I look around again. No, I'm pretty sure I'm alone in the med-bay.

Sighing tiredly, I once again lied down on the knot out of boredom, because I already counted around ten minutes since I departed from Vetra and decided to head out to the med-bay myself. My overall condition hasn't changed; I still feel as weak as I did since I woke up from the stasis. Guess my only hope now is Lexi. Or SAM.

Hearing distinctive door's opening sounds, my body reflexively pushed myself to sit, as the familiar to my eyes asari figure in doctor's outfit stepped inside of the room.

"You must the human Vetra asked to check?" She asked abruptly, making a beeline towards my cot, her omni-tool flashed out in the meantime.

I nodded slightly, before responding simply, "Yeah."

"So you must already know who I am?" Lexi asked again, bringing her chair with herself as she sat right next to me.

"Something like that 'Lexi is going to be eager to check you after the guide'." I said jokingly, scanning her with my eyes briefly.

"Alright then, hold still-" I felt her taking my right arm, before wincing in sudden, but slight pain as I noticed her taking a sample of my blood.

"Hey!" I felt myself overreacting for a moment, trying it to shut it down. Really, I didn't feel anything very painful, guess it's just my system. "Should've said you gonna take my blood sample."

"I'm a doctor, remember?" she sighed, putting her syringe away.

"Right… sorry."

"Vetra said you're still experiencing stasis recovery?" She asked, turning her omni-tool as she began scanning me.

"Yes."

"SAM," Lexi suddenly called out, making it come to life, immediately greeting her by her name as she continued. "He has his implant installed, right?"

"That is correct."

Oh-oh, something's wrong.

"Something is wrong; I can't get any readings of him." She announced, making me facepalming myself mentally for being right. "Can you find the problem?"

SAM remained silent for a second, making my skin shiver slightly.

"It appears that his connection to my system is blocked. By your initial scans, I can assume that the reason of this is an after effect of cryo-stasis, along with an extensive amount of other cybernetics installed in his body. Comparing with the last scans in 2185, I've made an assumption that most of them are malfunctioning or inactive, resulting the former being in a 'weakened' state. A manual reset is required to re-enable their function."

Oh-oh. Shit, I could've done that myself…

"Alright, lie down." Lexi took a hold of my shoulders, urging me to lie down on the cot again. "I'm going to reset your SAM implant first. It might feel unpleasant for just moment."

"Okay…" I muttered, complying, lying down as she pleases, sighing, as she was still busy with her omni-tool. A moment after I felt my ears stuffed and a sharp pain in my head, along with my vision being blurred for around a full second.

"Success." SAM announced, "I have access to his vitals now, though I can't get any readings of his cybernetics and implants."

"Good." She said, still fussing around with the omni-tool. "SAM, can you provide me a link towards his cybernetics?"

"Of course," SAM said, but I didn't like that idea at all. I mean like, only two people have access to the stuff in my system. Besides me. "Negative, access denied."

Told you.

"His cybernetics and implants are linked together in one system link to have an easier access of maintaining them. However, to have access to it, you must acquire an access to the link."

Lexi sighed, pushing her chair closer to my cot, "So, Eduard. Will you provide me an access or you going to reset them yourself?"

I sigh, pushing myself to sit again, as my mind is busy debating whether I should give her access. I never gave access to the system link to anyone. Only Rina and Gans can…-could access them.

I glance at her, and after that at her omni-tool, which is still active. Bringing my left hand to myself, I activate my omni-tool as well, hovering it next to hers, providing an access link to my cybernetics and implants. Not all of them, of course.

"Here you go…" I muttered, lying on the cot again as the transfer was complete.

"Thank you." She nodded, as I felt her activating the reset. The very familiar feeling of being paralyzed covered my body and mind. Moments after, one implant after another began reactivating, slowly regaining control over my body. Eventually, I could move my body again, though… I still felt weak.

"Alright, this should work." She announced, sighing with relief. "It will take an hour or two to get your implants in standby mode."

"Right…" I muttered softly, sighing tiredly as well as I tried to stretch out my limbs around the cot to not to get them cold.

"During that, I'm going to ask a few questions about you and regarding your psychology, if you will."

I sighed, glancing at her for a few seconds, before continuing staring at the ceiling, "Shoot." I muttered with a slight nod.

Ugh, if someone would warn me that she was going to do the classic 'I'll-put-you-in-a-situation' kind of test, I would've straight off yelled that I won't. Still, I had to, well, mostly because Lexi wouldn't get her grip off me if I declined.

The more time was spent, the more energy I've recovered, and that feeling slowly dissolving over time, until eventually, I didn't feel any of it at all. Guess I really needed a restart.

"Huh…" Lexi sighed in relief, adding her final notes into her datapad, before looking back at me. "Before I let you rest, I must ask one more thing; do you have any psychological disorders?"

I remained silent for a moment or two as her question echoed in my mind. My eyes danced, and with them, a sheepish denial came out of my mouth afterward. Lexi sighed again, but it was more of the annoyed this time around.

Why didn't I tell her…

Because it's not important, moron.

She then slides her chair back to her desk and continues sitting on it. Bracing myself, I push myself off the cot to sit, facing her side with my back. I ran down my hand against my hand, both to get rid of sloppiness, and commend myself about for my ability to lie.

Because I'm well aware I have one-

"Eduard'Zita?"

Subconsciously moving my head to the source, along hearing the door's opening sounds, I spot a male figure. He didn't hang for long, already making his way and waving his hand to Lexi's side.

"Yeah?" I responded, sighing. "That's me. Only one of my kind."

"I'm Scott Ryder, Human Pathfinder. I suppose Vetra already told you about me?" he introduced, immediately making me realizing that a Scott was standing in front of me. The same voice, brown hair and that strange looking bristle on his lower face.

And that casual demeanor.

"No, I was only told that someone that is you has kicked me out of the nap," I said jokingly, flopping one of my hands against the cot as I re-shuffled myself again to feel more comfortable.

"If it wasn't for her and another crewmate, I wouldn't have even known about you." He stated, making his way to my side as the distance between us was about 2-3 meters. "So you should thank them first."

"Right…"

"So, since you're here, I guess you already agreed to become a part of the team?" Scott asked, and I really couldn't say 'no' to this question. Because he was right.

I nodded with a shrug, "Well, where could I go? I don't think anyone would accept biotic into gardening or maintenance job."

"True enough-"

"Heading to Eos in Pytheas System. ETA: 12 hours."

Wait, how long did Lexi's testing go? I didn't really count, though…

"Oh, speaking of that, I want you on my ground team when we arrive on Eos." He declared suddenly, leaving me no time to realize it was announcement from no other than Kallo. "Are you ready to head out?"

Oh. That's flattering…

"He will, most likely." Lexi interrupted, facing Scott as she turned her chair. "He just needs some rest to regain his energy."

"Why so?"

"He had some… complications with his implants. They were deactivated during his stasis and required a manual reset of them."

"Yeah, she's right," I said, nodding at the same time. "Just gonna rest… for a bit, and I'll be ready to go."

"Alright." He nodded back, crossing his hands. "Did you bring your equipment with yourself?"

"You mean firearms and such? I did." I responded, "Vetra said she was going to do a quick inspection of them. I wasn't complaining."

"You can handle yourself in hostile environments?" he went on with his questions.

Alright, if you want to test me whether I come up with your expectations, sure.

"What a silly question, I'm a biotic!" I said, giving him 'really' look with my face. "I can handle myself."

"Right…" he muttered with a bit of a distrustful tone. "I'll let you rest then."

"Thanks." I nodded, immediately finding it appropriate to fall into the cot again as he left.

Well, that was quick enough. I think he just wants me to be at full capacity.

"How was he?" Lexi suddenly asked, strange enough for me.

"I just met him and we didn't even properly introduce to each other," I said a bit jokingly after a bit of pause, opening my eyes as I responded. "And he just said that I'll be on his ground team out of the bat."

"Fair enough. Rest then." She said, returning to her own things. I closed my eyes again, trying desperately to doze off to shorten the time to arrival to that desert like planet named Eos.

Yeah, I think that's a nice thing to do. Rest…

- You left us…

- Eduard…

- Why would you do that…?

- WHY DID YOU LEAVE US.


Grasping in shock, my body instinctively pushed itself off the cot to sit. Jerking my head around to check my surroundings, I took a breath in order to calm myself down.

"Hey, are you alright?" I suddenly heard Lexi's voice, which the former was closing to me.

"I… I'm fine." I ran down one my hands against my face, sighing and shaking my head to shake off sleepy feeling from my system.

"Your pulse spiked for a moment. You had a nightmare, didn't you?" She asked and she was right. Most likely.

"Kinda. But it's nothing." I nodded, but then shook my head in denial afterward.

"You know it's a sign that you might have problems, right?"

"Yeah. I'm quite sure of that." I sighed, rolling my eyes as I rested my forearms against my legs, squeezing fingers with each other.

Lexi sighed, "Uh-huh. Then, how do you feel right now? Do you have any problems with your motor functions?" she asked, scanning me again with her omni-tool.

I tried moving my arms around, then throwing them in different directions. Surprisingly, I didn't felt it difficult moving them. Moving forward, I push myself to stand, and again I found myself standing without any problems.

Guess I really needed a nap.

"Yeah, good." I nodded, trying to make a few steps around the med-bay. So far so good. "Nothing bad for my taste."

"Okay, one more thing before I let you go," she stated, as I nodded slightly and sat down again. Just gonna do what she asked and then-

"-It's about your biotics."

Of course it's about my biotics

Sighing to get rid of newly formed tension, I glanced over her side with a tired expression, "So you want me to show them or explain why they're red?"

"Yes, if you will," Lexi stated, I could notice her being slightly hyped by her voice tone.

Sighing again, I biotically grabbed her chair, covering it in red substance. After that, I began moving it around the room, lifting, lowering, rotating and everything else.

"SAM, can you scan it?"

"I detect an anomaly in his Element Zero nodes. It seems that they're mutated by an extensive amount of drugs, which were most likely used to amplify Eduard's biotic powers. The effects of these procedures affected the nodes in his system, resulting them being more 'potent' and making him more 'powerful' than an ordinary biotic."

"Is he addicted?" she asked, triggering a light chuckle from my mouth.

"You know I'm sitting right here, don't you?" I asked rhetorically, resting my chin on my hand.

"Negative. I do not detect any chemicals in his system and neither any symptoms of him being addicted to something."

"Right. Thank you, Eduard." Lexi said, leaving me dissolving the grip on the chair and making it obey the gravitation again, resulting it in smashing against the floor perfectly with quite a sound in the end. "You're free to go now."

"Right." I sighed with relief, stretching my neck as I pushed myself off the cot and moved towards the door. Glancing over her side, I nodded and added, "Thanks, Lexi."

"No problem." She nodded back, "And, don't be afraid to visit if you need something, okay?"

"Sure. Sure." The door opened, and with it, I crawled out from the med-bay, hiding my hands in my hoodie's pockets.

"Die."

My body froze in a sudden and hoarse whisper, eyes widening in surprise. It was mixed with the door's sealing sounds, and I don't know whether it was just a metal friction against metal, whether I was still sleepy. Glancing back, I didn't notice anything besides the closed door and glowing pad behind it.

What was it I heard just a moments ago?


From: Lexi T'Perro

Scott, as far as you know, I am tasked to send my assessments about the Tempest crew members to the Pathfinder HQ, and while I'm already letting you know about your own profile, I've decided to send my notes about your crew as well.

'Ongoing Psychological Profile: Eduard'Zita nar Palea

I know him just a little, but these are my initial notes on him:

- Similar to his unique appearance, Eduard has quite interesting mentality. Not rare, to my experience, but quite uncommon as well.

- He denied about having any psychical disorders. But I wasn't sure if he was honest about it. Perhaps he is suffering from something. (Guilt, perhaps?)

- Eduard's mind structure is creative, showing off in interesting answers to my tests, answering in such way an ordinary person wouldn't. (Being a biotic? Or assuming his background isn't a lie.)

I will update my notes once I'll compile more information about him.'

-Lexi


A/N: This chapter had come through my beta-reader, Ghostboy95, and I thank him for checking out this chapter.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for updates! And remember: feedback is most welcome and reviews are appreciated!