[X] To NERV personnel: make them busy collecting evidence to corroborate their respective ideas. Some hints are: study the sun, stars and constellations to confirm location; investigate water supply - if we're cut off, the rivers shouldn't flow; try to procure a sample of the void; get to a microscope and take a good look at bacteria / viruses (how detailed the simulation is); analyze air composition; satellites reachability; high-altitude images; how high can we fly; how deep can we drill; make Shinji read/write something and so on. Suggest a brainstorming session sometime later to discuss the evidence.
You decide to have your staff gather as much information as possible on the environment to test these various theories. Most of them aren't falsifiable, unfortunately, but you do what you can.
The first major survey is the astrological survey. Not that it's hard. While the brightest and most visible stars are still where they're supposed to be, more or less, anything dimmer is entirely absent. You confirm this by temporarily disabling the power aboveground. Any stars normally blotted out by the city lights do not appear. The moon appears to be present with most of its most obvious topological features, but suffers from the same blurriness as the outer limits of…wherever you are…when examined with a telescope. The lunar phases are also cycling slightly too quickly, apparently.
The hydrographical survey does not find anything unusual. Lake Ashi is a volcanic crater lake fed by groundwater and rain, so there's no rivers flowing into it to survey. The waters flowing out of it follow their regular course before disappearing beyond the mountains, presumably into the abyss.
The geological survey finds no irregularities. The composition of the earth beneath the Geofront and other parts of the Hakone crater seems normal, and matches known geological data about the volcanism in the area. You do not have the means to drill deep into the earth's crust, but however far down it goes, it's beyond the reach of whatever tools you have.
The atmospheric survey finds that the air is roughly 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 1% water vapor, 1% argon, and trace amounts of other gases. In other words, totally normal. Meteorological conditions remain uncertain due to lack of satellite imagery or contact with weather stations outside the caldera. So far, conditions have been clear, hot and humid. A balloon launched into the atmosphere ceased communication at around a height of 14 kilometers. It is unclear what happened to it. Visual contact was lost well before reaching that height.
All images taken above 8 kilometers are black. The images taken below are of the general northern region of the Hakone caldera. The images become noisier and more corrupted at higher altitudes. The void stretches infinitely beyond in all directions in the photographs taken from the camera facing out. To your dismay, the void has advanced further on the caldera, and apparently at a much more rapid rate than anticipated. There is a circular area roughly 14 kilometers in diameter around the middle of the caldera of traversable land, with blurriness occurring around 12 kilometers out. Despite the encroaching void, fully detailed landforms are not becoming blurry as the radius shrinks. There are no signs of your lost expedition, or your beloved penguin, for that matter.
The microbiological survey similarly does not find any irregularities, though the expected bacteriological density aboveground is very slightly lower than expected. All organisms examined appear normal.
The survey team sent to procure a sample of the void did not return.
You weren't checking for this specifically, but Ritsuko informs you that there are egregious coding errors in Casper. While the other two MAGI appear to be roughly as Ritsuko remembered them, Casper has a number of irregularities, and some so unusual that Ritsuko is confused as to how Casper is able to function at all. It's safe to say that the MAGI should be considered compromised and unreliable.
No irregularities were found in the Evangelions, at least in aspects you're able to check for. Anything regarding programming code or synchronization rates or the like have to go through the MAGI, so that data is useless. For the record, the MAGI report everything's normal, for what that's worth, which is nothing.
[X] Send whatever PR people are available down on a reassurance tour; the message is that the Angel is still alive, and that it's just taking time to kill rather than being a threat. Have them also tasked with performing surveys of the people and shelters to determine if anything is out of place; to be extra paranoid, visit one or two yourself.
You send a joint Public Relations/Intelligence team up to the shelters to reassure the public (and to spy on them). Seeing the nerdy and/or flamboyant PR men next to the no-nonsense scary men in sunglasses and suits is comical. The two groups eye each other distrustfully before setting off. You go with one team to check out the scene up there.
The shelters consist of a collection of inverted skyscrapers jutting from the roof of the Geofront like a chandelier, having been retracted shortly after the appearance of the Angel. Each shelter largely consists of several large communal rooms lined with mats where the public sleeps and for the most part, remains within, during an Angel attack, as well as restrooms, laundry rooms, and "quiet rooms", mostly reserved for mothers and infants. Rations are handed out at designated mealtimes by NERV personnel, which largely consist of food that is technically edible, clean water, and basic toiletries as needed. Refuse is collected daily by staff and disposed of. A single shelter is capable of running for around three months.
The mood is dismal. This is the longest stretch of time the population of Tokyo-3 has remained in the shelters since the Angel attacks began, and the cramped, bland conditions within are clearly wearing on them. The rooms themselves have little in the way of architectural flair; each is essentially a box with a blue tile floor and white walls adorned with broad horizontal red or blue stripes. The lighting is a soft bluish fluorescent light, which is dimmed at night. All of this contributes to the listless, exhausted mood pervading the air in the rooms.
Intelligence gets to their snooping while Public Relations begins making plans for an assembly in each room to deliver the official message. You find nothing out of the ordinary, though the palpable misery in the room makes you feel depressed. For the most part, the younger children seem to be in good spirits, if a little bored, and you can tell some parents or older siblings are trying to grin and bear it to keep up appearances around them. Lots of crying babies though.
Many people recognize you and ask what's going on. Not in an accusatory way (usually), thankfully. You can feel how much the people around you trust you and are depending on you. Seems your marketing campaign and interviews were more successful than you thought. Unfortunately, you can only tell them you don't have any news to share right now, but tell them that PR will be making a statement very soon. The reaction is always one of disappointment, or in the case of particularly surly citizens, disgust.
Shortly before the assembly, you bump into the Horaki sisters. Hikari seems exhausted, but hopeful, while Kodama just seems exhausted. She doesn't even bother to glare at you, barely looking up from the fetal position she's sitting in. According to Hikari, Kodama's worried about their father, a NERV Cleanup technician. You feel a pit in your stomach and mentally make a note to make sure that he isn't among the missing. Nozomi seems bored, though she's happy to see you and asks when they're gonna let her out. You grimace and admit you don't know right now. Nozomi sulks. She shoulda brought one of her train books with her.
Hikari, in her infinite graciousness, asks after Rei and the others. Are they alright? Are you alright? Is everyone getting along? You say that you think so, that you're managing well enough, and that yes, everyone is getting along, and it's beginning to freak you out a bit. Hikari looks relieved. She talks a little about how things have been going here (not great, but could be worse) and that she's worried about the amount of school they've been missing. Hikari's been occupying her time mentally organizing and preparing herself for the make-up work she's going to have to run off and hand out to everyone. Nozomi blows a raspberry, earning her a glare from both her older sisters. Oh please, Hikari can't seriously tell Nozomi that she's not enjoying the opportunity to skive off school and spend more time with her boyfriend in the level below them. Hikari turns tomato red and says that Suzuhara is not her boyfriend. She just has to keep an eye on him so he doesn't get himself into trouble. That's all. Nozomi rolls her eyes.
PR interrupts your catching-up session to call the people in the shelter together and deliver the bad news. Worried tittering ensues, mixed in with some groans. You take some time to personally reaffirm your commitment to protecting the city and swear you'll kill the Angel and get them out of here as quickly as you can. You get some applause for this. It's good to be liked. Morale doesn't seem to have improved that much, though some people seem relieved that there is no immediate danger, and perhaps a little more hopeful.
You say your goodbyes and return to HQ, feeling the weight of your mission on your shoulders.
Upon arriving, the first thing you do is look into the status of Hikari's father. To your relief, he is accounted for.
The next thing you do is call everyone together to discuss your findings. In addition to your own investigations, Gendo informs you that the layout of Central Dogma does not match his recollection. It is very similar, but some aspects of it are altered. It took some investigating to come to that conclusion. Gendo feels the Angel may have produced a weak psychological effect to weaken perception of irregularities like this. Most other staff members present mention that they have gotten lost once or twice as a result. Good to know you weren't losing it.
Shinji notes that the written text of many of his textbooks is riddled with poor typesetting, spelling mistakes, and other anomalies. It's the strangest thing; until you pointed it out, he hadn't really noticed. Other members of NERV agree on the state of written materials, though most text on terminals and screens appears largely unaltered, for some reason.
Hyuga reports that aerial surveys also report minor but noticeable alterations to the borders of and configuration of ruined areas in and around Tokyo-3 from prior Angel attacks; e.g., the burn scars from the previous Angel's detonation do not match Cleanup's recollection (though it is consistent with the MAGI's records).
Whatever this is, the copy of Tokyo-3 and the Hakone Caldera is slightly imperfect. The real question is whether this is real and you've been physically transported elsewhere, or whether this is some kind of mass delusion. Everyone agrees that this is probably the work of the Angel, though Aoba still thinks there's a nonzero chance you're in some kind of purgatory. Putting that aside, there's also the question of whether the Angel is alive, whether it's present, and whether it's actively maintaining this place somehow. These are the most important questions to answer, you think.
Asuka interjects. Aren't you forgetting something? If this isn't Tokyo-3, and just a copy of it, isn't it possible that some people here are just copies, too? She looks at Rei as she says this with a scowl. It's very clear what she's insinuating. Rei says she is not a copy in a quiet but firm voice. Shinji tells Asuka to lay off. Asuka asks why he's so sure Rei's who she says she is. Don't you have something you want to share with us, Shinji?
Shinji looks away. He's hiding something. You open your mouth to press him, but Gendo does it for you. He orders Shinji to reveal what he's hiding in a low, cold voice. The effect is immediate and uncomfortable. Shinji shrinks and avoids eye contact. Asuka volunteers to tell everyone, if he won't. Shinji mumbles something. Gendo says to speak up, Shinji.
Shinji says Rei has been standing in his room at night, watching him. And adds he told Asuka this information in confidence. He gives Asuka a bitter glare. Asuka shrugs.
Gendo asks Rei if this is true. Rei says it is not. She occasionally checks on him at night if she hears him having a nightmare. She does not linger for more than a minute. And she does not enter the room. Shinji must have been having a night terror. And Sohryu is feeding the delusion. Rei says this neutrally and confidently. If she's lying, it's difficult to tell. Gendo seems to accept this explanation, though you can see the gears turning in his head as he listens. Shinji frowns in confusion.
Rei knits her brows together. Why is it that Sohryu is so insistent that there's an imposter anyway? If Rei didn't know any better, she'd think Sohryu is deliberately attempting to undermine the unity of NERV. Rei's insinuation is also abundantly clear. Asuka huffs and crosses her arms. Whatever. Sorry for trying to be helpful.
Gendo says enough of this. It is imperative that the whereabouts of the Angel be determined, and the Angel destroyed.
You don't have many leads to go on.
Where and how will you search for the Angel?
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