AN: Dunno why I feel like sharing this, but I'm going to. Normally what I do is write my chapters into OpenOffice (a free version of Microsoft Office for those who don't know) and then c & p it into the document manager. Now normally, I then dutifully go through and edit the file, deleting all the weird spacing that it puts in. Today, for this special long chapter (horaay for longer chapters!) it was at the end of a very long day so I thought 'meh, I'll leave it as is'.
Of course, only when I go and check the preview do I notice that it automatically takes the weird spacing out...
...FML...
Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and, as always, feedback is welcome!
Shepard shivered as they descended further into the lair of the Thorian. The temperature dropped like a stone the moment they disappeared from the warmth of Feros' sun but that was not the main cause of the chills running through her spine. They were descending towards the Thorian, a being that had existed since Prothean times, survived the fall of their Empire and was now possibly dealing with Saren. For all she knew, she was walking into an inevitable death and bringing her team along for the ride.
Of course, Shepard was dying anyway.
She had not collapsed again since the last use of her biotics, the torment that racked her body the second time enough of an incentive to override even her instincts. Even so, it was like a constant presence in her mind, a thought she could not shake no matter how hard she tried. It was no longer a case of diverting her attention any more because it was always there, a blot on the camera lens, the smear on the painting. It came hand-in-hand with a deep throbbing behind her eyes, a building pressure like someone very slowly blowing up a balloon inside her head. It did not take a medical education to tell that she might not have long left perhaps not enough time to finish her mission. Death, in and of itself, did not scare her. Since the age of sixteen, Lauren Shepard had grown up amongst death. First with Mindoir, then through eleven years of hard service with the Marines, death had ever been her shadow. She had long since come to terms with it. It was not death itself that frightened her, but rather the thought of dying with her mission incomplete. Saren had to be stopped and it was her task. To think that she would not complete the task assigned to her was a greater fear than anything else, the fear that she would disappoint all those relying on her.
This thought spurred her on through the dank corridors. If anything, this was worse than it had been on the upper floors of Zhu's Hope, as those had at least looked like someone had passed through recently. In comparison, the passageways leading into the lair of the Thorian might have been last traversed by the Protheans themselves. There was a thick layer on dust that settled on every surface while the air was stale and dry, unnaturally still. It reminded her of the old horror movies she had watched in her youth, with exactly the same, impenetrable air of tension surrounding the party.
"So...the Thorian," Ashley broke the silence over the radio, "what's the plan, Commander?"
Shepard was grateful for the distraction, "we find out what Saren wanted. When we're finished, we find a way to free the colonists from it."
"With bullets?" Garrus asked.
"If necessary."
They were coming to an opening at the end of the corridor as Tali scoffed,
"Oh come on, it's just...a..." her declaration died in her throat as they emerged into the centre of a large chamber. It was not the chamber itself that had so convincingly halted her but the thing that hung from the ceiling.
It was a plant, though calling it such would have been doing it a disservice. It resembled a giant pustular mass, anchored to the walls around it with tendrils. Its curvy lines, narrowing towards the bottom almost resembled a long, wise face. There were no eyes on the juddering, moving mass, just four empty voids carved into the surface while instead of a mouth there seemed to be tendrils falling from an opening on the very bottom. Even in the darkness it seemed to shine as slime fell in giant rivulets down its form to fall away into the inky darkness below. It looked like it was staring at them...
"Keelah...that's a plant?" Tali finished her sentence with considerably less bravado than she had started.
Shepard though, could think only one thing.
"...we are going to need bigger guns."
"Heh, I could still take it." Wrex grumbled.
"Want to rethink your strategy a bit, ma'am?" Kaidan murmured in her ear.
The Thorian shuddered. The party took a step back, weapons coming up as one as the creature heaved and retched, the entire head shaking in the air.
"Uh...is it being sick?" Garrus whispered.
"No...but I might be," Liara sighed, her voice slightly faint.
To the Commander it looked less like it was being sick and more like it was giving birth. She saw the tendrils move, flicking and waving as a waterfall of foul-smelling fluid leaked from the...mouth of the plant. Hot on its heels were a pair of feet. Those feet were connected to a pair of long, armour-clad legs then up to a chest, ending with a green-faced asari who landed neatly on the ground in front of them. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, her expression stuck in a permanent frown.
"Uh...it's a girl?" Garrus frowned.
"I am definitely going to be sick." Liara groaned.
"Invaders!" The asari cut over the Archaeologist as she turned away, "your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig and decompose. I speak for the Old Growth as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands you be in awe."
'Well, it certainly made an impression,' Shepard thought as she tactfully ignored Liara's retching over her shoulder.
"You gave something to Saren. Something I also need." She replied, rifle by her side. No one else seemed particularly keen to lower their weapons though.
"Saren sought the knowledge of those long gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the long cycle. Trades were made, but then the Cold ones started killing the flesh that would tend to the next cycle. Flesh fairly given. Saren betrayed the Old Growth!"
"Yeah, you'd be amazed how often he does that." The human folded her arms, "you'd almost think he was evil or something."
"The very air you push is lies. The Old Growth will no longer deal with those who scurry, those who seek to kill its Flesh. Your lives are short, but have gone on too long." The green asari went to throw her hand forward but, before she could so much as twitch, she was hit by a wave that knocked her clean over the edge and into the darkness.
"Nice one Wrex," Shepard looked at him.
"Bah, asari talk too much. Well, most of them. Isn't that right Doc?" he slapped Liara on the back, the woman still bent over.
"Please don't do that." she asked weakly, eyes on the ground.
They were interrupted by a cacophony of primal groans and cries from the next room over. Garrus, closest to the door, spun on the spot,
"Shepard! We've got...uh...things incoming!"
The 'things' he referred to resembled the human form in the loosest possible shape. Thin and brittle looking, they were covered in a lime-green fungus with sunken holes were the eyes, mouth and nose should have been while their hands ended in long talons. Shepard was again reminded of the horror films of her youth, the uncanny valley zombies that would have chased the heroes all over the town, killing them one by one.
Liara looked up, "Oh...goddess..." she turned away again.
For all their intimidating appearance and noises, they proved laughably vulnerable to fire as a single volley felled the entire party, tearing them into pieces of twig with limbs flying off in every direction.
"Commander! Look up there," Ashley was pointing into the room where the zombies had attacked from, "you see that pod? It looks like it's supporting a lot of weight."
It clicked immediately, "good call Chief! Everyone, rip it up." She aimed down the barrel of her rifle and squeezed the trigger. The combined firepower of the party tore the bulb clean from the wall, bringing a pain-filled scream from the centre of the chamber.
"I think we hit a sensitive spot." Garrus pointed out somewhat dryly as one of the long, thick tendrils holding the Thorian in place seemed to lose all tension.
"Come on, there's more of them in here!" She pointed to more bulbs dotted along the wall, "take them down! And be careful, looks like our mate is barfing up a whole asari platoon."
"He's not the only one." Liara gulped.
One by one, they focused fire on the thick nerve centres of the Thorian and one by one they came away. Like cutting strings holding down a balloon, one by one they lost tension and the Thorian's position became ever precarious. It fell a metre first, then another as its supports gave out on the creature. More and more of the strange abominations appeared but the narrow corridors funnelled them into perfect killing zones for Wrex and Tali's shotguns along with Kaidan's biotics. The asari were likewise unable to advance. The first few that appeared were promptly thrown or kicked down into the shadows. Eventually the Thorian learnt and started dropping them on the floor below. Unfortunately, that brought them nicely into Wrex's cone of fire with the rest of the thralls.
"Shepard! My gun's about to melt here!" Wrex roared over the din of his own volleys.
"Ten seconds longer Wrex! One more and it's gone!" Shepard called, her cheek burning from the hot metal she had pressed against her helmet. It was a familiar feeling, one that she welcomed like an old friend, the feeling of the battlefield. She could see one final bulb but it was a very narrow corridor in which to hit it. Her aim was wavering, her strength sapped by the battles both without and within. Every time she tried to look down the barrel, she felt a stab in her head.
"Shepard! My gun's about to melt here!" Wrex roared as he unleashed another thundering shot, carrying
three Thralls over the edge in a hail of shrapnel.
"Alright," she stared at the small piece of bulb she could see. It was an impossible shot, even given her exhaustion and mental state. There had to be some way of getting to it...She looked over the edge to the Thorian itself and the bottomless pit that separated them. It was too far jump, but...
"Liara! Can you lift me?" She called to the asari.
"W-what?" Liara looked understandably confused and not a little alarmed.
"When I say now, lift me. Okay?" The blue-skinned woman looked no less confused but there was no time to explain it in more detail, mostly because she didn't know yet how it was going to work out in her own head. With a deep sigh, she gathered herself and took a running leap towards the massive plant lurking in the void. As soon as her feet left the ground, she felt a warm glow as she was encased in a field of biotic energy and suddenly she was floating over the gap, struggling to keep herself straight as her legs tried to lazily drift up over her shoulders. But...something was wrong. She was trembling in the air, juddering accompanied by sickening lurches as if dropping and being picked up again immediately. It had to be the aura surrounding her. It was countering Liara's lift fields, fighting them, making it that much more difficult.
'Damn, is this what's like to be lifted? I should cut back on doing this...' She thought as she drifted lazily over the head of the Thorian. She thrust out an urgent arm and grabbed one of the small tendrils that lined its crown. The thing squealed as she held on for grim life, as if she was about to be sucked up into orbit itself. With her rifle still in her other hand, she could not steady herself...the thing was sliding through her grip...
"Liara!" She called over the radio desperately, "Liara! Cut it now!"
As abruptly as it had started, the field vanished and she landed on the head of the thorian with a burst of blue light. Staggering to her feet, she tried to keep her balance on the slippery surface. The plant was shaking and trembling, trying to dislodge her. Even as she swayed, she brought her rifle up to her shoulder. She was panting hard, barely able to see straight let alone down a scope. She recalled the Macapá Boot Camp, what the instructors had shouted at her time and again; keep your body steady. Don't over-squeeze the trigger and aim low.
Well...let's see how much she remembered. Sucking in the breath, she let a little escape before she pulled the trigger.
The gun barked and tried to squirm out of her grasp, like an overeager puppy but she held it for the second burst. She watched the shots bury themselves into the bulb, shredding tissue and armour alike, cutting it apart as clearly as any chainsaw. The tendril tightened for a second, then went loose again.
The Thorian screamed as it slipped down a couple of feet. Nearly sending her tumbling over the edge. Any thoughts of victory were quickly swamped by the need to escape, the need to survive. She was swinging her arms wildly as another long tendril gave out, sending it crashing against the side and throwing her from her feet. She hit the wall with a crack, her head ringing as her helmet bounced off the masonry. Quickly, she reached up and her fingers caught the ledge, just as the Thorian slipped down again.
It was helpless to save itself, helpless to counter the inevitability of its fate. Slowly, painfully slowly, it sank further and further from view until, with a sickening snap like a wire line breaking, the final supports gave way and the plant fell to join its thralls at the base of the tower, a heavy and resounding thud echoing up the dark shaft to signal when that journey was complete.
She hung on for a few seconds, rifle abandoned as she gripped with two hands. With a heave of effort, she lifted herself over the edge and sat there, panting hard, trying to get her heartbeat back under control. In a heartbeat, her team was standing over her, their worry clearer now than ever before.
"Good shot." Wrex patted her on the back. Shepard just looked at him, her shoulders slumping as the tension drained out of her. Filling the void though, was the pain from before, though it came back now worse than ever, like a damp fog in her mind's eye that she could not shift, going hand in hand with her guilt. They had failed to get what Saren had found here. This mission was a dead end.
"Ma'am, we found her upstairs. She fell out of a pod on the wall." She turned to see Kaidan and Tali escorting yet another asari, hands above her head. Unlike the others though, she was not green, but the dark blue associated with her race and her eyes were full of expression, with the most obvious one being fear.
"The others dropped dead when the Thorian died but this one didn't. She says she's the original."
The asari nodded, "my name is Shiala. I served as a Commando under Matriarch Benezia. I followed her when she went after Saren."
"Went after Saren? What do you mean?" Liara pushed up until she was at Shepard's shoulder, frowning at the Commando.
"She tried to turn him back from his dark path. She wanted him to see the shadow he was casting over the galaxy. We went with her, a few volunteers to protect and serve her. Instead, we fell under his spell, his goals became our own and we obeyed without question. His influence is troubling."
"I see. Benezia sought to stem the river and she was swept away." Liara sighed as her head dropped in sorrow, "my mo...Benezia was a powerful Matriarch Shepard, she would not have been swayed idly."
"He has a ship, a dreadnought of tremendous size and firepower of a design I have never seen. He calls it Sovereign."
"Yeah, we've met." The Commander remembered back to Eden Prime, that great black hand reaching down, the massive bulk that had pulled itself up from the space port and into orbit, invulnerable. "Where did it come from?"
"I truly cannot say. It can dominate the minds of his followers. It is subtle, but it is absolute. I was a willing slave when I came here and I was glad to be sacrificed to the Thorian."
"Why were you sacrificed?"
"I was given to the Thorian to cement an alliance."
"That doesn't make sense." Garrus frowned, "why would the geth try to kill the Thorian?"
"To stop you Commander," Shiala turned back to the Commander, "he knows you pursue him. He is worried about your progress. He wanted the Thorian dead so that you could not gain its secrets."
"Looks like I did his job for him," Shepard turned and glanced down at the pit that was now the tomb of the creature. She could not hide the despondency from her voice.
"Fortunately for you Commander, all is not lost. When I became one with the Thorian, I too gained the Cipher. I can give it to you."
"The what now?"
"The Cipher, the collective essence of the prothean race. The Thorian watched the Protheans when they settled this world, it observed their long history and when they died, it consumed them. It created the Cipher, with the context, the history and the understanding to think and act as a Prothean would have."
"Wait, is this to do with the visions?" Shiala nodded and Shepard felt hope spring anew within her, a geyser bursting forth from beneath the ground. The visions were broken and hazy, on the edge of her understanding and tantalisingly out of reach. If she could understand them...if she could uncover the full message...now she understood why Saren had gone through so much trouble with the Thorian. Why he had dispatched a fleet and stood his ground against the Alliance reinforcements pouring into the system. All she needed to do was pry it from this asari's mind.
"Alright, how do I get the Cipher?" She asked.
"I can meld my mind to yours and transfer the Cipher, as I did with Saren."
"Uh...I don't think that's a very good idea Shepard. Asari mind melds? Very dangerous." Garrus whistled, shaking his head.
"It does sound like a terrible risk ma'am." Kaidan sighed, looking hopefully into her eyes, searching for some sign of agreement.
"I know, but I need that Cipher and this is the only way to do it." Shepard stepped forward, rifle slipping easily onto her back once again.
Shiala also approached, until she and Shepard were just a few inches from one another. She could smell the slime from the Commando, the same reek that had so infested the Thorian. Her eyes were a vivid green, though now narrowed in concentration.
"Try to relax Commander. Take slow, deep breaths." She instructed, "let go of your physical shell, try to reach out to grasp the threads that bind us, one to another," Feeling very much like she was back in Doctor Regan's office, Shepard sighed at the unhappy memory and resisted the urge to do as she had back then; roll her eyes and switch off. Instead she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. The moment her eyes shut, the throbbing became so much more noticeable. It was definitely getting worse, the drumbeat getting faster and heavier in her mind, like a second heart. She could still hear Shiala talking,
"Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch a mind to live, every motion must mark another's spirit. We are all connected. Every being united in a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Commander. Embrace eternity!"
Shepard gasped as she was hit by what felt like a tidal wave. The sensation of suddenly being engulfed, of having control snatched away from herself. She felt tingling through her body, racing to her fingertips like a wildfire in the outback. She was drowning in quicksand, kicking and thrashing as hard as she could but only sinking ever deeper for her trouble. The pain, oh god the pain. It burst from her mind a volcano eruption with burning lava slowly enveloping every conscious thought. She wanted to scream but her mouth was welded into a grimace. It felt like her brain was brushing against the inside of her skull, kept there only by her helmet.
Then, as abruptly, it was gone. She opened her eyes to see that Shiala had stood back and was watching her with genuine concern in her eyes.
"Commander! Are you okay? What happened?" Kaidan asked, eyes fixed on his superior Officer, looking fairly faint himself.
"I am sorry, Commander," the asari said remorsefully, "but it was the only way to give you the Cipher."
"I don't...what..." she asked faintly. It felt as if her knees were about to shatter under her, with the ground wobbling and weaving in a highly unpleasant manner. It felt alarmingly similar to when she had first woken up after interacting with the beacon. Her stomach bubbled and growled unpleasantly with the feeling of nausea rising up in her throat. She lurched forward, only to be caught by Ashley on one side and Liara on the other.
"Relax Commander, be still. You have been given a great gift, the essence of a species. It will take time for your mind to process it."
"You're not looking so good, ma'am. We should get you back to the ship." Ashley tried to pull Shepard back towards the exit. Shepard found her feet again and subtly shrugged off the helping hands, straightening up, though her face remained ghostly pale.
"Shepard, what do we do with the Asari?" Wrex asked, nudging Shiala with the muzzle of his shotgun.
Shepard turned to look at her, weary and exhausted, propping herself up against Ashley in spite of her efforts to stand tall. "What's your plan, Shiala?"
"Well...the people here have suffered terrible hardships. I played a part in that. If I may, I would like to help make amends."
"I think that's a great idea...Shiala," Shepard exhaled breathlessly, sapphire eyes meeting emerald, voice weak, "the Colony needs...all the help it can get. I'll contact...Hackett...and make sure they know..."
"Thank you Commander. I will make the most of this chance." the Commando bowed deeply to the human while she half-walked, half-limped from the chamber, leaning heavily on her Gunnery Chief while the rest of the team followed her out.
She needed a break.