A/N:So yeah, the name is a bit of a giveaway for the plot, but my imagination ran short and I had to call it SOMETHING, so...yeah. BTW, thank you all of 7 people who reviewed, I will try to adjust to both positive and critical reviews, both of which are welcome. If you want me to actually respond, though, just PM me. I didn't expect to be taken seriously and I feel inspired to keep writing. But that's enough ego stroking. Without further ado (drum roll), I present to you, chapter 2. (Raise the curtains)
Chapter 2:
"So.. dark energy, huh? Maybe that is what transported you here. I'm no scientist, but...yeah." I begin the important part of the conversation.
Tali'Zorah looks up at the ceiling, contemplating that possibility. "Maybe. I can't see any other reason, but it merits further study."
I walk over to the kitchen, following the call of instant coffee, with Tali in tow. Despite the rather jarring events of the previous twenty minutes, I am yawning up a storm and struggling to remain awake. Maybe grab a snack or something. Yeah, an apple sounds great.
Although...
Despite my lack of social graces, I understand that eating in front of someone who can't even have a slice of pizza without writing their will first would probably not be the best idea. Just coffee it is, then.
"So," -I say, motioning for her to take a chair and sit at the table, and then sit across myself, -"where are you from? Your homeworld, I mean. I doubt you are human, right?" I point to her three-fingered gloves and boots, along with her arched-back calfs. She seems to tense up a bit, before finally answers, not looking at me directly, but avoiding my inquisitive gaze instead: "Well, you are right. I'm a quarian. Our Homeworld is Rannoch."
Strange. She didn't mention the -rather important- fact that they have been in exile from Rannoch for the past 300 years. Or the Geth at all, in fact. Odd. I decide to press the issue, and ask sternly: "But..? I sense that you aren't telling me the whole story here, Tali'Zorah." She looks away even more, hesitant to answer.
Ok, maybe that was a little too harsh.
"Just a hunch. I often get suspicious of people for no good reason. Just say'n."
She seems to relax a bit, and looks to me, probably doubting what is said. Well, a bad save is better than none, I suppose. We chat for a little longer, mostly about stuff I already know. Darn, this cell phone sure isn't designed for long discussions!
Fifteen minutes later I start dozing off, despite the mug of brown liquid stimulant still in my hand.
"Hey, Tali - do you mind if I call you that?-(she nods)-maybe we can continue this conversation tomorrow, because I am falling asleep on the spot. We can figure out a plan or something then."
She agrees, standing from the table. I realise that she has nowhere to bunk. Well, my sister's bed should be fine, considering that she is currently on another continent altogether.
"You can rest in the room down the hall, if you want. " "Sure," she yawns audibly, "I'll see you tomorrow, *******.", and she walks into the room, shutting the door on the way in."
Wait a moment.. she called me by my last name. If I hadn't known any better, I would think that to be a pun at the fact that no one seems to know the commander's first name, so they just refer to him, even in private, as simply 'Shepard'. It must be a future custom, or something. Oh well, figures.
I stumble off into my own room, where I find the ME3 start screen still looping away. Phew, glad I didn't think to show her around the house or anything. I quickly exit and shut down my PC. I climb into bed, almost Immediately joined by my favourite four-legged creature on earth. I fall asleep instantly, without even time to switch off the lights or think about the next day, and how events might roll out.
RING RING RING-
I quickly open my gummy eyes, trying to locate the source of the insistent noise.
-RING RING RING-
Ah crap, my alarm.
I roll over and almost crush the cat, who jumps away in the nick of time, grab the annoying yet effective bell alarm and fumble with it, trying to find the 'off' switch.
RING RING RIN-
There.
I climb out if bed, recollecting the events of the previous night. Among other things, it seems that I forgot to switch off my alarm, giving me a mere 6 hours of sleep. Nothing unusual, apart from the fact that I never use it in summer. Ugh.
I throw on some clothes and exit the room, remembering to take the cell phone. At least I remembered to set it on the charger.
I walk into the kitchen, where I find Tali inspecting the furniture and kitchenware. This must be quite interesting for her, just as visiting a museum would be for me, an alien museum at that. She picks up the kettle and studies it for a while, and then gives it a few slight knocks with her knuckles. It rings out with an echoing metallic sound, followed by the rustling of calc residue against the walls. She sets it down slowly.
"Mornin'," I say groggily, -"You 'been up for long?"
She turns to face me, crossing her arms. "It was only noon by my clock when I..ended up here." I've been up the whole time you were asleep." She gestures her thumb over her shoulder, pointing to the kitchen stuff. "Quite a collection of cooking tools you have here. On the Flotilla, we never cooked, food is dispensed pre-made."
I feign curiosity: "The Flotilla? What's that?" She averts her eyes again and says:"It's our..largest fleet of ships. A lot of quarians live their whole lives on it. It rarely stops at Rannoch, migrating around the galaxy instead. I spent most of my life there."
I remembered her not being fully honest with me the night before, but an ought-right lie? That was something I did not expect at all. Maybe she has a good reason to mislead me? I don't know.
Speaking of cooking, my stomach is starting to complain about the lack of food in it. "Are you hungry? I'll fry up some eggs," that being the only hot breakfast I can cook. That, and pancakes, but I wasn't in the mood to stand at the stove top for more than fifteen minutes. "Quarians can't eat human food, but I have a few condensed food tubes stowed away in my satchel, and, if bad comes to worse, I have some protein and supplement pills. All in all, I should be set for a week or so." Phew, that sure is a weight off my chest.
I begin preparing breakfast and start a pot of coffee. "So I guess we should start working on a way to get you back to where you belong, hm?" I crack a couple of eggs and pour them onto the pan, salt and pepper. Soon, they begin to sizzle. I pour myself a cup of coffee and take a sip. Ah, nectar of the gods! Tali watches the process with mild interest, and once it is complete, replies: "While you were sleeping, I reviewed some ship logs. They are compressed and saved onto our suits' microcomputer, so if anything happens to the vessel, each survivor -or recovered body- is a black box of sorts." I turn back to the stove, flipping the eggs and seasoning the other side. "By the way, why don't you take off your helmet? It must be rather stuffy in there. I have some experience with them, and without proper ventilation, it's a nightmare."
She responds somewhat sadly: "Quarians have a genetic predisposition for weak immune systems. It comes from living on a planet with very few harmful bacteria; most of them have either a symbiotic or neutral relationship with the native organisms. Then, we..started living on ships and stations with very sterile environment. That made it even worse, so now we are forced to wear environmental suits even on the Flotilla."
Having already known that, I thought it wouldn't faze me. But hearing it in real life was still...deeply saddening.
I stare at my feet, not sure what to say to that.
Smells like the eggs are ready, though. Just in time, too! I scoop the oval cholesterol-saturated mass of yellow and white and drop it onto a plate, cardiologists be damned. Meanwhile, Tali is messing with her omni-tool. "Here, these are the last few minutes of the ship's log. I'll run the audio through the translator." I sit down across from her at the table.
"You might as well eat while it plays, Tali. I imagine you're pretty hungry yourself." Se unzips a pocket of sorts on her side and takes out a small, unmarked tube the size of a toothpaste container, attaches it to her helmet right below the light. I hear a slight slurping sound, and the tube begins to shrink. Deciding now is a good time as any, I take a bite of my eggs. Slightly overdone, but not too bad. Just wish I had bacon..
My train of thought is interrupted by tali pressing a few keys on her tool, and we begin to listen.
"Sir, we've arrived at the designated system. What are your orders now?" Says a male voice. Another one, also male, responds: "The Admiralty Board has given us an assignment to investigate the star, something about it dying to fast. Tali'Zorah's the expert, ask her for details. For now, bring us in closer, our shield upgrades should let us be relatively close to it for a few hours." The first voice quips: "Aye Aye, sir. Bringing us in."
A few moments of silence pass, interrupted only by the beeps and boops of a control panel being used.
The pilot calls out to the captain, sounding confused: "Sir, I'm picking up some strange readings. There seems to be some sort of wave heading our way, but it doesn't register as any known form of radiation. It's originating from the star." The CO' order is drowned out by static. It lasts for about twenty seconds."The wave hit us and most of our systems either went out or began to malfunction," Says Tali. The static subsides, allowing me to hear the events happening on the bridge once more.
"-..put that fire out! And someone get the heat sinks back online!" Barks the CO of the ship. Another voice responds: " Sir, main thrusters are offline, we are being pulled in by the star! If we don't initiate them, we'll- aagh!" The sound of an explosion booms over the chaos of alerts and unintelligible shouts. "All hands, abandon ship! Get to the escape pods!" Shortly after, a VI speaks up:"escape pods launched, automated distress signal sent on all channels."
The CO breathed:"Keelah se'lai."
Another, louder explosion sounded and the recording ended.
I stared at Tali, whose tube was almost untouched and I could hear faint sobs coming from her. Even if I couldn't see her face, I knew that she was crying. I wanted to offer words of comfort, but couldn't find any. Sometimes, silence is better than words, I guess.
We finished breakfast without a word, and I washed up after cooking. "Maybe we can...reverse-engineer the exact conditions somehow? We would need a source of dark energy though..." she looks up at me and narrows her eyes:"And cause more death and destruction?"
I snap back: "Any better suggestions?" She says nothing, so I return to my room and fire up my PC.
Google: "Dark energy - Wikipedia"
This might take some time.
