Though sometimes he looked at Asuka in ways he should not
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But she’d worry about that later, because this was much cooler anyway. Real magic. She’d dreamed of it as a child, dismissed it as an adult, but here it was. The world was changing. ***************** Once a month, Mari grilled for Julie and Lucien and Julie’s mother Lisette. The stuff her father used to make back in the old days. In his memory but also because she loved American barbeque and couldn’t get it in France. Not here at the base, anyway. It was a wonderful May night, not too hot or cold, and the sun was headed for the horizon as she grilled; Julie and Lucien were sometimes helping and sometimes just doing homework, while Lisette read on her tablet and stared at the sky. “What’s wrong?” Mari asked; she was no great empath but something was wrong with Lisette. “It’s getting colder,” she said softly. “Colder than when I was your age. We’re headed into the warmest part of the year and it’s still not very warm and the winters are getting colder.” “Well, the earth was warming too much before all this, right?” Mari asked hesitantly. “I keep wondering why the aliens didn’t just wait for us to spiral far enough out to freeze to death,” Lisette confessed. “They’re impatient,” Lucien said. “Or maybe the spiraling is an accident.” Mari flipped the steaks, studying them. Almost done. “Well, it’s nothing I can solve.” “I don’t know if anyone can stop it but if things continue like Bordeaux, we may not live to find out,” Lisette said bleakly. Julie came over and patted her mother’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay. We’re in a base and Mari would never let you get hurt.” “Ever,” Mari said firmly but it wasn’t enough. She didn’t know what to say; she tried not to think about such things. What could *she* do about them? Nothing, so she had to leave it to others. Having to retreat had galled her, though it wasn’t *her* fault. She would fight on and leave the metaphysics to people like Rei, who could handle it. ***************** Kaji was pretty sure his caving experience was why he was in charge of this group, even though he couldn’t talk to anyone local without a translator. But the NERV diving squads all spoke English, so his job was to coordinate the search through the cenotes to make sure there were no monsters left behind and no hidden cult bases or other surprises. There were a huge number of sealed underground lakes full of water as well as actual cenotes and tunnels linking them. Fortunately, none of them were too deep so going up and coming down wasn’t a huge issue. But he was worn out by the end of each day. Dr. Rachel Castanero was their geologist and she spent much of her time boggled. “What has happened is impossible,” she said at dinner one night. “You can already see the effects on the surface.” “It seems normal to me,” Sgt. Garcia said hesitantly. He was the head of one of the diving squads. “I’ve been down in these caves before.” “It’s what’s at the top; a large layer of limestone has turned into granite, which is 100% impossible,” Dr. Castanero said. “Fresh water now only leaks down in limited places, which means likely over time the water here will get saltier from the sea water. It should facilitate agriculture above but it’s likely that there will be flooding when hurricane season begins.” Kaji would leave that to the engineers, but he worried what else might have changed around the world. **************** Rosalinda sighed. “Thanks for coming, Gretchen.” “Getting stood up sucks,” Gretchen told her, then sighed as she sat down opposite her; they were at what claimed to be an Italian place but was mostly a pizzeria. “I only have about two months before my boyfriend leaves town.” She sighed. “And we’re both rather busy and can’t see each other as much as I’d like.” “At least you have someone,” Rosalinda said, frustrated. “It would bother me less if Evelyn and Touji didn’t seem like they’re going to date forever, then get married and…” Her menu crumpled in her hands. “Sausage and pepperoni?” “Sounds good,” Gretchen said and they placed their orders. “Hedda’s excited about the foreign people coming to the Special Talent Program.” “Fine for her, now that she’s been assimilated,” Rosalinda grumbled. “Why did they take Hedda, anyway?” “She’s a hell of a dancer,” Gretchen said thoughtfully. Hedda had looked kind of jumpy ever since the last Ranger mission. She knew from Coal that the Talents were connected to the Rangers in some way. There were way too many for them to be pilots, though, and she could *not* see Shinji or Evelyn piloting a Ranger. “Most of the people in the STP seem to have musical or art talents or both,” Gretchen said. “I’m a hell of a writer,” Rosalinda grumbled. Mostly of fanfics, but Gretchen thought Rosalinda was a great writer. “You’re hella good at science.” And then Gretchen felt a cold twinge; the Shadow was afoot. She tried to look around without being obvious. I could go to the bathroom, but that leaves Rosalinda vulnerable… dammit, I need a *team*, she thought. And then, suddenly, someone screamed in the ladies’ room. Everyone stared and Gretchen rose and ran to the bathroom, realizing only as she came in that Rosalinda had followed her. There was a kid here, writhing in the middle of a half-dozen shadowy figures, human in shape but translucent and made of darkness. They circled the young girl, who staggered and howled; she was only nine and had long twin-tails and looked Asian to Gretchen. “Nightcrawlers? Like in the Mary Cotter books?” Rosalinda said, stunned. And now they turned and stared at Gretchen and Rosalinda and Gretchen felt them reaching to touch her mind. She had no choice, and she prayed Rosalinda wouldn’t blab to everyone on Earth on her blog. “I’ll handle this,” she told Rosalinda and touched her necklace, transforming and singing the song to pull the Nightcrawlers into a parallel universe where she could battle them safely. Except Rosalinda was THERE TOO. The child hadn’t been pulled over but somehow she’d messed up and brought Rosalinda! Who was staring at her in shock and then at the creatures in growing terror. Gretchen sent a summons to Coal and then felt the creatures clawing at her mind, causing images of her friends dying one by one to form in her mind, trying to break her will. Their minds were very powerful and she wasn’t used to an attack like this. For a while, she stood in horror, watching all the things she feared come true and the world ultimately being destroyed because she blew it here. Coal was made into dogfood. Her mother was burned alive. Rudiger’s head was crushed by a high speed football. Evelyn drank paint until she died. Hedda was bound in barbed wire and forced to dance until it killed her. Rosalinda was… saying weird things. “Mango defenebensor… no, dammit… what was that…” “Run!” Gretchen shouted at her. Maybe her mind had snapped. She couldn’t bear to watch Rosalinda die too. “MENTAT DEFENSOR!” Rosalinda suddenly shouted and… Gretchen stared at a glowing silver version of Evelyn appeared, punching one of the Nightcrawlers in the face. It was so unlike anything Evelyn would *ever* do that the Nightcrawlers and Gretchen both stumbled back away from it. The bathroom was cramped, so there wasn’t much room to fight. “Return now to Utumno, the Hell-Prison, or be destroyed!” Gretchen announced, regaining her confidence. They came on again, this time pushing Rosalinda’s silver Evelyn away, though silver Evelyn punched one of them in the gut and began rolling around with him. A Corruscating Bolt blew another one’s head off. Four more came on but now Silver Hedda joined Silver Evelyn and took on another one and the other three now tried to flee through the walls and failed; they dove at Gretchen but could only harmlessly pass through her. And so, one by one, she picked them off, until all were destroyed and Rosalinda leaned on the wall, tired. “Holy shit, that actually WORKED.” “I’ll explain everything over pizza,” Gretchen told her, turning back to normal and bringing them back to reality. But now they couldn’t get the bathroom door open. “Help, is anyone out there?” Gretchen shouted A woman shouted through the door. “Is Suzie in there?” Suzie was asleep in the floor. “There’s a child who I think might be your Suzie, asleep on the floor,” Gretchen shouted. Rosalinda frowned and mumbled something. Then several more times until it opened. “It must have been stuck,” she said. The woman, a short Chinese woman, now rushed over and picked up Suzie. Gretchen wondered why her name was ‘Suzie’ if she was Chinese but decided it wasn’t her business. “She was yelling and she fell down and slept and we didn’t want to disturb her.” The mother hardly even noticed, so they went to eat pizza. “I’ll explain later when we have privacy,” Gretchen said while Rosalinda looked very thoughtful. “Just don’t tell *anyone* what you saw.” Later, they went walking together, and Gretchen explained everything to Rosalinda, who now was trying out various tricks from the books… when she could remember them. “This is amazing, but how can it be real?” she asked weakly. “I don’t know but if you can do anything you’ve read about, that’s a pretty incredible power, given all you’ve read,” Gretchen told her. “Ooooh.” Coal finally showed up and she told him everything. He looked quite baffled but relieved they were okay. Hopefully no more kids will get targeted, Gretchen thought. **************** Tancred Engelmann was an old German man with long white hair and a long white beard who ran an oddities shop. He was busy sorting a row of Teddy Ruxpins when Coal rushed into the shop. “Something showed up I didn’t summon or create!” he said, leaping onto the counter. “This could get messy if we get surprise attacks!” Engelmann frowned, though he continued to set the Teddies in a careful line. “Tell me everything.” He listened as Coal reported what was going on. Having finished the Teddy Ruxpins, he began rearranging the odd book collection. “So she can make things from books real?” “I don’t know the limits but she made these spells from a book work that just some author made up,” Coal said, sounding amazed. “Anyway, this could make a dog’s breakfast of things.” “I will look into it while you work with them,” Engelmann told him, seeming much less concerned. “Human fears are starting to take shape, though I suspect at this point, most can’t actually put on physical flesh. Further, it should help ensure she doesn’t figure out what’s really going on. Just ensure Rosalinda stays in line.” “Yes, sir,” Coal said, tail swishing as he looked around the shop. “So you think this was just a random event.” “There will be more,” Engelmann said. A ceiling panel now fell on his head, shattering into a grey powder and he frowned. “I did not need a dramatic illustration.” “AAHHHH!” A kid on a skateboard now crashed through the front window, howling and Engelmann glared at him angrily. Then he sighed and called emergency services; the child was hurt and he could not afford to risk unwanted attention; a good reputation would help to shield him. But paying for that pane glass would be expensive. Also, why was there a broken can of mayonnaise on the sidewalk? ****************** “No one can know,” Asuka said sternly to Edgar and Karin. “And never do it when you’re not around me. Not until you’re a lot older.” “Yes, teacher!” Karin said, saluting. Edgar frowned, but nodded. “Okay, even though I don’t have time for this, I have worked out a curriculum,” Asuka said, sitting on Edgar’s bed; they were in his room, which had a huge bookcase full of books and his desk crammed in the corner and lots of posters of movies and shows and places. “The first thing we learn is how to make spells *stop*.” “How can you learn to make spells stop if you can’t *make them start*?” Edgar asked. “I will make spells and you will practice snuffing them. I want you ready in case of trouble to end the magical part of the trouble. That way, no one ends up stuck on roofs or anything,” Asuka said. What she found was that they clonked out fast; only a few spells and they both had to nap. And this gave her an idea. *************** As Asuka suspected, Evelyn was the first to go down in the spell endurance test; she studied the data as the talents moved objects around and did other spells and she soon felt she had enough data to make her conclusions. “You’re basically going to clonk yourself out after a while of this. It’s exhausting. As it is in the books. We haven’t done anything really sustained but basically, even our best people will tire out,” Asuka reported to Danielle, Misato, Ritsuko, Gendo, and Fuyutsuki. They were in one of NERV’s many meeting rooms around a table. “Some of the energy comes from inside you and even we have limits.” “Which means a lot of people will likely exhaust themselves before they can do too much damage, at least for now, if they find out,” Ritsuko said thoughtfully. “For now, but it may get easier still. And of course, it only takes one spell to get you in trouble,” Asuka said. “Has anyone been studying the Force or other fictional power sources?” “The Force requires long years of study, and even with so many movies, we know little of the training. So having Jedi run amok hopefully will not be a problem,” Ritsuko said. “It’s something like this where even children can do significant easy damage, if not huge damage, which is the real threat.” “That would be why I couldn’t make the game magic work, I bet,” Misato said thoughtfully. “Without the study and everything.” “And not enough people’s spiritual power invested in it,” Asuka said. “I think one of the reasons that the book’s magic works so well is so many people are invested in it. They’re strengthening it in World Two.” “And Eldar power because so many Eldar are still strengthening it,” Misato mused. “There must be billions of them by now in Valinor if they never die.” “Slow reproduction also,” Ritsuko said. “If we can get a few months of stability, I will have my project for the Geofront ready,” Gendo said. “It won’t have the power of the original lamp but it should let us stabilize reality against further decay around here at least.” “And we are working on the music for the radio project,” Ritsuko said, sounding proud. “I’ve never done something like this before, but it’s enjoyable.” The discussion now turned to that project. ******************* The song was ready; Shinji had found Kaworu to be very natural to work with; their ideas just *clicked* together. Maybe it was fate. Once they had the music nailed down, working Gregor’s poetry and Lars’ saxophone into it was easy. He’d worked some pieces from his mother’s music pile into it. This was just the tip of the iceberg, he felt like. Olga, Touji, Evelyn, and Kensuke watched as Kaworu, Shinji, and Lars played, Gregor, Kyoko and Melinda sang and Shinobu danced. Misato and Huan were watching as well. Shinji’s cello represented Kyoko, deep and powerful, the mellow saxaphone was Melinda, and Kaworu’s spritely violin was Shinobu, the instruments weaving complicated motifs in pairs or all three together, meant to represent the various interrelationships. Kaworu’s insight into people and Shinji’s into music had made this possible. Though Shinji had wanted his cello to be Shinobu, it felt more right this this way. Which was strange. Lars surprised him by suddenly improvising in the middle of the piece, but Shinobu picked up on it instantly and Melinda moved to the sound, her voice weaving with the saxophone to evoke the tide coming into the shore as she danced upon the sand. Shinji could see it in his mind’s eye, and now he improvised, shifting his plans to accommodate Lars’ improvisation, becoming the booming of the deeps, as Kaworu rose to become the birds flying above the water, Kyoko crying out like the seagulls. The piece changed completely as they played, coming to life in Shinji’s mind and in the air around them, and as the ladies danced, new land rose from the sea, shaped by their dreams. A new world was coming, and they would shape it. Then came the hardest part for Shinji, trying to sing. Gregor had insisted *he* had to sing this part, as Lars would sing another part to Melinda and Gregor had already sung to Kyoko; they had cleared the land for new land and life to rise, but now Shinji and Shinobu had to bring it to life. Which meant him supporting Kaworu’s playing with his instrument and voice as Shinobu danced across the land, flowers and trees rising around her. And so Shinji sang, feeling his voice wobble, how he’d felt all alone in a wilderness of shadow and dead trees until the day he first saw Shinobu, how she had lifted him up out of the darkness and taken his hand. She circled him in dream and reality, behind and in front of him and as she did, the past played through the deep recesses of his mind, their first touch, their first kiss, her saying she loved him and him saying it as well. Grass was everywhere now and the sun shone down and birds sang and the dark places inside him teemed with life because she was there. It was a terrible performance, but she didn’t seem to care; it felt like she forgave all his coldness, his darknesses, his days of staring at the wall, wondering why he existed. He existed for her and that was enough. And for his friends; they came bubbling forth and new words formed and now they had to improvise, as he spoke of all those he cared for most, wanting to die of embarrassment but the floodgates had burst and he couldn’t stop. Finally, he ran out of words and Touji and Kensuke both looked rather embarrassed, while Kaworu was smiling as they segued to the next movement, where Lars would close by singing to Melinda. They were exhausted by the end, but Shinji felt a deep satisfaction. And hoped he could get Kaworu to help him with his mother’s music; working with him had just felt so right. “I recorded it all,” Kensuke told Shinji. “I’ll make you a copy soon as I can. Very cool. That was a beautiful place.” “You saw it?” Shinji asked. “Yeah,” he said. “That was amazing. You’re a pal, Shinji.” Shinji turned red and smiled at him. “Thanks.” Everyone circulated, giving or getting congratulations and Kyoko finally pulled Shinji aside. “Thanks. You did really beautiful music to go with Gregor’s poetry.” She licked her lips nervously. “You don’t hate him, right? You’re hard to read.” “I don’t hate him,” Shinji said, glancing at him. “But you know what I’m like.” “Yeah, I know,” Kyoko said softly. “We just all want you three to get on well.” “We get on fine,” Shinji said but Kyoko looked dubious. Then she sighed. “Well, it takes time,” Kyoko said hopefully. “I think we’re all in for the long haul.” Shinji hoped so. He didn’t think he’d ever find someone as special and wonderful as Shinobu again. She was hugging Olga, who looked embarrassed but hugged her back, towering over Shinobu and ruffling her hair. He remembered how scary Olga had been when he first met her, but now she was warm and friendly and made him feel safe. Like Touji and Misato did. With them around, no one would hurt him. And Ken and Kyoko were so smart, whip sharp minds he could rely on to think when he couldn’t think well; he was no genius like them and he knew it. But he didn’t need to be with them here. He felt very blessed all of a sudden. I am so lucky, he thought. It was a very strange feeling. ******************* Shinobu and Shinji laid together, wiped out but happy, cuddling in the darkness as she gently played with his hair. “That was magnificent. I feel so good.” Her hands shivered but she was smiling. “You’re magnificent,” he told her. She could feel, dimly, the clouds within him but they were far away. “You make me feel magnificent too.” “You would be magnificent even if you never met me,” Shinobu told him, kissing his forehead. “And one day, we’ll have magnificent children.” Just not any time soon, though. The oath still bound them. Which was fine, as she was way too young for kids. Shinji would be seventeen soon and she’d be sixteen but there was war and college and everything. But one day, they’d have kids in a peaceful new world and be the happiest family ever and she would never run off and abandon her children. Ever. “Never leave me,” she whispered, shivering. “Never. I’ll be with you until I die,” Shinji said. “Then my ghost will haunt you.” She’d be happy if Shinji’s ghost haunted her. Maybe we’ll all have a big house one day, she thought, and drifted off to dreams of Shinji and Lars having an argument over whose turn it was to mow the lawn in which they just stared at each other over the mower until Gregor did the lawn. Maybe that was their plan. ******************** “Nothing like that at all, Uncle, I don’t know what you saw,” Gregor told his uncle Pieter Ivanov on the phone. “He’s kind of shy and withdrawn unless he’s doing music. So it’s not surprising he’s dating a total extrovert.” “Something’s up with that boy,” his uncle grumbled. “Keep an eye on him.” “Yes, Uncle,” Gregor said, though he frowned. “Do you think he’s going to do something foolish?” “That kind of confidence is powerful but it easily leads you down the path to destruction,” Uncle Pieter said, sounding rather bitter. “How are you and Suzuhara doing?” “Wonderfully,” Gregor said, smiling. “I felt quite inspired for our performance together, though it didn’t really come together until Kaworu joined us.” His uncle made the noise Gregor knew meant ‘I suspect something but won’t say what’. His uncle could keep secrets but not that he knew secrets, Gregor had found. “You wouldn’t know anything about jars of mayonnaise vanishing or appearing in places would you?” Gregor asked hesitantly, feeling silly. “I… what?” Uncle Pieter asked, sounding totally caught off guard. “Things are just appearing from nowhere?” “Probably someone in Kyoko’s family bought the wrong thing and won’t admit it,” Gregor told him, then explained. His uncle sighed deeply. “Be wary of anything which appears from nowhere.” That seemed good advice to Gregor. ********************** There was probably something Kaji enjoyed less than wrestling a half-man, half-goat creature underwater where he could only use a spear or a knife as a weapon, but he couldn’t have told you what. The visibility was terrible in the underwater tunnels and six of these things had killed their point man and now they were stuck fighting the things. The good news was that in close quarters, they couldn’t bring their horns to bear and he felt their malice roll off his mind, enhanced by the tattoo on is back. He slammed into the wall, losing his air tank, but his knife left a nasty cut in its gut; he could see someone fighting another one and blood flowed in the water. He refused to die in the dark fighting some monster that shouldn’t exist! He had too much to find out to die here! Then he got kicked in the balls, losing most of his air. The hoof hit hard and he writhed in pain, but now he drove his spear through it, nailing it to the nearby stone wall to his surprise and it died. Someone swam towards him and unconsciousness took him. *************** “The good news is that we killed them all and only lost three people. The bad news is we lost three people,” Dr. Rachel Castanero said, frowning. “But we found something.” She pointed at the wall of the cave they were in; a huge pool was one of two ways in or out but the other was a huge gate with runes on it which disturbed him to look at. The design was not Mayan or Mesoamerican at all and he wondered how it got here and why looking at it made him shiver. Also, his groin ached. “Got any painkillers?” The cave showed signs of camping; there was a firepit under a shaft into the ceiling. Fishbones littered the area. She gave him one and said, “I’ve sent for reinforcements. I don’t know if we can get into this but now I’m curious. It doesn’t look Mayan at all.” “Yeah,” he said, lying there and wondering if it would turn out well that they found this. ********************** Thirty-Four Pilot Candidates, Misato thought, looking over her files on them; they were about to begin training. Eight of them had worked with Unit-Alpha. Twenty-six would have to undergo synch testing for suitability. From what she’d heard of the antics at Arkham, she feared getting them all to fit in might be hard. But it was her job to do it. At least this way, we’ll have more backups for emergencies, she thought. She just prayed they’d all survive the synch testing. It had gone so smoothly, but she remembered the old days. She fingered her ring, wondering if she could do it now. But she didn’t dare take the risk again if she didn’t have to. Even now. Please go smoothly, she prayed. I don’t want to lose any kids. END BOOK IV, CHAPTER V Download 215.22 Kb. Share with your friends:
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