Back at NERV, Gendo Ikari was rubbing his forehead. Something that should have turned out to be a very safe routine had just blown up spectacularly. He sighed heavily and went into the room where he would talk to a small part of Seele. Soon, the hologram Lorenz Keele and four other men appeared at the table Gendo was sitting at. Gendo only knew the other four by the names of the colors that illuminated them.
"What do you want Ikari?" Keele demanded.
"There has been a complication. All three EVA pilots have vanished via a teleportation system set up by ENCOM," Gendo stated. "Furthermore, signs point that all ENCOM personnel and immediate family have used this system to evade Second Impact and are hiding elsewhere until Third Impact is over."
"This was not foreseen," Mister Green said.
Mister Red jumped in. "That group has to be found and brought back here or killed. There is a good chance that their being missing like that could halt Third Impact."
"If they were dead, it wouldn't matter. But now, we need to find out where they went," Mister Yellow said.
"The now Major Katsuragi ordered a group to get any and all information on ENCOM. Maybe there is some clue as to where they went," Gendo reported.
"Good. We will send what we can of ENCOM as well," Keele stated. "We have a bit of time, so we can get two new EVA pilots ready as well. I believe a Toji Suzahara will be useful for Eva-04 after some preparations."
"Very well. I shall inform you when we have found out just where they went," Gendo replied.
Keele frowned. "I recall something about the president of ENCOM, Kevin Flynn. He was dismissed from his job as a computer programmer and then brought back and moved to president, when it was revealed that his ideas had been stolen from him by the then current president. When Flynn was made president, the company made leaps and bounds afterwards and he proceeded to buy up all the ENCOM stock, after the revelations about the previous president, Dillinger. I thought about approaching him, but dismissed it. He would not understand what needs to be done. Dillinger would have been a perfect choice."
"So he's the one who probably came up with the idea," Gendo mused. "I'll need a psyche profile on him as well and maybe some clue will be there on how they vanished."
"You will have it. Now leave Ikari. We all have work to do," Keele stated.
The holograms faded out, leaving Gendo alone in the room harboring dark thoughts about ENCOM and their president.
Back in the computerized world, the three pilots made their way quickly across the landscape. The slowed down and stopped, when they saw a huge circular tower. A large curved wall was connected to each side, and the three of them could tell it encircled a large area. After a moment, the three cycles vanished and left the three teens standing. They all stared up at the tower. Asuka shook her head.
"That can't be real. It looks like a three-dee computer image. Half the cylinder is connected higher than the other half. And the ring around the top has no visible means of support. It should collapse," Asuka softly said in disbelief.
"We will not find out anything by standing out here. I can see at least four of those beams, like the one we were heading to, but they do not seem to be active," Rei stated. "They do not seem to be lit up like the others and appear a bit dull"
Shinji sighed and headed fort the tower. The two girls followed him. As they walked, the handlebars vanished.
"Where did they go?" Asuka demanded in shock.
"I have no idea," Rei replied.
Shinji put it out of his mind and approached, what looked to be the front door. Rei and Asuka stood just behind him. There seemed to some sort of sensor panel next to the door on Shinji's right. Shinji waved his hand in front of the panel and waited. A second later, the door faded out and a man dressed similarly to the three pilots was standing there and smiling. The main difference was that he was wearing a helmet.
"Greetings programs! I am Flynn," the man said.
"Huh? Programs? What is he talking about?" Asuka muttered.
Flynn heard the comment and his smile faltered. "You're not... Okay, it looks like we might be in trouble."
"Where are we?" Shinji asked.
"That will take some time to explain, and I'd rather not do it with the door open. Come in," Flynn said, and moved out of the doorway.
The three teenagers looked at each other. Shinji screwed up his courage and entered the building. Despite doubts crossing her face, Asuka followed Shinji and Rei followed her.
Flynn stood a bit of distance away from the three and led them through the corridor and gave an odd look at Shinji and Asuka. He stopped next to a door leading into a bare room.
"Seems like that the three of you have been affected by this place, but first some standard security procedures. Please enter that room," Flynn said.
Shinji nodded and entered followed by the two girls. As soon as the tri entered, the door appeared and locked them in. They were exposed to a flickering red line of light that went up and down their bodies. A bit later, a pleasant feeling went through all three of them as a cascade of white energy flowed over them. Then a cascade of green energy flooded the room and the three of them felt like their minds were being taken apart and put back together. Old half-forgotten memories were now crystal clear and all three of them felt a bit happier than before. The door opened up and Flynn motioned for them to come outside.
"The virus scan and defrag should have made you feel better," Flynn stated.
"We are not computer programs," Asuka said, a bit irritated, and her lines glowed a bit brighter.
"Actually, right now, you are. You are inside the Internet or cyberspace," Flynn said with amusement.
"What?" Asuka demanded, as the other two pilots looked on in shock.
"Yep. You are beings of energy and can be affected like a computer program. The virus filter prevents things like the common cold or flu from getting loose here in the digital world," Flynn said. "The three of you had something really strange in common. It looked nasty. I kept a copy of it to use just in case. Since you three are here, it means we might be in danger from Third Impact."
"We're the pilots of the Evangelion Units that fight the Angels," Shinji stated. "If we don't get back before the next Angel attack..."
"Don't worry. You have time," Flynn said. "I think it is time to do a debriefing on what's going on in the outside world and bring you up to speed on what ENCOM did and why, along with what this place is really like. I'll show you the city later. We really are in danger. Those fossilized geezers at Seele won't be taking your vanishing lying down, and they won't leave us alone until we either join with them or die."
"You acted like a guard just by yourself?" Asuka asked.
In answer to that question, a trio of people walked in. A man and woman with blue circuitry lines were holding each other at the waist and a young man with white circuitry lines walked a bit in front of them.
"These are my friends Alan and Lora Bradley and their son Jet. Jet is the one in white," Flynn said with a bit of amusement. "My wife, son and daughter are in the city. Alan still has some problems with the two of us being together, since my wife is his cousin."
Alan looked up at the ceiling and shook his head.
"Lora? Any idea what that virus was?" Alan asked.
"It wasn't a computer virus and it wasn't a human disease that I'm familiar with," Lora replied. "I don't know what it was, but its removal was necessary. If it was left alone, it would have caused the three of them immense pain and eventually self-destruction."
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(Posted Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:27)
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