Emptiness. Huge emptiness. Only billions of stars and planets. When I opened my eyes, that was all I could see in front of me. I had been locked in a cryogenic capsule for years and years. And now, what once I could only imagine was right in front of me. I took a better look: exactly in the centre of that system, there was the sun. But it was not our sun, it was another one. It was definitely too small to be ours.

-It is Sharabarik's sun- said someone behind me.

I didn't turn. I could see him reflected in the window glass. He was not human. His face resembled a cat, but his skin was scaly like a reptile. He was not dressed normally, he was wearing some kind of suit…a suit of armor. Probably he noticed the fear I was feeling in seeing something completely unknown to me.

-Don't worry. I don't bite- he laughed –My name is Garrus, I am one of Commander Shepard's team member-

-Commander Shepard?- I asked –Is she the woman who decided to unfreeze me?-

-Exactly. We discovered that you were a good soldier in the time you lived, so we would like to recruit you-

-Recruit me?- I turned to looked at his face. Probably I gasped, but he didn't notice –I have been locked up in this thing- I pointed at the capsule –for about…how many years? One hundred? And now you want to recruit me for a battle?-

-Forgive me. I've been too blunt.-

In the twenty-first century, we all thought that aliens were some sort of human beings with big heads and big black eyes, ready to take us away for their experiments. But it seemed the only alien thing about him were his looks. Actually, he was even nicer than a human.

-Thank you- I looked again at the space outside the window –I would like to meet her. Shepard, I mean-

When she entered the room she didn't seem very happy. She was whispering something to the alien, but I could understand perfectly, since her whisper sounded more like a scream.

-I asked you to persuade her, not to upset her so that she could turn against us!-

Garrus, on the contrary, couldn't be heard, but it was clear that, even though she was his commander, they were on the same social level. After their discussion, the woman approached me. I realized that she bore a remarkable resemblance to me, but I thought it was just a coincidence. She was taller maybe, but just as slender as me and she wore her hair short too. They were of a bright red that recalled my highlights. But one thing stood out among the differences. Her eyes. They were a beautiful shade of light blue, a colour that had never been in my family.

-Welcome on the Normandy, Miss Cameron. I'm afraid the approach with my ship and my crew has been rather unpleasant and rude. Asking you to become part of my team so abruptly was definitely wrong. You come from the twenty-first century, so we have to explain a lot of things to you-

-It isn't just that, I'm nineteen years old! Do you really think that a girl my age can become part of a military team?-

-I am firmly convinced, especially since that girl is you. When Vorcha attacked Earth, you were one of the few women to take part in the conflict, one of the few who didn't stay at home, but choose to fight instead-

-I had nothing to lose…- I said with a hint of sadness in my voice –Go on-

-I'll be happy to give Garrus and the rest of my team the task of educating you on this century: they will tell you about the alien species, the various galaxies and how human kind works now- once she said that, she left without even saying goodbye.

-Is she always so nice?- I asked, hoping that humour still existed.

-No, but you are a personal matter to her-

I stared at him for a few minutes, trying to figure out what he was talking about just looking at him, but then I gave up.

-Magenta Cameron- I said, shaking hands with him –but I suppose you already know that-

-I'm Garrus Vakarian, and I am the team sniper-

-Snipers still exist? Good. Only, now they are aliens-

-I bet you think all aliens are the same as me-

-Is it not so?-

-No. I am part of a species called Turian. We were born to fight. Of course we fight only those who are hostile to us-

-Are you telling me that there are more species of aliens?-

-Exactly. You expected the black-and-empty-eyed aliens, huh?-

Instead I found myself in front of big "cats" with blue eyes. I smiled.

-Do I look funny?-

-Oh no. Uh…never mind. Go ahead-

-I think it's good for you to get to know every species closely, that's why I'm taking you to the others-

-An alien team? Interesting. If only Luke could see this-

In the ship observatory, sitting cross-legged, there was a strange blue woman. Instead of hair she had something like scaly tentacles combed back. Silently she rose from the ground and turned to me.

-You must be the girl-

So that's how they called me, "the girl"? It seemed that aliens were absolutely normal there. The strange one was the girl who had just been defrosted.

-Nice to meet you, my name is Magenta Cameron-

-My pleasure. My name is Samara and I'm part of the species Asari. Our species consists of only women, able to reproduce with each other, as with other species. If anyone mates with an Asari, however, only an Asari can be born-

-Only women? It shouldn't be so bad-

-Women- said Garrus –but also very skilled warriors. In fact, Samara is a Justicar, an Asari who sworn to the code of her species and vowed to enforce it at any cost, even if requires her to become a criminal-

Each new species amazed me, but Garrus explained to me that on the ship there wasn't a specimen for every single alien species: only the most qualified entered Commanderbg8hvf Shepard's crew.

-Of course the team is not completely alien. Aside from Shepard, in fact, there are Jacob Taylor, Miranda Lawson and Kasumi Goto. There would be also Jack, but I don't know if that would be what you consider human-

-What…do you mean?-

-You should know that in this era humans, as well as aliens like us, are able to develop biotic powers. Biotic powers are powers that can be used to defend and attack. To make you understand better, I will take you to Jack's quarters-

Jack. I immediately imagined a very sexy and strong man who can ignite objects with his mind. My face certainly expressed amazement, though I could not see myself. In fact, Jack not only wasn't a muscular man…Jack wasn't a man at all. She was a woman, with shaved hair and a lot of tattoos all over her body, so that, even if she was wearing only a brassiere, she looked like she was fully clothed.

-She must be the newcomer- she said when she saw me. Great, I thought, first I was "the girl", then even "the newcomer".

However, I decided to behave politely and held out my hand to her.

-Nice to meet you. Magenta Cameron-

She didn't return my handshake; instead, she began to inspect me from top to bottom. Could it be that biotic powers also consisted in X-rays?

Immediately after that, she said something utterly senseless.

-The resemblance is striking…-

Garrus used a serious tone when he spoke again, as if he wanted to tell her to be quiet.

-We are here so that Magenta can understand the functioning of biotic powers- he hesitated a moment before going on –You're the best example-

-Of course- she said, quite flattered –but then, don't get angry with me if something breaks down in the ship-

Apparently these biotic powers were quite powerful. I could not imagine anything more. Jack was so thin that I replaced the image of the muscular big man who starts a fire, with the one of a little lean woman that cannot even light a match. The tattooed woman then turned to me.

-What do you wanna see?-

I opened my mouth, but couldn't say anything. The beautiful blue-eyed-Turian had preceded me.

-Show her a shield-

-A shield? Oh, come on! I thought you would have asked for something more complex than that!-

-If you want, we can always ask Samara-

Probably Jack felt offended, 'cause in a moment she stopped objecting.

-Okay- she snorted –I'll do it-

I was a bit scared and a lot interested. The woman held out her arms in front of herself and kept her hands with outstretched palms. From them a blue discharge sprang, and it created a huge bubble around her. The bubble expanded so much that it could contain me and Garrus as well. Maybe because of the appearance similar to an electric discharge, maybe because of the sense of unknown that caused in me, I thought that I'd be electrocuted by touching the bubble. Instead, nothing happened. We stood there staring at that wonderful show. Garrus explained to me that the biotic shields worked only as a defence against weapons and against synthetic entities. He also told me that those who created the shield resent it with every stroke, and therefore it could not be used indefinitely, but needed to recharge.

When we came out of the hold, the place where Jack quartered, Garrus asked me perhaps the most obvious question.

-You expected Jack to be a man, didn't you?-

-The tattoos impressed me more than anything - I lied.

-It seems that she has one for each person she killed-

-Oh…- I stared at him quite upset. Apparently, in 2185 killing people was somehow considered standard practice.

-Relax. She won't kill you. It doesn't seem so, but she's a nice person. She hates Cerberus, that's why she acts grumpy-

-Um…Cerberus?-

- Oh, right, you have no idea of what I'm speaking of. Cerberus is the association for which we work. Actually, even Shepard dislikes them, but we are on their side because they fight what we fight-

-And what do we fight, exactly?-