Evangelion 1. Chapter 1

I don't own NGE. Gainax, Sadamoto, and Anno do. I'm just playing in their sandbox. Please don't sue.

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Early in the evening a few people began making their way across campus, converging on a common destination from the parking lots, from on-campus dorms, or directly from late classes. In small groups and individually, students, faculty, and interested members of the public began drifting toward the Science Department's large lecture hall. The evening's program wouldn't start for another hours or so, but the early arrivals wanted good seats. On their way they passed a few TV crews setting up temporary transmission vans, lighting and video equipment near the steps that led up to the hall's entrance. There was a subliminal expectancy in the air, along with the ever-present background drone of cicadas.

As the appointed time for the lecture drew near, the flow of audience hopefuls gradually increased and the hall filled until at ten minutes before the advertised hour, a thick line had formed extending back from the large building's main entrance. Finally, a University official came out to announce that the legal occupancy of the hall had been reached.

" . . . and in anticipation of this situation, a nearby lecture hall was set up with a live video and sound feed from this hall. Those of you still wishing to attend this lecture, please follow me."

As the crowd led by the official moved away, two large sign stands on either side of the doors again became visible. . .

"Understanding The Second Impact,  
A Historical Perspective.  
Visiting Lecturer, Dr. Kensuki Aida, PhD."

The placards displayed a black and white publicity photo and went on to describe Dr. Aida's professional background, as well as noting that a large part of the material to be presented was only recently declassified, including Dr. Aida's personal research. A perceptive observer might detect a slightly haunted look in the eyes, but it was otherwise an unremarkable likeness of a twenty-something academic of mixed Japanese descent with somewhat oversize glasses and slightly disheveled light brown hair in need of a cut.

~-~-~

Two men talked quietly with one another a little way off-stage as the department-head-turned-M.C. droned through a lengthy introduction...

"Sheesh, Ken. This whole thing is kinda weird, isn't it? How many hours did we all spend bored out of our skulls back then? That old sensei would have been locked away if droning on about the same stuff day after day was against the law . . . and it should have been. Now here you're going to give a lecture on the same subject."

"I did that on purpose, Toji. I like the irony . . . even if only our old classmates would get it. But I'm pretty sure this will turn out to be a little more interesting for everyone. After all, the old sensei was just spouting what those in power made up to cover the truth and keep the population pacified. Now that we can talk about what really happened, everyone ought to hear it. People who lost friends and family back then might be upset all over again, but enough time has passed that maybe it won't be too bad. Besides, every once in a while we need to be reminded to have some healthy skepticism about what people in power tell us. ...Uh-oh. My introduction is nearly done. It's show-time. Meet afterward?"

"Sure. I'll let you know how it comes across from a jock's point of view. Later." Toji turned and walked quietly away from the stage area, his progress marked by a slight limp. He was soon in the seat saved for him by his wife.

". . . without further ado, I give you Doctor Kensuki Aida."

In the mobile control booths, video technicians cut to cameras that were following the young professor as he strode confidently out onto the stage carrying a folder of notes and took his position behind the podium just vacated by the M.C. Stage lights reflected sharply off his glasses as he pushed them up to their proper place with his index finger. The polite applause died down and he began what he expected would be an enlightening evening for his audience...

"The very fact that we or any humans exist today is remarkable. There have been so many factors working against us in the past that we should view our specie's most important characteristic to be a well-developed ability to survive. True, we are not tops in this area. Other species with which we share our planet have survived far longer, and without our much bragged-upon intelligence. ...The one characteristic that does seem common to survivor types is adaptability. Brain power can help, but it can also hinder us . . . especially when we turn it against our own kind.

"The roots of our most recent challenge reach far into the past of our planet, much further back than human history. The seeds were planted with an event that most scientists considered to be an unlikely chance collision between the Earth and not one, but two "dinosaur killer" asteroids or large comets within a very short period of time. Other single collisions had happened both previously and since, but this event was unique in many ways.

"Only recently has science been able to find and interpret evidence of these devastating meetings. The data crunching power of sophisticated computers in partnership with curious and able scientists have provided the means to reconstruct such past events from certain unique mineral strata in combination with characteristic large-scale geophysical structures.

"Some materials that will be mentioned here, but not treated in detail, may be examined at your own convenience, as they are available within Web sites you will find listed in the appendix at the end of the lecture handout." Here, Dr. Aida took a moment for a drink of water to moisten a throat already threatening to dry out.

"I will preface the remainder of this lecture with the acknowledgment that most of what you will hear was reconstructed by beginning with the facts that could be established after the dust had settled, after our demise was narrowly averted. A lot of dedicated and talented people worked backward from there, researching records, interviewing hundreds of witnesses, and verifying and correlating all of the information in order to establish the sequence and relationship of the events that will be presented here.

"The double collision of planetoid bodies with the Earth that I mentioned earlier struck just before evidence of life began showing up in the geological record. And contrary to prevailing belief, they involved large artificial objects, rather than naturally occurring chunks of space debris." Dr. Aida paused as a muted muttering briefly rose from some of those in attendance. "This alone is hard for many to accept. Fewer still will accept the fact that those extraterrestrial objects came complete with living passengers." He paused again as more widespread commentary from the audience made itself heard. "Perhaps more remarkable still, is the fact that some of those passengers continued to live until just recently. A few life forms derived from their DNA still live, but we won't come to that until later." At this point several hands were raised, accompanied by more than a few exclamations.

"Please hold your questions until the end of the lecture. Hopefully, most of them will be answered in the course of the presentation. Some time has been reserved at the end when the remainder can be addressed."

"We will start at a point in the overall time line that is the nexus to which everything else connects. It is also important to know something of the players in our little drama, so they will be introduced to you, along with a little of their background, at convenient points as we go."

"When massively parallel computer platforms and artificial intelligence techniques were developed to a sufficient level, rapid advances were realized in most of the, until then, intractable problems in science including those in Physics, Molecular Biochemistry, Cosmology, Geophysics and Archeology, where existing and new data could then be more rapidly integrated and interpreted, new connections made among disparate facts.

"One of the more interesting results was the discovery of an anomaly in the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheets, and a similar one beneath the Hakone area in Japan. After a super computer's unique capabilities were applied, holographic projections of the output showed perfectly spherical structures over ten kilometers in diameter, almost certainly artificial in origin. A series of scientific expeditions would be sent to sink a shaft down to, and to investigate, the Antarctic structure and its contents. Those interested in more detail should refer to 'The Katsuragi Expeditions' in '_Zeitschrift für Geologische Wissenschaften'_.

"While a wealth of knowledge can be found in the academic papers that come out of scientific investigations, records of the activities and experiences of individual team members sometimes allow a deeper understanding of how discoveries come to be of crucial importance to the entire world. Such was the case with the journal of Jiro Ibuki, a computer analyst who joined the Katsuragi team for its final three months. . . . .

~-~-~

(THE WHITE MOON, PART ONE)

Excerpt from Jiro Ibuki's Journal:

_The final leg of my journey found us trying to get some sleep in a noisy cargo transport despite being bounced around when the plane hit air turbulence. I looked at my fellow passengers and saw my own fatigue and boredom mirrored in their postures and expressions. My seat was none too comfortable and after more than four hours flight time, I regarded it as an instrument of torture. There was no way to recline it at all, and the padding in the seat and the back had lost all resiliency years ago. Now, it was just lumpy and hard. The noise level from the throbbing engines and the howl of the thin air rushing past the creaking aluminum skin of the fuselage had defeated all attempts to carry on any kind of conversation. If the money had not been as good, if the reason for the expedition wasn't so exciting, there's no way I would be here voluntarily, looking out through a mostly frosted-over aircraft window at the endless white landscape below. Time seemed to crawl as slowly as the bleak surface appeared to drift by far beneath us. . ._

A harsh burst of noise erupted from the speakers overhead, courtesy of someone keying a microphone. Then a voice that managed to be simultaneously bored and cheery announced, "This is the co-pilot speaking. In a few minutes we will begin reducing altitude in anticipation of our final approach at our destination. Please continue to keep your seat belts fastened and snug. We'll be coming in on the tail-end of a blizzard, so we can expect a bit more turbulence than usual. It's a balmy minus twenty Celsius at the base, with a variable breeze producing a minus thirty five wind chill. Don't forget to wear your mittens." There was another brief crackle and the speakers were silent again. The announcement was enough to get the passengers digging through their carry-on and pulling out their cold weather gear. Once the cargo doors were opened, the barely adequate heat in the passenger area would be a pleasant memory.

~-~-~-~

"Jiro Ibuki! . . . Jiro Ibuki!" The figure, one of several in parkas at the edge of the flight line, looked at each passenger as they left the plane while calling out his name and waving. Since everyone wore heavily insulated overalls, boots, parkas, mittens, balaclavas, and dark goggles to prevent snow blindness, recognizing anyone without being able to read a name tag was unlikely. Jiro waved back and walked over.

"How was the flight? Wait. Never mind. It was probably just like mine when I came down here. In my spare time I use the Internet to try tracking down the sadist who designed those seats." The greeter was rewarded with a bark of laughter.

"If you find him, please don't end his life before I get a turn at him," replied Jiro. Though their faces were hidden, each could easily imagine the other's grin. His voice turned serious. "Are you able to sleep at night, knowing what's down there?"

"Well, thinking about that does tend to keep a lot of us preoccupied, but that's the problem. We don't know exactly what it is we've found. And if my briefing was any use at all, it seems that you'll be helping the scientists figure that out. My name is Watanabe, by the way. Sadao Watanabe. I've been assigned as Dr. Katsuragi's administrative assistant." They shook mittens. "That means I'm responsible for taking care of the non-scientific aspects of this base so that the good Professor and the other scientists can concentrate on puzzling out what we have. I'll be giving you the grand tour and helping you settle in. But first, let's collect your stuff and get it inside."

"I don't have a lot, just this over-sized duffel with my personal gear."

"Excellent! Come this way please." Sadao turned and walked a short distance to a ramp dug into the snow and ice, Jiro following. At the bottom of the ramp they went through a heavy weather-sealed door and entered what turned out to be a large airlock carved out of the ice. Some skis, snowshoes and other outdoor gear had been leaned up against one wall. Sadao removed his goggles and commented, "You'll notice that it's a lot warmer here than outside . . . just a little below freezing." They passed through another door opposite the first and entered a larger room provided with racks for hanging up parkas and other outdoor clothing. The walls were insulated and the temperature here was a relatively tropical 10 degrees Celsius. Following Sadao's example, Jiro climbed out of his outerwear and left it hanging with the others. This afforded them the first opportunity they had to study each other, and they briefly did so with polite curiosity. Sadao saw a guy in his upper twenties, of slim build and average height, with the dark eyes and straight dark hair common among many Japanese. He had a broad forehead, a steady gaze, and an air of someone who observed everything around him with lively interest. For his part, Jiro noted his guide appeared to be in his early thirties, stood taller than himself by about eight centimeters, and had the lean build of someone who was used to regular exercise, perhaps swimming or running.

Going through another insulated door, they entered a fairly wide corridor with a few oversize doorways on either side. "These are storage areas. The door on your right opens into a large receiving area where they'll bring the cargo that arrived in your plane and where they're holding some that will be shipped out on it. There's a big outside door on the other end of the room."

They soon came to another corridor that ran cross-ways to theirs. Sadao gestured to the left. "Down that way are the labs, workshops, office areas, and computer rooms." He turned to the right and continued walking. "On your right are the cafeteria and the kitchen area beyond that. On your left is a recreational area complete with a small library, satellite TV, some board games, and even a pool table. The rest of the doors along here go to several sleeping areas. You've been assigned to the E-dorm. C, D, and E-dorms are for the guys. A and B are for the female staff. Here we are . . ." He opened a door with a large black "E" stenciled on to it and led the way down yet another corridor with doors on either side. Jiro noted that whoever built the base must have found a really good price on the gray paint that adorned every wall and door that he had seen so far.

"You're in this suite." Sadao knocked on a door stenciled with a big black numeral "5" and waited a moment.

A muffled voice called "Come in," from the other side.

Sadao opened the door and led the way. "Hi, Gary. This is Jiro Ibuki, our new computer analyst. He'll be helping us keep our systems happy and healthy, as well as lending a hand with data massaging and representation so that mere humans can hope to make sense of it. Jiro, this is Gary Weston. He's our data communications engineer."

A big blond guy in his early thirties that could have been mistaken for a warehouse worker pushed back from a desk and rose up out of his chair to offer a hand to the newcomer. "Welcome. I'm glad you're here. Up 'till now they've had me riding herd on the base's computers in addition to my usual occupation as digital plumber. And while I know a reasonable amount about hardware and operating systems, I'm no expert. I did manage to get them unpacked and running, but the scientist types are going to be much happier to have you. I'm afraid that I couldn't help them much with taking advantage of the sexier features of our platforms."

They shook hands, as Jiro responded, "Thanks. I'm glad to be here. Once I heard about the structure down below being artificial, I wanted to be in on this. I grew up reading science fiction and watching movies like 'Close Encounters', but I never expected to be part of an expedition dealing with the first alien artifact accepted as such by science."

Sadao asked, "Didn't I see in your records that you have a family? If I'm not being too personal, what do they think about you spending months away from them in an Antarctic research base?"

"That's OK, I don't mind you asking. While neither of us are particularly happy about my extended absence, my wife and I have a similar enthusiasm about science and the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe. It's part of what brought us together in the first place. It doesn't hurt that the pay is good as well. On the other hand, my daughter is a little young to appreciate the importance of this discovery and was hardly happy about my going."

Sadao nodded. "It's rough on a lot of the staff here, being separated from their families for so long. But at least we have a good satellite link to the Internet through Gehirn. You'll be able to stay in touch in your free time . . . that is, unless we have a lot of data to send or receive. You do know that any communication concerning this expedition, anything about the White Moon or its contents, is forbidden? The MAGI system monitors all outside communications and will immediately interrupt at any mention."

"Yes. I was briefed when I signed on with Gehirn, and again before my flight down here. I'll be good."

"I think I'll let you settle in here now. Besides Gary, there are two others assigned to this suite. Gary can introduce you to them later."

Gary nodded. "Can do. The others are on-duty this shift. They should be back around dinner time."

"After dinner I can let you have a look into the Moon from the observation platform, if you like," Sadao continued.

With a delighted expression, Jiro replied, "That would be great. I was kind of expecting I'd only see whatever I was allowed through remote cameras."

Jiro's enthusiasm caused Sadao and Gary to smile.

"You might be disappointed none the less. There isn't much to see but buckled decking littered with a fair amount of debris. The trip down through the shaft to the 'Top of the Moon' is at least as interesting," Sadao cautioned.

"I'm sure I'll find it all fascinating. Thank you! Just knowing that what I'll see was made by some alien civilization is fantastic."

Sadao moved over to the door. "OK, then. I'd better get going. Other duties are pressing. I'll meet you here after dinner. . . Gary." Nodding to Weston and Ibuki, he left them to their own devices, shutting the door as he departed.

"You'll want to stow your gear, I imagine." Weston gestured, indicating the features of the room in which they stood, "On the other side of those four doors there are tiny bedrooms, barely large enough to hold a bed and a small closet. I understand it's a design familiar to many Japanese. That one there, being the only one vacant, is yours. On the other side of that other door is a small lavatory containing a toilet, a sink, a shower, and not much else. As you can guess, this is our common room."

Jiro looked around briefly, noting a book case about two-thirds full of technical manuals, video and sound recordings, and well-used paperbacks. The walls sported a few photographs and posters, most of tropical island settings. He nodded towards a small sound system sitting on top of the book case. "I don't see any speakers for that."

"Aren't any. Same for the video player next to it. They wired in headphone jacks instead. You can see them just above the back of that couch over there. Most people have earphones or something they brought with them. Keeps us from disturbing each other."

"Makes sense, I guess. . . . I noticed you were working on something when we came in. I'll let you get back to it while I go unpack. Thanks for the grand tour," The last was delivered with an ironic grin since the 'grand tour' was accomplished by Weston turning around in place and gesturing.

"No problem. I should be able to finish up with another hour's work. After that, we can go get some dinner." So saying, he sat back down at the terminal on the desk.

Jiro entered his room and found it pretty much as described. It was clean, neat, simple, and a model of efficiency. After putting away his clothes and other stuff, he decided a short nap wouldn't hurt. The plane trip had been exhausting after all.

He remembered kicking off his shoes, laying down, and noting that the bed was surprisingly comfortable. The next thing he knew, someone was knocking on his door and calling his name.

"Jiro, are you awake? It's time for dinner." He recognized Weston's voice.

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me know. I'll be out in a minute.

They shortly joined a general migration of personnel walking toward the cafeteria. While the evening meal wasn't five-star by any stretch of the imagination, it was reasonably good, especially given that the kitchen staff had attempted to provide dishes that their varied international customers could enjoy. Fresh fruit and vegetables were a little sad by virtue of all of the food having to be airlifted in once a week. They were probably overdue for another shipment, Jiro guessed.

~-~-~-~

" . . . So I understand that the modified-spectrum scans are starting to produce usable data."

"Yes, we've taken what worked on earlier test scans and modified the new ones accordingly. We can now tell that we have enough of a good signal above the background noise that it will be useful to process it for images and spectroscopic analysis."

The conversation started gaining some life when it wandered around to a subject that interested everyone at the shared table. With him were Rolf, another scientist, Gary, and a few others. Jiro considered it an added bonus that the conversation gave him an early start on part of his job . . . that of helping the scientists present the data they gathered in a way more easily digested by the human mind.

In order to do so, Jiro had to get a good idea of the methods used to obtain the data in the first place. Once that was nailed down in detail, he could select appropriate algorithms and processing modules that would best produce a meaningful visual representation of the data sets, alone or in combination. To say that the conversation had turned technical would be an understatement.

"Tell you what. I'll email you an abstract of the scanning methods used with links to the detailed notes. That way you won't have to write it all down in that little notebook you've been scribbling in."

"Great. That makes it a lot easier, and probably a lot more readable. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

~-~-~-

It had been only a few minutes since Jiro had finished his evening meal and the conversations, and he was making his way back to his suite to meet Sadao. A feeling of eager excitement mixed with a bit of primal 'fear of the unknown' rose in him as he speculated on what he would soon be seeing with his own eyes . . . the _interior_ of what for all intents and purposes had to be an ancient alien spacecraft! Given the age of the rock encasing it, rock that had been molten when the huge sphere had come to rest, it was impossible to argue that the White Moon had been made by anyone native to this planet.

Sadao and a couple of other men were talking quietly when Ibuki entered his assigned suite. "Ah! Jiro, I'd like you to meet your other room-mates. This is Wu Zheng-shen. He's our xeno-biologist. I'll let him explain what he does later. Over there is Bayard Delauney our mining engineer. He's also our expert spelunker. Gentlemen, this is Jiro Ibuki, a computer analyst who specializes in graphic visualization of data sets."

They shook hands and made the usual polite greetings.

"So, Jiro, are you ready to go see why we're all here in the land of ice and snow?"

"Yes, sir! Whenever you are." Jiro's eager grin would have marked him as a newbie even without the introductions and was infectious enough to cause the others to smile tolerantly in return.

"We'll stop by to pick up our cold weather gear on the way. The White Moon has been here cooling down for a long time and is big enough that we haven't bothered trying to heat the interior," Sadao said by way of explanation as they walked back in the direction of the entrance.

A few minutes later, they paused to don the parkas they'd retrieved and passed through the large door to the freight receiving area. Sadao led the way off to the left and soon stopped before a large freight elevator door. He swiped an ID card through a reader next to it and waited.

Soon a no-nonsense voice came over a small speaker. "Clearly state your given and family names in that order."

As soon as Sadao did as commanded, a red indicator light came on next to what looked like a binocular eyepiece mounted on the wall.

"Look through the eyepiece and focus on the dot in the center of your field of view."

After he did so, there was a short pause and then a beep. The indicator by the eyepiece turned green and Sadao straightened up again

"Swipe your guest's ID card."

Sadao retrieved another red plastic card from an inner pocket and swiped it.

"You may proceed."

There was a click in the mechanism somewhere behind the elevator door and it slid upward, allowing them to enter. When Sadao pressed a button, the door slid down and locked shut with another click. He turned to Jiro and explained, "I'll have Section-2 finish entering you into the system tomorrow. After you have your eyes scanned, your picture taken in 3-D, and your fingerprints reconfirmed, they'll issue your ID card for this installation. Your Gehirn card will identify you, but it won't open any doors. You'll need your new ....." A bump interrupted him and they felt themselves drop.

They both grabbed hand holds on the wall. From the sensation of lightness and the queasy feeling in his stomach, Jiro could tell that they were accelerating downward rapidly. After about ten seconds, the feeling abated, but a whine from machinery overhead and vibration of the floor of the elevator car confirmed their continued fall.

".... your new card to get into any of the labs, computer rooms and offices for which you have authorized access," He finished. "Are you alright? You look a little pale."

"Uh, I'm OK. But this is the fastest elevator I've ever ridden. I wasn't expecting the feeling of falling to be so strong. How deep are we going?"

Sadao allowed himself a brief smile at Jiro's discomfort. "The ice here is just over four-hundred meters thick. We're going all the way to the bedrock. From there, we'll have a short walk over to the next elevator that will take us down to the top of the Moon. That's another five hundred fifty meters or so." He always enjoyed the 'deer in the headlights' look on the newly initiated. At an electronic chime sound he told Jiro, "Grab that hand hold again. We're going to decelerate," as he did the same for himself. Their subjective weight climbed rapidly as the elevator quickly slowed, causing Jiro to fear his legs were going to buckle.

Finally normal gravity returned, leaving them feeling temporarily lighter than usual again. There was another chime and the door automatically opened. Jiro followed his guide on shaky legs through a large gallery with walls and ceiling of what appeared to be a remarkable other-worldly blue colored glass. The surface was all shallowly undulating bumps and hollows, but otherwise perfectly smooth and transparent. The rock embedded in it from floor level to about shoulder high was chunks of random sizes and shapes from sand grains to huge boulders, some of it protruding slightly from the wall. An ongoing chorus of random groans, moans, snaps, and squeals echoed around them.

Sadao raised his voice to make himself heard. "Of course, what you are seeing is the bottom of a huge Antarctic glacier. The ice has been compressed by the overlying weight for so long that all of the bubbles of gas have been squeezed out of it, rendering it almost perfectly clear. The broken rock near the bottom is what the ice plucked from the bedrock, the rock you're walking on, as it slowly ground along downhill. All of these strange sounds are caused by that grinding action."

A few individuals, dressed as heavily as they were, passed them going in the opposite direction, apparently heading for the elevator. A couple of them raised a hand in recognition as they walked by.

Sadao nodded to them and continued with his lecture, undoubtedly honed to near perfection over the course of many tours. "This gallery moves along with the ice as does the installation we left on the surface and the elevator we just rode. However, the shaft through the bedrock down to the White Moon doesn't move of course, so the size and position of this room was designed to allow for the movement while keeping the next elevator shaft accessible over time. Every so often this gallery will have to be expanded uphill to maintain that access. . . . Here we are."

They paused in front of a smaller, that is, normal-size elevator while Sadao pushed the 'call' button. The door slid sideways and Jiro followed him in, being sure to find a handhold immediately. With the push of another button, the door closed and they began another mad plunge.

"I'm curious to know where things stand currently. How much of the White Moon has been explored?" Jiro asked as soon as his stomach settled down.

"Not much just yet. The scientists have located what seem to be interesting items from the observation platform using binoculars and telescopes. Teams are visiting the areas and collecting what data and samples they can. None of it is recognizable. The few small, apparently intact, items that could be brought back are being tested and analyzed. I understand that they seem inert. They don't react to any electromagnetic radiation or chemicals they've tried so far and X-rays don't penetrate, so no one has any idea what might be inside. You'll get a chance to look at a few later on.

"You'll see that the visible decking was apparently ripped from its mountings in a crash. It now lies at an average of eleven degrees from the horizontal and large areas are buckled. Lower deck layers can be seen around the edges and appear to be similarly damaged. We're hoping to find a way to map some portion of the lower layers using the scans that have been in progress for several weeks now. You'll appreciate that given the size of the White Moon, it would take years to do a full exploration. Most of the effort is going into identifying locations that might be of special interest and exploring those first."

At the sounding of a chime, Sadao fell quiet and they both renewed their grips on the hand-holds. Seconds later deceleration built up, giving them plenty to do just to remain standing. A short time later, it started easing off, finally ceasing altogether.

They walked out of the elevator into a busy area and moved to the side to remove their parkas. It was warmer here and most of the people in sight wore lab coats over normal indoor clothing. The area where they found themselves resembled nothing so much as an office cubicle warren set up in a mine. Fluorescent lighting was supported overhead by a grid frame, the dark ceiling lost to sight in the glare. Regularly spaced pillars of dark gray granite had been rough-hewn from the native rock and no doubt left in place to support the ceiling as the area was hollowed out. The floor was part of the same rock, only leveled and smoothed to allow easy movement of equipment carts and, incidentally, foot traffic. Looking into the distance, Jiro could see that the walls had been left rough as well. Preoccupied scientists and technicians walked here and there, reading computer print-outs as they went, somehow missing each other and the rock pillars. Unintelligibly quiet conversations mixed with the whir of equipment cooling fans and the footsteps of those on the move. All of it bounced off of the exposed rock surfaces in a noticeable reverberation that hinted at the size of the artificial cavern.

"This is where the data gathered from various scans and sensors in the Moon are given preliminary inspection and analysis. It's all both immediately saved to archive disks and sent via satellite link back to Gehirn for detailed analysis and evaluation by the MAGI system there. Eventually some of it returns in digested form if it is deemed necessary for our work by the powers-that-be. The teams here are a little irritated at the arrangement because, being normally curious scientists, they would like to do more analysis, evaluation and interpretation right here where the action is. Their argument is that it would shorten the cycle whereby new results can be applied in the field to facilitate better and faster data acquisition, and used to learn where to focus their attention rather than just investigating randomly everywhere. And that, as I understand it, is where your work comes in."

Jiro raised an eyebrow at that. "So I'm here more because the scientists on-site wanted that capability than because Gehirn wanted me here?"

"Largely, yes. Don't misunderstand, though. You wouldn't be here at all if the 'higher-ups' back at Gehirn were at all opposed. . . . Ah. Here we are."

While they conversed, Watanabe had led Ibuki to a large, dimly lit, room-like area within the cavern, where numerous large flat-panel displays were showing scenes of what were probably the upper deck area inside the White Moon, as well as streaming columns of numeric data or groups of arcane symbols that came and went every few seconds.

"There is an instrument package suspended by cable from the underside of the observation platform. A lot of what you are seeing on the screens is data transmitted here from sensors in the package. This is what Rolf was describing to you at dinner this evening. He's one of several people you'll be working with. Shall we continue?"

At Jiro's nod, Sadao led them out of the room and to their left down a wide corridor between the cubicles. At its end they came up before a heavy-looking metal door that would have been at home on a submarine or a spacecraft. It was secured by numerous thick pins or bolts around its circumference that had been slid outward into matching holes in the equally heavy-duty door frame by a hidden mechanism. The frame itself was part of a metal wall that closed off a narrowed end of the cavern.

"Beyond this is the entrance to the White Moon. Not really knowing what to expect once they managed to breach the outer shell, the scientists had the mining engineers install a heavily over-engineered air lock complete with quick-sealing blast doors similar to those used in government bomb shelters. So far, it has been overkill, since nothing poisonous, explosive, or contagious has been found to date. Even so, only one door is ever opened at a time, and strict decontamination and air-lock protocols are maintained. We'll pause here to put on our parkas and some cleanroom coveralls, shoe covers, and so on. You'll hear people refer to the outfits as "bunny suits" from time to time. We don't want to track anything into or out of that environment. In part, it allows us stay confident of identifying small particles and microbes we find on samples as belonging only to the White Moon."

Jiro had been keeping quiet out of a combination of nervousness, awe and humility inspired by his surroundings. For him it was beyond just being impressive. The fact that he was about to enter a huge spacecraft that was built by bona fide aliens had truly begun to sink in, making him numb. The surreal idea of coming face to face with their technology was beginning to seriously erode his comfort zone. Jiro quietly accepted the garments handed to him and suited up, watching Sadao and others to learn how it was done. In fact, he was so subdued he didn't even feel like commenting on the silly looking light blue shower cap headgear they had to wear.

The five of them waiting in the "bunny suits" stepped forward when the lock finished cycling open and a green "gumball" light on the wall nearby lit up. A strong flow of air moved past them and out into the cavern until the massive door clanged shut behind them, leaving them in an odd deep purple light emitted by numerous fluorescent fixtures in the walls and ceiling of the chamber. A few seconds later, the lighting switched to normal color.

"Special ultraviolet lamps to kill off microbes," Sadao commented. The second door of the airlock clunked when its bolts were withdrawn, and began swinging outward. As they waited, the air temperature plummeted, causing dense clouds to form when they exhaled.

Jiro felt tugging at his shoes accompanied by a crackling sound as he lifted his feet from the floor.

"Combination electrostatic and adhesive shoe cleaners. Much better than your standard doormat," someone answered Jiro's silent question. Apparently his 'newbie' status was clearly visible to all.

They filed out of the airlock into another chamber hewn out of the rock, this one roughly circular in shape, about ten meters in diameter and three in height. There were various pieces of equipment sitting near the circumference, one with thick power cables running to it and a large international "radiation danger" emblem on its side.

Sadao caught Jiro's somewhat alarmed expression along with what he was looking at. "That's a particle accelerator modified to maximize its anti-matter output. The scientists found that positrons were able to erode the material of the White Moon's outer shell at a reasonable rate where everything else they tried failed. Chemical reagents just beaded up and ran off the surface. They wore out several diamond drill bits just to get enough microscopic shell particles to run tests on. Hydrogen plasma torches were totally ineffective."

Another of their party gestured toward the center of the room where there was a steel framework supported on four girder-like legs over a shallow circular pit about three meters across and about thirty centimeters deep. At the bottom of the pit was an iridescent white surface appearing totally regular and smooth. Hanging from the overhead grid was a cage-like lift that would have been at home on a construction site or in a mine. Below the lift, a rectangular opening a little larger than the one by one and a half meters of the lift's outer dimensions had been cut in the white surface.

"Is that white area . . ." Jiro swallowed once, trying to formulate his question intelligibly. "-is it the . . . " The positron cutting 'tool' was enough to indicate just how close to the razor's edge they were. They could be on the threshold of learning whole new worlds of knowledge, or sitting on a ticking time-bomb and not even know it until it was too late.

There was a little tolerant chuckling in the group. "Yes. That's the White Moon, at least the little bit of it that we've uncovered. Go ahead, have a closer look," Sadao offered.

Jiro slowly, almost reverently, walked over to the edge of the pit and hunkered down. His heart was pounding from his excitement. He hadn't felt this way since he'd been a young kid at his birthday party . . . the one where his parents had given him the reflector telescope with a computer-guided mount that he had been lusting over for months. He carefully lowered himself until he was laying on his belly, his head and shoulders out over the white material. He tentatively extended his arm and lightly touched his mitten to the surface and immediately pulled it back, perhaps expecting some kind of reaction. Emboldened when nothing happened, he removed his mitten and held his bare hand close over the whiteness for a moment, sensing neither heat nor cold. Then he repeated the touch, again breaking contact immediately. Next, he lightly brushed his fingers across the surface of the shell, marveling at the smoothness. Finally he put his hand flat on the surface.

The rest of the party had quietly watched all of this with knowing grins and were not surprised in the least when Jiro's whole body jerked and he came quickly to his feet, backing away from the edge of the pit.

"I felt a tingling, almost a vibration!" he said nervously.

"Don't worry. Everyone does almost the same thing you did the first time they get the chance. Anyone who puts their hand flat against that stuff feels what you felt. No one notices anything from a brief touch or a light brush against it. Did you notice anything else when you touched it?"

"It felt warm. Not hot. . . just barely warm."

"It turns out that the material is an almost perfect thermal and electrical insulator. The surface immediately warms up to the temperature of whatever touches it, but only where there's contact. You were feeling the temperature of your own hand. Just before you touched it, it was below freezing, the same temperature as the air in this room. It's also a great radiator in that any energy it picks up it radiates away very quickly until it becomes the same temperature as its environment. Oh, by the way, I'm Joshua Gefen, a physicist specializing in thermodynamics, if you couldn't tell."

"Jiro Ibuki, computer analyst." Jiro shook hands with the scientist. "But what about that strange tingling sensation?"

"No idea. Not that we haven't tried to figure it out. It just doesn't register on any instruments we've used to date. Oddly enough, lab animals don't seem to feel it . . . only humans so far."

While they were talking, Sadao had thrown a switch, lowering a ramp so that it spanned the distance from the rock at the edge of the pit to the lift. "Everyone ready to continue?"

There were nods all around and they were soon crowded into the lift, descending slowly through the outer shell of the White Moon. Jiro was surprised to see that it was less than a half-meter thick. Below that, bright lights shining up at them temporarily blinded him. He turned away from the view outside and back to his fellow passengers.

His guide resumed his tour lecture. . . "The ramp we used to board this lift was installed for more than convenience. Of course it makes things easier, especially if you are loading something on wheels. But the interesting thing is that the Moon's shell material is so smooth and friction free that anyone trying to walk on it would fall down almost immediately. Here we are."

After a descent of only about ten meters the lift came to a stop, its floor level with a large steel platform, where everyone disembarked. Jiro took the opportunity to inspect his surroundings. The platform area was evenly lit by bright work lights that had been aimed upward to reflect off of the inside of the Moon's shell, which was just as white as the bit of the outside he had inspected earlier. The resulting illumination of the platform was free of glaring hot-spots or dark shadows. Yet as he allowed his eyes to wander away from the area of the platform, he found little to look at. He was standing near the middle and he could see nothing beyond the safety railing at its edge except the very gradual curve of the inside of the White Moon's shell. Even this was limited since the light level quickly dropped off to empty murky blackness all around. The next thing he noticed was that aside from nearby subdued noises from the people moving around or talking, it was eerily quiet. Oppressively quiet. And despite the warm parka, he felt a penetrating chill in the absolutely still air. In the area of the platform itself, he could see what appeared to be two other lifts a short distance to either side of the one he'd just used. The scientists that had ridden with him appeared to be inspecting some instruments mounted to the bottom of one. The car to the other lift was apparently somewhere below, the area within its safety gate empty except for a group of cables hanging straight down through the floor. Elsewhere on the platform he could see several work stations where technicians inspected images on screens and typed commands on keyboards, some using their headsets to converse quietly with distant counterparts. Near the framework of the absent lift was an assortment of crates packed on a cart.

Sadao had been waiting as Jiro satisfied his curiosity about their immediate surroundings and when he seemed to be finished, asked, "Would you like to take a look from the edge of the platform? I assure you that it is safe enough, although some have commented on a slight feeling of vertigo when they looked downward."

"That would be great!" Jiro enthused. His spirit had recovered, as if the mild jolt from the surface of the white moon had reenergized him. They walked a short distance to a section of railing where a binocular telescope had been mounted so that an observer could safely use it while it was aimed at targets below. For the moment it was ignored while Jiro and Sadao carefully walked over, grasped the rail, leaned out a little and looked down. At first, there appeared to be nothing but inky blackness below, with no clue available to judge depth by. All they could see was the condensed moisture from their breaths. Slowly, as their eyes adjusted to the lack of light, sparks like dim stars became visible, scattered sparsely below.

Jiro turned to his guide and remarked, "I don't know why, but I was kind of expecting the interior to be lit."

"The previous tenants didn't leave the lights on and I'm afraid that it's not practical for us to do it. The area is just too big. Remember that this structure is over ten kilometers in diameter. The deck area below us is from three to four kilometers down, resting at an average of about eleven degrees from the horizontal. The power requirements alone would be more than we could manage, even if we had light sources that could do the job. We satisfy ourselves with lighting the areas that are being explored. But there are various other ways of seeing what is down there. Laser radar works pretty well, and night vision technology helps a lot. Would you like to try out a telescope equipped with it?" Sadao gestured to the nearby instrument.

"It has a computer-guided mount, and all of the current areas of interest are stored for easy retrieval. Choosing one from the list causes the mount to point the 'scope in the right direction. You'll be able to view directly through the eyepieces or on the screen of the laptop. The later has the advantage of having adjustable filters, detail enhancement, and all of the other bells-and-whistles common in 'digital darkroom' applications."

Jiro inspected the laptop mounted conveniently near the scope, and used the touch pad to select a random item from the list on the right. The faint whir of an electric motor started up and the image on the laptop screen panned as the telescope sought the new orientation. He opted for looking through the eyepieces first and stepped up on the small raised platform intended for the viewer, the butterflies in his stomach determining that he needed to grip the chest-high safety rail tightly to feel safe enough to peer through the scope. Due to the binocular configuration of the telescope, the scene he viewed conveyed impressions of distance and size. He found he was looking down on what looked vaguely like a sheet of gray paper that had been wrinkled and then mostly straightened out. There were objects of various sizes and shapes, mostly rounded rectangular structures, but there were a few cylindrical shapes as well. Some appeared to be lying on their sides, with the material around what would have been the bottom looking torn and twisted. In the lower left part of his field of view were some tiny objects that looked out of place.

Sadao had taken his position before the laptop, selected the 'Increase Magnification' function and said, "I'll zoom in a little on the area in your number three quadrant."

Jiro heard the mouse clicks and saw his field of view change as promised. What had previously been odd-looking but unidentifiable tiny things now became recognizable as the overhead view of a camp complete with tents, a golf-cart-like vehicle with oversize wheels, and small moving figures, humans in parkas. "Any idea what the structures were for?"

"None at all. Preliminary reports indicate that whatever technology was used by the builders, it's totally unrecognizable so far. I'm sure that will change in time. The scientists in this expedition want to construct accurate maps, identify which finds are most important if possible, document everything thoroughly, and preserve everything in as close to its original condition as possible. Detailed analysis of the various objects is expected to take a long time, maybe a hundred years or more. Depends on lucky breakthroughs, I imagine.

"I'm going to point the 'scope at a different site now. You might want to wait to observe until it acquires it's new coordinates. The panning speed is too rapid to be able to make out much in any case, and it's more likely to produce some vertigo than not if you keep looking through the eyepieces."

Sadao selected a new site, and the whisper of the telescope's drive motors started again. "Any questions while we're waiting?"

Jiro considered for a moment or two, then apparently thought of something of particular interest to him. His eyes opened wide and his head jerked up to directly face his guide. "Why don't we have to use air tanks, or oxygen or something? If this is an alien spacecraft, isn't it unlikely we can breathe what they breathed?"

Sadao smiled. "I was wondering when you'd get around to asking that. Yes, it would seem to be unlikely, but although the gas mix is different than the Earth's atmosphere, there's enough oxygen for us and no poisonous gases. There's less oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen than we're used to, and more helium, argon and neon, not to mention a lot of other minor differences. Even so, the mix is not so different that it causes us any problems. The concern you've just expressed was on the minds of the group that was in charge here when the White Moon's shell was being first breached with the particle accelerator. Consequently, that rather formidable air lock was installed before they finished drilling through the shell. Since they couldn't determine the gas mix or pressure beforehand, they played it safe. Likewise, they had no idea about what, if any, life forms were inside. Two-way decontamination was much more stringent initially. After they found that the few microbes present quickly died in contact with lab animal and human tissue, and were immediately killed by ultraviolet wavelengths equivalent to a sunny day at the beach, the decontamination protocols we went through today were deemed more than cautious enough."

Jiro visibly relaxed. "I should have realized that if no one else was concerned, I didn't have to worry."

At that point, the quiet whine from the telescope's mount stopped. Sadao glanced at the laptop's screen to verify the expected coordinates and said, "If you'll look through the scope now, you should be able to make out something reasonably interesting. You will be looking at an area that shows both shell wall and decking."

Jiro leaned over to the eyepieces and nodded. "OK. I see the concave shape of the shell. It's more noticeable at this distance. And . . . I see . . . I guess I'm seeing several layers of decking, with the edges of some lower levels showing beyond the edges of the levels above. What a mess! If the deck material is anywhere near as tough as you tell me the shell material is, it must have taken an almighty bad crash to tear everything loose like that!"

"Yes. Well, even though the deck material is many times stronger and more durable than the best alloys we have, the scientists have been able to determine that it is still weaker than the shell material. They described it to me this way . . . an extremely hot plasma torch can melt thin sections of it. A standard meter stick made of the deck material, secured horizontally at one end, would support five metric tons hanging from the other end without flexing more than a centimeter. A diamond drill can slowly make some headway . . . the hardness seems close to equal. So the crash that did this damage makes it extremely unlikely that we'll find any organism larger than a microbe intact. And since I'm sure you were going to ask, we have yet to find any organism, living or dead, larger than a microbe."

Jiro expressed his appreciation with a low whistle. "Has anyone been able to duplicate that material yet?"

"No. The usual tests don't produce any meaningful results. But you can be assured that some very smart people are working hard on that little project. I keep hearing phrases like "exotic matter" being thrown around during discussions at meal times.

"Have any recordings or samples of writing been found?"

"We're still hoping, but so far, no. No signs, labels, or documents. No marks that look like symbols of any kind. . . . It's nearly ten pm local time, so maybe we should be starting back. Do you have any other questions before we leave?"

"About a thousand, but they'll keep."

Sadao shut down the telescope's laptop and they turned to walk back to the lift.

- - - - - - -

End of the first chapter.

I hope readers find this an interesting tale. I've tried to write this in such a way that the events could have happened "off camera" or in the background without requiring any changes in the events portrayed in the original series, at least until the 14th angel. Many of the more familiar characters will be appearing later on.

Pre-reading was done by Squire of Gothos. Many thanks, amigo.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own NGE. Gainax, Sadamoto, and Anno do. I'm just playing in their sandbox. Please don't sue.

~-~-~

(WHITE MOON, PART TWO)

Excerpt from Jiro Ibuki's Journal:

_In my estimation, coffee's wake-up kick beats the slight lift I get from drinking tea, my preferred hot beverage; but I still don't much like its flavor. I'd seen the smiles of appreciation on the faces of my fellow students at their first sip of the morning, and I found the aroma of the blackish brown brew inviting. It was when I took mt first-ever careful mouthful at the urging of friends that I'd realized my mistake. I'd gagged on the strong bitter flavor and barely managed to refrain from immediately spewing the hot liquid over the cafeteria table and the students in front of me. Instead, at great personal cost, I returned the vile stuff to my cup as discreetly as possible. A few weeks later I tried it again in desperation when a difficult term paper forced me into an all-nighter to to meet a professor's deadline. This time I had added a little milk and sugar at someone's suggestion, which reduced the bitterness. After more experimentation and testing, I'd added enough of both so that the coffee was almost palatable. That was more than ten years ago. Thereafter, I mix up this concoction whenever I need to keep my eyes open and can't manage it otherwise.  
_  
~-~-~

Such was the case this morning. A large mug of the stuff sat amongst the other breakfast items on his cafeteria tray as he searched for a place at a table in the busy eating area.

Rolf Lund spotted Jiro wandering around looking a little lost, so he waited until the computer analyst was looking in his direction then waved and called his name. They were soon joined in casual conversation while dealing with the morning meal.

After regaling Ibuki with the endgame details of his latest chess triumph, Rolf paused, peered at his associate and said, "Were you partying all last night, Jiro? Forgive me for saying so, but you look like you're paying for it this morning."

"If you define partying as digging through programming syntax manuals and repeatedly altering and testing algorithms, then I was partying. I hadn't intended to work so late, but I was getting close to solving a stubborn problem in the signal analysis chain and became so deeply involved that I didn't notice time passing. When I finally did come up for air, it was nearly three-thirty this morning. At least by that time I was pretty sure I'd worked out the bug. A test run on a small sample data set produced a promising result, so I left the base's computer system munching away at a group of full data sets. " Jiro looked up at the wall and checked the time on the clock there. "Looks like I'll have just enough time to see if the run has finished before our meeting this morning."

"Be sure to let us know how that worked out" Rolf urged as he piled the remains of his meal on his tray. "A little progress might help our morale." He rose from the table and gave Jiro a nod. "See you later," he said as he left.

~-~-~-~

After signing on to the system and calling up the status of the run, Jiro typed in the commands that would display the graphics on the large flat panel in his work area. A minute later, he was still staring at the display, his mouth hanging open as his mind worked furiously. He had been hoping for maybe a few little bumps to be noticeable above the "hayfield" that represented the background noise level in the scan data. What he saw was a beautiful 3-D graphic showing four smooth hilly areas rising well above the random data. With a jerk, he rejoined the living world and realized he was going to be late for his meeting. He quickly grabbed his notes and headed for the conference room down the hall.

There was the usual roll-call, a condensed review of the last meeting for those who had not been able to attend, and then reports from each of those present. Jiro, being junior in status, was last. He managed to keep from fidgeting, he hoped, even though some of the material contained terminology and mathematics that would have given Einstein a headache.

"Ibuki?" His head jerked up as he realized the chairperson had finally called his name.

"Yes. Thank you, Dr. Katsuiragi." Ibuki rose from his chair, went to the front of the room, and raised the whiteboard up out of the way to reveal the room's large flat screen computer display. As he returned to his seat at the opposite end of the table, he continued, "If you don't mind, I'll enter a few commands into the room's terminal while I explain. What you'll be seeing in a moment is a graphical representation of data obtained from the sensors in the instrument package you've used to scan the deck area of the White Moon. As you know, there was a different configuration used for each of the passes. Aside from providing a map of the surface topology, most produced nothing noteworthy due to the nature of the deck material, which absorbs most of the scan signals. Likewise, passive scans, simply listening for any kind of localized electro-magnetic radiation, produced nothing of note. This graphic shows the gray-scale deck map in its proper scale and orientation relative to a white wire-frame representation of the White Moon's spherical shell. I believe this much is familiar to all of you." There were a few bored nods.

"Shortly after I arrived, Gehirn sent the MAGI platform's specifications for a new scan to be conducted at about half the height above the deck as had been used. Additionally, the specs called for circular polarization of the scan beam at certain frequencies, using the electronics and antennas that had been shipped on the same flight that brought me here. The abstract accompanying the instructions explained that the MAGI had analyzed scan data that had been relayed back to Gehirn previously along with the various ways the instruments had been configured for each scan . . . " More bored nodding of heads. ". . . and had come up with the new arrangement.

Ibuki typed a few more lines of commands. "Of course, the new scan height above the deck produced a signal strength at the surface nearly quadruple that obtained up to that point, while limiting the area that could be scanned." More clicking of keyboard. "Anyway, the raw data produced didn't look a lot different than any of the previous data. However, . . . " there was some minor increase of attention around the table. ". . . when I inserted a software filter module also provided by the MAGI, a lot of the random data noise was removed. That, in combination with the latest visualization processing revision produced . . ." he pressed the 'Enter' key, " . . . this."

At the last key click, the base's computer painted a roughly circular area in shades of blue hovering over the center of the deck map. In it could be easily seen the smooth peaks representing localized return signals, the graphic that had so captured Ibuki's attention earlier.

"The return signal data included coordinates linked to the system established some while back for the purpose of documenting deck exploration." He keyed in a few more commands and the 3-D graphic on the screen rotated until the point of view was directly overhead along the White Moon's axis, using the point of entrance as the Moon's 'North Pole'. "Now you can see the signal strength of the returns represented as variation in brightness." What they were seeing in plain terms were the locations where something inside the White Moon had reacted to their scans. Now they were getting closer to unlocking whatever secrets this most unusual alien artifact held. The scientists around the table were absolutely silent for almost a minute, lost in their own thoughts.

A heavy-set scientist shifted, then opened his mouth to speak. "I don't wish to seem ungrateful for what you've been able to accomplish here, but if I'm not mistaken, we still don't know how deep below the deck these points of interest may be located."

"That is true, Doctor Pujari. However, I have a few ideas on how to tease that out of the information we already have. So with your permission, I'll undertake that as my next assignment."

"Any discussion on Mr. Ibuki's proposal?" Dr. Katsuragi looked around the table for any response . . . "No? Very well, Jiro. Make it so."

"It would seem that in order to scan the entire deck area, a means of moving the instrument package around from one location to another is needed. Its present suspension from the observation platform precludes that. Proposals for a practical means of accurately positioning the instrument package will be solicited from all departments and from Gehirn headquarters. Perhaps the MAGI system will come up with another winner. I'll compose a request and have my administrative assistant send it around by email.

"Any other business? Going once. Twice. Adjourned. See you all in a week's time."

~-~-~-~

Jiro peered through the observation platform's binocular telescope as its mount smoothly tracked a blue, white and orange unmanned blimp that was moving from its previous station to the next with stately grace. No side winds or turbulence existed in the White Moon to disturb it. Any small effect from human activity down on the deck dissipated and was lost in the huge volume of air through which the blimp glided. A GPS-like navigation module on the blimp received locator beacons from several transponders positioned around the circumference of the Moon's topmost deck. Its output was fed to the on-board computer which controlled the blimp's steerable ducted fan motors. Telemetry allowed the base's big computer to oversee the operation and to send positioning coordinates back to the blimp's navigation system. A fairly elegant solution all in all. The scanning and sensor instrument package had been dismounted from the observation platform's cable lift and attached to the blimp's underside two days ago. Now the entire deck area would be scanned in a week's time, the whole system running automatically. Scan data was temporarily stored on board in addition to being transmitted in real time. Gehirn had dictated that it be immediately streamed via satellite back to its headquarters near Hamburg, but the Katsuragi expedition scientists had Jiro save a copy locally as well.

Gehirn had his data visualization process now and no doubt the MAGI platform was processing the scan data as soon as it arrived. The business of getting z-axis information out of the data wasn't as hard as he'd anticipated. The deck surface topography was done in much the same way. Excruciatingly accurate timing between emission of a coded scan pulse and it's faint echos from the hidden structure of the White Moon contained the desired information. Essentially, the longer it took for an echo to return, the further away the reflecting object was. That, coupled with accurate scan beam vector data, allowed a computer to calculate the position of a reflecting object in three dimensions. It wasn't that simple in practice, partly because the returns from the top deck level were orders of magnitude stronger than deeper returns and tended to obscure the weaker signals. The MAGI's filter module was again put to good use, as well as a technique that subtracted the echo data representing the top deck's surface.

"How's the mapping look?" he asked a technician manning the terminals on the observation platform. Jiro liked being close to where the action was, even if he could see everything just as easily from his work area in the surface base. "The blimp just left its latest scan station, so the computer should be able to start painting that part of the map pretty soon."

"The big display to your left isn't scheduled for anything at the moment. I'll have the output sent there." The technician performed a rapid-fire keying of commands and the indicated screen came to life. Jiro watched as a high-resolution 3-D representation began building there. In a way, it reminded him of something he had seen a few years ago, the ultrasound display of his soon-to-be-born son. At first it had just been unrecognizable grainy lines and shadows, too. He sighed at the thought. When his assignment to the Katsuragi expedition had come earlier this year, he was seriously torn. On one hand, he very much wanted to stay in Hamburg with his growing family. On the other hand, he had a chance to live one of his daydreams . . . that of being involved in some sort of contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. It was an enthusiasm that he and his wife shared, odd as that seemed to their parents and friends. They had talked it over, just the two of them. Even though he felt his first responsibility rested with his family, his wife overruled him and encouraged him to accept the assignment.

He smiled as he recalled meeting Michiko for the first time. They were both the geeky, awkward sort of kids that favored exploring science over attending sporting events or hanging out at the local shopping mall. Early in his first year he'd been spending time after classes in the high school's computer club, hoping to make new friends, sometimes working on a programming project. That particular day things were like they usually were, with some kids over in a corner of the classroom talking quietly and others at computers playing games or exploring the Internet. He'd just saved his work when dark muttering erupted from behind a computer screen across the table from him. It dawned on him that he was hearing some very creative cursing that never once descended into crude profanity. It was so at odds with the soft feminine quality of the voice that he stood up to see who it was. As soon as his head appeared above her display, she'd stopped, apparently realizing that others could hear her. Her face colored as she apologized for bothering him. When she had looked up at him, he'd noticed her gray-green eyes first. They still held frustration from whatever had caused her outburst, but there were no tears or any other sign of helplessness.

He waved off her concern about the overheard language. "No, don't worry. I don't mind. . . . Um, is your computer giving you problems?"

"Sort of. The computer froze up while I was saving my work to a floppy, and it looks like I'll probably have to do it all over again."

"Maybe that one has a hardware problem. You might want to use another PC."

She looked around at the other two machines which were also in use, than back to Jiro, who caught himself liking it when her attention was on him. He realized he might have been staring at her when she raised an eyebrow and softly cleared her throat.

"Ah, I just finished with what I was doing. Would you like to use this one?" He could feel some heat in his face and was sure that he was blushing. Damn it.

She regarded him a moment longer, then, "OK. Thanks."

When she gave him a quick little smile, he found himself far happier than was reasonable. _What's with me?_ he wondered. Yeah, she's kind of cute, but . . .

She gathered up some notes, a box of disks, and her book bag, and came around the table as he grabbed his stuff and got out of her way. On impulse, he went around to the PC she had been using and saw that it was still on, the display showing a text edit window partly hidden by a message box indicating that the file was being saved. Since his father had helped him build the computer he used at home, he felt familiar enough with the hardware to have a look. He moved the display to the side, then released the catches that held the PC's cover in place. It wasn't long before he noticed that the floppy drive's power connector wasn't fully seated, and figuring _what the heck,_ he pushed it in all the way. The drive whirred to life and the heads moved in and out with a muted grumble. In a few moments, it was still and the message on the screen read "Save Successful". He grinned to himself as he popped out her disk. The label had her name on it: Michiko Ibuki. When he looked up, he found she had been watching him around the edge of her display screen. He held out her disk to her and said, "Maybe your work isn't gone after all." The relieved and grateful smile she gave him nearly caused him to stop breathing.

In the weeks that followed he found he was always looking for some way to earn another smile like the one she had rewarded him with. It just made his whole day when he could do something to make her happy. He soon found that she was easy to talk to and wasn't given to the giggling silliness he'd seen in other girls. While they didn't both like all of the same things, he discovered that her interests were close enough to his, and that the give and take when their opinions didn't match was usually light-hearted, interesting, and never descended into arguments that produced hurt feelings.

One day, they were comparing notes on an old science fiction work, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as they left the school yard. He had read the book, Michiko had seen the movie. Without thinking about it, he had continued to walk along with her as they talked, and when she came to a stop about fifteen minutes later, he realized he didn't know where he was. They were standing on the sidewalk in a peaceful residential area and she was smiling, amused at his blinking confusion. "Would you like to come in for some tea?"

After that, he often walked her home from school. It just seemed like a natural thing to do. She'd introduced him to her mother that first time, and he'd felt a little uncomfortable at first, taking care to be polite and respectful. But it was soon evident where Michiko's personality had come from. Her mother was gracious but low key, and had made him feel welcome and relaxed right away.

A beep brought Jiro out of his reverie. The computer had finished building the 3-D display. Another three signal returns were evident three deck levels down. From the looks of things, simply getting an exploration team to the marked locations would be challenge enough. Jiro frowned, his brows furrowing. _But what could they be?_

_~-~-~_

End of Chapter 2

A/N: OK, this chapter isn't as long as the last one. Would you rather have long chapters or reasonably frequent updates? Although my intentions are good, I can't promise a chapter a week. Real life doesn't always cooperate and neither does my muse. I think a chapter every two weeks might be more the rule. . . longer if I hit a dry spell.

To those wanting more "action" - I want to spend some time letting the reader get to know Jiro and to build up a picture for the reader of the environment in which he was working. I hope that Second Impact, when it comes, will be enough action to satisfy most.

Thanks to Matrix Refugee for the kind review on the previous chapter. It's helpful to know that I'm doing what I wanted to do, for at least one reader.

Pre-reading was done by Squire of Gothos. Many thanks, amigo. Go read his fics, too.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own NGE. Gainax, Sadamoto, and Anno do.  
I'm just playing in their sandbox. Please don't sue.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

(White Moon, Part-3)

His SysAdmin duties done for the day, Jiro found himself with some time on his hands and was reading through a status report the base staff received in their email. As was his habit, he mentally commented as he did a quick read-through. _The mapping blimp has visited all of the scan stations. The data has been sent onward to Gehirn, and the base computer has built a three-dimensional map of the White Moon, three deck layers deep, four levels if you weren't picky about resolution.__Despite the collective IQ of the base's population, the task of determining a route that the exploration team could follow to each of the signal sources is still unfinished. Hell, it's barely begun._

He knew that the uneven spaces between the collapsed and crumpled decks formed tortuously convoluted passages, many of which were too narrow for men and equipment. Given the toughness of the deck material, jacking or prying the layers further apart seemed impossible. So once again, many were looking to Gehirn's MAGI system to come up with a solution.

Later, he spent some time examining the objects that had been brought out of the White Moon. He knew all had proven inert to any test, and had likewise successfully resisted all attempts to divine a probable purpose. None had revealed any switches, electrical contacts or movable parts. They appeared variously metallic, ceramic, or glassy in various shades of white to black. It may have been that the builders were color blind, but this was unlikely since in that case, accidental natural colors in the materials would have been overlooked. A speculation making the rounds was that the aliens' sense of sight might have included ultraviolet, infra-red, or other bands in the electromagnetic spectrum invisible to humans. Out of frustration, some proposed that everything had been activated and controlled by the thoughts of the original alien crew. _Good luck on duplicating that,_ he thought.

That brought him back to considering the huge alien craft. It was easy to see where the decks had been attached to the shell before the crash. Light-amplifying optics made the rings of jagged and twisted remnants clearly visible, resembling lines of latitude marked on the inside surface of a globe. He knew it was risky to make assumptions when comparing the design of human structures with something built by and for aliens that no one had ever seen. That didn't stop anyone, however, from noting that the minimum distance between decks had been about 90 meters, with the average spacing being 140 meters, more or less. Human requirements and preferences for headroom scaled up for a 90 meter ceiling would correspond to beings from 45 to 80 meters in height. The smaller space might have been a cramped maintenance access area for the previous tenants, or something else entirely. There were just too many unknowns. The sheer scale of the White Moon remained a daunting reality.

It was all fascinating to a point, but since Jiro was out of his depth in the area of alien archaeology, he had finally put it aside and moved on to other things. At one point, he'd decided to do something at least marginally useful, he hoped, and set himself the task of coaxing the base computer into reconstructing how the interior of the White Moon must have looked before the crash that had torn apart or smashed nearly everything inside. It was partly a matter of having the computer match torn deck edge to the remains of the deck fastenings on the inner surface of the sphere, which were as varied and unique as fingerprints. Some work had already been done by others, so he built upon the existing foundation and puttered away at it until he was satisfied. Of course simply ordering the computer to iron out the wrinkles to produce a uniformly flat sheet of decking wouldn't do the job. There were bulkheads and both vertical and horizontal passages from one area to another. Jiro worked at the algorithms until he could get the computer to recognize the structures properly. Then he tweaked away at other algorithms until the computer could return the buckled and crushed shapes to their original undamaged form. The new virtual White Moon was now represented by a hollow sphere with the top-most four detailed deck levels occupying the top of the volume. The remaining volume was huge, most of the upper 40 percent showing only featureless flat deck levels indicated by the visible deck remnants on the inside of the shell. About sixty percent was an empty gray area and labeled with the tag "Insufficient Data".

He'd already been spending the odd hour at it while the blimp made its rounds, and another three days while they waited for a solution from the MAGI. He knew that Gehirn's monstrously fast system could perform the virtual reconstruction much quicker, but he wanted to contribute something further himself, even if it was currently unasked for. _Sooner or later it would have to be done by someone, so it might as well be me, _he reasoned.

Despite the plentiful and sometimes fascinating activities associated with his work, the high point of any day was when he talked with Michiko via instant messaging or emails, and by satellite telephone when it was allowed. Most of the information flowed from his wife to him concerning how they all missed him, how Maya was doing well in school, and how their young son, Goro, was growing. For his part, Jiro told them how he missed and loved them, but due to the secrecy imposed by Gehirn about anything connected with the White Moon, he fell back on describing a little abouthis room mates and other acquaintances at the base, or books he'd read and videos he'd been watching, to round out the conversations. It didn't matter all that much what they talked about, Jiro was just happy to hear Michiko's, Maya's, and Goro's voices when he could. Even little Goro's enthusiastic reports on his day's adventures helped lift his spirits.

In quieter moments, he'd occasionally reminisce about his high school days with Michiko, and their sometimes bumpy developing relationship. It had never occurred to him back then to think of himself as a future husband or father. On the other hand, by their senior year, he couldn't imagine going through life without Michiko. Maybe that was how the notion of marriage snuck up on him. He enjoyed her company partly because he was acutely aware of this lively, intelligent being who looked at the world with enthusiasm and curiosity. He found it amazing that she seemed interested in him, and even seemed to like hanging out with him. It didn't appear to bother her that she got her hands dirty or that her hair got mussed when they were working on something like assembling their robotics project. It mattered to her that what they were doing together was interesting and challenging. She never seemed concerned with makeup or hairstyles, yet she never looked like she neglected her appearance either.

_OK, it wasn't _only _her mind or personality_, he admitted. That was the other thing that had kind of snuck up on him. They were both gangly fifteen-year-olds when they first met, just beginning to grow into their adult versions. The growing process was so gradual that he was surprised one day by the sudden realization that she had somehow changed from just being a cute girl to being an attractive young woman. That wake-up call had happened toward the end of their sophomore year. Michiko had filled him in later on her recollection of it, so now he remembered both sides as a sort of shared experience . . .

There were among his fellow students, those that had an early interest in the opposite sex, probably driven by a surge of hormones at the onset of adolescence. They focused on their own looks and on the appearance of others, trying to seem cool, sophisticated, and adult while being washed back and forth by the tides of fashion and trendiness and competition. Dances and dates quickly rose to the top of their to-do lists. Jiro was not one of them. His place in the social spectrum, as he preferred to think of it, was with the students who found intellectual pursuits more interesting than styles or dances or attracting the opposite sex. They were having their share of hormones as well, but were not being overwhelmed by them. He didn't like to think that he and his friends were awkward, geeky, and socially backward.

Jiro had not been totally oblivious to dances in high school. It wasn't possible. Every bulletin board was plastered with colorful posters. The cafeteria had big banners on the walls. All the excited talk around him in the hallways centered around the next dance. This time the buzz was about end-of-the-school-year Sophomore Dance. It was THE. BIG. THING. He just didn't feel that it had anything to do with him. He'd gone alone to the Freshman Welcome Dance out of curiosity, and had felt exceedingly ill at ease the entire time, staying off to the edge with a few of his male friends from middle school who seemed to feel just as uncomfortable about it all. He'd never wanted to attend another.

.

"So . . . you know the dance is next week . . .I was hoping you might not have a date yet."

"Oh?"

The boy talking to Michiko wasn't one of the people they hung out with, but he'd seen him around. Since he'd neither caused Jiro any trouble nor appeared to have any interests in common with him at all, they both remained anonymous members of the general mass of students to each other.

"Well, Iwashopingyoumightgowithme . . ifyoudidn'talreadyhaveadateImean," a graceless invitation delivered in a breathless rush that made it all but impossible to understand. The boy's complexion had turned a wondrous shade of red during the delivery, betraying a near total lack of cool confidence.

Jiro just stood there, close enough to hear and see, but camouflaged by the surrounding press of students going to and from lockers and classrooms. It now appeared that the boy and he did have a common interest, a possibility that surprised Jiro with how unhappy it made him feel.

Michiko appeared to take it pretty much in stride and didn't seem nearly as surprised as Jiro felt. And he had never before noticed her smiling like that at another boy. "Oh. Thank you so much for asking me, Shinishi, but I already have a date. Sorry," she responded with a touch of shyness and sympathy.

_She has a date to the dance . . . I didn't know that. I didn't know she was interested in going. She never mentioned anything about it. _Young Jiro was in shock. He was finding it hard to breathe around a large heavy lump in his chest. His pulse beat loudly in his ears, competing with the ringing that nearly deafened him. His hands and feet were numb. He felt nauseous. Dizziness threatened to topple him. Of all his senses, only his sight didn't betray him. It was sharp and clear, more so than at any other time he could remember. Suddenly he could see Michiko as others must see her. . . as he should have seen her if he hadn't been blind. And he recognized that he had come to feel more strongly about her than he would have ever admitted to himself until that moment.

Shinishi's mouth smiled, but his eyes betrayed disappointment. "Another time maybe?"

"Maybe."

Then they both headed off in opposite directions for their next classes.

Jiro had stumbled through the remainder of his school day like a zombie, drawing puzzled stares from friends and teachers. The prospect of meeting Michiko in the computer club after school could usually turn his worst day into a great one, but something had changed, making him want to turn around and flee as soon as he reached the door. He had no reason to think he would see Michiko with her dance date there, but the unlikely possibility raised an ugly fear in his soul that he just didn't know how to deal with. To his credit he forced a lid down on his traitorous imagination, gulped a breath to calm his nerves, and went on in. No Michiko.

_She often meets a friend in the hall who wants to talk. She's probably late because of something like that. Yeah. It's just a friend that she's going to the dance with. AHH-H-H-H! STOP IT! _Jiro's inner turmoil was rendered visible to those around him as odd twitches and facial expressions. The nearest of them moved away, wondering if he'd come down with some strange sickness. _Got to get a grip. Gotta act normal. Sit down and do something at a computer. Something. . ._

"Something wrong?"

"GAAHH-H!" He jumped as if his chair had suddenly delivered thousands of volts of electricity to his spine. Michiko had just walked in through the door he was facing and leaned down to look in his face. He'd been so spaced out that he hadn't noticed her until she spoke.

She'd briefly pulled back at his startled shout, but now she was back peering into his face, wearing a frown of concern on her own. _He's breathing like he'd just run a kilometer up a steep hill and his eyes are all bugging out. _"Do you need to go the school nurse?"

He felt like he was having a heart attack. "No. I'm alright," he strangled out. Michiko wasn't convinced. She felt his forehead to see if he was feverish. And he was, from momentary bliss. Her touch felt wonderful to him. _She's touching my face . . . so nice, so gentle, . . . She smells nice, too..._

_Now he's got a weird sappy grin._ "There's something wrong with you. You're acting strange."

"No, really. . ." he made a supreme effort to get himself under control. _She's here. That other guy isn't. Talk to her. _"I'm OK. . . . But can we take a walk somewhere?"

"Sure." Her concern was still there.

They grabbed their backpacks and headed out, Jiro quiet and Michiko with nearly visible question marks in the air above her head. When their school was a couple of minutes behind them, he finally broke his silence.

He stayed facing straight ahead, but couldn't help stealing glances at her, trying to read her expression... "Michiko, we've been kind of hanging out around each other for almost two years now, right?"

"Yes." _Where'd this come from? He looks so serious._

"We've talked about a lot of stuff ...that we're both interested in, I guess . . ." At her nod he continued, "Once we got so involved in what we were talking about, I just sort of walked with you to your house. Um, and since then I've walked you home from school a lot of the time . . . maybe not every day, but pretty often?" He caught her smile out of the corner of his eye and found some encouragement in it. ". . . So maybe you could say that we're friends, maybe good friends?"

Michiko became aware of her heartbeat speeding up._ This is so different. It's not like our usual talks at all. _She gently grabbed his upper arm with both of her hands, reassuringly, she hoped. "Definitely. Really good friends," she said could feel him shaking a little. Or was it her?

Jiro was super aware of her touch, like all of his nerves had heightened sensitivity. Her hands felt warm on his arm. They were walking closer now than they ever had. Every once in a while they would accidentally bump lightly together at the shoulder, at the hip. He felt more than her hands against his arm. This wasn't helping him think at all. He felt a silly grin trying to take over his face and he knew by the warmth in his ears and his cheeks that he was blushing. _Damn! . . . But she looked so happy earlier today when she talked about a date to the dance. If I'm her good friend, I can't mess that up for her. If I really care about her, I can't go trading away her happiness so I can have mine._

She watched the smile grow on his face, and then watched it change slowly to a sad smile. _What's he thinking? What's making him unhappy? I don't like this feeling I'm getting from him._

"I realized earlier today that you might enjoy going to dances, going out on dates, things we've never talked about... Well, I don't know how to say this right, so please forgive my clumsiness." He took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "I like you a lot, Michiko. Because of that, because I'm your ... good friend, I want you to be happy. Seeing you smile just makes me feel good, better than I have any right to feel. I go around looking for things I can do just so that maybe you'll give me one of those smiles. I want you to know that the way I feel about you is .. is free. It's a gift from me to you. You don't have to do anything for it and you don't have any obligation to me because of it." He found he'd run out of steam. He hoped he hadn't dug himself a hole but he was sure he would if he kept talking.

Her jaw dropped and she brought her arms stiffly to her sides, hands fisted. _Dances! Dates! So that's what this is about._ She rounded on him, stopped, and really got in his face. "Are you an idiot?! And what were you doing listening in on that conversation, Jiro Ishihara ?!" She hoped her glare was angry and convincing enough. It was all she could do to keep from laughing with relief.

Jiro cringed_. Aw shit! I messed up. Now she's really angry with me, exactly _not _what I wanted_.

"So you heard me say that I had a date for the dance?!" She watched him nod dejectedly. "I'll have you know _that_ is the kind of thing I have been telling _everyone _who has asked me for a date since I met you!"

"Michiko, I'm really sor... WHAT?" The world spun like a top, or it might have been his head that was spinning. He was so unbalanced, he had no way of knowing. He may have actually smelt burning neurons as his brain screeched to a halt.

_Oh no! I've broken him._ The gob-smacked look on his face told her that Jiro was 'out to lunch'. _Oh well, _she sighed, _I may as well finish the job._ She stepped up to the poor boy, cupped both sides of his face gently with her hands and gave him a very warm, loving kiss right on the lips, then pulled back to evaluate the effect. _Michiko Ibuki, you are way too bold and shameless,_ she told herself with a canary-eating grin. . . .

.  
.

Rolf was walking down the corridor on his way to dinner, and since he was passing the computer labs, he decided to poke his head in and see if Jiro was ready to eat as well. The sight of the computer analystleaning back in his desk chair unnerved him. It was the other-worldly blissful expression on the guy's face. They'd known each other long enough now that Rolf was pretty certain that Jiro wasn't into recreational drugs. But how else to explain that disturbing far-away glaze in the eyes?

"Jiro??"

The few people still in nearby offices were startled by the loud thump . . . a sound that could have been made by a big sack of phone books dropped on the floor . . . or someone falling out of a chair.

~-~-~

Several days later he was having a late lunch in the base cafeteria when he heard a female voice that sounded too young to belong to anyone at a secret science base in the Antarctic.

"Okay if I sit here?" she asked.

Jiro turned around to see who she was addressing, and nearly knocked a tray full of food out of her hands in the process.

"Hey! Careful! You almost got to wear my lunch." The speaker looked like she belonged in a junior high school, but apparently had more self-confidence than the average girl her age. Her open and steady gaze was directed at Jiro. It took him a couple of moments to realize she was still waiting for an answer.

"Uh, sure." He watched as she went around to the other side of his table and set down her tray. The girl wore snug jeans, a big bulky sweater, some comfortable looking soft boots, and the air of someone totally familiar with her surroundings.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you new here?" she queried as she sat down and began to unload her tray.

Jiro idly watched as she adjusted her hair band to keep her dark shoulder length hair back away from her face. "I could say the same to you. I've been here about a month and I know I haven't seen you before. But then I've been buried in my work in the the computer labs until recently."

The girl had her priorities and assaulted her food for a time before asking, "What do you do?"

He washed down his latest bite with some tea. "I'm a computer analyst. Usually that's just the care and feeding routine, but once in a while I get to do more interesting things. My specialty is coaxing computers into displaying data in graphic form, something mortal humans find easier to understand than files full of numbers. . . . My name is Jiro Ibuki, by the way."

"Misato Katsuragi." She lowered her head as she resumed eating, but watched him from behind her fringe, as if expecting something.

He put down his fork. "Katsuragi? You're related to Dr. Katsuragi?'

"He's my father."

Jiro thought it must be nice to be able to bring your family along on expeditions.

"Is your mother here too?" Jiro watched her expression crumple, a mixture of anger and pain.

Misato's response was subdued, her dark expressive eyes seeming to go dead in an instant. "My parents are separated." She dropped her gaze to the table in front of her, clearly having some uncomfortable memories brought to the surface.

He felt the blood drain from his face. _Shit! I really put my foot in it._ "Please forgive me for bringing that up! I didn't mean to ask about something private, and apparently painful to you."

"S' ok. You just caught me off guard." She paused, maybe considering what to say. "I think my father is trying to keep me away from my mother." As she spoke the sentence, her eyes revealed a hot inner flame of anger that quickly shifted to a look of cold desolation, doubtless revealing a little of her true feelings on the matter.

Jiro felt his jaw drop. He didn't know what to say to that. Everything he felt about Michiko and his children made Misato's remark seem impossible. _How could two people who had loved each other enough to get married and have children screw up their lives enough for this to happen? I've heard about things like this, but I don't understand it at all._ "You know, I'm sorry . . . really sorry I asked. I shouldn't be prying into your private life."

She shrugged. "Not your fault. You had no way of knowing." Misato became quiet for a moment, then apparently decided to go back to an earlier topic as if to deny that the embarrassing episode had happened.

"I've been here at this base for nearly eight months. At first it was fantastic, exciting. None of my friends had ever gone to the South Pole....And even though I couldn't tell them about it, I was like really eager to see a space ship built by aliens." She paused to take a drink of water, then picked at her food, apparently more out of a desire to have something to do with her hands than from hunger.

Feeling himself being let off the hook, Jiro followed her lead and asked, "So, you've probably seen it. What do you think about it?"

"Well, the first time it was a really big adventure, going down into the glacier like that, scary too. . . like something out of a science fiction movie. Then that other elevator, down through all that rock. Just thinking about how deep we'd gone made me nervous."

Jiro was relieved to see life slowly come back into her eyes, her expressions becoming lively and engaging again.

"After we went through the air lock, they let me take a close look at the little bit of the outside of the White Moon that you can see there. I even touched it with my bare hand. Did you do that, too?"

Jiro couldn't help but smile a little, she had become so intense with her last question. "Yes. It was strange. So smooth . . . and it didn't feel cold at all." He purposefully didn't mention the tingle he had felt, just to see what she'd say. She seemed a little disappointed at first, but again fixed him with her penetrating stare. Jiro felt a little as if he were being cross-examined.

"Wasn't there any thing else? Some other feeling?"

_A-hah! She'd felt it too_. "Yeah. You're probably asking about that weird tingling sensation. . . a little like an electric shock. As soon as I felt it, I jerked my hand back. The people I was with were expecting that, and they got a little laugh at my expense."

They shared a grin at his admission. "Same here," she said. "Then we went down to the observation platform and I got to look over the edge. No one told me what to expect, and I hadn't seen any pictures. It gave me this really spooky feeling. Part of it was the quiet. Any noise that we made on the platform sounded dead. There weren't any echoes. And I couldn't see anything below, it was so dark. But it felt like I was looking out into an enormous empty place, maybe even like into outer space."

"Have you gone back down and looked at it since then?"

"A few times. The telescope was fun to use for a while. But they won't let me go down in the lift and look around on the deck. I don't know what they're worried about. There isn't anything alive down there. Anyway, I finally gave up. There wasn't anything new to see from the platform, so I quit going."

"So what do you do now?" Jiro wondered what a normal teen would find to do in this isolated little community. Everyone else was at least six years older, some old enough to be her grandparents. Everyone was there to investigate the White Moon, to solve as many of its mysteries as they could.

"My dad makes me keep up with my school work six days a week. I have a tutor, and some of the scientists tell me a little about their work when they aren't too busy. But that's gotten pretty old. There aren't even any other kids here. You know, no one my age to spend any time with. I really miss my friends."

"So that's it? school, eat, and sleep?"

"Almost. It's driving me nuts. At least the work teams that have something to do outside around the base will let me tag along sometimes. I like the fresh air and open spaces and sky and going around on snow shoes after it's snowed. Almost anything outside is better than spending all my time in this frozen ant hill, but bad weather can keep everyone inside for days, even weeks. So whenever I get the chance I go out on the surface."

As she talked about things she enjoyed, her dark eyes took on a sparkle and her smile was one that would keep a trail of would-be boyfriends following in her wake in a couple of years. . . _no, more like one year, _Jiro thought. _Maybe less._

"Last week I even got to drive one of the snow cats. Now that is a blast!"

Her grin was almost scary. It made Jiro wonder where that particular appetite would take her in the future. _Probably terrorize the streets once she gets her license_, he thought.

Jumping topics again, Misato startled Jiro a little when she asked, "So, what do you think they'll find when the exploration team tracks down the sources of the signals?"

~-~-~

(End of Chapter 3)

A/N:I'm trying to improve my writing so, as always, constructive criticism is welcome. For that matter, so are comments, suggestions, opinions, even flames

Pre-reading was done by Squire of Gothos; but don't blame him for the story's problems. Sometimes I don't take his good advice.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own NGE. Gainax, Sadamoto, and Anno do.

I'm just playing in their sandbox. Please don't sue.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

(WHITE MOON - Part 4)

"So, what do you think they'll find when the exploration team tracks down the sources of the signals?"

_That was THE question, wasn't it? Everything else in the White Moon was inert or dead, a few microbes excepted._ Jiro knew there was little to go by, but the one thing that kept coming back at him was the original spacing between decks. To his mind, even if you had a lot of funding, a really great power source and were technologically very advanced, you still didn't waste volume when building a space craft. The crew had to have been huge. But that was probably not the kind of discussion Misato had in mind when she asked the question.

"Probably really big BEMs or lots of LGM," Jiro offered with a straight face._The gauntlet is down._

Misato looked blank for a second, then narrowed her eyes. The smirk she wore clearly said, "You think you're real clever, don't you?"

_Uh-oh, _Jiro thought.

"Bug-Eyed Monsters? Little Green Men? Why not gigantic blobs of intelligent protoplasm?"

_She's quick, _he thought wryly. "Or they could be giant brains in huge glass jars, waiting to turn us into mind slaves."

"No, actually I'm expecting a bunch of featureless black monoliths that have control over time and space."

They'd both been trying to maintain serious faces through all this as if it were a dryly scientific discussion, but something in Jiro's expression finally torpedoed her control. It was a truism that the more you try not to laugh, the more you feel the need to. She snorted and began giggling, trying to at least do it quietly.

Immediately, he lost it as well and tried to stifle a snicker with his hand. Heads turned in their direction. Silliness in the cafeteria or anywhere else around the base was a bit unusual. "I dis- . . disagree. They'll find a human-looking . . . alien named Klaatu and a giant robot named G-gort." The idea of arguing, with a fourteen-year-old no less, about what sort of science fiction monsters might be hiding in the depths of the very real alien space craft beneath them, appealed to his sense of the absurd.

"N-no, you're wrong. This space ship was crewed by a giant moth with the help . . . of telepathic faeries." Misato was succumbing to giddiness, tears of laughter starting to trickle from her eyes. It was only a matter of time before they both quit making any sense whatsoever.

"OK, I give. We have to quit this or Section-2 will come and lock us up in padded cells."

"Ah. Yeah, I guess so." Misato wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath. "But it was fun in a demented sort of way."

Jiro leaned back "Yeah, it was. Even so, I think I'd better get back to work. Computers tend to act up if they think they're being ignored." He loaded the remains of his lunch on his tray and stood up with it. "See you, Misato."

"See ya, Jiro-san. Watch out for the monoliths."

_Klaatu barada nicto,_ thought Jiro as he smiled and gave her a parting nod.

_Wish he was about ten years younger, _thought Misato with a grin that might have bordered on 'predatory'. . . . _Hey!_ _Nice butt._

~-~-~-~

Partial transcript of weekly meeting:

" . . . the next item on the agenda is the evaluation and solution of problems involved in getting an exploration team to the signal sources, which Gehirn has given a code designation, "Pattern Blue". The 'request for proposal' that was circulated after our meeting two weeks ago seems to have elicited a number of responses. A few of them have been selected for further consideration based on probability of success and on availability of the required resources. Additionally, Gehirn's MAGI has provided analysis of the deck scans and a proposed routes for reaching the Pattern Blue sources that are located above the fifth deck level.

"The Physics group proposes that the particle accelerator used to drill through the shell of the White Moon be used again to drill through the layers of deck. Would you care to elaborate, Dr. Pujari?"

"Thank you, Dr. Katsuragi. . . . It's not rocket science. The only reason our group came up with the idea first is that we're familiar with our 'toys' and their capabilities. I believe you all know that the access hole through the White Moon's shell was made by a particle accelerator that was optimized for producing antimatter . . . specifically, a beam of positrons. While it took weeks to penetrate the shell's half-meter thickness and enlarge the hole to its present dimensions, the deck material is not nearly as tough. Also, in most places between structural supports, its thickness is no more than a half centimeter. We estimate that it would take no longer than a day to cut a one meter by one and a half meter hole through one deck layer, for example. I believe that would be sufficient for the men and their equipment to access the next deck down. . . Dr. Katsuragi?"

"Thank you, Dr. Pujari. Jiro, would you please put up the current version of the map? ....Thank you. You can see that the Pattern Blue sources in groups one through three are within the range of the scans on decks three and four, while groups four and five are deeper. For the sake of estimation, we will assume that the average space between collapsed decks continues beyond the maximum scan depth. This would approximately place the fourth group on deck eight, and the fifth on deck eleven.

"For now, let's concentrate on the first three groups. Jiro, could you add the MAGI's marks and change the map viewpoint so that we can look vertically down through the decks? ....Perfect. Now you can see that the MAGI determined this location for the first shaft. It can be cut down through the first three decks here so that access to the first group on deck three can be achieved by following this green route from our shaft, while access to the second and third groups on deck four can be accessed by following the route marked in red. The MAGI system was tasked to provide the shortest routes that would facilitate passage for an exploration team with their equipment, and to locate the shaft so as to minimize damage to potentially interesting or sensitive areas, marked on the map in yellow. It probably wouldn't be good if we accidentally cut through a nuclear power plant or munitions, for example. Since we don't know what those yellow areas are, we also don't know what they aren't. So we're playing it safe.

"Now as to the makeup of the exploration team, I've asked my administrative assistant, Sadao, to gather recommendations from the various scientific and strategic groups for the specialists that should be included in the team, as well as for equipment. Copies of the resulting lists are in the folders in front of you. We're going to spend a little time during and after lunch boiling this down to something practical, with an emphasis on personnel and equipment that are considered absolutely essential, and that can do double or triple duty. One of the lists is from Gehirn. Of course you are familiar with the list from you own group, but take a couple of hours to familiarize yourselves with the others. The cafeteria staff will bring box lunches here for us. We'll meet back here at noon. ...Adjourned."

~-~-~-~

Excerpt from Jiro Ibuki's journal:

_It was an agonizingly slow process, getting the exploration team and their equipment from the surface base down to the White Moon's top deck level. The upper two elevators were fast enough, Kami knows, but the lift from the airlock to the observation platform and the long-distance lift from there to the top deck didn't hold much, even with the freight compartments added on below the passenger floors. And they were slow. The anti-matter drill went first and, broken down into its modules, required three trips. At least there was already an established, well-supplied base camp at the bottom of the lift from the observation platform._

_While everything else was being sent down and packed on the golf-cart-like rovers and their trailers, the physicists and mining engineers set up the antimatter drill and put it to work at the precise coordinates the MAGI system had specified. Even if the deck material wasn't as durable or as thick as the shell, it still took nearly eleven hours to cut a one by one and a half meter hole through a single layer._

_Then the guys broke it down and lowered it through the hole it had just finished cutting, set it up, and started it making another hole. After three days, they had access down to the fourth deck level. By this time, a secondary base camp had been established around the hole in the top deck._

_The entire data stream containing the video, audio, and telemetry is being relayed to Gehirn, and it has become a popular off-duty pastime to watch whatever was happening on the feed in real time. It's exciting partly because history is being made, and partly because you never knew if and when something from the dark unknown would become attracted to the noise and activity, and pay our exploration team a visit. OK, seriously, there is a growing excitement about seeing whatever the Pattern Blue sources may be._

_Speaking of which, our intrepid explorers are lugging a "miniaturized" version of the scanning equipment that was used to do the latest through-deck mapping. It's running the optimized configuration, but since it's not as powerful, it has a more limited range. Basically, it can image dense material through the thickness of a single deck layer, and locate the Pattern Blue returns through the equivalent of five layers of deck. _

~-~-~-~

"Comm check, Camp Two. This is Team Tokubei checking in. Over."

"This is White Moon Base Camp Two. Check is good, Tokubei. Audio is strong and clear, video is good, telemetry data has zero errors. Over"

"Roger, Camp Two. We have just set up another Breadcrumb. Transmitting digital coordinates and ID. Acknowledge."

"Affirmative, Tokubei. Coordinates and ID confirmed. Map coordinates assigned. Over."

"Copy that, Camp Two. Verbal log entry follows. Team Tokubei is three days, six hours, twenty-two minutes out. We estimate another four hours ten minutes to Target One. The 'Big Dog" pack robot is performing well, although it tends to lose some traction in dusty areas. The same goes for we human pack animals. There have been three more unique artifacts encountered that can be picked up on our return trip. They have been flagged and their coordinates logged for later location. We have not had to deviate from the planned route to target, but there was one point since last log entry that was pretty tight. We had to take off our packs and crawl. The packs were tied to a rope and pulled through behind us. Big Dog had to be unloaded as well. We folded his legs and pulled him and his load through by rope also. That caused some delay, but no more than expected. End log entry. Over."

"Copy log entry. Recorded and relayed. Camp Two over and out."

"Team Tokubei, out."

Jiro and several other off-duty personnel were gathered in the surface base computer lab, watching and listening to the progress of the exploration team while they ate lunches they'd brought from the cafeteria. As the exploration team resumed travel, the video pictures started bobbing and swinging as would be expected from helmet-mounted cameras. Image stabilization helped, but there was only so much it could do. The viewers quickly learned that to watch the screens continuously was to court vertigo - not that there was a compelling reason to watch every second of the feed. Muted discussions of the interesting parts temporarily diverted attention. No one worried about missing something as there was always someone else following the team's progress.

One camera, worn by the individual in the rear of the group, mostly provided a view the backs of the rest of the team and so was generally ignored by the audience. The other camera, worn by whoever was in point position, was more interesting. It recorded images of dense darkness relieved only by the moving beams of lights mounted on the helmets of each team member. Puffs of white vapor from their breathing passed through the beams and reminded those watching remotely that the ambient temperature there was well below freezing. Indistinct shapes slowly manifested out of the gloom ahead, gradually becoming yet another undulation of the deck, a crushed bulkhead or, more rarely, another alien artifact. Most of the ones they'd seen over the past three days were huge, on the scale of buildings or towers, but the size varied. A few were small enough to tempt collection. Like the ones encountered on the top deck level, all defied divination of purpose. An important difference, down there on the third deck level, was that many of the largest artifacts were damaged by being partially crushed in the collapse of the deck level above. That very uneven ceiling rested on these and had produced wrinkling, something like what would be expected in a partially crushed can.

The specimens that evoked the most interest were those that had split open to a greater or lesser extent. Lights and cameras were pushed into the breaches in hopes of finding something that would explain mysteries rather than adding to them. The engineers were the most frustrated. They were used to human machinery and electronics, the orderly and logical arrangement of components and framework. "Form follows function" was their credo, but what they found was not orderly. It resembled dessicated animal or plant tissue, though most seemed to lie in the no man's land between the two. Judging by the still-visible scorch marks around the openings and on the nearby surfaces, the breaches were accompanied by the release of respectable amounts of energy. The artifacts themselves had once been completely smooth, with rounded edges and slightly convex walls. Even where their walls met the deck, the join was smoothly curved and appeared to have no seam. The builders had used no sharp angles or flat areas anywhere in the White Moon except for the decks. Numerous samples of the scorch stains and of the interior material were collected and documented in hopes that some sense could be made of it all.

As their lunch breaks drew to a close the watchers drifted off, leaving Jiro and a couple of others to resume work with the computer systems. He shut down his video client knowing that if anything important happened before the exploration team reached the first target, there would most likely be an announcement over the paging system.

~-~-~-~

"Team Tokubei reporting in, Camp Two. The imaging scanner indicates that Target Group One is on the other side of a single bulkhead from us. Transmitting scan. Acknowledge. Over.

"Tokubei, this is Camp Two. Scan data received. Integrity and Pattern Blue verified. Recorded and relayed. The map shows you at approximately thirty meters from the connecting passageway. Make that your next check-in point. Recommend that you also set up another Breadcrumb at that location. So, does anyone there have a profound statement prepared for the occasion?"

"Roger the Breadcrumb. Say again on the statement, Camp Two."

"Tokubei, you are soon going to be in the presence of something non-Terrestrial that actively responds to our scan signal. It's probably going to be recorded as an important historical event, like when the United States astronaut was the first to set foot on Earth's moon. Camp Two, over."

"Camp Two, I'll relay your suggestion to Team Tokubei Leader. Doctor Katsuragi will probably have something quote-worthy when the time comes. Tokubei, over and out."

When Jiro's shift went off-duty at 5pm local time, nearly everyone made for the nearest large computer display monitoring communications with the exploration team. Jiro had the advantage of running one such system in his work area . . . a large room in the computer lab that was quickly packed. Similar crowds gathered before the screens in the common recreation area, in the cafeteria, and in the primary data acquisition area that was carved out of the rock just above the White Moon. Even the observation platform had its share. No one wanted to miss anything at this stage.

It was particularly noticeable in the current video that the exploration team had been traveling on a very uneven surface. Overall, the deck sloped down to the left, but superimposed over that general slant were random-seeming valleys, ridges, hills and basins at a variety of scales. In general, the buckling on the third deck level appeared to be worse than for the first deck level. Something similar could be seen whenever a helmet camera and lights were aimed toward the ceiling. But here and there, some still-standing wall or large artifact had continued to support a local area of the deck above, and produced what would appear as a ridge or a hill to someone standing on deck two. Where there had been open area, the deck above had buckled unevenly downward, sometimes touching the one below it.

"Base Camp Two, this is Team Tokubei. We are at the opening between our passage and the Target One Group. Now deploying a Breadcrumb. Transmitting ID and coordinates. Over."

"Roger that, Tokubei. Breadcrumb data recorded. It's now another dot of light on the map. Bandwidth, signal level and error rate are nominal. You are go to enter Target Group One chamber. Please provide continuous narration for the log. Over"

"Roger, Camp Two. I'm going to stand near the entry and slowly pan from left to right to record an overall view of the chamber from this location. . . . ."

Although the team set up portable high intensity lights on stands to help the helmet lights illuminate the chamber, distance gradually swallowed the beams. The wall to the left was a featureless silvery light gray as far as could be seen. Gentle undulations and more pronounced crumpling marred the once smooth shallow curve of the surface. Likewise, what could be seen of the floor and the distant ceiling revealed the now familiar warping and distortion.

As the view slowly panned away from the wall, distance hid the far side of the chamber in blackness leaving only the gray floor in view. The surreal landscape reminded some of pictures taken on the surface of the Earth's moon, but the similarity soon faded away. Into the right side of the video frame loomed the edge of a huge shape in the distance, only a little brighter than the inky darkness behind it. Another similar shape followed it into the field of view, but closer and more distinct.

"These structures have the general shape of rectangular boxes with rounded corners and gently bulging sides."

A third came into view as the camera continued to pan, this one closer yet to the camera. It appeared that its color was much lighter than the deck or bulkheads, much like the pearly whiteness of the White Moon's shell.

"It will have to be verified with measurements, but it is beginning to look like they are arranged like spokes in a wheel, their long axes meeting in what might be the center of the chamber."

A fourth structure continued the pattern. Any others that might complete the set would be too distant to be seen and obscured by the ones in the foreground. Finally, the pan completed in much the same way as it started.

"Camp Two, this is Tokubei. Video pan from the entrance complete. The large objects that we can see are about 9 meters in height. The length and width estimates will be reported once we've had a chance to measure them directly. Let's see. The next item on our list is using the scanner to map this chamber and narrow down the locations of the nearby Blue Pattern sources. Proceeding with first scan from our present location. Over"

"Copy, Tokubei. Video pan recorded and relayed, ready to record scan. Over."

The scan was done more precisely. The coordinates of the scanner position and the orientation of the beam were recorded along with the strength and timing of the returns. The digitized scan data, video, audio, and telemetry were all sent back along their trail by the Breadcrumb relays.

Having been briefed on the planned procedures, Jiro was ready, or more correctly, he had the expedition's main computer ready. As the data streamed in, it began generating a preliminary scene in a greenish-yellow, which looked something like the version of the scene captured from the video pan. In this case, the scan beam illuminated the distant parts of the chamber better than the visible wavelength lights the explorers were using to see by. The far wall surfaces not obscured by the big rounded rectangular structures were in evidence. Jiro typed in the commands that rotated the graphic to provide an overhead point of view. Like a couple of chambers the exploration team had encountered earlier, it appeared to have a hexagonal floor plan, though the buckling of walls and decks had made it harder to recognize at first glance. The most notable features here were six large rectangles arranged radially around the center of the chamber. They appeared to be too dense for the scanner to penetrate to any useful degree and revealed no internal detail save one important kind. the Blue Pattern returns were displayed by the computer as fuzzy blue dots located inside three of them. But the map was not yet complete and would be augmented by one or two more scans the team would do from different locations in the chamber.

Jiro was busy with verifying that the telemetry and video streams were being relayed properly to the Gehirn satellite link when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

He turned and discovered the youngest member of the Katsuragi Expedition had joined him. "Hi, Misato." He spoke quietly to avoid disturbing others listening to the exchanges between the secondary base camp and the exploration team. "Did you come to see if they'd found any giant moths or black monoliths?"

The girl grinned and shook her head. "I was just joking around and you know it." She'd followed Jiro's lead and kept her voice low as well. "As Soon as my tutor turned me loose I came over to see if they've found anything exciting yet."

"Depends on your definition of 'exciting', I guess. It is starting to get interesting. They're inside the first target chamber and are currently moving to a new location for a second scan. Here. Check out this display. This is what we got from the first scan."

"So the blue dots..."

"Yep. They represent the signal returns."

"But not all of the rectangle things have a dot."

"Maybe the exploration team will find out why. They're not that far along yet." Jiro pointed to a couple of nearby stools. "They're about ready to do the second scan. Let's see what comes in."

- - - -

"Camp Two, Team Tokubei has arrived at the suggested second scan coordinates. Proceeding to do another video pan from here. You can probably see that the adjacent wall on our left is noticeably more buckled than the area around the entry we used. Deck three is more uneven as well. Guys, can we have more light on the ceiling? Thanks." Apparently others carrying lights aimed in the direction the video camera was pointing, providing better, if unsteady, illumination. "You should be able to see that deck two, our ceiling, has collapsed downward more severely in this general area, in some cases appearing to have partially crushed parts of a few of the rectangular structures. As in some of the other large artifacts we've investigated, three have split. Tokubei Team Leader has determined that it would be within our safety protocols to divide our team. Three of us will continue around the circumference of the chamber after the scan, and the rest of us will examine the large rectangular structures and make measurements. ...unless this is vetoed by Gehirn. Neither our movement nor our scanning have so far triggered any reaction to our presence." The second video pan of the chamber was completed with more commentary, but aside from the damage described, nothing else was noticeably different from the earlier one.

"Roger that, Tokubei. We are prepared to record and relay another scan."

"Initiating scan, Camp Two."

Jiro turned to his terminal and watched as the computer integrated the new data with that of the first scan. A lot that was shadowed by the big rectangular structures in the first scan was now supplied in the new one made from a different angle . . . and the fuzzy blue dots became more defined and localized, reinforcing his first impression. Whatever was responding to the scans and returning a signal, there was one of them in each of the undamaged structures.

Meanwhile, one of the team had left his mike open after the last intentional transmission, accidentally allowing everyone a more in-depth participation in the proceedings. At least it went a long way toward explaining what the video was showing, or wasn't showing. Part of the team was still working its way around the chamber's wall and recording video . . . showing pretty much the same scenery from new angles. The rest of the team was examining one of the big rectangular structures, one that had been crushed on one end and split vertically along one corner. The crack wasn't very wide, but the lens of the video camera fit through, at first providing everyone with a mostly blank black screen. But there were tantalizing areas of merely very dark gray.

"Let's get some light over here... Can some of the high intensity units fit through the crack or right up against it? My helmet lamp isn't cutting it. The empty space in there just eats up the light . . . or maybe everything inside is black. ...That's it. Now the next one above. Good. Is there room for any more? I don't care, use duct tape if it will stick. OK, Let's try it now."

...And then the exploration team switched the lights on.

~-~-~

(END of White Moon, Part 4]

A/N: Pre-reading was done by Squire of Gothos. I'm trying to improve my writing so, as always, constructive criticism is welcome. For that matter, so are comments, suggestions, opinions, even flames.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own NGE. Gainax, Sadamoto, and Anno do.

I'm just playing in their sandbox. Please don't sue.

(December, '09) You might want to check the end of the previous chapter. I added a couple of paragraphs to make a better lead-in to this one just before I posted it. Anyway, on with the show . . .

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

(WHITE MOON - Part 5)

...And when the search team switched the lights on . . .

Misato tilted her head to the side, maybe hoping a new orientation would help her make sense of the scene on the screen. Her brow furrowed with the effort. "No LGM."

"No BEMs either."

Misato's and Jiro's comments were whispered, their subdued jesting arising more out of a let-down than anything else.

It was mostly quiet among the watchers, and their silence was born of bewilderment. The background was still lost in inky blackness, but the foreground seemed to be made up of a dark pile of something like large tree trunks of varying sizes, some curved, some more or less straight. Mixed in here and there were some blocky shapes. Judging scale was difficult because there wasn't anything in the field of view with a known size. But as the camera panned across the interior, it became apparent that some of the objects spanned about a third or more of the structure's width. Adding to the impression of trees were dark flakes of varying sizes and shapes. They were laying on top of any more or less horizontal surface, piles and drifts of them all over the floor in the structure. They resembled nothing so much as fallen leaves.

Finally, the exploration team pulled the video cam out of the structure and returned it to its place on someone's helmet. Not surprisingly, a quiet murmuring arose in the computer lab, everyone wondering what it was they just saw.

"Camp Two, high resolution stills with flash are next on the agenda, and before anyone asks, we don't have any idea what all that was either. When the digital stills are finished we will collect what samples we can using one of the hiking poles with a sample jar taped to the end. Request advice on any further data or sample collection at this location. When we're done here, we'll move on to the other structures and look for one with a wider crack in it. Team Tokubei, over."

"Roger, Tokubei. Stand by. . . . We're receiving a directive from Gehirn . . .

". . . OK, you are to attempt two procedures with the scanner as soon as the last mapping scan of the chamber is completed. First, see if you can get a fixed scan through the crack in the structure. Second, place the scanner's antenna about one centimeter from the outer wall of the structure and perform a fixed scan. If the thru-wall scan produces a useful image, it is to be repeated at equal intervals around the perimeter. A spec file is being relayed to you now from Gehirn Control. Camp Two, over."

"Roger, Camp Two. Stand by."

Just before the pause in the exchange, data from the last mapping scan started integrating with the results of the previous scans on Jiro's terminal screen. As far as he could tell, there were still a very few small areas with no data, but by and large the map scans were complete and probably provided enough data to allow construction of a fairly detailed 3-D representation. He typed the status into the base's messaging application, then turned back to the video feed.

"Why aren't they trying to find out what those Pattern Blue signals are?" Misato's question was probably in the minds of a lot of the audience.

"They're following procedures worked out before the team went below decks," a nearby scientist quietly volunteered. "It's just good sense to find out as much as you can from the inactive structures before you go trying to do something with the active ones."

~-~-~

Excerpt from Jiro Ibuki's Journal:

_The scientists were expecting the unexpected. So, obtaining images and samples of the material in the damaged structures triggered a lot of preplanned analysis work. The portable scanning apparatus data produced somewhat faint, low resolution images. But at least they could be combined using a method similar to the more familiar Computer Aided Tomography (or CAT-) scans , to obtain 3-D representations of the large shapes glimpsed in the digital video and still images. Preliminary inspection by eyeball quickly revealed that the contents of each of the imaged structures contained noticeably different collections of objects. To me, some of them resemble bones. At the same time, they're unlike the bones from any animal I've ever seen. In another structure there were objects that resembled natural honey combs, shapes made up of hexagonal subunits. The latest one I saw looked like pieces of crab or beetle shells. But the one thing they all had in common was a much larger scale than the familiar things they reminded me of.__  
__  
__The exploration team had been equipped with all sorts of portable instruments, one of which was a reflection spectroscope. Rolf told me that when they pointed it into the damaged structures, most of the measurements showed similar ratios of carbon, titanium (that one caused a lot of raised eyebrows, he said), calcium, phosphorus, oxygen and hydrogen. The last two were only in combination with carbon . . . organic compounds! As I understand it, detailed analysis will have to wait for the collected samples to be brought back to the labs here at the surface. One of the exploration team will soon be leaving the rest to return with the samples. There are a lot of interested scientists anxious to get their hands on them . . . here, and back at Gehirn. Exciting times!_

~-~-~

The weekly staff meetings had their dry parts if you didn't have a thorough understanding of certain scientific specialties, but Jiro did his best to take in as much as he could . . . and still felt he only understood about five percent. Even so, during the following week the base's rumor mill carried tantalizing hints about what would be revealed in this week's meeting, and Jiro waited for it to start with barely contained excitement. This was real, not some movie by Steven Spielberg or George Lucas. They were beginning the first study of remains of alien life forms bigger than a microbe. . . much bigger.

Dr. Katsuragi rose from his seat and quietly cleared his throat. The room fell silent immediately.

"Gentlemen, the folders in front of you contain the Magi system's analysis of the damaged structures including the 3-D images made from the multiple scans, and the samples of their contents. You may study them at your convenience after this meeting concludes, but I'd like to call your attention for now to page eight of the abstract . . . the section titled 'Conclusions'.

There was the sound of pages being turned, followed by a little less than a minute of quiet while those present scanned the indicated paragraphs.

Dr. Pujari was the first to remark, "Bones?!"

Katsuragi turned to the xenobiologist in the group. "Dr. Wu, would you care to respond?"

Wu Zheng-shen stood as Dr. Katsuragi yielded the floor. "Not exactly bones, but we can use that term for convenience where it's useful. At least they seem to have served a similar purpose. Mr. Ibuki, would you put up the graphic?"

Jiro Ibuki complied. A 3-D representation of a slowly rotating skeleton-like form appeared on the screen. However there was a _wrongness _evident in its appearance that denied a terrestrial origin for the organism it represented.

"This is the MAGI's provisional reconstruction based on remains found in one of the structures. A process similar to that applied by paleontologists to disarticulated fossil skeletons was used."

"Wait a minute. How accurate is that scale?" Dr. Lund interrupted. "Not my field, but doesn't that make this thing much larger than one of those big plant-eating dinosaurs?"

"The scale is accurate; and indeed it does, Rolf," Wu responded. "but size isn't the only feature of interest. Of course you can see that its many limbs give it a vaguely shrimp-like appearance. The MAGI also made tentative conclusions based on comparisons with Earth-native organisms. Indications are that it is an immature form. Think of its stage of development as similar to a fish or alligator still a few days away from hatching from its egg."

"Are you saying that its mature form could be larger yet?" Dr. Pujari queried.

"Very possible. Since we have not been able to study the life cycle of any live specimens, this is largely speculation.

Another interesting note . . . the other two damaged structures appear to contain the remains of two other distinct organisms. There is no visible similarity among them, except for the size."

"So could the White moon be a traveling zoo or an alien version of the HMS Beagle?" Rolf asked.

"I think it would be a mistake to assign a human interpretation to a literally alien situation."

Dr. Katsuragi joined in again . . . "Let's table that for now and move on to another extremely interesting part of the report. To summarize, DNA fragments were extracted from some of the least damaged samples of hard bone-like material recovered from the breached structures. The MAGI system was able to match the fragments against Earth-native samples in its database... Each of the fragments were nearly identical to portions of a single Terrestrial genome. Overall, it appears that the DNA from the samples is a 99.89 per cent match with human DNA."

Having already studied the report and dealt with his own shock in private, Dr. Katsuragi now watched the others around the table deal with theirs. Some of them might know that the DNA of humans and chimpanzees were 98 per cent identical. But for all of them, accepting a closer genetic relationship with the creature hinted at by the image on the screen . . . that was a pretty severe stretch.

~-~-~

Dr. Aida paused in his presentation to turn to a new page in his notes and briefly review its contents. Then he pressed a button on a small remote, causing the large projection screen behind him to light up . . .

- - -

_"It is indeed coming to pass."__  
__  
__"Just as the prophesies foretold."__  
__  
__"A number of the messengers were destroyed long ago."__  
__  
__"But we know now that sixteen survive in the White Moon."__  
__  
__"The prophesies predict seventeen."__  
__  
__"We must accelerate exploration of the Black Moon."__  
__  
__"The last one will be found there."_

- - -

. . . and gestured at the seven lines of text displayed there. "This is a fragment of a communication log obtained from a damaged flash drive core once installed in the Gehirn's German branch MAGI and later recovered from a computer maintenance firm. The date-time stamp places it shortly after the first collected samples arrived at Gehirn and were analyzed."

"It is now known that this is a fragment of a recorded conversation among several members of Gehirn's Board of Trustees. Odd sort of discussion, isn't it? What gave rise to this talk of messengers and prophesies in connection with the White Moon? If that is not a question easily answered, it is because Gehirn's nameless Trustees wanted it that way. In order to make sense of this, we need to look into their background a bit. I'll spare you the circuitous and convoluted path the research took to reconstruct that background. In any case we don't have time for it tonight. Some of it is covered in the references and Web sites listed in the back of the hand-out.

"There is no need to rehash here what is commonly known about the Dead Sea Scrolls, but if any of you wish to review, a synopsis can be found in various Internet resources. It is sufficient to say that these scrolls are considered to be important from both religious and historical viewpoints. Some of them however, were found to be vitally important for other reasons.

"One of the academics involved in discovering and translating some of the Scrolls from 1947 through 1956 was accustomed to seeing the older forms of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and so was astonished when he found sections written in none of those languages. From what he could determine, these sections were careful copies of something more ancient. Some parts consisted of drawings or diagrams, others of what could have been mathematical equations. Rather than notifying the customary organizations associated with universities and museums, or publishing his discoveries in scientific journals, he quickly notified other members of a secretive and powerful group of individuals to which he belonged. These people then made it their first priority to acquire any and all scrolls containing more of, or referring to, the unusual content.

"This group's inception preceeded the birth of any of the then-current members by several centuries, but its aims had remained consistent throughout its existence . . . the consolidation and exercise of great political, economic, and intellectual power 'for the good of human-kind'. The world at large has remained ignorant of the organization's nature or even of its most recent name, Seele. If any awareness of Seele existed outside of the group, it was always as some anonymous, vaguely conceived embodiment of 'the powers that be', or more simply 'them' or 'they'. During the seventeenth century, they infiltrated and gained control of an association of the prominent scientists of the day, the 'Illuminati', and turned it to their purposes. Outsiders, like blind men encountering an elephant, only perceived small parts of the whole, descriptions of which were always misleading and were never connected to one another or to the underlying reality. Seele sparingly and carefully disseminated misinformation to keep the rest of the population viewing what little was learned as hoaxes, urban legends, fairy-tales, and nonsense . . . things only believed by impressionable children and gullible adults. While its existence, purposes, and activities were only truly known by its members, its control of the world's resources and of most major aspects of human society, though hidden, were pervasive.

"Membership was always 'by invitation', and only when there was a vacancy in their number. Even more exclusive was their ruling council which usually numbered twelve. The invitation was never impulsive . . . quite the opposite. Dossiers on potential members were opened years before the need arose. Data on the individuals' activities, their family, social and professional connections, and closely guarded secrets, were carefully researched and analyzed. Each candidate had already acquired power and wealth, and was seen to have motivations closely matching those of Seele. A drive to achieve goals regardless of the cost to others was a common trait, as was a certain amount of arrogance.

"Such people were difficult to recruit. They were disinclined to subordinate their own power and goals to anyone else, yet that was precisely what was demanded. Two things made it possible. Firstly, it was explained how the recruit's goals actually were much in-line with those of the group, how the achievement of those goals would be aided by the group. A person reaching this point in the selection process actually did have much in common with the members of Seele, but the last part was a half truth. Secondly, the group's full and detailed knowledge of the recruit's secrets was demonstrated to that person. Anyone who was contacted was already known to be hiding something that would destroy them if made public, something that they would do anything to keep hidden. The new member was at a disadvantage in this respect. The closely held personal secrets of the other members were unknown to the recruit. For that matter, the group was careful to insure that the recruit was kept in the dark about Seele, such that the recruit was led to believe some other organization had contacted him. Nor did the recruit learn the identity of the members of Seele, always interacting with faceless, heavily disguised voices, or clueless puppets of that group.

"It occasionally happened that a recruit turned down membership in Seele. Such individuals soon discovered they were in the final stages of a terminal illness, were victims of fatal accidents, or suddenly decided to end their own lives, leaving a suicide note that did not, even indirectly, refer to Seele.

"Once admitted into this select group, fuller knowledge of its senior members and their 'projects' was gradually revealed while the new member's loyalty and reliability were constantly verified. All members, regardless of age, found that their association with Seele was invariably for life, however long that was. Failure to meet expectations was frequently deemed a resignation from that group and therefore, fatal.

"One puppet organization used by Seele for the application of some of their secret knowledge was named Gehirn. Initially, Seele caused the United Nations to create Gehirn as a Germany-based uber-think-tank generically tasked with improving the lot of mankind. It, in turn, recruited gifted and creative scientists, dedicated and disciplined administrative and support staff, and provided cutting-edge laboratories for guided investigation and development. A select few of the staff reported, indirectly and discretely, to Seele, acting as its invisible security and surveillance agents. Everyone at Gehirn was asked to refrain from discussing their work with anyone outside of their own work group, if they valued their careers. The staff moonlighting as security reported any and all breaches, and anyone with a tendency to talk too carelessly was quickly replaced. Those who had been in the more sensitive positions sometimes disappeared completely, having 'resigned' in the fashion of Seele members, with verifiable cover stories applied as necessary to explain their absence. While the environment could be described as oppressive, those that tolerated it found that they were assigned to projects that were beyond the cutting edge in their fields, so exciting and absorbing that irritation at the security measures faded to minor importance by comparison.

"The most closely held secrets from the Scrolls related to the predictions that Seele had managed to tease out using the previous generation supercomputer systems, but much remained indecipherable. Inevitably, once their quantum-MAGI system came on-line, it was put to work. On-going translation and evaluation of the Scrolls were transferred to the new platform where various multiple-AI applications cross-checked the output and made the interpretations as ethically, philosophically, religiously, and scientifically neutral as possible in order to minimize or eliminate bias contamination of the results. MAGI's interpretations of parts of the data were so shockingly bizarre that they would have been disregarded out of hand had the balance of information derived from the same source not proved to be one hundred percent accurate. Only those platforms absolutely controlled by Seele ever received scans of the secret Scrolls for interpretation. Only the members of Seele with a 'Need to Know' ever saw all of the output. Individuals that they directly controlled eventually saw small pre-digested pieces of the information also on a need-to-know basis, but without ever having access to all of it, or ever knowing its true source. Many puppets had their strings pulled by the puppet masters of Seele, but they went through the required motions without truly understanding why or to what purpose. Given that Seele's members were seldom frightened by anything in their past experience, the fact that they were all terrified by the import of the predictions indicated that the world's population would go into panic bordering on insanity if all of the Scrolls' content became public knowledge.

"The output contained, among other things, specific predictions, or prophesies, along with time-lines and scientific and meta-physical information that the MAGI platforms then enabled Seele to use in applied sciences. Generation of artificial DNA could be controlled in fine detail, resulting in the tailored production of compounds, nano-structures, new biological tissues, organs, and even artificial life forms. A sort of force field was hinted at in symbolic formulas that taxed the abilities of top-notch physicists and mathematicians, but it was the prophesies that drove Seele to obsessively plan actions that would be much worse than those of the most depraved genocidal war criminals that had come before."

He slowly scanned his audience to make eye contact with them before continuing.

"So now, with the necessary background provided, that fragment of Seele's conversation concerning prophesies becomes ominously chilling."

The lecture hall was very quiet by this point. So quiet that when Dr. Aida poured more water from a nearby pitcher into his glass, the soft sound could be clearly heard throughout the hall. After a swallow or two he turned another page in his notes and guided the lecture into somewhat different territory.

"You will recall that a Black Moon was mentioned. This was the code name assigned by Gehirn to the second spherical anomaly detected beneath the Hakone area of Japan. Even more resources were applied to its investigation than to the one beneath Antarctica, but with even more secrecy. No public media and no published scientific paper mentioned it.

"While it was superficially identical to the White Moon, seismic mapping of its interface with the surrounding basalt revealed that there were breaches in the upper portion of the sphere. Soon thereafter an access tunnel was begun in an area quickly isolated from the surrounding countryside by tall metal fences topped by razor wire and patrolled by armed security guards with large, unfriendly-looking dogs. The perimeter was far enough away from the work area that nothing could be seen from the outside but the coming and going of large dump trucks that left full and returned empty.

"At about the same time as the antimatter drill was beginning a hole in the shell of the White Moon, the access tunnel under Hakone had reached its target, one of the breaches mentioned earlier. What they found was a void, a hollow area inside the shell.

"Development work followed close on the heels of a massive exploration that resembled a military invasion more than a scientific expedition. They established possession of a dome-shaped cavern roughly six kilometers in diameter and nearly a kilometer high at the center. What they built dwarfed the United States' Cheyenne Mountain installation both in extent and complexity.

"On the floor of the cavern they built a pyramid to rival the largest in Egypt and furnished it with laboratories and scientific equipment that were beyond the most advanced produced by wealthy world powers. This was science and technology derived by Seele from the secret Dead Sea Scrolls and paid for by draining the resources of the world. But by the time it was nearly finished, it looked like no sterile cathedral of science. Numerous curved and angled shafts had been drilled downward from hidden and camouflaged locations on the open surface above. Some became strange, railed access shafts protected by layers of armor and secured by massive armored doors. Others were likewise armored, but contained huge bundles of optical fiber to conduct sunlight into the domed cavern below, sufficient sunlight to grow grass and trees. The cavern was terraformed with forests, meadows, streams and even a lake. It became a breathtakingly beautiful man-made environment on the cavern's floor. It became the Geofront, a place where people could live and work secretly for extended periods of time.

"The floor of the cavern was composed of rock and soil that had sifted into the Black moon over billions of years through the breaches. They mapped the subsurface using tools familiar to geologists and a scanning instrument familiar to the scientists working in the White Moon. They drilled and excavated, making metal and concrete caverns, tunnels and galleries driven ever deeper in search of a response to the scanner sweeps. In a few weeks, they encountered a deck surface belonging to the Black Moon, and a few days later, access to the deeper deck areas."

~-~-~

(END of White Moon, Part 5)

A/N: Pre-read by Squire of Gothos.

Hello. Anyone out there? . . . {distant sound of crickets and something faint like a weak breeze}

I know you're there. I can hear you breathing.


End file.
