the surface!!!” Those would be the woman’s last words, as a piece of flying metal sliced her stomach, sending her to the ground. Lydia screamed as a beam fell down from the ceiling, pinning her to the floor. The red scarf flew away from her neck, disappearing into the gale.
It was if all hell broke loose - and in fact, it had. “Adam...” over the din came the voice of Dr. Brothers. “It’s...WALKING!”
A piece of debris clipped Misato in her chest and she fell to her knees. This had to be a dream....just a very, very intense dream. Then, Misato felt a strong pair of arms lift her to the ground. She was being carried, but she didn’t know by who. The strides were even, despite the wind. She could see a wound on a dark coat, the blood spreading rapidly. It was far easier just to close her eyes, her face battered by the stinging snow and ice. And then - she was out of the wind. She was lying in an escape pod of some kind. A drop of blood fell on her cheek.
She turned, and opened her eyes. “Is that you dad?”
Dr. Katsuragi tore the cross pendant from his neck and dropped on top of his daughter. “Take...care of your mother.” And then the pod slid shut. The man collapsed, and with his last breath spoke again. “Damn you Kiel. Damn you to hell!!!”
And then, oblivion came. Death came swift and almost painless to the members of the Katsuragi Expedition. But everyone, save Misato - from Dr. Brothers to Dr. Zangara were dead within minutes of Adam’s awakening. Misato felt the pod being bounced upon water, and she struggled to get the latch open. She finally was able to kneel upright in the pod, looking back to where Antarctica should have been. Instead there was nothing.
Nothing but a hurricane of water, with Adam at its eye. The being’s wings unfurling into the sky and screeching. Misato tried to scream. But no sound came from her mouth. She collapsed into the pod, and the doors shut again. Her only link to civilization was the small homing beacon within the device. Lydia Kaiser’s red scarf brushed against the pod for a moment, and then disappeared into the sea forever.
****
Jaclyn fell asleep shortly after one, as the howling animals had kept her up until exahustion overtook her, and slept through her alarm clock at seven. When she did open her eyes, the time was well after ten. “Oh, crap!” The girl stumbled out of bed, grabbing her crutches and struggling into her uniform. “Why didn’t dad wake me up?” She pulled her hair back into a neater ponytail and raced, or rather hobbled, towards the stairs. “Dad? Are you still here?”
When she reached the kitchen, she stopped short. Her father was standing there, staring out the window, his hand resting on the cordless phone on the counter. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
Ben Kaiser turned to his daughter and then pulled her into a tight embrace, sending the girl’s crutches to the floor. “Thank God for that broken ankle...” He pressed his face into his only child’s hair. “Something...something terrible has happened...”
But for Jaclyn Diane Kaiser, the nightmare of what the Second Impact would bring was only just beginning.
*******
Author’s Notes: First off, a BIG, BIG thank you to Hotwire, for letting me use some characters from his fic, “Moonlight Sonata” if you haven’t read it, go read it. NOW!! Also, a big thanks to my pre-readers, Zoro50 and Epyon Zero.