Rafa's POV:
-Where is she?-, asked my friend for the fifth time, -I don't know Juan, otherwise we'd be with her right now-. The convention centre was enormous and it was almost impossible to find Kayla; plus, we just had the description of a picture of hers, it was the first time we were going to meet. I sighed a bit stressed and told Juan that we should look outside, -we might get a better chance out there-, -let's go then-. We headed outside, found the huge entrance line and searched for our friend there, -dammit Kayla, where the hell are you?-. I was about to call it off when someone grabbed my shoulder by the back, -hey slackers-, I had never heard her voice before, but that phrase I had read it over a thousand times, -Kayla-, both Juan and I turned around to see the girl we had been searching for.
Her hair was dyed red, she was a bit shorter than both of us and her green eyes stared with a smile, she was wearing a green tank top and blue jeans with white and blue hightops . Juan immediately said –where's your costume Kayla?-, she sighed and explained how her little sister had completely destroyed her Tali outfit; Juan sighed in sadness, I laughed as his face clearly showed disappointment, he had a crush for Tali. Juan and I had decided to go N7 casual, he had chosen the brown N7 leather jacket, with black pants and black shoes, while I had decided to use the black N7 hoodie, some blue jeans and my black tactical boots, both costumes from Mass Effect 3.
We headed back inside while Juan was completely excited about the new game, -just imagine the new open world…and being able to choose your species…and the new off galaxy locations…and-, I just ignored him, since I've been hearing the same thing for about three months, I just wanted to see the trailer, -guys, remember that Mark got us the entrance to the "new Normandy", Kayla interrupted me to say it wasn't the Normandy, -I know, I know, I'm just saying we need to find him and get in before the line gets big-, both of my friends nodded.
The Mass Effect exhibit was on the other side of the building, and since it was a live sized version of the new ship, it was on another room. We headed towards the correct entrance while getting some pictures with my camera of the cosplayers and of ourselves; from time to time I acted the voice of Shepard and began the famous phrase, "Hey, don't worry, we'll bang, ok?" Kayla slapped me every time I said it, wasn't going to stop me though. We found one of the Bioware employees turning people back, I got close to him, -what's going on?-, the guy looked at me and answered in a harsh way, -the exhibit is closed, there's been a problem on the ship, you'll have to come tomorrow-, Kayla looked a bit mad, -what about our tickets?-, the employee sighed and answered, -the money will be refunded, you can still look at the reveal, just the ship is the thing that will remain closed-.
We stood disappointed looking at the closed entrance; the employee was called through the radio and said, -the reveal will be in just an hour, if I were you, I'd head there immediately-, the radio sounded again, "we've got a problem at stage, send security and everyone here ASAP", the guy groaned and called the security guys to follow him. Kayla grabbed my shoulder to turn me around, -come on Rafa, there's nothing we can do now-, Juan also walked next to me, -yeah dude, we need to hurry if we want to get a place where we can actually see something-. Both were right, but for some reason I couldn't keep my eyes of that door, the door that led to the ship; I took off Kayla's hand and walked straight to the entrance, looked around to see no one was guarding it and tried to open the door. –WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!- Both Kayla and Juan said loudly, I shushed them and examined the door. The style reminded me of the Normandy's entrance, polished steel, sliding door; I looked for a knob or something to open it but couldn't find none, "where is it?" I said to myself, there had to be a way to access the other room; if we weren't going to board the ship at least we would have a look at it.
There was a panel at the side of the door, it had a blue screen, -Rafa we're going to get in trouble-, Kayla said to me, -come on Kayla, you want this as much as I do-, I touched the blue panel but nothing happened, it had no keyboard nor touchpad, -there has to be a way to open it-, I said while thinking, Juan handed me over one of our tickets, -maybe?-, I smiled and grabbed the ticket, -you're a genius mate-, I said to him as I held the ticked on the panel, the color of the device changed to green as a VI voice said, welcome crew member Alfaro, the door slid open before us. As we entered the lights turned on, we looked in amaze as the ship was unveiled before us, the design was obviously based on the Normandy SR-1, the arrow like ship was white with a single red stripe on the middle, the base was all black and the five thrusters in the back had all three colors. –Wow-, we all said at the same time, -it's so big-, said Juan, Kayla couldn't even speak; what was wrong with it? What was the problem that stopped Bioware from allowing people in? –Seems fine to me-, I said a bit suspicious, -just fine?!-, Juan answered, -this is glorious-, he spread his arms apart to make emphasis on what he just said, -I mean, the ship doesn't look damaged nor anything, what's the problem it has? Why didn't they let us in?-, -maybe it's something on the inside-, suggested Kayla, -only one way to find out-, I answered as I walked towards the entry hatch, both my friends stood still, -come on where's your sense of adventure?-, Kayla moved before Juan did. She helped me open the hatch, and I entered once they had, the ship was in complete darkness, -I can't see shit-, the voice of Juan was pretty distinctive, Kayla and I laughed, -let's check the cockpit-, I said as I tried not to fall nor push Kayla, who was next to me.
I found the pilot's chair and sat on it, the main panel was turned off, there was only one flickering light, I instinctively pulled the switch on it. There was a humming noise across the cockpit as the panels began turning on in a familiar orange color; when I looked behind me I saw my friends with their mouths open, -this is so cool-, Kayla said. I waited until the lights of all the ship turned on, -all we need now is EDI-, Juan said as he looked around, Kayla sat on the copilot seat, and started poking around; -too bad she died…at least in my play through-, I answered, -meanie-, Kayla said to me as she poked on the panel in front of her.
-I still can't understand what's wrong with the ship-, I told my friend as I turned to look her; she pushed a button that retreated the metal parts to allow the windows to be visible through, -uh oh-, she said. I looked through the windows and saw a bunch of security guys running towards the entrance hatch, -fuck, Juan, security is coming, close the hatch!-, he ran towards the entrance and closed it, -I have bad feeling about this-, -no shit Sherlock-. I got up the chair and helped Kayla get up from her's ; then we ran towards the back of the ship. There were two possible ways, the elevator and the stairs, -through where?-, said Juan, I started running, -stairs. Quick!-. Security was opening the hatch already. -Hurry up!-, Kayla screamed as she got the door at the base of the stairs; the label on the wall said "Engine Room", we got in quickly and closed the door. I managed to lock it with the panel on the wall. There was little illumination on the room, the wall had a subtle blue light, I turned around a saw the main engine, -what the…-, it looked exactly like the one in Mass Effect.
We got closer to see the engine; the thing was emitting the light. The blue ball was slowly rotating while emitting a low hum, -what the hell is this thing?-, Juan said, I was wondering the same; it didn't look like a prop, I could almost feel the pulsations, -let's get out of this room-, Kayla said as she walked backwards, -indeed-, I answered. I clicked the panel once more, but the door didn't open, -well?-, she asked, -it's not working-, I kept pushing the button, in a more violent way every time, -it's stuck or something, won't let me open the door-. Juan sighed and turned around, -great-, he said angrily, -let's go, where's your sense of adventure?-, he imitated my voice in an angry manner, -well it's your fault that we're stuck in a fucking engine and furthermore, WE'RE GOING TO BE ARRESTED!-, -HOW WAS I TO KNOW THAT THE DOOR WOULD BE JAMMED?!- I turned around as I answered in a similar manner, he pushed me to the wall, -genius mate, real good work here-, I was about to punch him when Kayla stood between us. –This won't help us get out of this place-, she slapped us both, -if you don't get it together they're going to find us, so RELAX-. We stood still looking at each other with resentment, -STOP IT!-, said Kayla again, -gosh, really guys, we need to stay calm-. –Ok-, we both said.
-Do you guys feel something?-, Juan asked all of a sudden, Kayla and I stood still for a second, yes, there was something, the pulsations seemed to be happening faster, to me it almost felt like a heartbeat, a heartbeat going faster and stronger. –I do, it's the engine-, Kayla looked at us, was that fear in her eyes? I thought it one more second; she had every reason to be scared; I was too.
The three of us piled against the door against the door. The steps of the security guards were near; but with every step they took, the engine's heartbeat went faster. I felt a warm breeze, the smell of ashes, and smoke, what the hell is happening? I thought to myself. For one second I heard chatter in many languages I didn't understand, it didn't sound human at all; I looked at my left expecting to see my friend Juan, but he wasn't no more, he had vanished, I felt Kayla grab my arm, I could only think to myself that everything was going to be alright. Again the scent of smoke and ashes, I didn't feel Kayla's hand anymore, I looked around and she was gone too. Everything's going to be alright, Ashes and smoke, screams of terror, mechanical sounds. Everything's going to be alright…
