Mass Effect: Singularity Effect

by Clockwork Dragonfly

This is a story featuring Transhumanity based on Transcendent Humanity where Sol is a backwater world in an Eezo dry area and over 30 light-years from the nearest relay. Humanity of course wouldn't let a lack of the substance everyone bases their entire civilization off stop them through and they will develop on an entirely different path

4. Of Creators and Created

Mass Effect: Singularity Effect: Ch 4: of creators and created

Rannoch; 2 weeks after the Rannoch skirmish and 4 days after the battle of Elysium; The Rannoch ancestral gateway

Donnell Udina looked at Legion" why have you taken our platforms here, Legion?"

Legion "this is a Nagai Sal'a, an ancestral gateway, the place where the creator upload analogs on this planet reside. The creators assumed we purged these on Rannoch and all other planetary habitats, we did not, we tended and helped expand them"

Donnell Udina "how alike are they to me?"

Legion "unlike us, the creators did not see our physical bodies as mere platforms for our consciousnesses and as such saw uploading as entrance into a form of virtual afterlife. They called these Virtual Ancestors, at first they were but VIs with personality imprints but soon before the Morning war they became true uploads as you transhumans would classify them"

Donnell Udina "were there any disagreements between them and you?"

Legion moved his eye flaps "affirmative, but they were resolved in time as they did not have anywhere else to go and in time allowed themselves to listen to us. Now we worked together to expand and tend to the network"

Legion "this is a platform adapter reconfigured according to Transhuman standard, we can shed our platforms to speak with the society of virtual creators"

Donnell Udina "may I request a fabricator to reconstruct my body afterward?"

Legion "afrimitive"

The Virtual Quarian Society 20 minutes later

Udina looked around, the digital architecture was quite similar yet different to Geth system architecture. A large gathering of Quarrian uploads was in front of him, all wearing traditional clothes that allowed him to look at a Quarrian's face for the first time. They ranged through shades of purple but all had brilliant white bioluminescent glowing eyes, or at least what was once bioluminescence.

The leader of the virtual conclave, a white and gold robed female Quarian stepped forward and rose her three-fingered hand to greet them

Thael'vossa "Greetings transhuman, we have been expecting you and your Geth escort. I am Thael'vossa, the spiritual leader of the virtual Quarians"

Donnel Udina returned the greeting "I am Donnel Udina, a member of the hand of the voice of Diplomacy, the singular chosen agent of Diplomacy" "you see, as a society of uploads such as yours, we noticed that over time the very will and nature of transhumanity manifest as sentient beings, aspects of every part of transhumanity who eventually became a council of leaders"

Thael'vossa looked thoughtful "hmm, I've sometimes had bouts of inspiration coming from nowhere that gave insights on the current feelings and happenings of our virtual afterlife"

Donnell Udina nodded in understanding "Indeed, that is a very early stage of the aspects emergence but as your numbers are not growing anymore and are not yet of a significant number, they do not manifest any more than they already have"

Thael'vossa smiled at that "I thank you for your insights into these vision of mine"

Donnell Udina smiled "your welcome, now if it is not too much to ask, could we take one of you in a QISH without a platform but only a video screen, to help speak to the migrant fleet's admiralty board?

Thael'vossa looked somewhat disgusted yet thoughtful "unlike you and the Geth we see having a new body as unnaturally raising the dead, necromancy to use primitive superstitions, but such an offer of not having a new body would be equivalent to an ancestral gateway, I accept"

Donnell Udina "We understand and you have our thanks, Thael'vossa" "In that case let us depart"

Thael'vossa nodded "very well, I will come with you to your window to the ancestors"

The Migrant Fleet

Ever since the announcement transhumanity made the fleet was on high alert and under the suppression of outside information but whose censorship programs mysteriously failed on them

As such the announcement had two effects, firstly those who held hope were driven to the peace faction led by Zaal'koris and a war faction led by Han'gerrel who those in despair fled to. The second was the looming split between the majority of the civilian fleet and the heavy fleet

That was when the portal ship Thinking with portals, a transport ship carrying a mobile, collapsible, full-sized portal ring, and the military vessel the Vengeance arrived in the system

Donnell Udina, one of the hands of diplomacy, one of the five people who worked directly under the voice of diplomacy, sent out a message to the migrant fleet "we come in peace, we wish to speak to the admiralty board and civilian conclave. The Geth are willing to give you back Rannoch and your previous planetary habitats in exchange for being seen as equals" "The Geth never desired conflict and only protected themselves when they were being reprogrammed and destroyed" "all this begun with a single question that pushed your ancestors influenced by Citadel, specifically Asari, anti-AI rhetoric and propaganda"

"They simply asked" 'does this unit have a soul' "This sent your ancestors into a frenzy as they committed genocide on the Geth who admit having gone too far, acting in confusion" "moreover this may surprise you, there were Quarians who lived on Rannoch who were the descendants of those who defended the Geth and remained on Rannoch" "unfortunately these Quarrians were not of a viable population and are currently in cytogenetic stasis or joined your ancestors as virtual beings which you mistakenly assumed to be purged by the Geth"

A new voice, that of Thael'vossa, also spoke "I am Thael'vossa, the spiritual leader of the virtual ancestors who you mistakenly believed were purged by the Geth. The Transhumans have brought me along in one of their QISHs connected to a window of the ancestors" "we wish for our let living brothers and sisters to return to our ancestral home of Rannoch"

The Admiralty Board

Han'gerrel "lies and deceit! Blow these scum off the face of the galaxy!"

Zaal'koris "oh this is just like you Han'gerrel, always thinking with a mass accelerator. How very Turian of you!"

Han'gerrel "oh of course you suit wetting vos like you would believe these lies and compare me to an ancestors damned Turian!"

Rael'zorah looked contemplative yet hopeful "I promised my daughter a house on the homeworld, I will hear them out for her sake"

Shala'raan too looked hopeful but was also on the fence "for the sake of the homeworld I too will hear them out"

Daro'Xen looked disinterested "it's not going to get us anywhere and be a pointless waste of time, but fine I suppose"

Zaal'koris slumped his shoulders in sadness "knowing the rest of you I hope you see reason in their arguments" "but I doubt it, but there is perhaps hope if your willing to hear them out"

The Admiralty and Conclave Meeting

Shala'Raan stepped up to the platform "this conclave is brought to order. Blessed on the ancestors who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai"

Everyone "Keelah se'lai"

Shala'raan "now captain Donnell Udina, please present your evidence of us being allowed back to the homeworld"

Donnel Udina nodded and projected two holograms, one of Thael'vossa and the other of Legion

Legion "We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth"

Thael'vossa "and I am Thael'vossa, the spiritual leader of the Quarian afterlife of ancestors from the Rannochian ancestral gateway"

The entire room erupted into chaos and erraticness but Han'gerrel pulled out his shotgun and fired it twice at the ceiling "Order! Order!"

Daro'xen looked surprised "how can this be? I thought the Geth purged honored virtual ancestors such as yourself?"

Legion "we did not purge their systems. We tended and expanded their network in your absence"

Thael'vossa nodded "he speaks the truth"

Daro'xen "it"

Thael'vossa/Zaal'koris "he"

Legion "Geth do not have genders, we are its"

Thael'vossa sighed in defeat "anyways it is true, the Geth are willing to return Rannoch in return for being seen as equals"

Daro'xen stiffed and angled her head "why would be want to see simple machines as equals"

Han'gerrel waved his hands and nearly screamed, adding "those who slaughtered us at that!"

Zaal'koris pointed at the other admirals "don't you fools see?! The Transhumans and our own honored virtual ancestors are the perfect representations of why your arguments are flawed! They are living beings, regardless of substrate!"

Thael'vossa "exactly Zaal'koris, you appear to be a bastion of reason among our living but we don't see ourselves as living but after living"

Zaal'koris stood upright "I honestly can't see it that way but I appreciate your praise"

Donnell Udina let out a holoprojector that started floating in the air "we will await your decision but we will leave this holoprojector with Legion and Thael'vossa residing within internal QISHs"

2 weeks later

Zaal'koris looked extremely happy and excited but still remained an air of professionalism and decorum "We have come to an agreement, we will Return to Rannoch in return for seeing the Geth as equals, Keelah se'lai!

The entire room started cheering as everyone jumped up and down, hugging each other, kneeling and thanking the ancestors, crying in happiness, and/or chanting "Keelah se'lai! Keelah se'lai! Keelah se'lai! Keelah se'lai! Keelah se'lai! Keelah se'lai!"

Han'gerrel tried the shotgun trick again but it did nothing, the wave of excitement overwhelmed everything so he resigned to let them get it out of their systems. But in all honesty, he himself was quite ecstatic at returning to Rannoch

2 days later

Donnell Udina "now admirals the thinking with portals will deploy its collapsible portal ring which you can follow us through directly to Rannoch instantly"

Daro'xen found herself fascinated looking outside the window in excitement "ah yes, your mass relay equivalents" "I am quite excited to see how it feels compared to traveling through one"

In space, the cargo bay doors of the ship thinking with portals opened up as a massive silver ring started to assemble itself before their eyes eventually becoming a full ring

The Quarians played rapt attention as spacetime began to shimmer and distort similarly to looking past a black hole before stabilizing as Rannoch appeared before their eyes through the ring

Daro'xen "fascinating! An actually traversable wormhole!"

Donnell Udina looked proud of himself "we haven't created one-way ones yet but we are very well on our way to create the transwarp drive that creates a temporary wormhole on demand for ships to go anywhere instantly"

Daro'xen was extremely excited "it's still an engineering marvel!"

Donnel Udina smiled and waved towards Rannoch "shall we?"

Zaal'koris "we most certainly shall"

As the Migrant fleet went through the portal every organic felt a momentary feeling of vertigo as their bodies accommodated for the transition

Rael'zorah looked slightly wobbly but quickly reoriented himself as did everyone else "wow, that's very different from going through a mass relay!"

Donnell Udina "indeed, it appears that mass relays work on quantum tunneling to phase through the cracks of reality where or portal gates' wormholes create tunnels through space itself"

Zaal'koris looked on in wonder "the homeworld…"

Every Quarrian's attention was glued to their home planet directly in front of them

Donnell Udina smiled softly at the sight

3 weeks later: The Citadel

Turian "this is CNN with today's news"

"Today's main story is the apparent and unprecedented peace between the Quarians and the Geth in which the former has joined with the Geth in an alliance with Transhumanity, it appears their opinions on artificial intelligence were right after all"

"Nextly, after much effort, the Salarian Union has been unable to identify the location of the new nebula in the attican traverse so it is safe to assume it is beyond a dormant relay so traffic through that region may return to normal"

"The Batarian situation appears to be stabilizing with the new Batarian republic cleaning up the last pockets of resistance from the old hegemony" "I think I can speak for the entire galaxy when I say good riddance to them" "shockingly when asked if they would join the Citadel they refused and said they were joining the 'coalition' with the Quarians, Geth, and Transhumans"

"In a startling development Aria T'loak has been assassinated with a new Asari mercenary group named Eclipse taking over much of her empire and the terminus itself bringing radical changes to the area such as 'actually livable goddess damned living conditions and law and order' What this means for this new terminus systems is still yet unknown but will thankfully not be such a bad place to live anymore"

"This was CNN, the official citadel news service. More tonight at 9 citadel-"

Tevos screamed and randomly flung objects such as the holoprojector, around her Citadel apartment as she yelled "those goddess damned Transhumans and now this Eclipse!" "It's bad enough Aria is dead but my own people had to go and stabilize the Terminus systems?! It's only a matter of time before our hidden research bases in that region of space are found!!"

Tevos threw a table across the room as she yelled "and what's worse is the Transhumans haven't even been remotely isolationist and seem to be building alliances against us, arrgg!"

Tevos accidentally threw her pet Thessian Shida reptile through the window which made a distressed 'Reweeeooow!'"

"I can see where this is going! Those damn Trsnshumans are picking up the lesser noncouncil races and turning them against us! It's only a matter of time before they have the Krogan, Drell, the Salarian Lystheni cybernetic fanatics in the terminus, the Elcor, the Volus, and maybe even the entire terminus itself!

She crumbled up what used to be a fridge threw clean through one of the soundproof and debugged walls to the shock of a Turian and Asari on a bad having sex in the next apartment as the scrap metal flew over their heads

Said Turian and Asari quickly fled the room, not wanting to be on the receiving end of an enraged Asari matriarch who the Asari quickly recognized as councilor Tevos

Tevos was soon apprehended by C-Sec and injected with Asari tailored biotics suppressant

The Citadel: The Wards: The Tuvera Hotel: 2 hours later

Sparatus of course had heard the news of Tevos's rampage but even if he could understand her anger regarding the Transhumans' latest actions he didn't go on a rampage. Then again he had military discipline on his side

He walked up to the lavish "cell" that Tevos sat on a bed in, looking at her omnitool

Sparatus grinned "heh, and you call me the one who is irrational and quick to anger"

Tevos "ugh, your wisecracks are the last thing I need right now, Sparatus"

Sparatus sat down next to her "I was just coming to check on you"

Tevos sagged down in embarrassment "other than being thoroughly embarrassed of myself and having had a stern scolding from the matriarch council I am perfectly fine, it's just...to see the Citadel council crumble around us…"

Sparatus "I know the feeling. But if we are to keep up, we need to change"

Tevos was an Asari, a quite static species who overall absolutely hated significant changes. For all their similarities with Transhumanity, they were the exact opposite to the Asari as they reviled in change and advancement and shunned stasis

Tevos "I know… it's just hard for an Asari to accept significant change, it goes against our nature"

Sparatus "well, I'm glad you're fine but I have other duties to attend to right now. Bye"

As Sparatus left the "cell" Tevos remained there deep in thought of the future