Somewhere over the rainbow, Arc 5 of "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 58 Uh oh, my soul


Alien Resurrection

A cluster of marines took station behind Tali as she entered the Cronos control room with Shepard, and made straight for the main console.

The old Helium-alpha display of Anadius at visual or UV frequencies was down, replaced by a panorama of the station exterior showing exterior teams working to repair the station's skins. Most of the pressurized compartments had by now been restored to working order. Retention fields took care of the remainder.

"We have the life support VI up now. I'm off with Miranda to see if we can recover the main comm."

"Yes, I can see. Security console has been disabled, too. Have you entered the labs?"

"Not yet. We have seals on the doors and Marine guards there. Javik and Jana could go through now, but that is your show, Tali. Just give the word when you're ready."

"We'll start with Javik's problems. Here's the bioweapon lab where they were working on better seeker swarm antidotes. If there's Collector material, it will be in there."

Stasis blues

The light in the bioweapon lab was faintly orange. Private Alexei noticed first.

"Tali'Zorah, many of the ceiling lights are actually ancient incandescent tech."

Jana simply said "Yes, of course." There was a long moment before Tali realised why.

"That's probably because it cheaply brought the spectrum peak to where Prothean and Collector eyes were most sensitive, Alexei. Is it safe for Javik to come in?"

"No obvious threats. Clear him through. The first priority is the video logs."

"Sorting through these could slow us down years."

"EDI had an internal index. We could file most of the logs for Normandy. Even with EDI dead, her massive positronic greybox might have the index."

Next came the bit Tali was dreading, the stasis pods, which Javik had badly wanted to inspect. There were nearly fifty of them, of various sizes. Some had blue telltales. Jana keyed in her own access code.

The front panels turned white, orange, then green. She motioned to the private, who assisted with the first. The tray opened with a pneumatic hiss:

"Asari, husked. On the way to a Banshee."

"Somewhat rancid, power failed a while ago. Says here, picked up on Thessia."

"Burn it?" (Alexei)

"They're abominations, but they can't hurt us." (Javik)

"Close up and leave for later. At some point we have to document how this was done. I wasn't on these teams and can't tell you directly, you will have to dissect them and do your own research. Come here, Javik." They began on the next pod.

"Turian, segmented, on way to marauder. Again, slightly decomposed."

"Close it up, note it and seal it. Keep them in stasis; we must deduce how it was done."

"This isn't productive. Can we identify the pods that kept power on?"

"I think the blue-lit ones. Yes. There were only eleven, and they were on the verge."

"Let's confine ourselves to those, for now. Can we try the human-sized ones with the blue lights? There's only two, Tali."

"Let's do it. Alexei, can you give me a hand here."

The two pods turned out to contain a Collector. And a Prothean.

Prothean Lilith

That afternoon, at third watch, all retired to Normandy's crew quarters for discussion. Tali broached the question on everyone's mind.

"Do we wake the Prothean? Or the Collector?"

Miranda did not like the idea. "Not the Collector, Tali. It seems to have a working QEC embedded just below its brain."

"We suspect it might inform any hibernating Reapers of its whereabouts." (Jana)

"What about the Prothean, then? Javik? I thought you'd be over the moon."

"Let it rest till there are more of us," muttered the no-longer last Prothean.

"We may have to waken it, if we are to make more of you. Part of the stasis protocol used by Cerberus involved a cold sleep, not a time-frozen bubble."

"What's the significance?"

"That Cerberus cell used a blood-borne smart liquid, Shepard. To prevent bursting of cell walls, reticulum, and organelles as the body water turns to ice. What this did to the body and brain…"

"Ah. I see. It's anyone's guess. If it's revived, it might be brain-dead?"

Tali was very confident. "Yes. But still usable."

Javik did not look impressed. "How… Primitive. Can we not get genetic markers by skin scrapings, nonetheless?"

"We can try. I might even be tempted to try for acephalic clones, given the high-quality popsicle we have. I wish Liara were here."

"Wait – can we call her back?" (Shepard)

Miranda was doubtful. "Better to do this at the new facilities on Arcturus station or the Citadel. She can meet us there."

Javik seemed to think this outcome positive. "Do so. I should be able to read the scrapings and get you more data. What of the Collector?"

"We can get skin scrapings off that too, and add it to the genetic randomization data. It will take some weeks, minimum, for Tali and Liara to sort through what we have. There may be more information in the databases."

"At least we have the comm logs. We should find some hidden bases with that. We'll make a decision about the clones tomorrow. I could do with some sleep, at this point."

Miranda looked tired too. "Me too. We're both getting older."

"Just not much wiser."

But Javik had the last word.

"I have waited fifty thousand years. I can wait a day, a week, a month. I will wait a lifetime if I must."


Wet work

She was already in bed by the time he'd returned after stowing the logs, filing copies to Traynor on Normandy, and briefing Matthews on the AI lab schedule for tomorrow. 2200 hours. Pity. He'd looked forward to another shower. (*Sigh*)

Shepard had already had a nightcap at the lounge bar and didn't want to wake her, so forbore to start the jug and stashed his armour and clothes under the bed rather than in the locker. Then lights off, except for the dim clock face, and straight to bed.

It must have been around midnight that he woke to find her slipping into his bed. His reflexes were not so quick that he fully understood at first, but they curled together. This time she didn't drop off to sleep, though. And he could barely see, but she wore neither bra nor pants under her gown.

"Mmf."

They didn't say a lot after they kissed. He'd rolled her over, and her gown opened wide.

Let's lose this hospital bed.

He picked her up bodily; almost threw her on her double bed, and she laughed, lightly, as they rejoined in a flurry of limbs, writhing together, barely able to speak for seeking each other's mouths, till after less than a minute, coupling;

Here. Here. Now. Now! OH!

Forty seconds later they cleaved panting to each other, barely able to speak. For some reason he felt the need to whisper, rather than speak out loud, perhaps subconsciously trying not to let Juno hear;

"That was… oh, that was…"

"Ssh. Necessary. And wonderful."

"Necessary?"

"You needed it, too."

They fell asleep in each others arms. Much later, around 0130, he felt her very quietly rise and shower. He personally could wait till morning. But he felt better; and rather emptier. He drifted back to sleep.

When he woke in the morning before the alarm, at around 0630, she was in her pyjamas, but twined around him.

He felt terribly sticky in places.

And aroused, again.

Time for a shower, now. Before we have to get up.

He was hampered in disengaging from Miranda by the lack of light and her faintly annoyed grumbling, but managed eventually, despite her trying to hold on to inconvenient bits of his anatomy. Still in semi-dark, he made it to the en-suite, tried a low-volume shower to minimize noise, and managed to clean up a little.

Except Miranda came in just as he was finishing.

"Mmm?"

"Do it to me. Here. Now. Under the streaming water."

"What, standing up?"

"I bet you can."

He had to lift her against the wall, bringing her legs up to his waist, but yes, he could.

Afterwards, back in bed:

"Do we still need the gurney bed?"

"Sure. For the look of the thing."

"I suppose we've been bad."

"I'm civilian. You've broken no rules. Think of this as therapy. God knows it was good for me."

Shepard had to admit, he felt better too.


Next chapter: #59, "Starting out in the evening"


Saturday, August 1, 2015