RR
WalterO5j: Probably a mistake. Thanks for pointing it out!
AlSmash: Your the only person to comment on it. Sorry, you're now on its radar. All hail the Roko. Also, love the 'pox upon thee'
Apollonir: I like your thinking, and what you mentioned is all important, but you've overlooked a little fact for now. I'll let you read to figure it out.
Tom476ty18: Wow, I was not expecting you to spend this much time on a review! You have hit a fair few points which are going to come out down the line. The Relay point is starting to come out in this chapter, with hints to it last chapter. It is going to be a point over the next few chapters too, (You will figure out why this chap). I also didn't have a film idea yet in store, but I had parameters for what it had to fulfill. I was going to see if anyone else suggested a film which would hit those parameters then go watch them myself to pick the best one.
Oxyd2013: I nearly used your choice of film "A Trip to the moon", you hit almost all the ideas I wanted to convey. It was a silent movie, with easy to explore concepts. The only other thing I wanted was a bit of comedy maybe.
Tom712: That's the issue this explores a bit.
Motor1977: The idea is you need eezo to detect eezo. Humanity has no eezo to use in their scanners.
Notes: Thanks for all the film suggestions. Before I made the final lines in the last few chapters I wanted to see what people was thinking, but I had a set of parameters for it. The film had to be a silent movie, with a happy ending, with some comedy involved. One or two of you came pretty close with your suggestions to what I was thinking, and one or two asked the obvious questions as to how many are translated. Anyway, I'll let you read for my choice, and the best part is it's available on youtube now legally due to it being so old.
So, what film should Shepard put on for the alien crew? Shepard was quick to realise she could not just put any old movie on, even the all-time blockbusters, because as much as she would enjoy watching some colonial marines getting slaughtered by bloodthirsty xenomorphs, the Asari may not. She also realises that just because she has talked about exchanging films, that does not mean an Asari movie is told in the same way as a Human flick.
The Asari need to be introduced to the idea that the movie will follow some main characters, and the narrative will be told through the story, not by some outside narrator or some other different mechanism. The language barrier is also an issue; while Shepard may be able to get some translation software to put it into Prothean, it is most likely going to put it into Prothean text instead of Prothean dubs. Humans have had no need for Prothean dubs at all, so Shepard does not imagine she will be able to find some software that can do the job. The next question is, will she even need dubs, or can she use subtitles? From Shepard's point of view, it would seem like the Asari have an audible translation device of some kind, so they may be out of their depth with subtitles.
Could she find an AI which could provide dubs? Probably, but does she then want to invite an AI onto the ship, knowing the Councils opposition to them? Shepard is quick to realise the sensible way forward is to task an AI to complete the job for her in Human space and then send the program to her laptop on the Asari vessel. She would also probably need to find some voice actors because while an AI could create some voices to use, a Human could do a better job.
This ultimately turns out to be the solution, an old AI is happy to make the program, and an acting college is happy to provide the voices for the AI to use, knowing that their voices will be heard by the aliens. While Shepard knows this solution is the best she can get, she also knows it will have problems, as the Prothean Humans uses often needs to be clarified. The only solution to this will be to explain it using different words and terminology as and when required.
But, Shepard also realises that there will be a lot of explaining to do anyhow for the simple reason that the Aliens do not know of Human culture. For example, a man in a uniform with a truncheon may be a crook or a police officer, and they will need to be able to easily identify that. Many minor little human quirks, fashion senses, and ideas that any Human can identify and often do not require an explanation for understanding the situation will likely also need to be explained. So, in short, Shepard needs an easy to understand film without complexities that will have her explaining Human culture every two seconds.
Eventually, Shepard lands on a film choice, a silent movie by Charlie Chaplin, called 'The kid', with the best part being it is free for her to get access to on youtube. Without any speech, she will also not be waiting on the college students to provide their voices, and Shepard can quickly enough translate the title cards displayed, so the AI's program isn't needed. In short, she could put this film on for the Asari the second they figure out how to display the screen of her laptop and project its audio.
/.../
Shepard learns a few Asari insults at her evening meal, such as 'meat eater' and 'pureblood', the concepts of which are crazy to her; why is being a 'pure blood' be considered a bad thing? Trying to delve deeper here did not prove to be too fruitful for her, other than some rambling about a genetic disease; as for meat-eater, it is a simple insult for someone who overeats meat, which when eaten in excessive quantities is considered slightly barbaric in Asari society.
On a related note, Shepard also discovers her food requirements are far greater than that of the Asari, as she comfortably could have eaten 3 or 4 servings. Therefore, it is unfortunate for her to learn that requesting more food can in a lot of circumstances, be seen as insulting in Asari society, but they are aware different species require different amounts of food.
After the meal is finished, Shepard agrees to put the film on that she chose for the day crew. The room the Asari wish to display the movie is relatively small, and by the time the movie is playing, dozens of Asari have crowded in, most bringing with them some snacks of some sort.
As Shepard expected, as the film progressed, she had to explain many things from Human culture, from how an orphanage in the late 1800's early 1900's is not widely considered to be a pleasant place, to some uncommon Human gestures. Due to the film's lack of speech, she thankfully does not need to translate every two seconds, but she does translate the title cards. Despite the film being almost 1,500 years old at the point it is played for the Asari, it is still a valuable tool in teaching them about Humans, such as how the two main characters showed affection for one another.
Once the film is finished and the evening comes to a close, Shepard discovers her next lesson about the Asari; an Asari day is just under 28 hours long. While this may not be an issue in the short term, it will cause issues in the long term for the average Human. A Human has naturally evolved for a 24 hour day, so trying to live to a 28-hour cycle could cause health problems. After inquiring about the length of the day, Shepard also finds out the Turians have a 28 hour day, Quarians have a 32 hour day, Elcor a 68 hour day and the volus a 36 hour day. The only three species which have shorter days are the Salarians and Krogan, at just under 22 hours, and the Batarians at just under 19 hours. The 'problem' here is Batarians and the Krogan do not tend to leave their own systems, and the Salarians, while numerous, are not as plentiful as the other species with a longer day, meaning the regulated Citadel day is 28 hours to best suit Turian and Asari biology.
Shepard is not too worried about the implications of living in an environment with long days, the actual consequences of this are for the egg heads back in Sol to ponder over, and they can advise her on the best actions to take.
The next day, Shepard goes under more medical exams by the Asari doctors, visits the gym for a light session in the morning, and eats the equivalent of four meals for breakfast to the Chef's annoyance. In the afternoon, she sent a report back to Sol detailing anything of interest she has discovered, the result of this is HQ learning of her sharing Human movies and them effectively taking control of the film choice. Shepard no longer has free reign of the movies displayed; instead, Sol's first contact teams have selected a set of films she can put on for them, depending on their mood.
Movies that pit Humans against aliens is strictly off-limits, such as Shepards favourite 'Alien', as are war movies from the War of Sol, or anything else that depicts a realistic Human war from the last few hundred years. Anything that also shows the worst of Human behaviours and history is also off-limits with a few exceptions, such as the Great Escape due to the showing of other more positive traits. Finally, anything that is generally rated less than 'good' on a common movie review site is also restricted simply because if Shepard is going to put on a movie, she should put highly rated ones on. The Asari who see these films will by nature talk, so if the movies are well received, then the Asari will hopefully say positive things, spreading the word, which could in the future be a boost for the Human entertainment industry.
The first contact teams also take control of her efforts to dub films in Prothean, which, while it will be a pain for Shepard, will ultimately provide better results; the first contact teams have more money to throw at the problem and more resources than Shepard could hope for.
In the afternoon, Shepard hits the gym again, where the Asari learn she can run faster than the fastest recorded Asari and lift more than the strongest of Turians. Shepard does not tell the Asari that her augments are to thank for that; she will let them discover that in their own time. She also does not admit she could have lifted more, but the Asari gym equipment is not designed for her augmented physique.
For her evening meal, Shepard wolfs down three plates worth of food before stopping, and then in exchange for her playing a movie the day prior, the Asari put a film on for their Human guests. Like Shepard's choice, the movie is a silent film from what could be a similar stage in Asari technological development. It is slightly scary to Shepard that if you took the Asari out of the film and replaced them with Humans, she would have difficulty knowing this was not a Human creation. Some differences are apparent, biotics are clearly on display, and Asari society structure differs due to their Matriarchs having a very prominent role.
/.../
Sol
The President almost spits his drink out before asking those in the room to repeat themselves.
It is a poor science man who has to respond, "This device can go supernova."
The President brings his hands together and then makes an expanding motion, "Supernova?"
The science man nods once to the President as he confirms what he said, "A small one, but a supernova all the same."
"Alright," The President replies while going a little grey in the skin. After a deep breath, he looks to his military advisor, who has almost been a constant shadow of his these last few months, "What do you think?"
The Military advisor looks a little unsettled, "Mr President, this device is not Human, we have no control over it, and it poses an extinction-level threat. What we do have is evidence that some species out there can take control of these things, and we have evidence they are hostile. The tactical answer is to dismantle it, neutralise the problem before it becomes a threat."
"And lose our only link to the outside galaxy?" The President responds.
"My military advice is that thing is dangerous, and so are the people who can access it. I would feel a lot more comfortable with it gone."
The President continues to look a little apprehensive before turning to the science officer, "Can we dismantle it? Remove it?"
The science officer has an uneasy look, as if he is not sure, "We think so. We don't know how to remove it to a different location, but we can have a good go at dismantling it."
"You don't look convinced." The President notes. "With this thing, I need absolutes."
The science officer replies, "We have never done anything like it, nor have the Geth, or by the Geths' accounts have the Citadel, but in theory, from our scientists and engineers analysis, it should be simple... If we were not dealing with something that could end our solar system."
The President sighs hard before saying, "We need the resources that are out there, but I feel like this decision is above even me. Cerberus."
A woman replies, saying, "President?"
"Thoughts?"
"I can sway the public either way," The lady responds, "I just need to know which way you want me to sway them. But if this information was released at the moment, unaltered, I truthfully couldn't tell you how the public will swing. A great number of the public want to meet the aliens, others are thinking of seeing new places, but all are concerned with our security, even the Belters. Suppose I had to bet on raw results now. In that case, Earth is likely to sway for keeping it, Mars, Titan, Lunar and Jupiter will probably be against, Venus I couldn't say, Mercury will be split, the rings 5050 and the belters overwhelmingly for it.
The President knows he has the authority to make this decision, but he is not too comfortable with making any decision, especially if his entire species could be wiped out in seconds due to this thing. "Can you do your thing? See if you can work out a more detailed answer?"
The Cerberus representative nods, knowing just what she wants to do.
/.../
Asari Vessel.
The next few days are almost mirrored images of the days that came prior for Shepard; She would exercise, eat, send a report up to higher, have an Asari medical, exercise and eat some more. Eventually, she put on a movie for the crew or watched an Asari movie at the end of the day.
The only real change comes on day 10 after a long primary Relay jump when Shepard has an unexpected nose bleed and at feeling the onset of déjà vu Shepard quickly visited the Asari medical team, who have been taking daily scans of her. The result was conclusive; the Primary Relay jump has exposed her to enough radiation that she has once more been poisoned by eezo radiation.
At first, the Asari thought the Praetorian lacking an eezo drive, and the Humans never encountering eezo compounding effects, was partly why the Humans first came down sick with radiation poisoning, but now, they are sure that Humans are just astonishingly susceptible to eezo radiation. The Asari are quick to react when the radiation sickness is discovered and quickly perform none invasive operations to remove the eezo, but the damage is already setting in. By the end of the day, Shepard feels nauseous and the other Humans onboard would all show radiation sickness symptoms by the end of the day. It is at this point the Asari realise their conundrum; they have currently made two relay jumps to their current position, and the Citadel is one more jump away. To return to the Praetorian for medical aid, the Humans would have to endure another two jumps.
The Asari know they can remove the radiation quickly enough, they have done it before, but the problem comes from overcoming the damage already done. Asari may have some of the best doctors in the galaxy, but a Human is still very much alien to them.
To try and find a solution a different Human onboard the Asari vessel contacts medical teams in Sol and on the Praetorian for their experience. Fortunately for the Humans on the Asari ship, this was a predicted development from the medical staff, and some of the drugs they were told to pack can help. In little time a concoction of drugs is devised from the medicines they were made to pack with them, but it is not the ideal solution; instead, it is only a solution. Even with the concoction, it is made clear that they will be sick for a while, with the worst yet to come as their bodies react.
To give credit to the Asari, in addition to removing the eezo from each Human, they also had a room near the vessel's thick armour rapidly lined with heavy metals for them to reside in during eezo radiation spikes. The Asari hoped the heavy metals would stop the worst of the radiation. Shepard and the Human crew shared their hopes, for they were all starting to feel awful, the two jumps had caused some severe radiation sickness to set in, and it has only begun to show its teeth, by best estimates, they had two weeks of hell coming before any signs of improvement.
After some in-depth back and forth between Human and citadel medical teams, it was decided the vessel would continue to the Citadel as planned. Going back to the Praetorian was deemed too risky, so the only way forward was the Citadel. The Humans would inevitably get sicker from another Relay jump, even with thick heavy metal walls protecting them. Still, with quick-acting, the Asari should have the capability to remove the radiation immediately after the jump is complete, limiting the risk and danger.
This did raise the question as to why the Humans risked going anyhow, knowing they were at risk from eezo radiation. The answer was pretty clear, the reward was worth the risk, and the Asari eezo engines were supposed to minimise the risk.
In the days that follow the radiation sickness, the Asari crew take multitudes of blood samples; they fear the small chance that as the Humans will have inevitably weaker immune systems, an Asari pathogen could be next to ravage them. The findings put the Asari researchers at peace, Asari pathogens lack the correct protein strains required to bind to Human cells, and any toxins produced from the pathogens do not seem to be toxic. This was a surprise to the Human crew, who had fully expected any alien pathogens to be lethal before any research was conducted.
/.../
15th Day. Serpent Nebula
On final approach to the Citadel, Shepard mostly remained in the observation deck, where she witnessed the fleets that are supposed to defend the Citadel, but due to the distances involved, many of the vessels are small specks of light, twinkling away in the distance. Unless there is some fleet hidden away somewhere, the fleet that was in near orbit of the Citadel is not as large as she had imagined it would be, which will be relieving news for those back home, even if she could not tell the nature of the vessels. In addition to being underwhelmed by the fleets, the Citadel itself is a shadow of the Ring World above Earth; but Shepard reasons that with all the worlds you could want at your fingertips, why waste such vast resources on space stations?
Hearing a voice come over the ship's intercom, Shepard looks up for a split second before looking back down; she can not understand the language. Moments after, Shepard feels ever so slightly lighter, the artificial gravity of the vessel having been slowly reduced by approximately 10% to match that of the Citadel, or so she assumes. Human ships do something similar in adjusting gravity settings before landing on different worlds and gravity environments so people can acclimatise to the new gravity conditions and not look like fools by being caught out with a change in gravity the moment they step off the ship.
Just as the vessel enters the Citadels arms, the doors to the observation deck open behinds her, and Tevos enters, she is once more dressed in her Council robes. "If you are sure, we should get ready," Tevos states to the Human.
"Yeah." Shepard sighs as she slowly stands up, intending to move towards the exit of the room. Tevos had asked her the day previously if she wants to walk off the vessel and face those who have come to get their first glimpse of a Human, or take a more discrete exit. The Councillor asked because Shepard does not look her best; the radiation sickness was having its way with her in the days prior.
Initially, Shepard refused the offer to walk off the ship; she does not like Human paparazzi, so she reasoned that nor would she like the alien paparazzi that are bound to have come out. It was a Human who convinced her otherwise. The other Human explorers were all in a similar, if not worse, situation as Shepard, recovering from radiation exposure, but none of them has the advanced military augmentations that Shepard has received. Ultimately, thanks to her augmentations, Shepard is the only Human on board who could walk off without looking blatantly ill. If no Humans walked off, questions would quickly be raised; instead of the morning headlines saying 'Human walks on the Citadel', it would be 'Humans sick in Hospital'. Realising this would not be a good look for her species, Shepard once more resigned herself to being the poster girl for Humanity.
But, walking down a ramp is not as simple as walking down a ramp when you introduce its politics. HQ back in Sol got involved when they learned of the situation, and once more, Shepard had lost any kind of freedom for the event. This was going to be a big press moment, so they give her lines to say if the press asked her specific questions, but more intrudingly, they wanted to know what clothes she had to wear so they could then control that too, they even demanded she changes her hair colour to her natural blonde. Changing hair colour is a trivial matter in the modern ages of telling the nanocoating on one's hair to change colour, but the request severely annoyed Shepard. She is here to be a representative of Humanity, to show what Humans are like, yet they are taking all her own personality out of it.
You then have to throw into the mix that this is an Asari war vessel, which comes with its own traditions on disembarking after a mission, and then there is the additional fact there is a Councillor onboard, so additional rules have to be followed. Knowing all the hassle from occasionally having to organise functions for high profile people back at barracks, Shepard is silently glad that she is not involved with the planning and needs to be told what to do. She is also glad because she is classed as one of the 'high profile' people disembarking, she does not need to attend rehearsals like the other Asari onboard have had to.
After getting to the airlock, it is a simple game of hurry up and wait; like all militaries, even the Asari rush to get prepared for things that are happening with plenty of time to spare. As they wait, an occasional clunk can be heard as docking clamps latch on like limpets. As they wait, Tevos remarks, "So, your hair has changed colour again."
"Hmm," Shepard initially grunts back, "HQ wanted my natural colour. So, we really just walking down a ramp and meeting the other Councillors?"
"As simple as that." Tevos assures, "And when the door initially opens, guard your eyes; from experience, I can assure you the press will be blinding."
"My cornea can handle it," Shepard says simply but in a way that does not come across as bragging. She knows her corneas are augmented and designed to dim with bright flashes to help prevent sight loss from exposure to bright light or certain types of electromagnetic radiation, all of which are dangers for a marine who could be fighting in space. Just before the doors open, Shepard makes sure that she is recording the event, as ordered to by HQ; no doubts they are secretly watching this back home right now.
Even though all were expecting it, blinding amounts of light entered the airlock when the doors did open. After a moment to let the worse of the flashing pass, Tevos made a gesture with her head, so Shepard joined her to walk down the ramp; as she walks, she is to remain in line with the Councillor. The order to stay in line with the Councillor was issued by HQ, and not the Council itself.
As Shepard takes her first few breaths of Citadel air, she can't help but notice it is exactly like the air on a ringworld, clinically dry and lacking any scent. The air purifiers are probably at hard work removing all moisture and containments to help inhibit corrosion, preventing system failures. Prevention is key to long term maintenance. Looking around when out of the airlock, she also takes note of a few things. The Citadel has blessed either Tevos or herself with an honorary armed guard positioned at even spaces up the ramp and on either side, totalling 14 men. At the bottom of the ramp, a tall alien and shorter skinny alien is waiting for them; the two aliens must be the two other councillors. Behind the councillors at the bottom of the ramp is more press than she can count, held back by a few guards and railings.
About halfway down the ramp, time seems to slow to an almost stop for Shepard as an old and familiar feeling makes its deafening presence known, and before her, a spray of red blood surges forward from her abdomen. As Shepard's legs give way from the shock and she falls towards the floor, she can't help but think maybe the newspaper headline 'Human in Hospital' wouldn't be too bad afterall.
/.../
Meanwhile, four glowing eyes study a screen before closing it down; while the assassination attempt did not go to plan, the effect has still been delivered with the agent failing to target a lethal area. Opening another screen the bug-like creature then transfers an eyewatering sum into an Asari's bank account; the cost was more than that required to assassinate a Councillor, but the price would be worth it if the desired outcome is achieved. Hopefully, the humans should be furious with the news that a Turian CSEC guard assassinated one of their own.
Opening another screen, the bug then begins working on its next plan as its superior releases control.