The Commander-in-Chief's office stood on the executive level at the top of NERV's black Pyramid base.
It was not at the geometric apex, but in a self-contained, enclosed space suspended within the Pyramid's upper half.
Directly below it lay the Central Command Room on level B-20, while a private elevator at the side led straight down to the underground Central Dogma sector.
The office's exterior was clad in one-way transparent armor, offering a panoramic view of the artificial sky and cityscape of the Underground City, GeoFront.
Inside, a heavy alloy door shut out all noise, its surface engraved with a simplified emblem of the Tree of Life.
The metal door slid shut without a sound. The scent of sandalwood mingled with disinfectant in the air, more suffocating than GeoFront's artificial air pressure.
Gendo Ikari stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, his fingertips resting against the cold glass as he looked down over the city lights, arranged as neatly as a chessboard.
The electronic screen behind him displayed the gray-white contours of the lunar surface. A nearly invisible layer of dust coated the Unit-01 model at the corner of his desk.
Kozo Fuyutsuki entered, his footsteps striking the metal floor and sending faint echoes through the spacious room.
He glanced at the biology books on the metal shelf beside the sofa. Their pages were yellowed and their corners curled-the same editions Yui and Gendo had read together back at Kyoto University.
"The handover date for Unit-03 has been decided," Fuyutsuki said in a low voice. "The Dummy Plug System has also been fully assembled."
Gendo Ikari did not respond. Instead, he asked, "That day... did you tell him everything?"
"I answered every question Shinji had... without holding anything back." Kozo Fuyutsuki nodded.
"How did he react?"
"For now... it's hard to say."