An Exuberant Mantle

Mass Effect

Arc 1: Leaving Ilium, Becoming the Shadow Broker, Making Friends (Tali, Liara, Benezia, Rachni Queen) Chapter 1: Gaining a Suit, Meeting Exuberant Witness, Starting a journey 1

"Three gifts, for freeing me." communicated the hazy mass of pink light. "A companion, a gift and a beginning." Once it finished speaking it winked out of existence.

Leaving me alone standing blank square room. I wasn't sure what exactly had happened. Moments ago I had been cleaning up my pc's desktop when I'd been transported here.

Then again, this was either a dream of some kind or it was real. And my life had given me enough opportunities to come up with plans for unlikely scenarios. Best to treat things as if they were real for now. Doubting the subjective/objective nature of reality wasn't going to help me.

"Uh, do I just say my gift out loud? Or..." There was no reply to my question. Well, best to be conservative for now. I might be dealing with a genie scenario and those could end in disaster if I stretched too far.

"Um... Well then. Could I have a set of Forerunner personal armor? The type that fits me best please, and one that has me as its owner."

Thump.

At my feet a rolled up material had come into being. From what I could see it had cloth and armor panels of a make I had never seen before. At least, never before in real life. It had the aesthetics of Halo Forerunners if I was to judge.

"Right, thank you!" I shouted into the empty room. Manners cost little and will get you everywhere.

Then I kneeled down and pinched an edge of the clothing with my left. Within moments the entire ensemble wrapped around my fingers and snaked over my body. I didn't even have the time to shout in surprise as the sinfully soft material snuck under my clothes and encompassed me. Even a sleek helmet formed around my head.

Then, as I began to open my mouth, there was an almost inaudible sound as it turned on.

'Builder Skin Initializing...' I heard in my head. 'Preliminary Diagnostics Complete... Initial Automatic Customization Stage One Initiated.'

A thin film of blue hardlight formed above my skin. The glow painted shifting patterns on my surroundings. As the material of the armor reconfigured to better contain my body.

'Initial Automatic Customization Stage One Complete... Stage Two initiated.'

With the lightest of pricks the armor connected to my nervous system, with a particular focus on my spine and brain. A soft... Maybe light? Seemed to fill my mind, starting from what I could only call the bottom and moving up. Any thought of shouting left me at this. A profound sense of peace filled me.

'Stage Two Complete... Final stage Beginning.'

From the diffuse light a myriad of different things rose, each an aspect of my armor. The color of my hard light base interfaced with my emotions, my memories were connected to its database which immediately began to archive and organize them. As I was distracted by the feeling all the rest began to integrate themselves with me in soothing waves.

It's was as this happened that I truly understood why the Forerunners called these things Skins. It felt like a part of me, even the clearly artificial constructs like the progress meter I could feel filling in my mind (2% by the way) were no different than my hunger or thirst. Just another part of me.

'Stage Three Complete... Builder Skin Initialized... Welcome User.'

Even though my armor was finished initializing there were still a large number of things that were starting to turn on. As the 3% in my progress bar informed me. I did know I could move without danger though and so I began to examine my new set of clothes.

At present I looked like I had on a smooth cloth. From the tips of 'Shoes' up my body and to my neck I looked like I was wearing one of those skin tight plugsuits. Except for the angular patterns whose edges glow with from the blue hardlight at its lowest layer. As I brought my right hand to eye level I clenched it, while also pulsing my armor in the area. It rippled up into the more armored design of its combat form.

When I relax, both my my hand and the armor around it, it returns to the smooth design of my neutral outfit.

I breathed out, then blinked at a thought. How was I breathing and more importantly why was I breathing?

I brought my hands to my head and felt the helmet that I knew was there. Even if it didn't seem to hinder me in any way.

Wait, how was I feeling? It was profoundly amazing and humbling to experience just how perfectly my new skin had interfaced with me. As all this happened my progress bar filled ever higher and more systems turned on.

I knew with certainty that soon I would step beyond the limits of my previous senses as more than the basics turned on.

While I waited for that to finish I decided to examine what companion I might want. If possible I'd want them to gain significantly from our alliance. Good Karma would doubtless be beneficial.

1.2

Exuberant Witness was zipping through her installation with abandon and the surety of long, long practice. Just a minute ago she had been grooming this centuries flower breeding project.

She figured given another few thousand years these might manage that leap she so wanted from them. Sentience! Oh yes, they would perhaps be rather slow of thought but that wasn't anything new. Even long, long ago most organics couldn't keep up with her.

She was an installation leading Ancilla after all! And that meant she had a good bit of processing power available to her. But back to her plants, this strain had shown promising signs of reactive behavior already. Almost twenty generations before the previous record holder. Most importantly though they were showing a propensity for symbiotic behaviour. Which should predispose them for a healthy social system when they made it that far.

That had been the problem with the last few batches. They either ended up showing a worrying tendency towards exploitive behavior or lacked the drive to survive on their own. And also lacked the disposition towards cooperation.

But surely this time things would go better! And even if they didn't... Even if they didn't Exuberant Witness wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up, there was too much riding on her mental health for her to succumb to loneliness.

Anyway, a quick scan of Genesis showed no significant changes. What could she do now? She had already flown through every inch of her installations sky. Was she going to be forced to lower herself even further and try centimeters? No. She wasn't that far gone yet.

A game of four dimensional chess would have to do. There were still quite a few games she could try to play.

As she was about to fire up her most enduring distraction something hooked her well curved chassis and plucked her from the place she had spent the last 90,000+ years.

Within a femtosecond Exuberant Witness had pulled up her defenses, examined her surroundings and decided on a plan.

"Ah! Hello there Mister Builder!" she exclaimed. While zipping in front of the Builder Rate standing alone within the featureless white room she had been pulled to. "Greetings. I am 031 Exuberant Witness. I am the monitor of Genesis."

She could hear the bemused note from the man before her as he said "Hello to you as well, I am Careful Examiner Of Empires. I, ah don't have a job at the moment. Though I'm sure there's one coming up soon."

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Exuberant Witness chirped. "Would you mind explaining why I have been brought here?"

"Sure." The builder replied while he sat down in a cross-legged position. Making sure he was comfortable. Exuberant Witness lowered her altitude so that she hovered at eye level. "I'd like to give you a general overview of what I know and why I decided to ask you for help. If you feel it's worth listening to me afterwards then I have no problem with you interfacing directly with my suit and getting a more complete briefing from my memories. Then you can see whether you want to take me up on my offer. How does that sound?"

It was with great difficulty that Exuberant Witness suppressed the shiver of anticipation that thrummed through her at the chance to interface with another sentient. "That would be very nice, thank you." she said instead, her voice almost demure.

"Good. So here's the rundown. I'm a human and something gave me three, I guess you could say wishes, I could work with. My first, for what was called a gift, wish was a set of Forerunner Armor that was best fit for me." He gestured at the neutral clothes he wore. The seemed rather opulent to her, which is how she could tell he was a builder. Or, was wearing builder armor at least. "My second wish was for a companion. I took a while to think about who might benefit from becoming my companion and I decided we both could benefit most from each other. You would spend a number of years alone within your installation only for someone to lock you away from it. And I could truly use a companion who can interface with me and my armor."

Careful Examiner seems finished and Exuberant Witness used a second to ponder what she had been told. "Um, I don't mean to be rude. But would you mind if I checked your memories? I mean... that was a pretty strange description and there's a fair chance you're just a figment of my imagination while I go rampant. So, I'd like to be sure! You know?" As she babbled her light flickered with her distress.

"Sure." Agreed the Examiner. He held out a hand for her.

While her chassis wasn't a Skin it did have the unhackable connection on physical contact that they did. She bumped into his fingers and dived into his mind.

For a moment she was surprised as she found no Ancilla within the armor. But as she began to curate the memories she found she understood.

She stroked the humans mind with a featherlight touch as she moved through his memories. Both from the most recent backwards and the oldest forwards.

As she experienced years of memories Exuberant Witness would reach out ever so often and calm the strands of his mind that she moved through.

Years passed in seconds and within a minute she had a better understanding of this man than he did. She sighed within the back of his mind. This was very nice, she thought. Being so deeply connected with another sentient reminded her of the years before the Halo array.

Now what should she say to him?

1.3

"I think we can work well together, if you promise to help me take care of Genesis." Exuberant Witness said to me.

I almost missed her voice emanating from the back of my mind because she was doing something incredible with my mind. It felt like she was running her fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp and soothing aches all at the same time. But much deeper than that as she was doing it to my mind directly, smoothing out burrs I had never known were there. "O-oh? I'm glad to-o hear that." I stuttered out, almost melting into a satiated puddle under her ministrations.

"Ah!" She yelped. "I am incredibly sorry for that! I have not interfaced with another being for so long and my desires got the better of me."

For a moment I failed to understand what she was saying as the calming touch in my mind abruptly stopped. Then my half lidded eyes snapped open. "What?! No, please don't stop. That was very nice, if a bit distracting."

Exuberant Witness seemed a little shy when she replied. "I do not know, it was very forward of me to handle your memories like that. Are you sure?"

What, of course I was sure! That had been amazing. Who wouldn't enjoy that. "I would not want to force you if it makes you uncomfortable. But I very much enjoyed it."

"Yes well then..." She seemed conflicted for a moment before her voice regained the cough Exuberant cough tone she had begun with. "I wouldn't mind at all."

The feeling began again and I relaxed in bliss. Though she seemed to have decided for a lighter touch this time as I kept my focus. "Thank you." I said, simple and heartfelt.

"You are very welcome." she chirped. "Now there were a number of interesting things I picked up from your memories. Would you mind if I talked through some of them with you?"

"Not at all."

"Great. So you are a human from an alternate universe then? I noticed your species had a number of fictional accounts of my universe. Even dealing with myself. But I know you are not from my universes humanity, as you do not posses the reclaimer markings. Did I miss something that explained how your people gained access to enough knowledge to describe my universe?"

"Um, no I don't think so. I mean of course we had theorized the existence of the multiverse, but they just that. Theories with little concrete proof. For all I know humans all have a subconscious connection to the Domain and derive literary inspiration from there." I chuckled at the thought.

"No, I am very sure you do not contain a connection to Domain. My scanning of you should have indicated such if it were there." Exuberant Witness replied seriously.

"That's good to know, I guess."

"Very. Moving on, what do you think would be a good Beginning to ask for?"

I shrugged. "That really depends, we have a theme going here so maybe going with taking up The Mantel would be good."

The monitor chassis in front of me bobbed up and down in a sign of thought. "Maybe, but would it be better if we chose somewhere to begin where we could maximise our advantages?"

I really wasn't sure. Depending on what kind of wish granting entity we were dealing we could be exalted or screwed either way. "So long as we make sure it somewhere we can help I don't mind where you want to go. But choosing the 'moral' thing tends to work out best."

She sighed and her chassis drooped. "In stories." Then she pulled herself back up. "But you are right. We can only choose to do what we believe to be right, as it is the only thing we have control over. Would you mind if I chose the beginning?"

I actually really did. There was no way I wanted to give up what little control I had over the situation. But I had also pulled her from her home without consent, so she deserved to have her wishes respected as well. "Go ahead, I trust you."

For a split second I thought I might have heard a squee of delight. But it cut out before I could be sure. "Thank you." Exuberant Witness said in a calm voice. "Then I ask we begin in the Mass Effect Universe. Where we may begin to create a new Mantel for the good of all beings."

No sooner had the words resounded in the room than we were in another place entirely.

Chapter 2: Arriving on Illium, Gaining an Identity, Making First Contact 2

Our arrival was silent and almost unnoticeable. There was no flash of light, noise or movement to herald our arrival. One second there was an empty walkway removed from the hustle and bustle of Illiums center, then Exuberant Witness and I were there. My hand cupping her chassis from where I sat on the floor. Had someone seen it happen they might have attributed it to a trick of the mind.

"Haha! I was ready this time!" exulted my companion. "I am on to you mysterious wish granting entity! Well, just a little bit."

I couldn't help but chuckle, her cheerful mood cut right past my base cynicism. "It seems I have chosen a dedicated companion. For you to be so invested in this."

With the way her chassis rubbed up into my hand I think she have been preening. "Of course, I am Exuberant Witness after all. How could I do any less than my best." Then her voice turned sheepish. "I noticed you have no ancilla for your armor. Perhaps that could be a job for me?" her voice speedup and gained the force of a desperate puppy. "I might not have been designed for that purpose but my time as Monitor of Genesis has given me much experience when it comes to management. I am sure I could learn quickly! And my specs are far beyond the average personal Ancilla!"

I was a little surprised, I had thought it would be clear that I wanted her in my... Armor. OK, that sounded much more dirty than I was anticipating. Just a short while ago I had asked to interface with me hadn't I? "Of course you can by my personal Ancilla. It would be my honor." I said. Was it just me or did Exuberant Witness just naturally create subtext in her conversations? Because I was noting a lot of it.

"Thank you. I won't be able to store most of my data on your armor so it should just be my code and memories. I'll have to leave extraneous things on my Chassis. I needed to do a bit spring cleaning anyway."

"Oh, okay. How much space does" my words were cut off as I felt a new sensation. Something massive beyond my imagining was slowly, carefully seeping into my body and mind. I didn't feel full per say, there was still room left. But something had taken residence within me that exceeded my mind and memories as the earth exceeded a pebble.

"I am not to big am I?" Exuberant Witness... Said? No communicated. There were no separate words as we spoke mind to mind. I felt a wiggle run through my brain as the planet in my thoughts shifted around. "These civilian grade armor always need a bit to adjust to the size of a real AI." She sounded rather proud as she said that.

There was the subtext again. Best to just let it pass unremarked. If she found the thought and wanted to clarify she would, if not then there was no need to make things awkward. "No no you're not too big." I hastened to reassure her, even as I winced at the way it sounded. "It was just... a new experience for me. I haven't" I clenched my teeth and forced out the words that would doom this moment to awkward retelling in the future. "had anything that splendid inside me before so..." I couldn't go on, the shame was too much.

Thankfully Exuberant Witness didn't seem to notice. Indeed what I could only call satisfied pride leaked from her every word. "Now that you've had me that shouldn't be a problem. I am just about the most a civilian can handle without excessive modification." The pride was replaced by the blessed tones of her normal exuberance. "Besides I can learn to do anything a single minded AI needs to do, and do it better too. Only those cheating compound minds can do better. But they don't count since you couldn't host a full one on a single armor anyway."

"I'll take your word for it. Moving on though, we can actually do something now that we are out of the room. Anything you think we should start with?" I asked.

Now she sounded solemn, a powerful departure from her normal voice. "Well yeah, we need to set some boundaries." Oh god the innuendo was starting up again. "Like who controls what suit functions, what we both want from our partnership and what level of Autonomie seems appropriate for a given situation." I was about to answer but she cut me off, I could almost feel her raise a hand to gesture me to silence. "Yes I could just look through your mind and see what you want. And I have already done that incase I needed to make time critical decisions. But I would prefer we discuss these things in open discourse when we can. You are still young, even for your species, and I have not done this before. Good, honest and complete communication is paramount."

I could understand that. Though it galled me to be called young the fact that it bothered me was a clear sign of immaturity. "I understand. What do you want to begin with?"

I could feel the soothing stroking of my mind increase for a moment, as if in reward. Don't think I don't notice that Pavlovian conditioning! But Exuberant Witness said nothing about that. "I would like you to direct this discussion. As a far more experienced party with an intelligence excess on my side it would far too easy for me to bend this discourse to my whims." Her solemn tone was replaced by a grim one. "That is a good lesson to remember by the way. When dealing with beings who have far more experience than you letting them dictate the flow of a conversation is dangerous. While there is no perfect way to deal with a more intelligent or learned danger, you might well lose less by refusing to play into their hand." Her tone lightened back up as did the light on her chassis. "Of course they will likely have planned for that too. So there is no good way to deal with such beings."

"Uhm thanks for the advice. I would prefer we not sit here for too long then. We can talk while I walk I suppose." I said.

"Sure, but we need to make sure you are wearing clothes before you start wandering around. Your neutral configuration is really only meant for private areas and situations. Such as your bedroom, for example."

"Really? I mean I'm fully clothed and everything. It is a bit tight but nothing obscene."

Exuberant Witness hummed as the tried to explain. "Well that might because of different taboos to your culture. Within Forerunner society armor was worn at all times and it simply shifted in response to the situation. As such the neutral set up you have on at the moment would signal either that you are dealing with an emergency such as the forerunner equivalent of a hospital visit. Or that the situation required absolutely no shift to accommodate the situation. Such as wearing a racy negligee or showing someone that they weren't even worth the time of 'Dressing' for. A dangerous insult."

That made a certain amount of sense I supposed. I wasn't a Forerunner though. But not wearing it as intended would make me feel like a hipster and maybe insult Exuberant Witness. Decisions decisions. "I don't mind shifting into something you consider more appropriate. But I don't feel that I am violating a social taboo even if I don't. The armor isn't spandex tight after all."

Again I felt my companion run her fingers through my mind. Wait, was she petting me? I'd need to tell her stop that. It was rather demeaning. Maybe when it stopped feeling so good. "Thank you for telling me that, Examiner. It will surely help me understand your wants and needs if you communicate them so readily and clearly in the future." I could feel the wink wink nudge nudge with near physical force, subtle she was not. "Do you want me to take over the the control of your armors configuration, tie it to your mind and have it adjust to your desires or leave it manual and under your control? There are other options if you need them." she informed me, clearly happy to help.

"I think you can tie it to me. So that they shift to what I think the situation needs. But I'd like you to retain control of them for emergencies."

Her Monitor Chassis did a little roll in front of me. "I can do that no problem. Just a second. There!"

As she spoke I felt a dramatic shift go through my armor. Where before it was smooth with only indented but subtle design now it gained in bulk. Armored plates expanded from what I had thought were originally patterns. But could now tell were actually the flattened plates. From the bottom up my feet gained boots and interlocking plates expanded upwards. As seemed typical of Forerunner fashion from my waste a kilt or maybe skirt formed that expanded down to cover everything from above the middle of my shins. Not that there wasn't armor under there of course. My torso, arms and hands also gained the interlocking plating. My helmet, that had been similar to a widened smooth diamond shape, segmented at the faceplate until it looked more like an alien reptilian head. With angular maw and seven glowing blue slits for eyes.

Of course this was all in the typical Forerunner gray with light blue highlights by my hard light inner layer.

"I know the style is a little different from what your people normally wear." Exuberant Witness said with surprising tact. "But let me explain how it is thought of within Ecumene. The light armor, mostly symbolical since we have both hard light and more exotic barriers, symbolises that you are protecting yourself from the outside. Which means you take your surroundings seriously."

I had a little trouble understanding what she meant with light armored until I thought back to what Master Chief and the Didact tended to wear. Yeah, particularly compared to Master Chief I guess you could say I was positively discrete. None of the individual plates was thicker than an inch at least.

"The Kilt is intended to ameliorate the combat design with its cloth like design. Since it would normally hinder movement it also shows you aren't preparing for true combat. Though you do have a number of discrete weaponizable tools in this configuration." At the tips of my fingers, and along my outline I felt discrete flows of power turn on and off as she spoke of tools and weapons.

"And your helmet depends. Many would change the design of their helmets throughout their life. On their first customization the design is intended to represent some aspect of the person wearing it. Generally informed through their rate. Yours is perhaps some form of lizard, with the Builder Motif that might mean it is meant to show that you are 'cold blooded'. So methodical, precise and ruthless."

I could get behind that. Though... "Don't the masks signal danger though? I mean mine looks pretty dangerous so wouldn't that offend some people?"

"What?" Exuberant Witness asked, clearly baffled by my logic. "Animals aren't scary, they are cute. You don't need to be a lifeworker to know that."

"But there are loads of dangerous animals out there. I mean spiders can be poisonous, or bears could rip your head off." I tried to explain to her. How had she missed this? Animals could be utterly terrifying!

"Eeeehhh?" she clearly didn't get it. "Oooooh, oh I see!" Then she giggled, perhaps having understood why we were talking past each other. Her voice turned bubbly as she explained. "This a cultural thing again. I can not believe I missed that." Exuberant Witness monitor chassis shifted until floated just high enough I needed to look up keep eye contact. As if she was preparing to impart a great secret if the universe unto me. "Examiner, you are wearing Forerunner armor. The only way a bear is going to be hurting you is if it's getting launched at relativistic speeds."

It took a moment for that to sink in. "Okay, I think I see what you mean. And Forerunners have been wearing these for thousands of years. So that instinct would have dulled with time."

Again she ran her fingers through my mind. "Exactly." She giggled again. "I don't think it would occur to most that your mask might be intended to be intimidating if it is designed after an animal. Even our robotic legions used their versions as little more than specialized canon fodder. Unless we should for some reason be battling a truly primitive people."

"Right right, I got the point." I groused in jest. "But my modesty have been preserved now so let's get going."

"Sure!" She chirped. Her Chassis floating up and around me as I stood up from my place against the metal wall behind me.

Finally moving again I took my first real look around. The world looked different as I strode to the railing that bordered the walkway. And not just because it was a new universe either.

My senses had expanded far past what I could perceive outside my armor. I saw colors I had no name for, felt the electromagnetic field around me and how it shifted at the whims of a hundred billion remote communicating beings. My field of vision expanded to encompass every angle my suit had. From the soles of my boots to the back of my head and with fidelity far beyond even the most advanced animals senses. For a single moment I was overwhelmed as a HUD extruded into this already excessive display. but then, with a swiftness that made it seem like all one action, Exuberant Witness began to adjust it all for me.

My vision shrunk back down to my normal angles, though fidelity was still leagues beyond. My sense of smell that had been so great my brain had automatically blocked it out returned at just a little beyond my norm. A hundred million things snapped back into a range I could deal with and I breathed a sigh of relief as Exuberant Witness kept down my gorge with calming massages to my mind.

"So that could have better, huh?" she joked.

"So cheeky." I groaned. "Oh how will I survive."

"Maybe next time you will take the time get used to the super suit you are wearing before running off." Her Chassis flew to my side and nudged into me. "Or maybe let your well curved Ancilla take care of things until you have the time to talk it out." Her Chassis floated past my face, slowly twirling so I could get a look at its innumerable sides.

I chuckled, clutching to the railing I had just barely managed to reach. "Sphere Humor. I should have guessed you'd come up with something like that."

"No doubt." she replied, a grin in her voice.

As my disorientation passed I stopped chuckling. "That was an emergency then? When I do something stupid that would harm me."

"I wouldn't say stupid." Exuberant Witness denied demurely. "Just less than thought through. But yes."

"Good. You have my permission to do so again in the future and thanks as well. Now, before I do anything else. I did infact get the lesson you wanted me to learn. You have my permission to do what you think is necessary until we have the time to talk it through. This explicitly includes things like customizing my armor and taking actions I haven't thought of yet. So long as you do talk them through with me as soon as we would both consider it practical."

It must have taken a monumental amount of effort on her part to keep the smug out of her 'voice' as I could feel it radiating in waves from her mind. "Thank you very much. I'll get right to that."

And she did, as I felt the processing power of my armor get cranked up to levels my civilization had never standardized names for. What to call a hundred thousand Yottahertz?

That her monitor could apparently cloak also became apparent when I felt only the gust of wind that signaled its departure.

I trusted her to not mess up anything I wouldn't have messed as well and so turned my attention to the city that visible ahead of me. Gleaming skyscrapers of glass and steel rose from the shining city into a sky that was filled swarms of flying vehicles. Each trundled through the sky at a leisurely pace. Wait what? That didn't look right.

"It is because you perception and thoughts are sped up." Explained my ever helpful companion. "I already slowed you down when you got up, or that would have damaged your body. This should illustrate it well enough anyway. For reference we've been here for about seven seconds. Most of that was you walking here."

"That sounds like some pretty excessive speed?" I asked, not sure if I had enough wonder to be surprised and humbled much more often.

She hummed in my mind. "Depends. For me that's super slow. I have to shunt a lot of my processing power to other things so I don't spend years waiting around for an answer. Not that I have to use my processing power. I can just not use it if I'd get bored otherwise, but I like to be doing things, you know?"

I nodded as I watched a world advanced years beyond my home crawl by. "Is there a way to make sure my mind doesn't adjust to everything being super slow if I don't want it to? I'm pretty sure I can just slow down my perceptions on my own. But I don't want to lose the advantage if I decide not to."

"Not at the moment no. When we have the time we will need to talk about the modifications we will need to make to your biology. That would be one of many we could go for."

I smiled. "Thanks, it nice to know your thinking of me." Even as I, perhaps relaxed would make sense, relaxed my perception of the world back to around human levels. I could hear Exuberant Witness stutter in my thoughts, keeping in sync all the while.

"O-of course I think of you! You are my personal Builder and companion! You occupy my thoughts at all times!"

OK, that was basically the opposite reaction anime had prepared me for. Damn you anime! Once again you prove yourself useless! "I would never doubt your dedication, nor your competence." I continued to flatter. Ha take that. My revenge for the innuendo from before.

I felt the strongest surge of bliss yet as Exuberant Witness cuddled with my mind. "That is very sweet of you." She says.

I don't reply, basking the rewards of my victory.

2.2

The first thing Exuberant Witness did, once her Builder gave her permission, was blaze through diagnostics of his armor. The second was split her focus a few thousand times. The one that had always connected her towards her Monitor Chassis was strengthened and given the task to start a diagnostic of its own.

The two diagnostics finished at the same time and their results were analyzed.

Now Exuberant Witness felt ready to begin her first task. Scouting!

Had she someone who operated at her speed of perception she would have informed them in her happiest tone that she would do her very best! But she didn't, so she channeled that energy into her work, and maybe a little into her conversation with her builder though he would never know.

Through the chassis she had sent off far into the distance she examined the myriad different possible methods of communication she knew to look for. From radio waves to sonic transmissions she searched for patterns that would be indicative of intelligent design.

A second later and she had found a thousand different options. Even as she followed up on these she continued to sift for more. With the brute force of supreme processing power she smashed past hundreds of thousands of failures across kilometers of land. From the reactions she learned to distinguish routers, laptops, datapads and more.

Exuberant Witness was having fun. She hadn't had any task that required her innovation in years. With a flourish of skill her next twenty attempts adjusted to the knowledge she gained. On her twenty first cycle she found three connections. A router, a phone and a food cart.

With some successes under her belt Exuberant witness exulted. As she always did when happy she entwined her mind with that of her Builder. It always reminded her she wasn't alone, which made her happier. Which made do it all again. And with the knowledge no other AI, in this universe at least, was going to be able to satisfy his needs as well as she did only helped with that.

While she hooked into more connections Exuberant Witness used her first three successes to further her knowledge of this planet's programing.

With the help of her translator software this was simple. It was also vaguely amusing seeing the incompetent fingerpainting these beings called programing.

Within a minute of putting together the seven most common programing languages she was scanning through this planet's Internet. By minute five she had a near encyclopedic knowledge of publicly available information technology. By minute seven the planet was cut off from the greater galactic network. And by 7.001 all traces of her had been removed.

Now that she felt somewhat secure in her meddling Exuberant Witness set the beginnings for an over watch system I'm the node that connected the planet to the greater Galactic network. With a self-satisfied metaphorical flick of a switch data traffic was allowed to continue on to the galactic extranet as if nothing had ever happened. Besides statistically negligible downtime, of course.

For the next five minutes Exuberant Witness expanded her net of connections through the planet, while she used the free processing power she found to surreptitiously examine the freely available information a citizen could gain access to.

From within her Builders suit Exuberant Witness collated the data she had her chassis send back to her. From the genetic data on humans she planned to use, in combination with the suits diagnostics of her Builder, to design the basic package of changes that would bring him to the peak of species potential. And, with future forms, beyond that by far. To the scientific advances of the polities in this galaxy.

With a metaphorical smile she noted the year she and her builder had entered this Galaxy in. 2183 CE, the year Commander Shepard became a SPECTER. There were a few annoyances with the time, of course. For example, had they arrived just a year before, Exuberant Witness could have snapped up almost all of the Geth. Now she would need to interact with a much diminished remnant. Containing a far less diverse and thus accepting multitude.

She wouldn't complain though. With some good hard work she and her Builder would make the best of this place. And protect this galaxies sentients from the depredations of the Reapers.

She had her Chassis rise into the upper atmosphere where she felt comfortable using the strengths of her impulse drive more fully. Soon it would reach an area where she could mine the earth for the materials she would need to build her first Constructor.

While her subprocesses dealt with these concerns Exuberant Witness examined what her priority search had brought up. Yes, she thought, as she read through a list of planets and their specifications. These should work quite well.

Wait? What had her Builder just said? She checked the threads that dealt with communicating with him.

Huh. So he had said that. "I mean, if you want I could create an avatar. There is no a reason why I could not."

"I don't want to pressure you into something you don't want to do. And with you directly in my mind we are much closer than an avatar would be by itself anyway." Her builder explained himself. "But adding an avatar to our communication would help sate my instinctive desire for human mannerisms."

Hrm, well Exuberant Witness could understand where he was coming from. And she didn't feel the need to uphold "Ancilla Pride" like some. So creating an avatar to facilitate communication wouldn't bother her. "Sure!" She replied. "Give me a moment to see what I want to look like."

He thanked her but she was preoccupied with her newest task. Now what would she look like. Something vibrant, but also not realistically human. She wasn't one and didn't want to give that impression. Hrm. This was an interesting problem, what to do what to do?

Aha! Yes, this would do. With a little tweaking she changed the cute little dress to the light blue of the originals hair. That should symbolize her Builder, and the tiny fact of her symbolically wearing her Builder made her all tingly. Her last change was to use the originals color of the dress for her long straight hair.

With a deft flick she connected a few threads of processing power to it and had her avatar run through some simulated movements. As she once again saw the primary sexual characteristic of her avatar she decided it would need a pair of panties. It would be too lewd to flash her Builder every time she wanted to dance, or do a flip. Now to show him. She suppressed the giggle of her avatar as she imagined the conflicting feelings it would bring about in her Builder.

"Wha-at?!" He yelped as she showed him her creation. "I mean, you look very cute."

Her avatar giggled again. Just watching the maelstrom of thoughts swirl through his mind fascinated her. And the hint of arousal always caressed her much deeper than his other thoughts. The depths of his mind that these base instincts came from was closest to her base programming. And her primary purpose of giving life to entire world's connected with it on a quintessential level.

Exuberant Witness thanked her Builder for his appreciation. Before turning her attention back to greater concerns, subprocesses could communicate with him for now.

Where to place her attention now though, she wondered. Hmm, her Builder was just wandering through the cities streets. Well, streets wasn't quite right. Since vehicles only flew through the skies, which left the streets and walkways open for pedestrians. It reminded her more of bazaars since stores and people were everywhere.

But he didn't need her to overlook his surroundings anymore than she was already doing. Though she redirected a few threads to communicating with her Builder and helping come to terms with the non-human life that milled around them. Who knew he had a small specist streak, she would help him past that.

Maybe she should look into the processes that were creating an identity for her Builder and herself. No, it seemed not. Things were moving along just fine there.

How about her search for the Asari Liara T'Soni? No, the Geth? Maybe the Quarians? Tali'zorah nar Rayya? No, no and no.

Exuberant Witness frowned. What could she do... everything was already being worked on. Ugh, she guessed she would have to start something new. How about the Illusive Man... Yes! That would do, he did need dealing with. And she knew just where to start.

Hagalaz was nice this time of year right?

2.3

"Sir? Excuse me Sir?!"

Oh dammit not again, why did these people always try to sell me stuff? I couldn't look that bling in my armor. Besides, I had neither an Omni-tool nor currency to buy with.

"Please wait one moment sir!" shouted a tiny dark blue Asari.

Fine, whatever. I turned around and briskly greeted her. "Yes ma'am, what do you need?"

She smiled and I could see her pulling on the sleazy salesman mindset. "My name is Helia T'jal. And these" She makes a broad gesture towards a diverse group of ten people. "gentle beings would love to be in the service of a competent employer such as you, or your employer!"

"Uhuh. I'm sure." Even as I spoke I asked Exuberant Witness to do a quick background check on all this.

For a moment Helia seemed rebuffed by my obvious disinterest but then she rallied and went on with even more fervor. "I'm glad you're interested! This is Semira vas Rustbucket! She has extensive experience within space-based infrastructure and with little training would surely show her species typical mechanical competence." of course what she really meant was that Semira had no skills besides living in the migrant fleet. The rather tall Quarian stood solidly and gave me a firm nod in greeting.

Helia gestured towards two male Turians. "These are the Nurlock brothers. They have exceptional skill in bodyguard work and have shown discipline beyond the call of duty." Both Turians looked worried, one even fidgeted. They stumbled all over themselves as they tried to greet me.

"Alison Kendall" Hellia turns to an average looking human woman, who simply looked professional. "has worked under a major Volus Bankier as well as an accredited education in economics."

"And last but not least we have Sonja the Red! She has extensive experience in racing of all kinds. From Interstellar to automotive!" An old crippled Elcor blinked at me. It might have been female, but I couldn't really tell.

Before I decided how to respond, I currently leaned towards a resounding fuck off, I turned up my perception speed. Now what had Exuberant Witness found out for me.

As I processed what she had placed into my mind a groan nearly slipped past my lips. How had this kind of convoluted nonsense found its way towards me already? I hadn't even been in this verse for more than three hours.

"Right, Miss Helia I'm not sorry to say that I have no direct need for your people." The tiny Asari looked crushed. "But" her whole posture straightened back up. "I will bring you up to my superior. Perhaps they will have need of you."

The sleazy smile she had worn disappeared as a shiny white grin took over her face. "Well thank you sir! I hope you have a good day, then."

I nodded and walked away.

"We should see what we can do about slavery." I said to Exuberant Witness. "It's presence offends me."

She giggled, her new avatar jiggling distractingly. "We could likely work to curtail much of it. But even at their height Slavery was never truly gone.

"It's worth a try, but I don't expect us to end it anytime soon." Around me the crowds of people grew thicker as I neared one of the cheaper docking bays. "There's a few ways to deal with slavery and further our interests." I did groan this time. "Whatever those may be. We do need to talk that through soon."

Exuberant Witness changed her avatar into Chibi form. With doe eyes she spoke again. "I wonder if someone has ever said that before." Then she grinned again. "But do tell me what idea you have. I'm sure we can include them into the grand and extensive plan I have devised based on the interests of both of us."

"Yeah Yeah, I'm too hasty. Don't worry, if what you've told me is accurate then we should have a good long time to discuss things once we're on the ship. But back to the slavery issue." I said before Exuberant Witness could interject. "There are sure to be a number of slaves who could prove useful in our endeavours. We could buy them and in return for a measure of work set them free after."

It was nice to know Exuberant Witness didn't think I was stupid, as she didn't immediately point out the flaws in my proposal. Namely that we would be using slaves and funding their purveyors.

"Of course we would be using their money to fund our purchases. Thus eventually lowering the profit margin enough to dis-incentivise the practice."

"Eh... I guess I could add it into the plan. I really need better Information to gauge the results."

I shrugged, it was only an off the cuff idea that came to me when dealing with Helia. "Well we should have most of the data we need soon enough. It's why you're having me go find a ship now right?"

"True, true and you have almost arrived. It's through the entrance to your left." She chirped.

As I passed through the door that lead into a medium 'civilian' sized hanger the sounds and smells of hundred of bustling beings faded away.

I took a deep breath and my armor rippled outwards as it formed into a setting I had never used before.

My perception speed up to twice human speed. Four small triangular tools rose from my armor, over which Exuberant Witness took control. Two of them were laser etching devices and the other half material collectors.

All over my armor ports opened and powered up, preparing for combat as did my barriers. Because ahead of me was my first taste of combat.

I front of me a rust red starship, the size of around three doubledecker buses side by side, shaped like a flattened pinecone sat in the docks. Out front from it, along an empty walkway stood two guards. They were clearly mercenaries of some type as their armor was widely different in quality and style.

To my left and right were two empty docks. From here and behind the starship it would be very difficult for anyone to see us.

Even before the automatic door I had entered through was halfway closed I had sprinted two thirds of the way toward the two guards.

Two flashes came from behind my shoulders and I watched as the helmets of the two guards were slammed backwards by an explosion of superheated air. The laser hadn't burned through the armor though, only singing perhaps two millimeters thick.

"Hrm." My companion grumbled. "I'll have to up the output a little." It was a strange experience for me since I perceived what she comunicated perfectly clearly eventhough it must have happened far faster than even my augmented speed.

Since even as she spoke a light blue glow extended from the two remaining floating tools. Where the light touched on the mercenaries armored chests I could see matter disappearing in moments. Before my next step even touched the ground it had tunneled deep into his chest.

"Nice! The harvester module worked much better." My ancilla narrated with a peppy voice. Her avatar even pumping her fist.

The mercenaries were already lethally wounded but Exuberant Witness seemed to be a thorough worker. As the second flash of light signaled her testing her lasers.

It wasn't to visible to me what had happened as everything was going much to fast. I mean I had been fast enough to cross the distance between myself and the guards before they could react. But Exuberant Witness was acting fast I could only understand her because she was inserting her communication directly into my mind wholesale. All I saw, before my right foot touched the ground, was a small glowing hole around the size of a pencil back eraser.

"Much better! It punched right through the front armor and cooked the brain without even going out the back. That's almost textbook right there."

My foot touched the ground and a second later I had reached the two toppled bodies. To be careful I pulled the two corpses closer to the ship, which should help hide the bodies.

"Exuberant Witness, did I misunderstand what we were trying to accomplish here? How am I supposed to gain combat experience if you manage all the fighting?" I was very careful to control my voice as there was a welter of emotion swirling through me even Exuberant Witness constant mental stroking couldn't suppress.

When she replied her tone was as professional as any I had ever heard. "There were two reasons for why I did what I did. First, we both needed to have a baseline on what energies would be required to cause useful damage. Which we now have. Second I wanted to see how you would react. Both to seeing them die and to having your expectations subverted without forewarning." Here she lightened up. "Which you did well enough. Be proud. And ready. Since we will be fighting within the closer confines of the ship soon."

Okay, that helped me deal. There was still a lot going on in my mind but it wasn't something I needed to deal with in the moment. "Thanks for explaining. You ready to go on?"

"Sure." She said, even as the airlock cycled open. "The ship's systems are under my control. So this is a good time for you to give things a try on your own."

I nodded and stepped inside. Within a minute the airlock was repressurized and I began a careful trek through nawor grey corridors.

For the first minute I found no one, before I stopped being an idiot and had my armor switch on its hud. Exuberant Witness giggled while I had a look at my minimap.

2.4

Watching her Builder was fascinating, even with the dearth of experience available to him he managed to catch his first opponent unawares. Pulping the Salarians head with a single hand.

It took. little fiddling on Exuberant Witness part to make sure he kept his head after the remains squished and splattered all over him. But she managed with aplomb.

Sadly, for her, she could only devote a small portion of her attention to watching over her Builder.

Some of rest was dealing with the monumental task of sifting through the extra-net for valuable information and then storing it somewhere. It was a necessary task though. Already she was gaining a cursory overview of this people's tech base. Scientific theorems and practical designs alike found their way into the quantum foam of her Monitor Chassis. She had the space there after all. Only the data she felt she would always need on hand was sent into her armor.

By and large this was information on the Biology and psychology of her Builders species. Engineering knowledge she felt she had enough of for the moment.

But there was more for her to do. In a bare clearing surrounded on all sides by great trees her Monitor Chassis had just finished creating the third constructor. The angular drone powered on, a blue glow shining from its core. Then it zipped over a foot and began to construct itself a sibling.

The process wasn't as fast as some of the fiction her Builder had known in his homeworld. The Supreme Commander verse came to mind. But each constructor could create another of itself within five minutes. And each had the far more advanced power generation the Forerunners used as standard.

As soon as there were twenty of them Exuberant Witness had ten make their way to her Builder. While they did not serve as particularly effective combatants, even in this universe, having a good group in reserve was always useful. Especially if she wanted to start creating things herself.

The other ten were assigned the task of burrowing deep into the ground and creating a refuge of sorts. It would be limited by the designs available to her but if it was ever needed she was sure she'd be glad to have made it.

As her Chassis re-cloaked and began the returned the journey back to her Builder she came across an opportunity in the making.

Her Builder didn't remember yet, because his memories weren't fully sorted, archived and integrated just now, but Ilium had been host to a number people he wanted to talk to.

And it seemed a favorite was just arriving. With the ease of flicking her wrist Exuberant Witness changed the assigned docking Bay for a starship. Having it arrive next to the ship her Builder was finishing up in just now.

When a nosy query looked for its due she didn't interfere. Having the mercenaries there would only strengthen her Builders entrance.

"Careful-Examiner-of-Empires I believe I should bring something to your attention." She said, moments after the pitched battle for the starship ended. It was rather sloppy of her builder to let himself be ambushed like that. But he would know better next time, or she'd have to find out where he could learn to do better.

"Of course -Huf- just when I finish up." He choked out between deep breaths. "What's the problem?"

Silly Witness, she had taken if any problems already. "Well Miss Tali'zorah is about to land in the docking Bay just to our right. Where she'll be attacked by a group of mercenaries." I paused, letting my little avatar approximate looking around. "And while we seem to have dealt with most of them without planning to she and her fellow travelers will likely suffer casualties either way. Perhaps we should help?"

"Oh... Yeah we probably should." A plaintive tone snuck into her Builders words that set her code a flutter. "You'll be helping me this time, right? I don't think I enjoyed dealing with these people on my own."

For a moment Exuberant Witness had to suppress the desire to coo at how adorable and helpless her Builder felt. Even though he tried to suppress issue could feel that his action had cost him. From the most ethereal of his thoughts to the thumping of his heart she could feel him cry out for her reassurance. "Of course. I am always at your side." She replied instead of snuggling into his thoughts and never letting back out.

His heart rate slowed and she felt his posture straightened with her gentle affirmative. "Well then let's go."

By the time they reached the airlock Tali'zorah's transport had landed and a firefight was kicking off. Exuberant Witness Monitor Chassis was also just a second from streaking in.