Ten minutes later, a still-wet but now clothed Shepard stands in engineering.
"Okay… what's going on? What's actually happening?" she pinches the bridge of her nose before she adds, "and please leave out any technical terms, so I can understand."
Somehow her irritation doubles as the three engineers exchange a look, and she scowls. "Well?"
Tali starts, "Shepard… we've detected anomalies in the gr—in what maintains the levels of gravity on the ship. There seems to be no irreparable damage, but there have been fluctuations in the program that induce temporary lapses of power, cutting off its functions. The damage is not limited to this alone, Shepard, but the majority of the problems are manifesting in less severe ways… doors becoming slow to respond or failing to respond entirely, lights suddenly operating beyond or below their normal capacity, in-ship communication cutting out… as well as more that we may not have noticed yet."
Shepard frowns. "So you're telling me that something happened, and now at any moment I could be free-floating, the doors could jam, the lights constantly flickering, and there would be no way to fix it but wait for power to be restored… how? What did this?"
Ken steps in, "we don't have any concrete proof, but the variations seem to be consistent with the time we entered the system…"
Gabby continues, "we think it worsened as the propinquity to the center grew, or to be precise, to this sun."
Shepard kneads her forehead. "So… the longer we're exposed…the worse this gets?
Gabby nods. "That seems to be it."
"…frak." Then she sighs and says, "but thanks. Just… see what you can do. I'll go inform the rest of the crew." As she enters the elevator, she mutters, "Miranda's not going to be happy about this…"