Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book One)

E7 Part 2: Field Trip

NERV Station

Then a vent opened in the ceiling and the Doctor tumbled out onto the ground. Shinji sighed and rubbed his eyes. Really should have seen that coming, he thought.

The Doctor, lying flat on his back, stared up at the vent. "Below you," he muttered. "Why would they put the access below you? That makes no sense."

"... Doctor?" Asuka asked. Shinji walked over and offered his hand.

"Oh, hullo there! Brilliant! It's Shinji and the Pilotettes!" The Doctor put on a daffy grin as he took Shinji's arm. "Which is a halfway decent band name, actually. Bit old school. I'm thinking maybe a B-52s cover act. You should remember that one." Shinji smirked and helped him to his feet.

"But -- wait -- what are you doing here?" Asuka demanded, a bewildered expression on her face. "And how? This is a restricted area!"

"Ohhhh, you know..." The Doctor groaned as he leaned forward to crack his back. "Just wandering a bit. Came in through the service entrance, I think."

"There is no service entrance," Rei stated.

"'Course there is. There's always a service entrance. How else would anyone get served? But anyway..." The Doctor pulled out the screwdriver with a flourish and held the clear part to his ear. "Yep. Still there."

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "What is?"

"Picked up this signal just a moment ago. Here --" The Doctor pulled an object out of his coat pocket, pointed the screwdriver at it, then passed it to Shinji. "Wasn't there until a few minutes ago. Powerful, whatever it is. Could probably hear it from orbit."

Shinji glanced down at his hands. He held a small windup radio. He turned the crank a few times. A series of short, static-like bursts came out of the speaker for a moment or so, then stopped. "What is it?"

"No idea." The Doctor listened to the screwdriver again. "I'd think it was an automated emergency beacon or something, but there's no content. No code or pattern. It's just... noise. Really loud noise."

"So... like techno?"

The Doctor grinned. "That's good! See? There you go! Toldja you could be funny."

Shinji half-smiled. "Yeah... I've been trying to work that one in for a while."

"Look, if you two ladies could finish up flirting --" Asuka crossed her arms, clearly irritated. "We kind of have a serious problem here!"

"Problem? Nah. 'Snot a problem." The Doctor shook his head. "Just a mysterious signal. Love a good mysterious signal."

"That's not what I --"

"Should be able to triangulate it if we go a bit further." The Doctor grinned again. "So! Time waits for no one! Allons-y!"

With that, the Doctor strolled off down the hall. Shinji fell into step behind him. Rei grabbed ahold of his sleeve as he passed. "We should check in with Headquarters as soon as possible," she said quietly.

"Ehhhhh..." Shinji rubbed the back of his neck. On the one hand, that was what Misato most likely would have said. But on the other... "... yeah, trust me. This is the safest thing we could do right now." He flashed back to the soldier with the shotgun the other day. "Probably."

Rei tilted her head. When Shinji turned to walk after the Doctor, she followed.

"Hey! Come on! Shouldn't we at least vote on this?!" Asuka stomped her foot on the ground. "Or appoint a leader or something...?" She growled and went after the others.