Chapter Twenty-Five
In Which the Doctor is In
The tide of human crewmembers in the decontamination chamber separated Liara from Shepard, Wrex, and the turian (apparently named Garrus) as the ship took off. It seemed an eternity before the ship's VI announced that the throng was sufficiently sterile to enter the main body of the ship. As everyone prepared to go about his or her business, Liara hung back, the precarious nature of her situation finally becoming apparent. She had no idea what was going to happen—she was completely at the mercy of her rescuers, and if the snatches of conversation she had overheard were any indication, a good number of them were mistrustful of her.
Thankfully, Shepard seemed not to share in the general sentiment against her. He had been on the opposite side of the decontamination chamber, conversing with Garrus, Wrex, and two other humans, a male and a female. "Tell Tali!" he called after them as the four left. He looked her way then, and approached Liara.
"We're going to have a debrief session in about an hour," he told her. The dust that covered his face made his teeth and eyes shine brightly when Shepard smiled at her. "Normally we'd be heading in to debrief now, but I've got to get cleaned up first. Therum was hot," he complained.
"Farkas." Shepard grabbed a passing crewman's arm. "Do me a favor? Take Dr. T'Soni to Serviceman Vega, tell her to get the doctor set up, show her where she can get cleaned up, and make sure she gets to the comm room in an hour?" The soldier nodded. "Good man. I'll see you in a little while, Doctor. Welcome to the Normandy."
Farkas eyed Liara suspiciously. "This way, Doctor."
Without waiting to see if she followed, he began striding across the floor—deck, Liara remembered. The floor of a ship was called a deck. She wanted to ask the human male (Goddess, what was the name for a human male? Manuh? Manna? Man? Yes, that was it, man) to slow down, but the irrationally defiant streak that had caused her so many problems in the past flared up, urging her to keep pace with him. The man led her up a staircase and across another expanse of deck before he found the human female, the woman, they were looking for.
"Got the commander's latest for you, Maia," Farkas told her. "She's got to be at a debrief in an hour, but he wanted to give her a chance to get cleaned up." Farkas' face twisted in a mocking grin. "Guess he figured it'd be better if you were the one who got her clothes and showed her to the showers."
"I'm sure you would've done it if he'd let you, Elek." The woman who turned to study Liara had pale eyes and dark skin. The hair on her head was like Commander Shepard's: cropped so short it might as well not have been there. Liara had never bothered to take any human studies courses at university after first contact, and so was completely ignorant as to the function of hair. It was interesting to look at, certainly, but it seemed impractical. How did one keep it from getting caught on things unless one kept it as short as Serviceman Vega's?
"Is she the one they were looking for?"
"How many asari do you think there are out here on the back-end of the galaxy?"
"Good point. She need anything besides a cleanup and to get to the debrief?"
"Commander didn't mention anything. Knowing him though, she's gonna need to get down to requisitions eventually."
"Felawa isn't gonna be happy about that. She's clearly a civilian. Plus we're low on supplies after the Feros thing."
"Well, what she's wearing looks like Chakwas' lab outfit. Maybe the doctor could help her out? As a professional courtesy?"
"I don't think they're the same kind of doctor, but it couldn't hurt."
"I'm sorry, did you just say that I had a good idea? I may need to sit down."
"Don't let it go to your head, Elek. Now shove off, I can handle things from here."
"You know, technically, as a serviceman first class, I outrank you, Maia."
"You'll go if you don't want me to tell Felawa where all the extra pillows disappeared to last week."
"How do you even know—You wouldn't!"
"Try me."
"I'm going, I'm going!"
Liara had watched the conversational exchange between the two crewmembers with fascination, unused to witnessing such a boisterous form of camaraderie. Serviceman Farkas left them, and Serviceman Vega turned to Liara.
"Sorry," the woman said to Liara. "I don't know your name. I never read the mission briefs as carefully as I should."
"Dr. Liara T'Soni," Liara said, offering her hands to the woman. She remembered thinking it interesting when she'd been told that human greeting also included clasping hands. For the asari, the palm-to-palm intertwining of fingers was representative of the link all beings shared, but it was doubtful humans attached the same meaning to the gesture. Sure enough, Serviceman Vega stared curiously at Liara for a moment before gripping Liara's right hand in her own and moving it briefly up and down. So the custom is not quite the same, then.
"I'm Serviceman Third Class Maia Vega. Call me Maia; everyone does. If you'll follow me, Doctor, I can show you to the showers. The Normandy's great because her water recycling system means she's the only ship in the navy where you don't have to take a navy shower—you can take as long as you want. Well, almost. Within reason. So while you're in there, I'll grab you a towel and some clean clothes…"
"Excuse me," Liara interrupted. "What is a shower?"
Serviceman Vega stopped dead in her tracks, an odd expression on her face. "What do you mean? It's a shower! It's—hot water that you bathe in? How else would you get clean?"
"I see. So—you clean yourself with water?"
"What else would you use?"
"The asari typically use oil. Will you show me how to use the shower?"
Vega's eyes were wide. "You just turn on the water and stand under the faucet. It's not that hard, Doctor. You soap yourself off, shampoo your hair…er, or not. Do the asari really not shower, or are you just messing with me?"
"Messing with you?" Liara's head was starting to hurt.
"Forget it."
Serviceman Vega had been correct. Figuring out how to work the shower was not especially difficult. Nevertheless, it took Liara longer than she surmised was usual to strike a balance between the hot and cold water. She spent the first part of her shower frantically batting the showerhead away when the stream of water turned abruptly searing or freezing. Eventually, Serviceman Vega had returned with clothing, and Liara gratefully accepted the high-neck tunic and close-fitting pants. The garments hung rather loosely on her frame, and Liara idly wondered if she had in fact lost weight while trapped in the ruins. Regardless, she felt blissfully clean—though she knew that it was impossible for her to actually be cleaner than she would have been had she cleaned herself in the asari manner, the water was refreshing in a way oil was not.
With a happy sigh, she followed Serviceman Vega to yet another level of the Normandy, one thick with humans passing datapads back and forth and entering data into various navigational computers. Liara took a moment to be surprised at the design of the room. It was clearly the command center, though it looked more like the turian warships she had toured with her mother than it did the pictures of human ships she had been shown.
"Back here," Serviceman Vega told Liara. She gestured to a wide set of doors. "The debriefing is in here." The woman glanced inside as the doors hissed open. "Or at least it will be, when the commander shows up. I'll see you later, Doctor."
Liara stood in the doorway, glancing timidly around the room. She reproached herself for her demeanor when she saw the aliens in the room taking stock of her. There is nothing wrong with gentleness, Liara. It is one of your most wonderful traits. However, many will believe your quiet conduct means you are weak. They will challenge you; they will threaten you. But you are not weak, my daughter, and you will crush those that antagonize you. And I know that in the end, having harmed others will break your heart. So when I tell you not to appear vulnerable, Liara, it is not because I believe you are frail, or because I deem strength to be the measure of an asari's worth. It is because I would rather die a thousand times than see you hurt even once
.
Liara could feel tears welling up in her eyes at the memory of her mother's advice. Get a hold of yourself, Liara! You've done fine without Benezia for years now. There was a wide swath of empty seats next to Wrex, the krogan. It didn't take an advanced degree to realize that he must intimidate the others. Liara made her way over to the seat directly beside him and sat down. How's that for vulnerability? She let her gaze travel over the two humans seated across from her, one male one female, the ones Shepard had spoken with in the decontamination chamber. They met her eyes without warmth or hesitation. Garrus she remembered, though he took no notice of her. He was busy conversing with a quarian female. No allies here, Liara realized. Benezia, what did you do?
The doorway hissed open, and Shepard walked in. He was dressed in the same casual uniform as the other humans, identical save for its long sleeves, and took position at the head of the room, leaning confidently against the communications unit on the back wall.
"Too close, Commander!" An unfamiliar voice blared suddenly from the room's overhead speakers, causing everyone to jump. "Ten more seconds, and we would've been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes."
That must be the pilot, Liara realized. She wondered a little bit that Shepard allowed him to be so blatantly insolent. No matriarch Liara had ever met would have tolerated being addressed in this manner by a subordinate.
"They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference," the pilot finished.
Liara couldn't contain herself any longer. "We almost died out there and your pilot is making jokes?"
Shepard blinked, and shifted his absent gaze from the human female to Liara. "Joker pulled us out of there," he said with an indulgent smile. "I think he's earned the right to a few bad jokes."
"…I see," Liara lied. "It must be a human thing. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species, Commander." If everyone else called him that, it would be best if she did as well. "But I am grateful to you. You saved my life back there. And not just from the volcano. Those geth would have killed me, or dragged me off to Saren." Whoever Saren was.
"What did Saren want with you?" the other human male asked. "Do you know something about the Conduit?"
Saren, the Conduit, what, by the Goddess, were these people going on about? "All I know of the Conduit is that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the past fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them." She could hear her voice warming with enthusiasm at the prospect of discussing her research, and bit her lip to keep herself from continuing when Commander Shepard interrupted.
"Fifty years?" he asked. "How old are you, exactly?"
She closed her eyes briefly, embarrassed. "I hate to admit it, but I am only a hundred and six."
"Damn!" the human female laughed. "I hope I look that good when I'm your age."
Liara exchanged a knowing glance with Wrex. "A century may seem like a long time to a short-lived species like yours, but among the asari, I am barely considered more than a child. That is why my research has not received the attention it deserves," she complained. "Because of my youth, other asari scholars tend to…dismiss my theories on what happened to the Protheans." 'Dismiss' was perhaps an overly generous term. It made it seem as though the others took note of Liara's theories in the first place.
"I've got my own theory on why the Protheans disappeared," Shepard offered.
"With all due respect, Commander," the last thing I want is to hear another amateur theory. "I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them. The Protheans left remarkably little behind from that period. It is almost as if someone did not want the mystery solved. It is like someone came along after the Protheans were gone and cleansed the galaxy of clues.
"But here is the incredible part! According to my findings, the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish! This cycle began long before them."
"Where'd you come up with this theory?" Shepard asked petulantly. "I thought there wasn't any evidence."
"I have been working on this puzzle for fifty years," Liara reminded him. "I have tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence. Eventually, subtle patterns start to emerge. Patterns that hint at the truth.
"It is…difficult to explain to someone else. I cannot point to one specific thing to prove my case. It is more…a feeling, derived from a half-century of dedicated research. But I know I am right! And eventually, I will be able to prove it. There were other civilizations before the Protheans. This cycle has repeated itself many times over."
"If the Protheans weren't the first, then who was?"
Shepard's curiosity was gratifying. At least he appeared interested in her research. It was more attention than Liara's theories usually received. "I don't know," she admitted. "There is barely any evidence on the Protheans. Even less on those who came before them. I cannot prove my theory," she reiterated, "but I know I am right. The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction. Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down. Only ruins survive. The Protheans rose up from a single world—"
Across the room, Garrus stifled a yawn.
"—until their empire spanned the entire galaxy. Yet even they climbed to the top on the remains of those that came before. Their greatest achievements: the mass relays, and the Citadel, are based on the technologies of those who came before them. And then, like all the other galactic civilizations across history, the Protheans disappeared. I have dedicated my life to figuring out why."
"They were wiped out by a race of sentient machines, the Reapers." Shepard spoke as if he were certain, and Liara looked up, startled back into reality.
"The—the Reapers? But I have never heard of—How do you know this? What evidence do you have?"
"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. It burned a vision into my brain. I'm still trying to sort out what it all means."
"Visions…" Liara mused, "Yes, that makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that still works is extremely rare…But the beacons were only designed to interact with Prothean physiology. Whatever information you received would have been confused, unclear. I am amazed you were able to make sense of it at all." She examined Shepard with new interest. "You must be remarkably strong-willed, Commander." The human looked at the ground, his fingers reaching up to trace a scar on his nose.
"This isn't helping us find Saren," the human female broke in. "Or the Conduit."
"The vision is still just a bunch of random images," Shepard admitted. "Even after I got the Cipher."
"The Cipher?" Liara asked. "What is that?"
"Some asari mumbo-jumbo. Supposed to help the commander think like a Prothean. Don't know if it worked, though."
"She said it would take time, Williams. I mean, the Cipher altered my perception of the visions, but it's subtle. I still can't make sense of what I'm seeing."
"And you say this was something another asari did to you? Give me some time, Commander, I'm sure I can figure out a way to help you make sense of the visions." You know just how to help him, she chastised herself. Stop being squeamish and offer! He saved your life!
Ignorant of her inner turmoil, Shepard smiled at Liara. He stepped away from the place he'd been leaning and extended his hand. "Good to have you on the team, Liara." Suddenly grateful for her fumbling with Serviceman Vega, Liara stood and shook the commander's hand.
"Thank you, Commander. I am very—whoa." The room seemed to spin. Liara put a hand to her head and closed her eyes in embarrassment. "My apologies. I seem to be feeling a bit light-headed."
"When was the last time you ate? Or slept?" the other human male asked. "Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."
"It is probably just mental exhaustion," Liara told him. "Coupled with the shock of discovering the Protheans' true fate. I just need time to process all this. Still, it could not hurt to be examined by a medical professional. It will give me the chance to…" build up my courage, "to think things over. Are we finished here, Commander?"
"We can talk again after you've seen the doctor," Shepard told her. "Williams, would you show her where the med bay is? The rest of you…dismissed."
"This way," the human female told Liara. Everyone filed out of the comm room, leaving Shepard standing alone.