Chapter 26

"Linkage sequence complete," Aoba reported, his face a mask of concern. "Abnormal brain signal on all circuits. Initiating first Link-up phase. Should we continue?" he raised his head as he said this and looked expectantly at Maya.

Instead it was Ritsuko who replied. "Is it tolerable?"

There was a moment of hesitation. Then, the answer, "Barely."

"Continue," Ritsuko said, ignoring the look of protest on Maya's face. "Lets get this over with as quickly as possible," she added.

Aoba went back to his console, but not before looking at Hyouga, who shook his head.

"Brain activity has increased exponentially," Haruna called out from her console. "The synchro-graph is all over the place. Patterns are shifting continuously."

"Rejection starting in central nervous system! Abnormal readings on all levels!" Aoba shouted.

"How can you continue with this?" asked Misato, stepping closer to Ritsuko and reaching out a hand to grab her by the arm. "This isn't safe anymore. You are putting Rei in danger for the sake of an experiment."

"We are within limits." Ristuko stared her down. "There is no physical threat to the pilot."

Misato turned to Maya. "Lieutenant Ibuki, you will call this off immediately."

Maya looked at her for a moment, then at Ritsuko, and dropped her head apologetically. And it was then, her insides clenched with anger, that Misato realized Maya was no longer responsible for Unit-00. Ritsuko was in charge here.

"Rejection spreading to other systems!"

"Abort test!" Misato yelled, wheeling back to Ritsuko, who just stood there calmly looking outside the window at Unit-00. "Ritsuko!"

"Not yet," Ritsuko said. "If this is ever going to work, we need as much usable data as we can. There will not be another chance. I know it must seem harsh to you, Misato, but that is simply because you do not know the consequences of failure."

"Second thought pattern detected!" Hyouga all but screamed.

Maya jerked her head in his direction so fast it was wonder her neck didn't snap. She rushed to his console and leaned over his shoulder. "That's impossible."

Misato moved back to get a look at his screen—sure enough, where should have just been one jagged line indicating Rei's thought signal being broadcast from her A-10 connectors, she saw two lines crossing each other and merging back into one.

"Is that some kind of mental contamination?" Maya asked no one in particular.

"Not over a closed system," Hyouga said, staring at his own screen. "The only thing that should show up here are Rei's brain waves. Maybe it's some kind of thought noise randomly coalescing into a wave pattern on a close enough frequency to be picked up and cause interference?"

"Mathematically, what are the odds of that?"

Hyouga shook his head. "I don't think we have numbers that big."

"It's a malfunction," Ritsuko said calmly. "A misread. The sensors should only be picking up Rei's A-10 wave because it is the only link that can exist between the pilot and the Eva. The most likely cause for two signals would be equipment failure. In fact, the entire system seems to be breaking down. We'll have to try to diagnose the problems one by one and fix them."

"But ma'am—"

"What else are you suggesting, lieutenant?" Ritsuko interrupted Maya's protest, her voice as no-nonsense as Misato had ever heard it. "That you think there is a second mind in that Eva? Is THAT what the Commander should expect to read in your report?"

Maya's manner changed immediately, to that more befitting a chastised little school girl than someone of her rank and experience. "No, ma'am."

"Purge the system," Ritsuko ordered. "Do we still have communication with the pilot?"

"Just static," Aoba said.

"Vitals?"

"Steady pulse. LCL temperature and pressure are normal. Video monitoring equipment not responding, but other than the synchrograph, she would seem to be fine."

"We can't go on," Misato said. "Not without knowing for sure that she's alright."

"She's fine, why wouldn't she be?" Ritsuko said with a certainty that was contagious. "Maya?"

The short haired girl looked extremely uncomfortable. "I … don't have any reason to think otherwise."

"See?" Ritsuko said coolly. "I don't suppose you'd want to consider the fact that we essentially had to put Unit-00 back together from scraps. There were always bound to be problems like this."

Misato had to reluctantly concede the point. Aside from the errant readings—readings they all agreed could not be explained—there was no real danger. She was not in agreement, but there was little she could do.

"I'd feel better if we could talk to her," Misato said.

"So would I. Her direct input would be very useful." Ritsuko turned back to the assembled crew. "Change over to log diagnosis. I want a record of everything we do."

A series of positive acknowledgments followed that order.

As much as she hated thinking this way, if nothing else Rei was a valuable asset. Ritsuko would be damned if she risked her needlessly. That, at least, gave her some measure of comfort. Maybe she'd be able to keep this promise to Shinji after all.