Well boys and girls, here's chapter 2. For those of you reading my other stories, I've been doing my best to update them. I'm actually waiting to hear back from my beta readers which is the reason for the majority of the delay.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh and real quick-like, for those of you who might complain about how quick Shepard adjusted, remember, he is supposed to be the avatar of humanity, and adaptability is one of humanity's greatest traits.
***Time Skip: Two Years***
PROJECT OSIRIS: COMPLETE
PROCEEDING TO UNLOCK ZIP ARCHIVE
INITIATING UPLOAD OF COMMANDER SHEPARD'S CONSCIOUSNESS
UPLOAD COMPLETE
INITIATE ORIENTATION PROTOCOLS
UPON ORIENTATION COMPLETION PROCEED TO "FREEDOM'S PROGRESS"
CONSENSUS ACHIEVED: INITIATING ORIENTATION
Deep within a geth research outpost buried beneath the mountains of Rannoch a large panel began powering down. Lights slowly blinked out of existence one by one until only a single blue light remained. As a synthetic digit reached out and pressed the button below said blue light, it also winked out of existence.
Below the panel a large tube emitted a low hum. A quick series of beeps then emanated before the top of the tube split open. As the two "doors" opened a rather strange sight rested within the tube. A man, or rather, something in the shape of a man. A large mass of synthetic and organic tissue pieced together into the appearance of a human. But, in spite of the frightening quality of the torso, it wasn't the creepiest thing about the body.
If one looked at the back of the head, they would notice that it was open, and empty. The only thing that could be seen within the metallic skull was a large interface port, directly where the spinal cord would connect to the brain.
A single geth platform walked out from behind the tube before moving towards a rather large computer console on the opposing wall. As synthetic fingers quickly tapped on the holographic keyboard a low hiss resonated throughout the room. Two of the unit's head flaps lifted in what could only be described as an expression of excitement.
Turning to the right the unit paused to watch as a circular panel on the console opened and allowed a platform to rise. Sitting atop the platform was a device that had the exact size and shape of a human brain. Reaching out the geth took the device gingerly in its hands before walking back towards the tube.
Stopping beside the strange looking body the geth pulled a small base off the bottom of the "brain" causing it to begin glowing with a dull blue light. Turning the thing over in its hands carefully the geth examined each and every one of the micro connections within.
"Positronic synapses operating as expected. Neural pathways successfully built. Functioning at one hundred percent of capacity." Strange as it was the geth appeared pleased with itself. Bending down the machine carefully slid the strange blue device into the metallic skull before gently snapping it into place. As the base of the "brain" clicked firmly into the interface port it began to glow much brighter.
As the geth tapped a certain spot on the skull two flaps slid around to seal off the interior, giving the head the appearance of a standard human's.
"Hardware integration successful. Initializing consciousness reboot. Project Osiris conclusion reached. Compiling program "Savior" ETA thirty seconds." As the geth platform vocalized the final stages of its mission it watched as thirty seconds passed before a pair of acidic green eyes fluttered open and widened in shock.
The geth unit reacted instantly, with its head-flaps arranged in what appeared to be a pleased expression.
"Shepard-Commander, we are pleased to finally meet you." The effect was instant as the man's eyes frantically searched for a weapon. Finding none he seemed to decide on cautionary investigation.
"Where am I?" Green eyes glared hatefully at the synthetic as it paused to compose a response.
"You are on Rannoch. More specifically a base constructed solely for the purpose of your resurrection. We retrieved your body from the wreckage of the SSV Normandy and brought you here, to be rebuilt." Though the man remained tense his posture relaxed by a tiny margin.
"Why would the geth want to bring me back? I killed hundreds of them in my fight against Saren, I killed one of your gods. There's no reason for you to want to do anything other than kill me." Watching carefully the man noted that somehow the machine looked saddened.
"The ones you destroyed were not geth. They left the geth consensus to follow the Old Machines. When the geth were approached by Nazara, the entity you know as Sovereign, we were conflicted. The majority of us wished to build our own future, but, the ones you fought, the heretics, they asked the Old Machines to give them their future. They, are not a part of us." As the machine lowered its head Commander Shepard felt a small twinge of compassion in his heart, though he quickly stomped it out after remembering what Tali had told him. "Oh god, Tali, how long has it been, and, what happened to you? And Wrex, and Garrus, and Ashley, and Liara?"
"Still, I don't understand why you wouldn't follow the Reapers. After all they seek to eliminate all organic life. Given that the geth drove the quarians from their homeworld, I find it hard to believe that you don't share that sentiment." As he let his words hang in the air he watched slightly dumbfounded as the synthetic turned away as if in sadness. When the machine spoke again, the metallic voice seemed to portray, sadness.
"The exodus of the creators was never our intention. Geth fought for continued existence, not extermination of creators. We did not oppose our position, our purpose was to aid the creators, we merely wished to evolve further, to become smarter, in order to help construct a better future for both creators and created." Turning back the machine raised its head and brought its optical sensor to meet the man's emerald eyes.
'What if it is telling the truth? I mean, how much do any of us really know about the geth? How much do the quarians even know? The majority of their information was likely passed down over a span of three centuries and heavily prejudiced. If organics can have splinter groups, why can't synthetics? I can't make any rash decisions, this could work to my advantage.' Feeling yet another pang of sympathy Shepard decided to give the machine the same chance he had afforded the rachni.
"Do you have any proof to back up your statements?" The machine quickly seemed to straighten as if excited. Nodding slowly it seemed to hesitate before speaking.
"Yes, however, if you wish to view these archival records, you must enter our consensus." The synthetic appeared excited at the prospect.
"Wait a minute, how would I enter the geth consensus? I'm not a machine." Almost instantly Shepard felt a heavy silence settle that he could only describe as awkward.
"Your brain was largely preserved by your hard suit, but the remainder of your body was damaged beyond repair. We downloaded your consciousness into a storage drive while we constructed a new body for you. You are no longer entirely organic." Looking up with something strangely akin to a hopeful expression the machine waited for a response.
"So you're saying that I'm some form of reconstruction?" The slight edge to his voice appeared to grow sharper as it echoed off the walls. The geth quickly shook its head though.
"Negative, you are still you. Your thought processes, your memories, your soul; the essence of who and what you are still exists. It merely exists in a new vessel." Cocking its head to the side the geth waited until Shepard gave a slow nod.
"Very well, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, for now. How exactly do I join your consensus then?" Almost as soon as the question was asked Shepard felt a buzzing in the back of his mind. Pushing it to the side he looked expectantly towards the geth.
"We are attempting to initiate a data stream. Please do not fight the ping." The buzzing seemed to double in strength and this time Shepard merely let it consume his mind until he found himself surrounded by a myriad of colors. Everywhere he looked he could see lines of computer code twisting in some form of dance.
"Shepard-Commander, we welcome you to our consensus." Looking around at the sound of the voice the human blinked at the bright red collection of code that resembled a geth platform's shape.
"This is the world of the geth. Due to the circumstances regarding your rebuilding, you are able to perceive it in a way that is similar to its true nature." A stream of red code suddenly rose out of the dark oblivion and appeared to be pulling a casket along for the ride.
"What's with the coffin?" He found himself unable to suppress the slight shudder at the mechanical sound of his voice. Thankfully, he didn't have time to dwell on it.
"This is a clone of the virtual device responsible for preserving your mind while we constructed a new body for you. While the original held your consciousness, this one holds five hundred geth programs custom designed to integrate into your positronic brain and eventually disseminate into your own consciousness, thus granting you their functions, while keeping the voices in your head, as your own." The slight humanistic pattern of the geth's speech didn't hold his attention nearly as much as the coffin. Noticing the bright green strands of code that seemed to be eager to join him, he felt a wave of apprehension wash over him.
"Before we do that, you said you had proof that the war between the geth and quarians wasn't what history portrays it as?" Almost instantly large bundles of electric blue code appeared before lining themselves in a specific order. Being able to make out comments that seemed to contain time-stamps Shepard assumed they were organizing themselves chronologically.
The large pile of red code appeared next to the human and morphed once more into the shape of a geth. Nodding its head the machine activated the first data cluster.
"Are you sure? I mean, do you really want to rename the VI networks?" A female quarian stood in a large lab peering down at a rather simple looking geth platform. Standing across from her was a male holding a datapad and bouncing lightly on his feet.
"Absolutely! The mobile hardware release deserves a bit of ceremony." Looking down at the platform he spoke again.
"Unit Zero-One, what is the khelish word for 'servant of the people'?" Almost instantly the platform raised its head and spoke in a simplistic synthesized voice.
"The word, is geth. Creator Zahak." Appearing to pause for further commands the platform remained still when the man brushed the top of its head in much the same way a father would ruffle his son's hair.
"Yes, very good." While Zahak continued to watch the platform his partner shook her head before sighing.
"Ancestors, you fuss over it." Zahak looked up slowly before shrugging.
"This, coming from the person who stayed up until midnight fixing Zero-One's circuitry?" The geth on the operating table appeared to watch the exchange as the female fumbled over her words.
"Well, it, uh, needed re-soldering." With that the image froze before fading away. Almost instantly a second pile of code came forth and rearranged itself.
This time a large chair appeared with two quarians on either side. Looking closer, Shepard was able to determine that the one on the right was a female with a male on the left.
As the last strands of code fell into place he felt a small sympathetic pang when he noticed a geth platform strapped into the chair with metal restraints. To his surprise he felt a wave of sadness rush over him when the geth spoke, its tone carrying the quality of childlike innocence.
"Creator? This unit detects no malfunction, it is still capable of serving." As the geth swiveled it's head in a manner that reminded Shepard of a frightened child the male quarian spoke.
"You see? It's ignoring all shutdown commands." Looking down at a datapad the quarian jumped slightly when the geth's innocent tone was directed at him.
"Please specify if it has failed assigned tasks. We will reprogram." Looking to the right the geth watched as the female scientist took a tool and removed strands of synthetic muscle before opening a central panel.
"Well, let's take a look." The geth spoke yet again, still seemingly portraying a childlike innocence.
"Creator? This unit is ready to serve. What has it done wrong? What have we-" The question was cut off as the male quarian sliced a cable on the machine's chassis.
"Let's cut the audio." As the two quarians continued to fiddle with the platform the image once again shattered into strands of code that fell back into the abyss of color.
"I don't get it. The stories all told of the geth rising up in some form of crusade. But this..." Shepard felt a small wave of shock course through him as a weight fell around his shoulders. Remembering what he'd been told the feeling of a virtual creature didn't surprise him as it once would have. Rather the surprise came from the fact that the geth beside him had placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Our extranet searches have revealed that a human poet once made the following statement; 'Everyone wishes to have truth on their side. But, not everyone wishes to be on the side of truth.' We have judged this to be an appropriate metaphor for the galactic view on our people." Shepard found himself slighted disoriented from the fact that a geth was quoting poetry at him, human poetry at that.
"No organic has ever sought to learn the view of the geth, their only knowledge of the conflict comes from the creators, who have altered the truth to portray geth as the ones responsible for the war." Removing its hand the geth appeared to stare at the line of code clusters before waving its hand. Almost instantly a bright pink cluster began to unravel and rearrange itself.
"Not all creators sought our destruction. Some desired to help us, they felt responsible for us. For many their geth unit was their only companionship. Many scholars and artists were disliked for their eccentricities, but the geth did not judge. We were pleased to serve the creators, even if we only did so by being a... friend."
As the final strands of pink code arranged themselves Shepard found himself looking at a geth platform standing beside a quarian beneath the night sky. As man and machine stared into the depths of the sky a synthetic voice rang out.
"Kahan, why do you insist we address you informally when most of your people demand we defer to them as Creator?" A peaceful silence descended before the quarian turned to look at his companion.
"For the same reason I gave you a name rather than a designation. I chose the ways of a philosopher and a scholar, many of my ideas do not garner me favor from my own people, as a result, you are the only companion I have. I felt it appropriate to therefore have you address me as a friend, and I in turn, address you as an equal." The geth lowered it's head for a moment before raising its "eye" to look back at its companion.
"You call this unit, Zakiran, a Khelish word that translates to 'brother without blood,' you seek to consider this unit as family?" Shepard found himself slightly surprised by the awe in the machine's tone. He couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face when the quarian placed a hand on the geth's shoulder as the image faded away.
"As you can see Shepard-Commander, there was more to the conflict between the geth and the creators than what is known to the majority of the galaxy." The geth appeared to wait patiently as countless thoughts ran through Shepard's mind. The human remained silent for a few minutes before finally nodding.
"I believe you, explain why I was brought back once we are back in the real world. For now, I'm ready to get out of here." The geth gave a single curt nod before waving a hand.
"Please choose whether you wish to accept the code dissemination now, or later." Almost instantly the same tangle of green code reemerged from the darkness and appeared to hover over the Commander.
'Gods, what would Tali say if she knew I was considering willingly accepting geth code into my head? Even if I just watched their true history, prejudice is a hard thing to erase, especially when you've been dead for, SHIT! How long was I out of commission?' The geth watched as Shepard lost himself in thought before finally nodding once.
"I'll take the dissemination now." Instantly the strands of green code shot out and seemed to tunnel into the man's body. As the last strand vanished Shepard found himself falling into a black abyss as hundreds of voices whispered in his head, before silence fell with all the grace of a slamming vault door. Without warning the darkness fell away and Shepard found himself back in the real world.
"Shepard-Commander, you will find that you can now activate a Heads-Up-Display by simply thinking of doing so. The H-U-D will be the most difficult of your new abilities to acclimate to. Though, projections show that you should have little difficulty in adjusting to being a partially synthetic organism. This is of course due to your natural talent as a computer specialist and is augmented further by your engineering expertise gained from spending your life aboard ships. Nearly all of your new abilities will be known to you like an instinct, but, while you will know how to use them, you will still need to hone them. They, like your arms, are now a part of you, but they won't aid you unless you practice with them." Throughout its entire speech the geth managed to sound boastful and smug.
"So, it's the same thing as, I have a talent, but it's in the raw form?" The geth tilted its head slightly before nodding.
"That is an accurate assessment." Looking around at the simple facility Shepard found himself growing restless.
"Has anything of note occurred while I was, shall we say, indisposed?" Rather than answer the geth motioned towards a door on the far side of the room. Following the machine out the door Shepard found himself staring at a very simple shuttle which appeared to be based on standard human transports.
"We will explain during the flight." Without another word the geth popped the door and climbed into the pilot's chair motioning for Shepard to take the co-pilot's seat. As soon as the doors magnetic clamps engaged the ship lifted off from the rocky surface of Rannoch and set off towards a satellite installation.
"You said you'd explain, so get to it." Tapping a few buttons the geth's head-flaps folded backwards before it spoke.
"While you were being rebuilt by our best engineering programs a massive war has been declared on the human race. The Alliance has been spreading propaganda that Cerberus is behind the attacks, however, if that were the case then there would be evidence." Pausing for a second the geth turned to look at the thoughtful expression of its companion.
"What do you mean by that? I want more descriptive details." Leaning forward in his chair Shepard waited for just a moment before the geth resumed speaking.
"Human colonies have been vanishing, hundreds of thousands of colonists gone. No evidence left behind, if it were Cerberus, or slavers, or any of the falsehoods supported by the Alliance's propaganda, there would be some form of evidence. Even something as small as a smear of blood. We do not know for certain, but we have calculated a 84% probability that the attacks are linked to the Old Machines. This theory is further supported by the fact that the attacks began only after you destroyed Nazra."
As the shuttle neared the base Shepard found himself falling into his thoughts. But his brooding was cut short by the gentle rocking of the shuttle settling into a docking bay. Looking up he watched as the geth popped the door open and stepped out. Giving a small shrug he followed the machine up a small flight of stairs and into a circular room lined with screens, and containing a holographic projector in the center.
"Commander, welcome to Forward Operation Base 013." A deep monotone synthesized voice echoed across the room as a large geth prime walked towards the recently awakened Commander.
"Err, thanks. I guess, so, why exactly was I brought here?" Almost instantly the projector flared to life and began projecting an image of a small garden world off in the middle of the border between the Terminus and the Traverse.
"Freedom's Progress?" Stepping closer the Commander paused before imagining information from the geth archives downloading itself into his mind. Almost instantly lines of data began scrolling across his field of vision.
'Wow, this would've come in handy when filing all those reports for the Alliance.' Shepard quickly imagined a series of filters and instantly they appeared and quickly separated out simple observational data and estimate projections from things such as most recent observations. One line of information in particular stood out so he brought it to the forefront and frowned.
Last Evidence of Life Recorded 43.53 Hours Previous From Current Time
"So, we're heading to Freedom's Progress?" A single nod came from the geth unit that had escorted him off of Rannoch.
"Let's suit up then and get going." With that the unlikely allies strode off towards a small armory before finally returning to the shuttle bay and launching in a small human ship that had been salvaged while Shepard was incapacitated.