The Central Command Room.
"This is bad. Even the air circulation's stopped. So this facility Ritsuko called the pinnacle of modern science can let us down after all." Misato Katsuragi fanned herself furiously.
Not a single light shone in this monument to human technology. Only faint candlelight illuminated everyone's sweat-drenched figures.
"The Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Commander really are impressive. They haven't moved an inch in this heat." A technician beside her was also smiling and waving a fan as he looked toward the raised platform behind them.
Misato Katsuragi glanced at the technician. Luckily, he wasn't a member of the Child of God Worship Society, or he would have started with "devil" at the sight of Gendo Ikari.
She could only marvel that Gendo Ikari had yet to be burned at the stake, then turned to look at the Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Commander on the highest command platform herself.
Sure enough, Gendo Ikari sat there, utterly composed. With Shinji Ikari absent, he was still willing to come out and make an appearance now and then.
Standing beside him, Kozo Fuyutsuki glanced at Gendo Ikari, who sat in front of him with his feet soaking in a bucket. Looking straight ahead, he asked, "Commander-in-Chief, the water must be warm by now, right?"
Gendo Ikari still wore sunglasses in the dim, candlelit room. Feeling the slight warmth around his two hairy legs in the bucket, he answered solemnly, "Yes."
In truth, he was extremely annoyed. Kozo Fuyutsuki kept asking whether the water was hot, yet just stood there instead of helping him change it. Did he really have nothing better to do?
Kozo Fuyutsuki said gravely, "The Underground City was designed to be self-sufficient even if its connection to the outside world were severed. In theory, a complete loss of power like