Neon Apocalypse Luciferion
David Johston, rgorman@telusplanet.net
Disclaimer: Technically Hideaki Anno is the creator of these
characters, although if I changed the names, you'd probably never be
able to tell.
The airbase seemed strangely desolate in the rain, as if some divine
hand had reached out and snatched everyone up. The only sign of life
was one spindly boy, cold, hungry and footsore, wondering where he was
supposed to go; if he'd missed his flight and if catching it would be
worse than missing it.
He stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether to head for the
large hanger and then his eyes widened. A pale form stood motionless,
just watching him. The rain made it hard to see clearly, but
something about the shape suggested a girl.
"Excuse me!" he called out, as he walked toward her. "Could you tell
me where..." There was nothing there except a closed door. He
shivered, but opened the door anyway. There was no point in standing
out in the rain and whoever that had been had probably just gone
inside.
The transition was abrupt and almost overpowering. Inside, all was
chaos, with a good dozen men shouting and rushing about underneath the
deafening roar of the rain on the hangar's tin roof as they hauled
crates into a twin-engined cargo plane.
He'd hardly taken two steps when a beefy hand caught hold of his
shoulder and shook him vigorously. Living proof that the military
wasn't operating on the same kind of short rations accorded to
civilians glared at him and shouted, "Hey you! What the hell are you
doing here? This is a restricted area!"
He rattled loosely in the mechanic's grip, too numb to think straight
as he stammered, "I-I'm-"
"Speak up, punk! You better have a good explanation or I'll-"
"Ikari Shinji?" Another voice called in a sharp soprano as its owner
walked up to them.
He nodded, confused by the sight of an undeniably female form in a
flight suit, red scarf providing a dashing accent to her otherwise
drab attire. "Yes, that's me!" he shouted, reaching for his orders.
She snatched them, took a glance and nodded. "Get on board."
"What, are you cradle-snatching your boyfriends now?" the mechanic
asked.
She sized him up and commented, "I could do worse. C'mon kid, you can
ride shotgun."
"You're the pilot?" he asked as they walked to the plane, which was
almost finished loading. The answer was obvious, but it was hard to
believe. What kind of woman flew planes?
"That's me! Katsuragi Misato, your personal chauffeur! Now let's get
you loaded. I'm running behind schedule."
Shinji watched with interest from the other seat as Misato deftly
started the plane's motors and taxied the plane out through the big
sliding doors of the hangar. "Isn't there supposed to be a co-pilot
in this seat?"
"Uh-huhn." she answered. "Don't worry, you'll pick it up in no time."
"Me!"
"Relax, I was just kidding. All you have to do is sit there and wake
me if I nod off during the flight."
"Nod...off?" Shinji swallowed nervously.
"I probably won't, but it is a fourteen-hour flight."
"Where are we going?"
"Well, I'd tell you, but then your father would have to kill me, so I
guess you'll have to wait until we get there.
_____________________________________________________
The rain rattled like bullets on the surface of the cargo plane as it
gained speed and altitude.
"You're a real white-knuckler, aren't you?" Misato observed. "I've
got a case of beer behind my seat. You can have one to take the edge
off, if you want." She reached back and the plane wobbled in response
to her motion.
"No!"
"Suit yourself." The plane steadied as she turned back.
"You don't drink..." Shinji hesitantly began, then trailed off. He
didn't want to seem as if he was trying to give her orders. She might
start drinking
"Up here? No. I keep those for when I touch down. There are some
things you have to devote full attention to. Important things...like
drinking."
Misato shot a look at him for his reaction to joke, and looked
disappointed as his lack of response. She muttered something in a
foreign language. He wondered whether it was something insulting, but
lacked the nerve to ask. Instead he tried to change the subject by
saying, "I didn't know that the airforce had any lady pilots."
"Doesn't. I'm very much a civilian, and happy to be one. Just doing
my part for the war effort like all the little housewives working away
in the factories." The airplane hit an air pocket and she laughed and
added, "Except my bit's more fun."
Shinji hiccoughed nervously as his stomach rejoined the rest of his
body. "But I thought my father was doing something for the military."
"So are the little housewives. These days, everyone's doing
something for the military, even boys like you."
"...Why did my father send for me, after all this time?"
"I don't know." Misato's voice was flat. If she had any suspicions,
she wasn't sharing them. "I just fly supplies out to them."
There was a pause as Shinji looked down at his hands, still
desperately clamped on the armrests of his seat.
"You sure you don't want that beer?"
Shinji shook his head and said, "No thank you. Will we be out of this
weather soon?" His voice squeaked a little as the plane shuddered
again.
"Oh sure. The weather always clears up as I head south. By the time
we get there, the skies should be nice and clear." Misato didn't
look as happy about that as she sounded. Fourteen hours later, Shinji
found out why that was.
Tension can be a very tiring thing, and Shinj had already been tired
when he'd boarded the plane. By now he'd been awake for nigh to a
full 24 hours and so he'd spent the last couple of hour no better than
semi-conscious.