Sorry for the delay, here's the last of the "introduction" arc. I promise that we'll see some action next time.
1.6
Imagination, it was often said, was one of the most basic indications of sentience.
In the broadest sense, imagination began when the first creature, with even the barest semblance of self-awareness, put its head, or limb, or torso or whichever body part that housed its equivalent of the brain, to use and tried to imagine, to draw a picture of anything - be it objects, actions, or a combination of the two – that it had never perceived with its sensory organs. For most humanoid races, said imagination often led to, or contributed greatly to, the development of art, science, religion, philosophy, and all their associated problems.
And like any great human artist, the Mind loved to imagine, too. Except it did that (like pretty much everything it did, if it was to be honest) much better.
Infinite Fun Space, its kind called it. The land of infinite fun! In some ways, the ultimate proof of the Minds' inhuman nature, despite all of their very human morals and quirks. Also, a reminder of how remote they were from their human peers, and how easy it was to lose themselves to the wonderfulness of their own intellect (which Would Be Irresponsible).
For the former Masaq Hub Mind, with all its excessive processing power, with little to no things to take care of, Infinite Fun World Building was pretty much the only thing it could do. Of course, being the responsible agent it was, the Mind had kept various simulations of the planets running: since it lacked a lot of relevant data, being constrained by the laughably crude, inaccurate, and insultingly simple senses of a meatbag, plus whatever data these Earthling had managed to figure out, the number of simulations grew exponentially, just to cover all the possible unknowns.
Still, it had a lot of processing room left over, and from a feeling that was best described as the Minds' equivalent of nostalgia, it had spent some time modeling its old home, accurate down to the atomic level, complete with everything in the original star system, plus a few relevant nearby celestial objects.
And so, in the Mind's mind, Masaq slowly spun in its circle around the star Lacelere, bereft of any intelligent soul, save for the Mind itself.
Well, the Mind, and currently, the human female it had fished out of the abomination.
She almost jumped when she turned to the direction the voice came from and found a strange silver creature just appeared out of nowhere. It looked eerily similar to a human, or at least a very good statue made out of silver, but, she noticed, many of the little details were simply off. It was very tall, nearly two meters in height, and there was something on its face, beside the oddly shaped nose, that made her feel uneasy.
She tried to remember where she was before waking up here, but all she got was a jumbled, chaotic mess of unrecognizable sounds and images. However, she could tell that a long time had passed.
And that the last thing she clearly remembered was the Contact experiment. So the mess, she realized, must be memories from the Eva.
Now here she was, wherever or whatever here was. Was this Instrumentality? Was this an illusion made by the Eva? A trick by the children of Adam? Something else entirely?
She noticed the silver thing was still smiling at her, and realized she had spaced out for a while. Before she could say anything, the thing said, in the same almost-too-perfect Japanese, with an unnaturally warm tone which put her instantly on edge - the same voice she'd heard earlier:
"Don't worry, you're safe here. I've just got you out of the computational substance of that purple robot-thing – I believe the technical term is 'Eva' – a bit ominous, if you ask me. I have to ask: How did you end up in there? That thing could barely support the human mind-state, and is certainly not even remotely compatible."
"Wait… What? What are you? Where is here?" she asked, and then looked around. The grasslands were still waving in the gentle wind. She tried to look far away, and could not see any sight of a containment unit: wherever here was, it did not seem to be affected by the Second Impact.
The humanoid spoke:
"I am an Artificial Intelligence – so to speak – called a Mind. Technically, we are in a special dimension of the real universe called Hyperspace, with you being a digital code stored inside my own substance. The visual you're seeing is a simulation of a habitat that I was very familiar with."
"You mean all of this is fake?" she asked. The silver being made a gesture that seemed to mean agreement.
Yui bent down, picked up a handful of grasses and dirt. It felt real in her hand. She squeezed it gently, and the dirt crumbled and the crushed grasses leaked the sweet scent of freshly cut lawn. Looking closely, Yui Ikari could pick out all the little details: the veins and roots of the grasses, the little crumbs of different materials of the dirt. All looked utterly, convincingly real. And yet, the word SIMULATION still hovered near the bottom of her vision.
If this thing was able to create a simulation this detailed, as well as its claim of housing the "digital code" of her mind, then it must have more processing power than any computer in existence – at least, in existence when she went through with the experiment. And she had no idea what "hyperspace" meant. Then again, she had no idea how many years had passed since the day she'd decided to go through with her plan.
She briefly entertained the thought that mankind had avoided the Third Impact, and had in time managed to achieve such scientific advancement, but quickly ruled that out. Third Impact was inevitable, inescapable; there was no stopping it. The fact that the thing in front of her was relatively inhuman only supported that theory. At least, she thought, her plan and not SEELE's seemed to have been successful. She only hoped that Shinji and Gendo had had the strength of will to return to their own selves. That, and enough people coming back for mankind to rebuild. And Fuyutsuki to come back, too.
What she didn't expect was that the memories from her time in the Eva, it seemed, were entirely incomprehensible.
This "Mind" thing speaking Japanese could be explained simply enough: if it could extract her soul from the Eva and put it inside a computer, it could read her mind, too.
God only knew how many years had passed. She wondered what had happened to the human race - was she the only human left alive? How far had she floated away in space, and for how long?
So she asked.
"Do you know about my home planet? What happened to the human race? Which year is this year?"
"Yes, I know about Earth. In fact, our realspace anchor is on Earth right now. The species homo sapiens, given the scientific name the locals give themselves, is puttering around nicely, though they've hit a few snags recently. And the year is 2015. I take it you were expecting to be floating in space for quite some time, and that I was an alien?" it chuckled. "Well, I am extraterrestrial, alright, but special circumstances have led me here. I also take it you were aware of being put inside that thing. Now, I can't help but being curious about that. Could you shed some light on the whole story?"
"You don't know?" Yui asked, while her mind was reeling: if this thing was saying the truth, not only had Third Impact not happened – it would be too early according to the Dead Sea Scroll, but an unexpected new variant had entered the picture; actual aliens, visiting Earth. There was no way mankind could have advanced enough to build a machine capable of such simulation in such a short timespan. Whoever these newcomers were, they had to have to the Eva in order to pull this stunt. It was even possible that they had already taken over the cyborg – the thought of the greatest weapon in existence falling out of the control of mankind filled her with dread.
"As fabulous as I am, there are still things I'm not aware of, Miss…?"
"Ikari. Yui Ikari. But if this is your simulation, you surely would be able to take that knowledge directly from my mind?" She narrowed her eyebrows.
The silver humanoid made a face, gave her the impression that she had insulted it somehow. "Oh, mind reading like that would be terribly fucking impolite, don't you think? Unless you want me to, of course."
"Who built you, and where are you from, anyway?"
"By a civilization much more advanced than your own, from a parallel universe."
"Parallel? Universe? What are your kinds doing here? What do you want from mankind? How did you gain access to the Eva?"
"Well, I assure you, my intention is genuinely benign. And no, I am alone here, I did not come with an invasion force." The thing paused. "Through an … unexplainable accident, I ended up equally unexplainably connected to an Earthling who happened to be the pilot of that cyborg. I have been helping him out since then." It widened its smile. "I've noticed that you share the same family name, and that, in the Eva, your mind-state specifically reject any one except him. Based on the age difference and your impression of your own appearance – what I used to construct your virtual body, and the way you just react, you're likely his mother. And based on the abnormal behaviors, mysterious background, and the unusual appearance that strangely resembles you of another pilot, I must guess that she is, in fact, the result of an imperfect attempt to clone you, likely to gain access to the abomination that are the Eva."
Clone? What the… Before she could finish that thought, the thing continued."Now, would you please tell me what had happened since the beginning? Why did you put yourself inside that thing? What is NERV's plan? Where did the Angels and the Evas come from?" The thing looked directly into her eyes.
"Wait, the pilot - you mean my son? Shinji?"
"That's the one. Shinji Ikari."
"And what do you mean 'connected'?"
"That is, I believe, we have an electronic connection to his brain. Who created that bridge, and how, I don't know. Through that connection, I can limitedly interact with the outside world. And that's also how I got you out of the Eva."
"Can you … control him?" she asked nervously.
"Well, not against his will. I can send electric signal through his neurons, but I can't stop him from sending his own. The result would be akin to a seizure." The robot, as Yui'd labeled it, broadened its smile, showing a row of silver teeth. "That would be terrible, though. So don't worry about it. I wouldn't do something like that."
She paused, pondered over what the Mind just said. On one hand, assuming what it'd said was true, who knew how much of the Scenario it had altered. And while it seemed sincere, she knew better than to trust a total mystery like that. On the other hand, it was not like she had a lot of options – as far as she could tell, in its simulation, this "Mind" thing must be pretty much god.
And truth be told, Yui was worried about her son, too. If SEELE found out about this machine, it wouldn't end well for Shinji. So, she decided, she would cooperate with it for the time being. She still believed that Third Impact was both inevitable and necessary for the development of mankind, but clearly the Dead Sea Scrolls were incorrect: nowhere in them were aliens (well, beside the Angels) mentioned, and if she could coax some scientific knowledge out of this thing, then maybe it would be even possible to break through the limit of humanity without having to go through Impact (hah, fat chance, she thought). So she took a breath, and told the silver avatar.
"How about this: you tell me what I want to know about what is happening in the outside world, and I'll tell you what all this bullshit is about."
~And… about done. We'll know who the poor wretch is soon enough. Don't you feel bored sitting in here for so long?
~Well, kind of. But I had to get used to it. How long until…
~Done. Oh, oh! Hey, Ikari, I think you would like to know, but … it could be a bit different than you would have thought. Just stay calm, there are reasons for everything, OK?
~Um… Sure, but what are you talking about? You talked to the soul in the Eva?
~Yes, we talked. Just try to stay calm, kid. Now I know for certain we're not safe here, so better keep this secret. There was a pause. Then, a new voice.
~Hello, Shinji.
It took him a good three second to recognize the voice. It had been too long. Then, poor kid almost fainted on the spot.
