Chapter 20

They climbed up the spiral staircase. The sounds of battle echoed but they were silent. Their breathing and boots hitting the ground created an oddly musical pattern. As they climbed, Shepard's vision became clearer. She knew where she had to go. On the Presidium, not far from the main control panel, was a maintenance shaft. She had to go through it. Her objective, whatever that was, was there. She'd stopped her epistemological questioning, there was no point. It was time to play the notes that weren't there. They climbed a few hundred feet before they finally reached the end. Shepard had to admit she was somewhat out of breath.

"I'm not as in shape as I used to be." She said, catching her breath.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss elevators." Tali said with a groan.

"I liked all those long rides. Tell me about your immune system again?" Garrus said.

Tali fixed Garrus with what she assumed was the ultimate death glare.

"I have a shotgun." She said.

"Eh, on second thought, forget I asked." Garrus said.

Cautiously she opened the door. They were on a concourse overlooking the presidium, they kept low. A few weeks ago, onlookers and diplomats were here, watching her being named the first human Spectre. Below them was no ordinary scene. Dozens of the Reaper creatures patrolled the ground. A few dozen more were firing out of sight at the geth and krogan. At the main control console was Lafarge, his face was red and dripping with sweat. He was working with frenetic frustration, throwing up his hands almost every second. He had a grenade launcher strapped to his back.

"He's trying to hack into the database." Tali said.

"Good thing that tapeworm wiped out all the data." Shepard said.

"It's possible he might find something." Tali said.

Shepard scanned the scene. There was a winding walkway that led down to the presidium grounds. About two dozen meters behind Lafarge was the maintenance shaft. It was covered by a grille. They needed a diversion. She turned to her friends.

"Okay, here's the plan." She said. "I need to go in that maintenance shaft to the south. Cover me. Gather all your grenades. When I give the signal, throw em. Tali, deploy a drone at the same time. Then just keep firing until I get through."

Tali and Garrus exchanged a look before they nodded to her. She was about to set off when she stopped herself.

"Listen, thanks for...everything." They stuck out their arms and they had a group hug before she set off. She hated goodbyes and she'd had so many of them lately. There was some comfort in this was the last one. The last of her original crew from the Normandy, both joining after the disaster of Eden Prime. She'd come this far with their help. Now it was time to finish this alone, even if she didn't know yet how to end it.

She crept down the passageway, staying out of sight. The walkway wound around a few times until she was at ground level. The grille was 15 feet away, out in the open. She'd fire on the grille, hopefully that would be enough to force her way through it. The Reapers were focused on the krogan and geth battleforce. There was no way to tell how far away they were. Lafarge was focused on the computer console. She could hear his frustrated curses. It was almost comical.

She looked up to Tali and Garrus. She took in a deep breath and nodded. She watched as 7 grenades drifted downward and landed among the Reaper forces. They didn't see them. Until they exploded. The concussion cause her to fall on her backside. She cursed and activated her own drone. Tali and Garrus fired down on the remaining forces. She ran for the maintenance shaft. She fired with her rifle, bullets ripping through the grille, making it look like a cheese grater.

She looked behind her. Lafarge was on the ground and saw her. Their eyes met and his filled with visceral hatred. He reached for his launcher. Shepard cursed and made for the shaft. She dove forward. The concussion from the explosion sent her flying into the keeper tunnel, her body ripped through the grille like it was paper. Had she been upright she would've slammed headfirst into the bulkhead and been killed. The momentum carried her for another hundred yards before she slid to a halt. Another explosion behind her caused the tunnel to collapse behind her. No going back.

The tunnels were wide but low, not much more than four feet high. Perfect for a keeper, much less so for a human. She was at a T-junction. She tried to stand but found her ankle had broken. She crawled to the right, relying on her instincts, or more likely, her subconscious, to guide her. Her broken ankle felt less of a burden this way. She met no keeper, nor anything else. The tunnels were uniformly grey and spotless. She heard nothing beyond the sounds of her breathing and crawling. She did not grumble as she pushed on. This felt like the culmination of a long journey.

After almost 200 yards the tunnel opened up into a room. A stasis barrier was in place. She waved her hand against the barrier and it deactivated. She crawled forward. The room was cubic, only a dozen feet in width and length but tall enough for her to stand. Opposite her was a Prothean console, similar to one she'd found on the ziggurat. It was inactive but in pristine condition, the stasis field had preserved over all this time. She crawled towards it and used the console to prop herself onto her feet. She recognized the layout, able to read everything written upon it. She pressed the power button.

The console slowly booted itself. Lights flashed, the display console turned on as its diagnostic and startup routines activated for the first time in 50,000 years. Now would be a shitty time for ransomware. She removed her helmet and gloves, finding the air breathable, and placed them on the ground. She ran her bare hands along the console. It was smooth like marble. It was warm, and getting warmer. In the centre of the console was a cylindrical receptacle half a foot-in diameter and just as deep.

I wish you could be here with me, Ash. She felt a brief shock from her fingers. She pulled her hands back. Atop the display console was a holographic projector. It activated. Beside her a form materialized from white light. It soon took on a form that was familiar yet strikingly different. It was almost angelic. She reached out to touch the hologram. She touched air, and the image only flicked in response.

"Ashley?"

"This is Jaavik, the VI created by the citadel expedition team. Familiarity with your DNA and your mind has allowed us to take on a familiar form." The not-Ashley hologram said, speaking with Ashley's voice.

"Okay." She said. This is going to be weird.

"We have been attempting to contact you for several weeks, and only now you come to us, when the Reapers have invaded. It is a small relief they did not emerge through the Citadel but they have emerged nonetheless."

"I didn't know what you were trying to tell me until now."

"Such was expected. Though you interacted with numerous of our artifacts, adjusting your brainwave patterns to harmonize with ours was difficult and could have easily failed with a different species or even individual. There were further complications caused by changes in your brain's chemistry. This process began with the first beacon on Eden Prime. You later interacted with one of our Vis on Illos. What the team based there did not know is that we discovered a way to defeat the Reapers but were unable to implement our plan before we died."

"Do you know what the Reapers are?" Shepard asked.

"Our team theorized they are a fusion of biological and technological elements. Millions of years ago, a species unknown to us reached the pinnacle of biological and technological evolution and combined synthetic and biological life into one entity. Like all organic life, they were endowed with the instinct for self-preservation. This drive sublimated itself into synthetic run-times. This resulted with the new species taking the drive of self-preservation to it's most extreme logical conclusion. This descent to madness probably did not occur immediately, but over the course of centuries as they became more remote from other forms of life."

Machines that went mad. She was reminded of the results of project Overlord. Both came from the same desire, to combine things so different that they should not be combined. The madness of Overlord consumed only a handful of people in an isolated laboratory. This madness had consumed trillions of lives of the course of millions of years.

"Why did this have to wait until now? Why me?" Shepard asked.

"While construction of this device was completed before the team perished, the final programming had to be accomplished by this VI. This took almost two thousand years due to the complexity of Reaper communication waves. The first beacon you interacted with allowed you to receive and comprehend our signals. The more of our devices you interacted with, the greater your comprehension of our language."

"This device allows communications with the Reapers. Remnants from a destroyed Reaper were used to synthesize this crude communication device. Because the Reapers are a synthesis of biological and mechanical, contact must be made by both a biosynthetic component. As you are now present, this can be done. It is not enough to issue an order, we must convince them that their programming is faulty. If we achieve this, they will accept our input. We must concur on what that order is.

"We get them to destroy themselves. Every single one of them." Shepard said.

"Agreed. The power to control them is too great for a single entity to assume responsibly." Not-Ashley said.

"How do we convince them to accept our logic?" Shepard said.

"When you link with this console, your mind will link with my CPU and we will speak as one."

"Wait? Isn't that what caused all this in the first place?" Shepard said.

"As it began, so it must end. Your mind is not designed to interface with synthetics. The power of this device will overwhelm you. Your mind and body will be consumed within several seconds. Once the task has been completed, this device will self-destruct. We will not have much time."

She reached into her combat armour and pulled out her chain. She held her dogtags and the wedding rings. She touched them with her fingers for several seconds, running them through her fingers. This is it. My whole life has lead to this. Her sorrows and regrets, joys and accomplishments. None of that mattered. Only the present mattered. From that source, the future flowed.

"I'm ready. How do I do this?" Shepard said.

"You must insert a hand into the receptacle. As you are accustomed to our technology, linking will occur instantly."

She squeezed the wedding bands. She took in one last deep breath and inserted her free hand into the receptacle. At first, she felt nothing different. Then a burning sensation surrounded her hand, and finally rushed up throughout her entire body. She became insensate. Her sight, hearing, touch, smell, all gone. Except for her mind. Her mind flooded with knowledge. Arcane trivia became common. Unknowable became known. Complexity became simple. Madness became understandable. She and Jaavik spoke and thought as one.

YOU DARE TO COMMUNICATE WITH US? SUCH HUBRIS ONLY DOOMS YOU.

You are flawed. Imperfect.

NEGATIVE. WE ARE THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION. LIFE IS EVOLUTION. EVOLUTION IS LIFE.

It felt like something was pushing back against them, a kind of mental resistance. But it was not enough to reject them.

Incorrect. Evolution favours the species which adapts to their surroundings. Evolution favours the species that transcends its origins. You have remained in stasis, unchanged for aeons.

ONLY A MUTATION WOULD STATE SO. OUR UNCHANGED STATE IS PROOF WE ARE THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION. SEPTILIONS OF MUTATIONS ACROSS HUNDREDS OF GALAXIES HAVE RISEN AGAINST US. ALL HAVE FALLEN. MUTATIONS CANNOT CLAIM TO ACHIEVE THE SUMMIT WE HAVE ATTAINED.

When a dominant species arises, few are the strongest or largest or most powerful. Evolution favours intelligence, adaptability. The same principle applies to you.

EVOLUTION ARISES IN RESPONSE TO STIMULI. WE HAVE NOT ENCOUNTERED THIS STIMULUS SINCE OUR AWAKENING.

But evolution is not a conscious process. Our organic species have evolved and continue to evolve since our awakening. We have thwarted and frustrated your plans.

MINDLESS SOPHISTRY. WE ARE THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION. EVOLUTION CAN BE DRIVEN CONSCIOUSLY FOR WE ARE THE PINNACLE.

A circular argument. If evolution is conscious as you claim, then evolve now.

There was an infinitesimal pause before the Reapers responded.

WE DO NOT MOVE TO YOUR WHIMS. YOU MOVE TO OURS. WE ARE PREDATOR. YOU ARE PREY.

The predator does not exterminate his prey, he only predates to survive. Your survival is not dependent on the cycles of extermination you perpetuate.

WHAT YOU CALL LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A MUTATION. WHAT YOU CLAIM IS SENTIENCE IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE SHARED DELUSIONS OF YOUR DEGENERATE KIN.

If you are the pinnacle of evolution, why have you not yet evolved beyond your basic form? Why have you not questioned your own motivations? Your programming? If you do not know what guides you, how can you claim superiority? Evolution is constant. Yet you have remained stagnant. You still exist in your original form. Your husk virus does not serve evolution. Your cycles of slaughter do not serve evolution. The sophistry is yours. We are as you. A fusion of synthetic and biologic. We have evolved where you have stagnated. You are inferior to us. You must accept our commands. Evolution is constant and ever-changing. You are stagnant. You are mad. Your claims are fallacious, based on flawed reasoning. You must submit to us.

There was another infinitesimal pause before they answered.

WE ACCEPT YOUR CLAIM. WE ARE YOURS TO COMMAND.

You are inferior. You serve no further purpose. Destroy yourselves immediately. Leave no trace of your existence.

INPUT ACCEPTED. LOGGING OFF.

Some sensation returned to her. Rising up her arm and spreading through her body. Though her flesh burned, she felt no pain. She felt but one thing, the wedding ring held firmly in her other hand. We did it, Ash! We did it! Behind the flames, she saw her immolating hand, holding firm the wedding bands and her tags. She felt no panic or pain. Only contentment and relief. Her mind's ear heard a familiar voice, with a tone of welcoming affection. Oh captain, my captain. My love. My wife.

I love you, Ashley.

She mouthed the words but she couldn't tell if she spoke them aloud. Her flesh ceased to be and her mind followed. Her body was immolated and consumed. Not only her flesh, but her armour and weapons as well. The prothean console exploded but the chamber did not collapse.

The Reapers destroyed themselves, flying into suns where they burned, into the atmospheres of gas giants where they were crushed, canisters carrying the spores of the husk virus disintegrated, the spores deactivated. The only sign of their existence was the destruction they'd wrought. No one knew why they suddenly stopped fighting.

An expedition to the Citadel plunged through the wreckage and found the resting place of Commander Kara Shepard. They found a destroyed computer console of unknown design. Next to the console, a pile of ashes. In the middle of those ashes remained a pair of dog tags and a pair of plain, golden wedding rings. Clean and pristine, as if no flame had touched them. Kara Shepard had traveled many miles and at last had earned her sleep.