This must have been the fifth or sixth time. Rei was floating in the cavernous room's central tube, Gendo Ikari gazing at her naked form in whatever passes for pride and affection for him. She had been lost inside her thoughts, the LCL in the tube deadening sound and sensation, leading her mind to take over. She remembered the future: the war against heaven and the end of all things. She remembered the boy at the heart of it all, and the sensation of the boy's father inside her. She remembered other people's feelings, other people's thoughts, their love and hate and fear. Pictures, sounds, sensation. A child crying, a woman dangling from a rope, a trembling hand smeared with jism. The eternal refrain:

I Hate You.

I Hate You.

I Hate You.

Her soul sifted through humanity's collective unconscious faster then her mind could keep up. Her head hurt from all their thoughts screaming to the surface.

She was in agony.

She was in orgasm.

She was alone in the sea of humanity.

Where is everybody?

is everybody in?

Is Everybody In?

The ceremony is about to begin.

WAKE UP!

"They're here!"

"Rei."

"They're here!"

"Rei."

Her eyes opened. Her commander called.

"Sir?" The lights in the dummy plug plant brightened at her motion, clearing her head of whatever had previously been there.

"You were screaming."

"My apologies, Commander Ikari."

"Why were you screaming, Rei?"

She thought about it a moment, trying to remember.

"I'm not sure Sir. I think we are under attack."

"That's enough for today, Rei. Clean up and report to the cages."

"Yes Sir."

Ikari left, his footsteps heavy against the esoteric etchings on the floor, the sound echoing off the glass walls of the dummy plant.

Rei initiated the disconnect sequence with her thoughts, causing the reddish orange LCL she was suspended in to drain through the grated floor of the tube, where it would be recycled. Above her the giant steel casing for the dummy uploader, began to rain down cold water at a healthy pressure. LCL was alkaline as blood was alkaline, and it felt sticky to her skin. She would not mind so much if she wasn't required to wear clothes, but as it was, when the tube finished the clean up cycle and retracted into the ceiling, she walked towards the only thing in the room, a cheap metal folding chair with a towel and her clothes on it. Drying and dressing herself, she left the room, not even sparing a glance at the pale smiling faces tracking her motion from behind the glass walls.