Chapter Seven
St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia
One week later, Lawson Manor, 0733h
Having Oriana on the property was a welcome change. She was most curious about Alan's history and gushed over the fact that it was Shepard who had brought him to Miranda in London. Miranda was still unsure of the whole situation herself but found several ways to occupy her busy mind throughout the week. Since banking institutions were once again open, she immediately started the long and arduous process of dealing with her father's estate. Despite his repulsive behavior towards Miranda and Oriana on Horizon, he actually did leave some money to them both. Henry Lawson also did do some good throughout his life, though. He contributed financially to the Sirta Foundation from time to time but mysteriously pulled out just before the company came into fiscal trouble in 2183. She discovered that he also sent money to Grissom Academy-perhaps he knew Jon Grissom earlier in life. The rest of it, though, funneled through various "charities" and numerous fictional corporations.
The geth that were communing in the server reported traces of this anomalous signal that was being broadcast to practically everything over the extranet. There were very few times that it would communicate with them, and Samson reassured Miranda that they were doing their very best to pinpoint the location. So far, the geth were able to eliminate various points of origin in the galaxy; it was not coming from Illium or Omega. The signal was also not coming from Feros or Noveria. There was, however, one time that they encountered the signal spending quite a bit of time sending commands to aid the rebuilding of the colonies of Mindoir as well as Fehl Prime. Approximately twenty capital class ships were deployed as well as harvesters that carried human husks. Miranda awoke early this morning at about five-thirty. After completing her morning stretches and a jog around the property, she came back to start brewing the coffee at a quarter to seven. Orion was already there, but he did not attempt to operate the machine. Three days ago, he completely ruined the whole pot by making it too weak. There were also heaps of coffee grounds that somehow made it through the machine's filter into the end product. Miranda brushed him off harshly and said that from now on, she would see to the task.
Alan joined her about fifteen minutes later. He was exceptionally rambunctious this morning after his glass of orange juice, so she decided that breakfast this morning would not include any sort of sugary cereal. "Orion, I think that some toast would be in order for us, please. I'm not sure what Oriana wants, but if she wakes up any later than nine o'clock, she can make her own damned breakfast," Miranda stated and rolled her eyes. "Would you like some peanut butter on yours, Alan?"
"Yes, Ms. Lawson," the boy nodded and gave her a genuine grin. "With honey on top."
She cleared her throat and raised an expectant eyebrow at him.
He finally added the word that she was anticipating. "Please."
"Good. Now, Orion, I'd like a hard boiled egg with just one slice of buttered toast, please. Once we've finished, we'll put the dishes in the sink for you to attend to later on."
"Affirmative," the geth replied noncommittally. "Are there any other tasks that you'd like for me to complete today, Lawson-Miranda?"
"I'd like a report from Samson regarding your extranet searches for the control signal's origin, and I'd also appreciate it if you'd wash the outside windows, starting on the first floor. Do you know how to properly wash windows?"
"What is your definition of properly washed windows?"
Miranda poured herself a cup of coffee and motioned her head towards one in the kitchen. "Do you see the streaks of dirt that are caking the glass?"
The geth's optic flexed as he assessed the window. "There is also dirt on the inside, Lawson-Miranda. Would you prefer that I do the inside first? We have many supplies to combat the filthy grime that has integrated itself with the-"
She raised a hand. "Just get it done, please, either way, thank you. I have quite a lot of business to attend to today."
"Acknowledged." Orion opened the refrigerator door to begin his chores and remained silent for another five seconds. "Lawson-Miranda, Samson will report to you at your discretion. His usual commencement of operations is at eight-hundred hours, but if you desire him to-"
"It's too early for that. I'd rather learn about his discoveries after breakfast."
"Affirmative." The geth continued to prepare their breakfast.
"Can we get a dog? I'd like a dog, please," Alan suddenly broke in. "I don't like cats-they're too mean."
"We'll see. I don't plan on living here for very long, probably until I get a lot more things done. Transporting a dog off-planet might be a tad difficult," Miranda responded gently.
The boy opened his mouth to begin to argue, and she patted him on the shoulder.
"That isn't a no, Alan. It's a maybe."
"Oh. Am I going to have to go to school?"
Miranda bit her lip and winced as she remembered the reason why she had not slept well last night. The tumor that she had found in his occipital lobe was malignant, and it had metastasized. If she didn't do something about it soon, it would likely be inoperable and…no, I'm not going to lose you, too. Not to something like that. I saved Shepard once-I can do this, too.
"For now, no," she finally responded and tried to mask the pain in her voice.
"Mmmm…" Oriana's greeting was almost unintelligible as she padded her way into the kitchen. She drowsily swayed past the table, grabbed a mug that Orion offered to her, and went straight for the coffee machine.
Hmm…another thing we share, Miranda mused. We both need coffee before we can have coherent discussions. She'd be better off having more water than coffee this morning, though.
Orion brought a tray over to the table with Alan's toast as well as Miranda's on two separate plates along with some silverware. "Your hard-boiled egg is not yet done, Lawson-Miranda. Please allow another two minutes to completion. Lawson-Oriana, do you wish to partake in any nourishment this morning?"
Oriana's hands came up to massage her temples. "Not so loud. Aw…it hurts," she whimpered.
Miranda rolled her eyes and sighed with exasperation. "I told you not to drink that last glass of wine; you should have had more water. It was great to share those two bottles of wine with you, and I know that you're still hurting because of that boy you loved, but I don't know why you din't listen to me, Ori. You're lucky that our father gave the both of us such a hearty constitution. Most humans would barely be able to get out of bed with the amount of alcohol that you consumed last night."
"'Randa, please," Oriana whined. "Stop lecturing me."
"Right." Miranda nodded. "Alan?" The boy's attention snapped over to her. "Do you see the predicament that she's in? The groaning, the pain, the thirst, and the restlessness?"
"What does predicament mean?" he inquired.
"Her current situation, her status…just…watch her."
"Oh, okay. For how long?" He shoved a large piece of toast into his mouth.
"I want you to see what happens when you drink too much alcohol. Does this look fun to you?"
Oriana groaned and let her head sink into her hands. "Still too loud."
"No, it doesn't," Alan said. He then looked at Miranda. "Can I stop looking now, Ms. Lawson?"
"One of these days, we'll need to discuss the difference between can and may…" Miranda remarked. "Yes, Alan, you may, as long as you keep that picture in mind later in life."
"Okay." He licked his lips and took another gigantic bite of his breakfast.
And if I have anything to say about your life, you're going to have a very, very long one.
The Aussie consumed some more of her coffee. "Ori, I know your head hurts, but we need to talk about the woman you met on the ship, Dr. Brynn Cole."
Oriana moaned and looked at her coffee. "Couldn't we do this later?"
"No," Miranda replied firmly and shook her head. "I need to talk to her today. You mentioned last night that you'd give me the information I needed about her, and I'd like it as soon as possible, please. It would also be better for you to drink water instead of that coffee."
"No, I didn't," the young woman argued. "I just told you that we met and that she was with Jacob now. I have no freaking clue as to how to get in touch with her."
"Your egg is ready, Lawson-Miranda," Orion suddenly informed them and brought it over to them. "Lawson-Oriana, have you selected what particular choice of food that you would prefer for your morning nourishment?"
"You got anything to get rid of how rotten I feel?" Oriana mumbled. "Not sure if food's the answer."
The synthetic's servo-motors flexed themselves around his optic as he examined her question pensively. "Is your current status what organics refer to as a hangover?"
The young adult whimpered a 'yeah' and lifted the mug up to her lips finally.
"Your discomfort is unfortunate, and your electrolytes are unbalanced. This condition must be rectified in order to bring harmony to the Lawson household. You must eat, Lawson-Oriana." Orion carefully dropped another egg into the boiling water on the range.
Miranda's eyes narrowed as she made eye contact with the geth. "I don't appreciate you ordering my sister around like that. If she doesn't want to bloody eat, then don't try to force it down her throat."
"I did not mean to cause offense, Lawson-Miranda." Orion's head bobbed up and down. "Please accept my apologies."
Miranda shrugged coldly and turned her attention to Alan. "I might need to take you somewhere that won't be too much fun today, but afterward, I promise that we'll go have a look for a dog, all right?"
"Really?" The corners of Alan's mouth turned upward.
"Yes. If you're finished, you can go up to your room and play."
"What about going outside?"
Miranda shook her head. "Later. I need to talk to my sister now."
"Okay." He wiped his mouth off on his sleeve, which made Miranda inwardly grimace, but she did nothing to outwardly express her dismay besides purse her lips. "Bye."
Alan was literally gone in two seconds from the table, and before Miranda could grumble about his poor manners, Magellan wandered into the kitchen. He was carrying a data pad and strolled purposefully towards them. "Lawson-Miranda, I bring news from our searches on the extranet for the anomalous signal that is controlling the Old Machines. It is likely that it also partially controls the Geth. Samson has come to this conclusion, and I am also seeing various manifestations of this occurring in my code and runtimes, so I concur."
"Was any of that in English or Galactic?" Oriana muttered and sipped some more of her coffee.
"No, try logarithmic algebra or calculus, Ori," Miranda said with a twinge of amusement. "Then you'd be speaking his language perfectly."
"Ugh. I think I'd rather shove my head into a blender first."
Miranda smiled and laughed through her nose briefly. "I needed that. Thanks, Ori."
She merely shook her head, felt another sharp jab of pain, and began to massage her temples once more. "I wasn't trying to be funny. Those robots are starting to freak me out, 'Randa."
"I do not follow your logic, Lawson-Oriana," Magellan informed her.
The young adult rolled her eyes, picked up her mug, and left the room.
"Have I caused an offense, Lawson-Miranda?"
"No. Thank you for making the breakfast, Orion, and Magellan, tell Samson that I'll speak with him later today, perhaps in the afternoon."
The geth nodded his head. "Affirmative. Would you like to schedule a possible rendezvous?"
Miranda set the dishes in the sink. "Think of it as a variable in an equation for now."
"Unknown quantities such as the one you have suggested are particularly difficult for me to comprehend, but I will attempt to do so." After he gave her this last comment, Magellan did an about face, and marched out of the kitchen. Before he could completely leave her sight, Miranda whirled around. "Wait a minute."
The geth halted mid-stride and faced her. "You have another inquiry, Lawson-Miranda?"
"I'm just…thinking aloud here." She rested her chin on the back of her hand and supported its weight by crossing her arm underneath it. "We found out that the Catalyst was the Citadel, and that was the last part meant to complete the Crucible. Did any of the Geth work on this project?"
"Yes. We virtually connected ourselves to the Alliance's com buoys over the extranet and a secure one thousand twenty four bit encryption key."
"Then do you think that…well…" Miranda bit her lip and sighed exasperatedly. "I don't have any reports telling me that Shepard made it off of the Citadel. Nor do I actually have any that confirm that he made it onto the Citadel. I…I'm just bewildered by all this. Do you think that he's still there?"
"That is a logical assumption. His corporeal form-"
"No, I mean…he's got to be the one who's controlling the Reapers and now…apparently a part of you, the Geth. Do you think that he could still be alive in there…somehow?"
"That is conditional upon how you define life, Lawson-Miranda. The Geth are alive but do not always utilize hardware. Are we alive?" Magellan pointed towards himself. "Do we have souls?"
"I…I don't know how to answer that question. I'm not sure if I believe in a soul."
"Why not? Many humans philosophically agree that there is something separate from the physical manifestation of your-"
"Answer my question." She crossed her arms against chest.
"I believe that Shepard-Commander has a soul, and he is alive. I cannot answer for my fellow colleagues, but they likely share the same conclusion as I."
"In that case, I'd like for you to try and contact him. I tried to send him a message a while ago, but I'm not sure if it got through."
The synthetic suddenly froze for a few seconds, and his iris completely closed. Miranda was about to take a closer look at him, but then it opened again. This time, the iris had a blue tint to it. "What the hell is going on?" she exclaimed and uncrossed her arms.
"Miranda, I'm sorry about all this." The voice that came through the geth's vocal modulator was distorted but almost human. "It's me."
"Shepard?" Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
"Yeah, sorry."
"Did you get my message?"
"Which one?"
"I sent you one last night at about midnight."
"No, I didn't." The geth's shoulders shrugged. "Liara called you, didn't she?"
She ignored his question. "Why didn't you get my message?"
"I don't know. Something weird's been going on with me ever since I…well, I guess I'm a little too human for this AI's taste or something."
"What do you mean? What AI? You're the one who's been doing all this, right? You sent the Geth, the Rachni, even the boy to me…?"
"If I could smile, Miri babe, I'd do it." He tilted his head to the left slightly. "The Rachni have been singing to me about him."
Miranda was about to respond to him, but something was amiss here. He never called her that before. Only in the last few minutes that he had spoken to her had he even used the name "Miri", which she wasn't sure how to accept at first. It was, after all, the same childhood name that Niket had used for her. Somehow…later on…thinking about how he called her "Miri" during the final battle was one of the things that kept her going. However, Shepard had never used the term "babe" before. Perhaps once and a while, he had said the word "love", but this thought gave her some pause.
"They've been doing what?" she finally inquired.
"Alan's a good name, Miranda."
She closed her eyes and hung her head. The tears that she'd been holding back on Earth all that time ago suddenly started to swell up within her eyes. "With all that you said to me before you left, I…I just don't understand you…-"
Shepard paused in his speech as he studied her trembling form through the geth's optic. Her sobbing was bitter and her breathing was ragged.
"I think you do-you just don't want to accept it." He glanced down at the geth's claw-like hands. "Would it be weird if I…yeah, it would."
The tears began to subside. "What're you talking about?"
"I wanted to try and run this body's hands across your face, but I'm not sure how fine the servo motors work on this thing. I'm not even sure if…well, damn, it's too bad that EDI's not here. I would have preferred to take control over her body. At least she had five fingers on her hands and not these stupid claws." The digits flexed back and forth erratically.
She let out a short laugh through her nose. "Somehow, I doubt that she'd let that happen, Shepard."
"Maybe one day, love, I can come back into human form. But right now, I…I just don't-"
"I brought you back before," she interrupted him. "And I'll do it again."
"No," the geth shook his head, "you can't, Miranda."
Her eyes narrowed. "They also told me that I couldn't do it the first time. Don't you ever tell me that I can't do something, Shepard."
"Damn, you're sexy when you're angry. If this thing had lips, Miranda…-"
Suddenly, Magellan's iris closed, and when it opened once more, the optic went back to its normal white saturation. He glanced at Miranda. "I must have experienced another runtime error. Apologies, Lawson-Miranda. You had asked this unit a question approximately two minutes ago, but I cannot find a record of it."
Miranda sighed dejectedly. "Never mind, Magellan. Just…I need some time alone, now."
"Acknowledged." He left her presence without another word.
Shepard had also never called her "sexy". The word beautiful and gorgeous might have come out of his mouth quite a few times, but why now? This did not feel like a compliment, and if she were the sort of person to become easily frightened, it would have likely given her chills.
Pushing her inner conflict away, Miranda stiffened up, and made her way towards an office that she'd created in the last couple of days. It was plastered with three rows of several holographic monitors but was not nearly as extensive as Liara's displays on the Normandy, and a singular terminal sat upon a platform in front of it. In a flat voice, she made a voice command to initiate the morning lighting for the room, which included mostly natural light. Mechanical shades slowly lifted themselves about three inches at a time every two seconds, and half of the room was illuminated by sunlight alone.
"Show me the last browsing data from yesterday," Miranda commanded the computer terminal. Moments later, the harmless machine obeyed her command and brought up several holos of Reaper capital ships on the top level of monitors that were present. On the second row down were files and reports written by several different species as each one made their observations about the Reapers. Miranda's eyes darted towards one that described how the Reapers virtually infected the Geth consensus. She marched towards the monitor with keen interest to read it in detail.
A voice from her right did not deter her from her work. "Well, I finally gave in, 'Randa. Hope that stupid robot's happy," Oriana grumbled. "Whatcha doing?"
"Studying the Reapers."
Oriana approached her sister timidly and wrapped her arms around herself. "Yeah, I know, but why?"
"Because…somebody needs to do it."
"Well, we're not fighting them anymore, so why do you really care? I mean, since they're both organic and synthetic, they've got some sort of personality, but I don't get it, 'Randa."
"We're not fighting them right now, Ori," Miranda corrected her. "That may change."
Oriana's eyebrows wrinkled. "Why do you say that? I don't get it. Didn't you say that Shepard is controlling them? He doesn't want war with us."
"He also disagreed with the Illusive Man's decision to keep the Collector base intact so that he could use the Reaper tech." Miranda finally tore her eyes away from the screens to look at her sister. "He called it an abomination. I wonder…why wouldn't he want to destroy the Reapers? It doesn't make sense to me."
The younger woman shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you'd know since you were there." She paused to think the situation over. "So you don't think that there will be peace forever? I'm not so sure I understand where Shepard is."
"I think it's only a matter of time, Ori, before the peace is violated. I'm not so certain of where he is myself, but I just heard from him about five minutes ago. It didn't sound right."
"Wait, wait, wait. How did you-"
"He took control over Magellan for a few minutes to talk to me."
"So, what…he didn't sound like himself? Well, wasn't he talking through that geth's voice thing?"
"Modulator."
"Yeah, that's what I meant."
Miranda gave up; it was pointless to try and describe Shepard's manner of speech to Oriana. He had met her and spoken with her, but she didn't know Shepard like Miranda did. She decided to switch topics. "So, any luck with finding a college, yet, Ori?"
"I haven't found anything near here that's got a highly recommended colony development program," Oriana said and curled her bottom lip over her top.
"That doesn't mean that you can't go to one and get your degree."
"Maybe I won't need one."
"What makes you say that?"
Oriana shrugged and made direct eye contact with her sister. "Did you get one?"
"I'll answer your question when you answer mine."
"It's just…well, while I was looking for a university, I saw an ad on the extranet about a company called ExoGeni. The war kind of screwed things up for them, well, no, not kind of…it really screwed things up for them. And they're um…looking for people to help them run things."
"Good. Now, to answer your question, yes, I did. All of my courses were done through correspondence via the extranet. Since Cerberus had several medically trained professionals, I had some of the best on-the-job training, too. The best teacher is experience, Ori. Don't let anyone tell you anything differently."
"You're not upset with me for not wanting to finish my degree?" She uncrossed her arms.
"You'll finish it someday, I'm sure. If you want to help our colonies get back onto their feet, I think that that's a laudable idea, Ori. It's quite practical, too." Miranda's attention went back to the monitors, and she drew her finger across one of them to move a virtual window out of the way so that she could read the next one below it.
"So uh, did you sleep okay last night?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"I got up to go to the loo and saw you running around outside. Is there something wrong, 'Randa?"
Sometimes coming from the same test tube isn't such a blessing, Miranda thought and pursed her lips together as she thought of a response.
"Don't worry about it, Ori. My problems will fix themselves in due time."
"What if they're not your problems that you're worried about, like me?"
Miranda stopped reading the data and gave her sister a sidelong glance. "They're not, Ori. I'm concerned for you, yes, because I love you, but I'm not worried about you…well…at least not any more."
"Then…what are you…" Oriana began, but when she realized that she would likely not receive a straight answer from her sister and immediately halted her query. "Want me to check on Alan?"
"I'd appreciate it, yes, please, Ori." Miranda gave her a ghost of a smile on her exit and then brought up a communication channel on her omni-tool. He might be dead. Then again, I could be imagining things. He would definitely be able to contact that woman if she were still alive. After all, she worked for both Cerberus and the Shadow Broker.
The Aussie typed in an encrypted address on the hepatic panel, and within the next ten seconds, life was beginning to look up as she was able to contact her old mentor, Operative Charon.
"Somehow, I knew that you'd make it out of this alive, Miranda," he announced with a proud beam. "Good to see you."
"Likewise, Charon. I need a favor."
"Is that so? Are you able to travel?"
"I'd rather not leave where I am, at least not quite yet," Miranda replied ambiguously. "You know that the Illusive Man's long dead, don't you? And Kai Leng as well as the rest of Cerberus that was indoctrinated."
"The Alliance is hunting down war criminals and demanding justice. Anyone associated with Cerberus is potentially in a bad situation. I need to keep a few steps ahead of them, just in case."
"Really? That doesn't sound like something Admiral Hackett would do."
"Hackett is not the only one who's running the Alliance, Miranda."
"Very true."
"What is this favor?"
"It's about someone who worked with you. I need to get in touch with Operative Serena Longoria."
"What makes you think that I know where she is or keep in contact with her?"
Miranda bit her lip impatiently. Charon was an extremely paranoid man, and he had been with Cerberus since its conception. It was that caution that kept him alive during the Reaper invasion and war. She needed it now and would therefore have to put up with his quirky methods. "It was honestly a shot in the dark, Charon."
"Hmm…well, should you ever play the lottery, Miranda, you'd win."
"I'm sorry?"
"You're in luck," he stated with a grin. "Want me to pass a message to her or just give her your contact information?"
*A/N*-For those of you who would like to know who Charon is, I'd suggest reading "Equivocation" or "Cultivation". Thank you for those of you who leave reviews-they are always appreciated. Remember what I said about the earlier chapter? Hmm...is there truly peace in the galaxy? And for those of you who don't know what happened to Oriana's boyfriend or crush, I recommend reading "Subjugation". That pretty much describes how Shepard and Miranda's relationship blossomed during the last few missions of ME3, anyhow. More action will be coming soon, I promise.
