A/N: Sorry, no husks yet. It would seem plain strange to visit the collector ship right now. Happy reading!
I was back on my ship checking how my crew wroked. It was a bit strange that some important people that would be from Cerberus were still in the Alliance. For example Ken, Gabby, Kelly, Chakwas and the infamous mess sergeant were now on my ship. It seemed unusual that Tali, Garrus and Legion had went to Earth and hadn't returned yet.
Dr Chakwas had embedded my omni-tool into my hand so I would not have to reach into my pocket to open it, what I just did. Instead of Cerberus, there was a pro-turian organization "Spartan". There had been strange news: Saren Arterius had been revived by Spartan. That reminded me of myself in ME2 a bit. If Saren was recruitable in this variation of ME, I'd DEFINITELY want him on my squad.
The el- did I mention that I took the elevator to my room? -evator had finally arrived and I walked up to my table, sitting onto my chair as I got to the desk. I opened up my customized (thanks to Tali) private terminal which glowed blue and opened the extranet browser, called "Extranet Explorer 45". Private terminals were much more comfortable than omni-tools.
Unlike 2010's smartphones, an omni-tool and a private terminal had synched desktops that meant you could continue everything you were doing not having to open all the programs from all over. I bought the Mega-super-hyper-maxi-extra-professional version of overload. Most of the people thought that a first level overload was extremely weak were wrong: they simply did not bother to aim 'em. An unaimed overload was weak, true, but in the right hands (mine) it could take out a soldier and gunship with ease. I also bought some custom armor colours. I then started browsing the news site, "Galactic News from all over the place". It was a long headline and because people did not trust it very much it had an extended title among people wich added "mixed up and shuffled twenty-two times". I started reading the first article I saw.
There was a click from the door and it opened. Birthday presents! Yay!
Garrus greeted me with a warm hug and handed me the "Galaxy of Fantasy Mega Pack".
Legion stepped forward: "This platform has cooperated with creator Tali'Zorah and produced an AI that is not geth. Consult your nearest creator for details. In case of malfunction, restart the drone five times." we shaked hands (it is propably the only gesture of friendship for the Geth). Tali came towards me and hugged me as well, though a bit longer than I expected. She said that I should check my omni-tool for a gift. There was a new icon visible and upon touching it an orange ball appeared with a hamster in the middle. Combat drone!
It began speaking with a voice that resembled EDI's, although it reminded me of an AI from a video game: "Hello, again and welcome to the Aperture Science test protocol. Please proceed to the portal. Please be careful: under no circumstances should you.. bsswht! Por favor pardon panajama muchas grazias. Stand back. The portal will open in three, two, one."
Ummmm, Legion had took Glados from the portal universe and put it on my omni tool. Awesome. Not! Hehehehe.
The AI continued it's monologue: "Cake will be received upon completing all test chambers. We are sorry to inform you that this next test chamber is, unfortunately, impossible. Aperture Science Enrichment Center apologises for the inconvenience. I decided to remind it that we are no longer fighting Black Mesa, but the reapers. The drone faded for a moment and reappeared.
"IiiiiiiiiiuyWeeeee are pleased that you made it through the test and the long-awaited cake will be given on planet Earth." Tali told me that Legion had expected the psychopatic AI to behave like this and had written a program to make it friendlier.
It still quoted Portal too much, though.
"Glados told me that cake is on planet Earth. Did you really buy cake? I mean, I read on the extranet that the tradition had died out in the end of 21st century!" Garrus informed me that they had indeed bought cake and the cake was.. surprise-surprise! Near my hometown! Yay!
Tali said: "We thought about a night in the forest next to a bonfire. Plus, not any forest, but a forest you surely visited back in '10. I thanked them a lot and we walked all together to the elevator wich took us to the cargo bay. The Paragade flew away from the Addict only minutes later.
We had set up a camp in the middle of the forest. There was a bonfire in the middle and a few tents surrounding it. It was maybe eleven o'clock in the night. Garrus stood up and told that he's real sleepy. The maniacal calibrater stood up and entered his tent. Tali also went to sleep. Legion was in his tent conversing with Joker who had also come. I could imagine my pilot teaching Legion some pretty dirty jokes. I summoned my combat drone.
"ASEC would like to inform you that no hostiles are present within the set perimeter." I toyed with it a bit and then deactivated it to save my omni-tool's battery. I wasn't very sleepy so I just sat there, watching the fire and thinking.
I heard movement from behind and prepared to punch the light out of the attacking creature, but it appeared to be Tali.
"You aren't the only one who wouldn't get sleep," she informed me. "It's a bit cold in the tent. Even with the suit, I mean."
She sat beside me and now two pairs of eyes were fixed to the fire. We simply were there for what seemed to be an eternity. I took out my sleeping mat and laid down. The "quarianengineer43" followed. She instinctively came closer, so much, that our clothes touched. I wrapped my arm around her.
She started talking quietly: "Shepard, I-I- I just think that it's a sm- Is it just me or it is hot in here?"
"Naah. It´s hot in here." I grinned.
She continued: "I just wanted to tell you, that I… like you. Alot more than I should. Of course I understand if you don't like me the same way, I guess."
"I actually feel the same about you. Don't be embarassed." I said. We fell asleep a while later.
A/N: Well, how did you like it? For those who can´t understand what Glados is, play "Portal". It´s an amazing puzzle game. See you next time!
