Control center.
"Synchronization 78 percent!" Maya reported loudly.
"Great. Shinji, how are you feeling?" Akagi asked into the microphone.
"As usual, I want to sleep," came the indifferent answer from the speakers. Katsuragi, standing next to him, raised her eyes to the ceiling in pain and said:
- Shinji, please be serious and just tell us how you feel.
- Good. I feel like an OYaSh shoved into the OBChR by a shady organization, that is, in a very peculiar way, - came the next answer in the same indifferent voice.
Silence fell over the room. A second later, Maya let out a stifled chuckle and bent over the keyboard, whispering an embarrassed apology. Aoba and Hyuga grunted almost in sync and, like Maya, buried their faces in their monitors. Akagi closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. Misato grimaced, she was absolutely sure that this stomach ulcer, who was also the Commander's son and the Eva pilot, was now grinning faintly. At moments like these, Misato simply hated him, primarily because he had absolutely nothing to say in response.
"Okay, I admit, it was a stupid question," Katsuragi sighed, and after a couple of seconds, exchanging glances with Ritsuko, she continued: "Are there any negative feelings?"
- No.
"Okay, Shinji," Akagi picked up the thread of the conversation. "We'll run a few tests now, and then we'll hook you up to the Eva computer simulator and do some weapons training. Nothing serious, but you need to learn how to use it, even if it's virtual for now."
- Understood.
"Okay, we'll start in about ten minutes," there was no answer, after waiting a while, Akagi turned off the microphone and sighed. "And how do you even live with him?"
"You know, oddly enough, it's normal. Of course, he's completely unbearable at times, but overall it's pretty easy to live with him. Really..." Katsuragi fell silent thoughtfully.
- Hm? - Akagi spoke up, breaking the long pause, though she still didn't tear herself away from the monitor screen where she had been staring.
"I don't understand him at all and I just don't know what to talk to him about."
"Well, he's only fourteen," Ritsuko muttered somewhat distantly, looking at the screen, "remember what you were like at his age."
- That's not the point. Do you know what he answered me when I asked him about school and his classmates?
- So what?
"A brainless crowd of suckers," Misato quoted. "And when I asked, "Really all of them?" he said there were exceptions, but they weren't significant."
- Well, it's a normal reaction, children often have incompatible personalities...
- Yes, yes, but the tone in which it was said, he really doesn't care about them at all, not a shadow of discontent or irritation, just a statement of fact. And sometimes he has this look, as if he's thinking: should he kill everyone around him right now, or wait a little longer? It makes me shudder... You know, if it weren't for some moments and his attitude towards Rey, I would seriously think that he... well, I don't know... hates all living things?
"Yes, based on his behavior, one can indeed draw such a conclusion..." Ritsuko, picking up the tablet and turning a couple of pages, thoughtfully wrote something down, periodically checking the data on the screen.
- You know, I'm worried about something else... - Katsuragi fell silent again, looking thoughtfully towards the bulletproof glass. Akagi was silent, enthusiastically scribbling with a pencil and simultaneously typing something on the keyboard with her other hand. Finally, Misato continued: - It's just that he's been here for a week, and his family hasn't called even once...
- What are you getting at?
- Well, they took care of him for ten years... They would have called at least just to check on him... Wouldn't they?
- I think you're right. I wonder why they didn't do that?
Misato turned her gaze to her friend, who was still immersed in the instrument readings. Sighing, the head of the Operations Department again turned her gaze to the head of Eva-01, which was behind the bulletproof glass and quietly whispered something under her breath.
***
I put my hands behind my head and relaxed back in the cradle. It was already the third week since I appeared in this world and nothing had changed significantly in all that time. They still hadn't found me any instructors, so my training, until today, had been limited to visiting the shooting range and memorizing the locations of launch silos, armed structures and reserve passages to the base.
By the way, Misato gave the lectures. Personally! Luckily for her, I remembered everything at once and didn't try to hide it, although at first I had thoughts of tormenting the girl a little, but when it came down to it, I felt truly sorry for her. From the first moment, the first and only lesson, I clearly understood that teaching was not her thing... For starters, she managed to "lose" the lesson plan and get confused in the map. I don't know if this plan even existed in reality, but we deciphered the map together... It turned out to be the wrong one. Yeah... that is, the necessary marks and designations were simply not there. And Misato herself didn't know the location of all the platforms for bringing the Evangelion to the surface, with the accompanying arsenals and automatic batteries. Ooooh... It took about twenty minutes to find the right map. The map was not found... In general, the lesson smoothly turned into a logical game of "Find the required object by indirect signs", which Misato excitedly played with herself, declaring that: "We can handle it anyway!" The situation was saved by Rei, who returned from a medical examination in Akagi's fiefdom. Entering the office of the head of the operational department, she looked at Katsuragi and me for a few seconds and apparently noticed something on my face, since at that moment I was trying my best not to laugh, after which she came closer and began to observe the process. A minute later, Ayanami, aka my pr-r-r-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-s-s-t, quietly and as usual imperturbably asked me an innocent question: "What is Captain Katsuragi doing?" and received the answer that she was looking for the launch silo number thirty-five. For another ten seconds, the blue-haired girl stared at Katsuragi with a strange look, after which, looking down at the map, she silently poked her finger at the right point. In short, Rei saved us, because she knew all the schemes, right down to the most reserve ones, as they say, "by heart". And I got a lot of pleasure in the process!
Nothing significant happened at school either. They gradually got used to me and even stopped looking askance. Fortunately for them, there were no attempts to attack me by local "guys by the rules" with the aim of taking away my pocket money. Although maybe there weren't any here, I wasn't interested. The surveillance, however, was still annoying, but here I simply tried not to pay attention. Misato repaired my car, slightly lightening my bill, but fortunately not significantly. In short, life was calm and measured. Only that bearded bastard Gendo was still wandering around somewhere abroad, mainly in the European part of the continent, periodically even flashing in the news and shaking hands with various presidents or prime ministers. Naturally, I was not given any information about Shinji's mother in such conditions, which suited me for now, since I was frankly too lazy to portray any emotional experiences from the realization that "My mother died in the cabin of my own Eva", with all the accompanying elements, such as: unwillingness to get into the cabin, hatred, fear, and so on. So Gendo's desire to let me first get used to the Eva in order to minimize the consequences completely coincided with my unwillingness to stage a dramatic performance. True, the bespectacled bastard did not stop being from this, it was just that his "sly-ass" was temporarily in my favor. Of course, emotional hysterics, to put it mildly, would not fit my image very well, but here the reason is extremely important, because I "love my mother very much" and in general, supposedly hate Gendo, including because of her death. So a complete lack of reaction on my part would look strange and illogical, plus, Gendo would have shown me the video recording from the entry capsule, so to speak, with the "full process"... So, I would probably have to pretend to be "hysterical", but now I have a good reason to significantly reduce the intensity of passions.
Mentally sighing, I slowly opened my eyes. The picture of the hangar had not changed at all. Obeying my thought, Eva's left eye smoothly turned towards the control center. Rei stayed home today, a bit of a pity of course, but dragging her along with me, just because I wanted to feel her spiritual energy through Eva once again, I considered it unnecessary. And Ayanami herself had nothing to do at headquarters today, so it was better to let her rest once again.
"Shinji, we're done, now we'll start training," Akagi's voice was heard.
- Fine.
The catwalks in front of Eva-01's chest began to slide aside, the platform moved smoothly. A couple of minutes later, Eva rolled into the next room, where the fasteners detached, partly sinking into the floor, and partly sliding back. True, several cables remained attached to Eva's body, including the former power cable, although there was no longer any need for it, thanks to my efforts. Having gained freedom of movement, I slightly moved my shoulders and stretched my neck, although Eva's muscles did not go numb, but still, it is extremely unpleasant to feel that if you move, everything around you will break at once. Plus, there is purely psychological discomfort from maintaining one pose for a long time, aggravated by the fact that, unlike normal pilots, I felt Eva's body better than what is in the capsule.
The room was not very large, by Eva standards of course, rectangular with bare white walls, on which some glass sections were visible, installed with a clear periodicity. Along the wall to my right, on rails, stood a metal container with an open lid and in it lay a sample of the weapon for Evangelion, outwardly resembling a rifle. With a quiet hiss, the gates began to close behind me, forming the same white wall as the other three.
"Okay, Shinji, can you hear me?" A male voice, like Aoba's, sounded in his head.
– Yes.
- Excellent! Next to you, in the container, lies the experimental rifle GG-2 or Gross Gewehr-2 (note (German): Gross gever. Large rifle), designed specifically and exclusively for arming Evangelions. It is part of the class C equipment. Caliber 155 mm, bullpup layout (approximate layout, in which the magazine is located behind the handle with the trigger), wedge breech, reloading is carried out by means of an electrical system with an autonomous power source. Equipped with hydropneumatic recoil devices, an ejector and a muzzle brake. Sector magazine for thirty caseless rounds. The set can include armor-piercing, high-explosive, incendiary and guided projectiles. The fire mode is semi-automatic, with two firing modes - using the trigger and through direct signal transmission. The sight is integrated into the Eva's targeting systems, so you most likely won't have to combine the front and rear sights...
"It's all great, futuristic, and they probably spent a ton of money on the development," I added when the guy thought for a moment, "but why do I need it if artillery can't take Angel?"
The people at the other end were thinking. The silence that hung over them was clear evidence of this. Akagi answered me:
- According to our calculations, the Angel's AT field can, theoretically, be overloaded, and it also requires energy to maintain itself, which means that by forcing it to reflect attacks, we can thereby exhaust the Angel.
"Theoretically?" I asked sympathetically, with carefully hidden sarcasm.
– Yes.
"I see..." I paused for a moment and stated in a tired voice: "Then it's just a useless fart gun."
Silence... Looks like the microphone has been turned off again.
"Why do you think so?" Misato's cautious voice finally came.
- Because I myself would die of hunger before I shot at the Angel even half of the amount of ammunition that the military dumped on the last representative of this interesting species. And considering that even they did not achieve the effect, I think it becomes obvious that this fart gun is completely useless.
Silence again...
- Well, you can first neutralize the Angel's field and then start shooting...
- Yes, but as far as I remember from my experience, the distance of neutralizing the AT field is already a hand-to-hand combat distance and you can't really aim there. Will the butt of this GG at least withstand a blow delivered with the power of an Evangelion?
- Well-l-l... - I literally saw in reality how Misato cast a confused glance at Akagi.
– Oh, yes...
- Lieutenant Ikari! - Akagi interjected irritably, apparently my careless denigration of the results of her scientific work had thrown the doctor off balance. - Since you are so experienced, maybe you could share with us and tell us what, in your opinion, is the ideal weapon for Evangelion?!
- Of course, Doctor, with pleasure, - I answered docilely and absolutely dispassionately. - The ideal weapon for Evangelion is a crowbar, - and also the dance "Kazachok". True, I added the last one to myself and first of all for Shinji. By the way, I should try it sometime...
- W-what?... - Misato again, the doctor felt frozen. Today I'm definitely in good shape! From the depths came Shinji's agreeable chuckle, he, like me, was sincerely enjoying the performance.
"Well, it's a big, heavy piece of iron, a kind of shaped crowbar," I explained patiently. Shinji was no longer laughing inside, but moaning heart-rendingly...
- Okay, okay... And what is "drin"?
- A stick, Misato, is the quintessence of blunt, unstoppable power, expressed in a heavy stick-like structure a la a log. This tool of labor came to us from the depths of centuries and was the prototype of all other weapons. A crowbar is almost the same, only all-metal...
Control center.
Misato, with her eyes closed, slowly massaged the bridge of her nose with the thumb and index finger of her right hand. It didn't help much.
A crowbar... A fancy club... She couldn't even wrap her head around it... And yet it all seemed so simple! Now he would take a gun and start shooting Angels in the simulation, and in an hour he would be able to go home... Yeah RIGHT!!! Why the hell did Aoba start burdening him with technical details?! And the most offensive thing is that this vengeful bastard - Shinji, is most likely right again! How is it that he always manages to bring one of the most powerful and secret organizations in the world down to the ground with a few words?! It's mind-boggling!
With a heavy sigh, Captain Katsuragi opened her eyes and glanced sideways at Ritsuko. A sly smile crawled onto her face. A furious and insulted friend was such a rare and magical sight that a sea of pleasure simply spread through the girl's soul, and her own experiences were almost instantly forgotten.
Allowing herself a few more seconds to admire her friend, who was furiously clenching her teeth and clutching the tablet with both hands, so that the latter remained intact only by a miracle, Misato, putting on an official look, although a treacherous grin was just trying to crawl out on her face, addressed the microphone:
- So, Shinji! We'll discuss your brilliant ideas later, but now quickly pick up your rifle and start training!
"As you say..." came another absolutely dispassionate answer and Eva leaned towards the container...