A Child of Snow and a Key?

“Let’s take this to the library,” the woman who was the Empress of the Dwarves back upon Terra Prime suggested. “After their ‘meet and greet’ are done then the true criteria for yar blessed prophecy will be met and the galaxy savin’ business so much less bothersome and all that fluff.”

‘And IF you go about tryin’ to ruin it by opening’ your gob of yours at the wrong time then you’ll have none at blame but yerself for a cock up o‘ epic proportion,’

Walker would have called it more of a flamingo up (something like a cock up but bigger), but the Forge wasn’t in too much of a joking mood for even THAT bit of dark humor. Frankly, the higher up that was Walker’s goddess (or whatever) wanted the best for Rei and her sisters (newest one especially), but rather wanted as little to do with the Emperor as possible.

Yes. The man may have meant the BEST for humanity in general but had gone about it (even during the Imperium’s Golden Age) had been too draconian even for HER and Walker’s tastes.

. . .

Oh, who are we kidding? It’s 40K here so draconian is the norm here! What we have here is something of a personality conflict and leave at that. Do we need it to be more complicated?

Yeah, it is a personality conflict! Even IF this Emperor had been a James Bond incarnation sometime earlier on (an even THAT was something more of a love/hate thing with Walker even before now . . .she hadn’t been a militant feminist or anything like that but still Bond and his habit with women kind of . . .never mind).

Anyway, back to the story. The group (after the Emperor sees that Walker undid whatever had been done to Horus and said something quietly to him to calm him in his alarm at her unexpected and unannounced intrusion) go into the library the former super spy idly notes that that @$%T@$ terminal one of those exploratory survey teams had found on some god forsaken planet somewhere in the outback of nowhere was STILL on the table where he’d left it, so MANY years ago….

“This isn’t a private library off of my private bedroom . . .it is a holy shrine in the center of the holy of holies and couldn’t be bothered to be disturbed for fear of desecration,” he muttered to himself darkly, disgusted.

Yes, it was true that when he’d taken this piece of junk in here in the hopes of finding some mention in his private collection on just WHAT this piece of machinery was exactly in relation to the shattered remains of that *STC complex it had been found within, he’d not had high hopes at it. True it was like nothing exactly he’d ever seen before and it had been something from the time before the fall of mankind’s highest tides of technical knowledge and it might contain something of value (something that the Imperium could use) it had been slow going in his research.

And then the Horus Heresy had come and that had pretty much stalled all further efforts. And when he’d become that broken husk of a body, supported only by his own will and the Gold Throne (the life supporting what little life within his shattered remains), well that put a real kabosh on thing, eh? And his worshipful followers had never taken up the task of looking into this thing…

*Taken from: http://war hammer 40k.wikia. Com /wiki/ STC :

“STC (Standard Template Construct) systems were advanced computers created during the Dark Age of Technology, which are said to have contained the sum total of human technological knowledge.

“The STC technology was invented during the Dark Age of Technology when humanity was at its technological peak. A system was possessed by every group of colonists at the time, allowing them to build equipment necessary for survival. During the Age of Strife the systems fell into disuse, became damaged or destroyed, becoming increasingly rare, until becoming lost entirely. In the Age of the Imperium after so many thousands of years it is unlikely that any have survived.

“What technological knowledge remains from the Dark Age of Technology, survives only in the form of STC hard-copies, preserved and copied over thousands of years.”

That said, the winged women pay no never mind to the rather out of place computer terminal behind them. Perhaps one or two of them notice that the décor is somewhat less . . .pretentious than the other room. More like what one would find in an old ivy league college (or maybe high school) library. Albeit with the always obligatory gothic touch…

Later Rei would quip about the Emperor and the Imperium in general not believing in shopping at Ikea, but right now she and the others are too involved with THIS. That and frankly . . .she didn’t feel like pushing her luck!

Yeah, right now let us just concentrate on the here and now.

One must admit it is something of an odd sight: this meeting of the newest sibling with the young women with wings here!

Rei, Lilith and Reika are dressed in a similar manner as they had been when Fred Takahashi had found them earlier in the story:

http://www. geocities. com/terrapr imedatabas e2/finally together. Jpg

Granted, the girls actually have a rather wide variety of clothing and styles to choose from normally, but believe it or not those are their “adventuring” clothing. Comfortable but durable, those outfits actually are AND they are rather . . .darn good looking in it if they do say so themselves. That and they like to dress in DIFFERENT colored outfits, but matching outfits. Kind of like the triplet thing, you know.

Still . . .they do not see themselves as merely clones of the other, more like identical triplets. For honestly, that is what they ARE, in the end, even IF they had not come from the same . . .place of birth.

It is a Terra Prime analog/doppleganger thing.

Rei, Lilith, and Reika being identical triplets means that they match each other in MANY details here. Details like they are 5'8” and look to be age eighteen due to being Champions (all Champions stop ageing after reaching their 18th birthday OR the day of their induction, dependant upon circumstance). All have crimson eyes except the red head Reika, who has shockingly green ones.

As for the forth figure; the one who’s name mean’s “Snow Child” in Japanese? Well, this one looks . . . similar to the others, but is something like three to four years younger. Oh, she’d been told that she was still fourteen, but some said she’d looked a year older and what with her gaurdains never really deigning to tell anyone (her included) her birthdate… God only knows the truth right now.

. . .

Well, an entity present right here and now who MIGHT be an actual Goddess (she was one in Dwarven theology) knew but wasn’t inclined for chitchat on relatively idle trivia right now. The Forge had bigger things to deal with right now.

Whatever the case, the young teenage girl was different than her new sisters (for that was what her heart and soul was telling her they were). This girl stood a bit shorter than her peers at 4'9" and has PLUM hair and wing coloration. Othe OH! And we see she has her hair different than her newest siblings! Kind of like what you’d see the MOVIE Rei Ayanami wearing in the newest Evangelion movie (Rebuild 1.0 ala http://www. geocities. com/terra primeda tabase2 /HOB- FIG-67 12.jpg). Really, however, that is actually a difference, but honestly so what?

Frankly those differences were minor indeed! This was yet another analog of Rei Takahashi and you know what THAT means! The young teenage clone here was now the newest member of the clan! Yep, a LOT of things alike here due to . . . Things we’ll get to here in a moment. The young girl has the same eye coloration as Rei and Lilith down the retinal pattern. Hey, she even has the same FINGER PRINTS!!

Indeed, if taken at a distance (and the viewer colorblind) the only thing to help the viewer to REAlly TELL one from the other (besides differences in height) is the fact that the newest analog sister is dressed in that blasted school dress we’d seen her literary (and TV) version wear, just it’s a bit worse for wear as seen here: http:// cgi.ebay. com/ Neon-Genesis -Evangelion -Rei- Ayana mi-M anga -ANI ME-T - Shirt _W0QQ itemZ 27033 50700 30QQc mdZVi ewIte mQQpt ZUS_ CSA_M C_Shi rts?h ash=i tem3e f139c f4e&_ trksi d=p32 86.c0 .m14& _trkp arms= 65%3A 12%7 C66%3 A2%7 C39% 3A1% 7C72 %3A1 205% 7C29 3%3A 1%7C 294% 3A50.

The newest one clothing? Why so roughed up? She’s . . .kind of had a rough day, shall we say and the sudden event of having WINGS burst forth from her back didn’t help her wardrobe at all…. Though it’s still decent enough to keep her covered (I.e. no need for “wardrobe malfunctions”). Why else?

Finally, the newest sister find her voice after getting over the rush of warmth she feels and the sudden realization that: “You are all actually real!” the snow child whispers in wonder, shivering. “It was not a delusion brought about by head trauma from my Entry Plug being ejected from Unit Zero?”

“We are real and you’re really here with us sister,” Reika assures the emotionally overwhelmed clone. “Please, though. Could you tell us about yourself? How you came to be . . .here and like this?”

Walker had been most stubborn in being silent in those regards, despite questions from her and her sisters.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by all but the Emperor, the terminal that had been inactive in the background suddenly blinks and turns on, as if those very words had been a key.

They had been…and the Emperor looks at it, at the sisters, and then at Walker in askance. All she does in return is nod silently and putting her finger to her lips to signal to be silent and let things play out here.

“I am . . .had been named Rei Ayanami,” the young teen begins slowly, in a soft voice. “Barely existing and hardly alive until the day I was reborn as Yukiko when . . .a powerful woman I recall being named Setsuna tried but actually failed to save Reika from her self destructing Eva Unit.” “

1. “What?”

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