The average distance from the Moon to Earth was 344,000 kilometers. Though that distance was shrinking now, it was still a long journey.
Asuka began to zone out during the dull, numbing trek.
When she came back to her senses, she was unconsciously piloting EVA-02 Allegorica across the lunar surface, the flickering data streams on her screen reflected in her sleepy eyes.
The lunar surface here was still expanding. This celestial body had indeed grown far larger than before.
An unknown heat source caused underground gases to erupt, creating faint atmospheric pressure, while gravity also slowly increased.
"When will this be over?"
Asuka yawned and rubbed between her brows. Maki's breezy teasing suddenly came over the comms:
"Slacking off at the controls again, Asuka-chan? Careful, or Almaloz might make you his afternoon nap snack~"
"Mind your own business, four-eyes!"
Asuka gritted her teeth and shot back, her fingertips rapidly switching between displays,
"I'm roughly around Mare Fecunditatis, heading toward Mare Crisium-the Spear of Longinus's launch site. We need to check what that thing is doing."
She deliberately left out her fear of running into the final boss.
She only wanted to show Shinji Ikari her vulnerable side. In front of everyone else, she still had to keep her pride.
"Roger~"
Maki's Unit-08 advanced alongside her several kilometers to the left, and three blips appeared on the screen.
"Trowa, Quatre, Chang, are your sensors picking up anything unusual?"
"Detecting widespread seismic waves."
Trowa's voice was steady as bedrock as she piloted Metatron, holding position on the western ridge.
"The source covers too broad an area, and there are only surface waves. We can rule out a deep earthquake."
Quatre piloted Seraphim, her tone carrying the confusion peculiar to the young:
"The integrated sensors along our route are picking up the same