Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book Two)

Bonus Material: Ready Room Transcript

CLASSIFIED: LEVEL BINAH
TO: Commander Ikari [Director NERVCOM]
FROM: Pilot Monitoring Task Force, Department of Security Intelligence
CC: Dr. Ritsuko Akagi [Director NERVTECH], Human Instrumentality Committee
SUBJ: Anomalous Behavior on ██ October 2015

The following is a transcript prepared from security footage of the pilots awaiting orders in the ready room on the evening of ██ October 2015. During this time, the pilots were observed engaging in a pattern of unexplained behavior, seemingly without any sort of conscious awareness or intent. A description of the incident follows:

[19:23:14.005+0900]: Pilot IKARI sits at a table towards the center of the room, working on a school assignment. Items in front of him include an open textbook, a standard composition notebook, and a pencil. At a separate table a few meters away, Pilot SORYU is seated in front of a countertop mirror, plucking her eyebrows with a pair of tweezers. Pilot AYANAMI sits at a chair nearby the room's exit, staring into space. With the exception of peripheral noises like breathing and the drone of the air vents, there is no sound within the room.

[19:23:18.417+0900]: Pilot IKARI begins to knock the fingers on his left hand against the table in quadruple time (i.e. four beats per measure; one-two-three-four, pause, one-two-three-four, pause, etc.) Neither of the other pilots appear to notice.

[19:23:20.538+0900]: Pilot AYANAMI starts to tap her right foot, precisely in time to the rhythm established by IKARI. She continues to stare in the same direction.

[19:23:21.597+0900]: Pilot SORYU joins in, using the index finger of her free (left) hand.

[19:23:21.597+0900] - [19:27:33.179+0900]: The behavior continues as described for approximately four minutes. At [19:25:57.761+0900], IKARI uses his left hand to flip to the next page in his textbook. The other pilots continue without him. Once he places his hand back down on the table, he rejoins the rhythm. At [19:26:20.967+0900], SORYU uses her free hand to stretch the skin above her left eye. Without skipping a beat, she immediately switches to tapping her right foot against the ground. The pilots otherwise remain in perfect synch for the duration.

[19:27:33.179+0900]: All three pilots abruptly cease tapping at the exact same time. They continue their individual activities without comment.

At no point in the course of the incident did the pilots look at each other, exchange words, or engage in any perceivable form of non-verbal communication. No reoccurrence of this behavior has been observed since. A review of all security footage from the six days prior to and following the incident produced no evidence of the pilots (1) planning to engage in the observed behavior, (2) remarking on or discussing the event amongst each other, or (3) practicing the degree of synchronization they displayed during this time.

We will keep all authorized parties appraised of any developments. In the meantime, we recommend that Pilot Ayanami's memories from the day be examined by authorized personnel for any trace of this incident.