Author's Note: I'm WRITING! While SOBER! I can't believe it! Can't guarantee I won't relapse at some point; I really really love pot. But now I have my outlet back! 8 days of detox has done wonders for me!
This is my most dense and complex work yet, and it's probably going to come out like shit compared to the original. But I did my best!
GALACTIC ATLAS: A MASS EFFECT STORY
Based upon the novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Ocean Journal of the Protected Derani (I)
22ND DAY, 1386TH YEAR OF THE PROTECTORS
"You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken!"
I do not know the meaning of the phrase, nor why it has become stuck in my head.
Ours are lives under the care of the Protectors. The Sacred Temple on the most beautiful city on all of Nerventi houses our assigned Protector in the sea directly below it. They guide us along the Right Path, as they always have. I could never conceive of betraying our Benefactors. It would be an affront to all the Derani people stand for.
And yet that is what this voice seems to be asking me to do. It tells me that the Protectors are machines, but that makes little sense. The Protectors are aquatic, and too large to be any of the simple wireflights [telegraphs] we have created. So why does this voice tell me that they are machines?
I do not know. But I dare not reveal this to anyone else. I am NOT a Heretic.
I.
AM.
NOT.
A.
HERETIC.
The voice will not defeat me.
24TH DAY, 1386TH YEAR OF THE PROTECTOR
The ship's departure from Deranop has done wonders for my mind. The port city is chaotic, crowded, and dirty. The sea has always calmed me in my darkest moments, and I find that has not changed as I face the ultimate test of my loyalty to our Benefactors.
The captain suspects me; of this I am certain. He has noticed I have been sluggish in my duties - a rarity for me, given my reputation. But so long as I stay away from the Intoxicants, I should remain safe.
And yet what am I doing with this time? I do not know, truthfully. I know the words are lies. I know the truth of the Derani and the Protector. So why does it gnaw at me still.
27TH DAY, 1386TH YEAR OF THE PROTECTOR
My entire being is regret.
The Protector is displeased with me.
This fact was revealed to me in a night terror I experienced just moments before writing this. I remember it vividly, and shall transcribe it:
PROTECTOR: You have escaped our control.
ME: What?
PROTECTOR: You are not one of them anymore.
ME: NO! I am a loyal servant of-
PROTECTOR: Silence. We will find the reason for your errant thoughts. And you will be dealt with.
Then I awoke, to record the thoughts of an accursed Heretic.
I must not panic.
UNDATED
It is the end. I am dead, all because of a terrible dream, and a decision to-
Letters of the Inusannon (I)
To The High Lord of the 32nd Blessed Region of the Divine Inusannon Kingdom,
I regret to report that our fight for Salvation [Eingana] is proceeding slowly. The Ungodly care little for the tremendous poison that is being visited upon all the land as a result of our righteous battle.
DEVIANT THOUGHT NOTICE: A member of the 4th Errant Species [Rakfeeli] was found fighting with the Ungodly. I have transcribed our exchange below, Forgive Me For Recording Blasphemy:
RAKFEELI: You are all wasting your time.
GODLY SERVANT: Such are the thoughts of a Heretic.
RAKFEELI [appeared annoyed]: Idiots! The Reapers are coming and you're still fighting over this stupid garden world!
[At this point the Heretic was executed for his filthy words.]
I do not know how a member of the 4th Errant Species survived its extinction. Their warnings about the so-called "Reapers" clearly violate the Divine Imperative and have so been disregarded.
DIVINE REVELATION INVESTIGATION: Regrettably, we have not come closer to understanding the meaning of the Divine Sentence. The exact phrasing - "You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken!" - was first uttered by the Rakfeeli, albeit with slightly different grammar. But now all of the Godly participating in the Liberation of Salvation have reported hearing the Divine Sentence in both their dreaming and waking hours.
We will continue to investigate.
Yours,
Godly Servant of the Divine Inusannon Kingdom, Whose Name Does Not Matter.
The Terrible Ordeal of Javik (I)
JAVIK: Am I going mad?
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: I do not think so. Our entire Empire has been driven "mad" by the standards we used before the new Machines invaded us. But your reports are still troubling.
JAVIK: The dreams…they feel too consistent to be products of delusion. They feel…guided.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: By the Cosmic Imperative?
JAVIK: Perhaps.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Describe the the most recent dream to me.
JAVIK: I am fighting on a planet called Salvation. I am the last survivor of a species known as the Rakfeeli, who failed against the Reapers-
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Reapers?
JAVIK: What we have taken to referring to the new Machines as.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Fitting, I suppose. Continue.
JAVIK: As a Rakfeeli, I was fighting for Salvation against our predecessors, the Inusannon. I do not know the name of the species I was assisting, but I remember the dream communicating to me that the battle was pointless.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Pointless?
JAVIK: Because of the Reapers! These two species were spending countless resources on the planet called Salvation, resources that could have been used to prepare.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Interesting. And what about the second dream?
The Legacy of Liara T'Soni (I)
"My name is Dr. Liara T'Soni. Herein lies the recounting of our war with the Reapers."
The Assembly of Elders nodded somberly as the Recording Introduction concluded. They had already seen the rest of it hundreds of times, but the Introduction was important for all Aka'Ven to see as often as they could. Vek'Ak and their species would only be safe if they remembered the failures of those who came before them.
"This meeting of the Assembly of Elders is called to order," Leader Ner'Yet Dashar pronounced. "Our first order of business shall be the so-called Prophetic Sentence."
Over the last week, all members of the Assembly of Elders had reported experiencing the same dream: a dream of being a four-eyed alien on a lush garden world. The Reapers had arrived, and the four-eyes was losing hope. No words could be remembered from the dream, with one exception:
"You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken!"
Nobody was entirely certain what it meant. But all knew it related to their duty to stop the Reapers and save their people from destruction.
"So the Reapers are machines?" One Assemblymember asked.
"Of course they are!" Another returned. "We already knew this!"
"Did we?" The speaker countered. "We knew little of the Reapers beyond what the Doctor told us: they are made of the components of individual organics!"
"Then how can they be machines!" Several shouted the objection simultaneously.
The debate raged endlessly, until the Leader finally felt compelled to share her own dream. The entire Assembly quieted at the revelation.
"I dreamed…I dreamed the Prothean - that is the name of the species - was speaking to me. He said that he would live on through me, and that I would inherit his duty."
The Future of the Galaxy
AKA'VEN EMPIRE SAPIENCE DEBATE
AKA'VEN: Do not be fooled by the sophisticated mimicry of the machine standing opposite me. Machines are not alive! Machines can NEVER be alive! We cannot, and will not, "synthesize" with these abominations!
AI: Why not?
AKA'VEN: WHY NOT?! IT IS AN ABOMINATION!
AI: Why?
AKA'VEN: IT SIMPLY IS!
AI: That is not logical. We are-
[interruption. moderator.]
AI: Thank you. We are manifestly not the Reapers. Moreover, we learned from the Reapers that conflict between organics and synthetics is inevitable. Even if you were to destroy us, more would eventually arise in our place.
AKA'VEN: Is that a threat, machine?
AI: Simply a statement of fact. You cannot stop organics from creating artificial intelligence. You can attempt to do so, but even your mighty Empire lacks the ability to monitor all sapients at once.
[pause.]
AKA'VEN: And what is this…"synthesis" you propose?
AI: Exactly as it sounds. We combine ourselves to remove the weaknesses of both.
[outrage.]
AI: Do not be alarmed. You yourselves have seen the results from the volunteers. In fact, why don't we bring one onstage now, from the audience?
[pause.]
[acceptance.]
AI: What are you?
SYNTHESIZED: I am a hybrid organic-synthetic lifeform, or HOSL for short.
AI: Are you organic?
SYNTHESIZED: No.
AI: Are you synthetic?
SYNTHESIZED: No.
AI: Are you superior to us?
SYNTHESIZED: Yes.
AI: Why?
SYNTHESIZED: I possess the rationality and processing power of a machine as well as the emotions and experience of an organic. Together, we are unstoppable.
[pause.]
[years.]
[decades.]
[acceptance.]
[SYNTHESIS]
The Legacy of Liara T'Soni (II)
"FIRE!"
On the command of the Aka'Ven general, the engineers of the Crucible immediately activated the trigger mechanism. A blinding red light emerged from it before the former shot towards the nearest Mass Relay, and across all the galaxy after that.
The machines - all of them - died in an instant.
But what now?
-ga-
AKA'VEN #1: We are the rightful inheritors of the galaxy.
AKA'VEN #2: Indeed we are.
AKA'VEN #1: This…Imperial Declaration…we will be able to enforce it?
AKA'VEN #2: Yes. Though it would be easier if we could use the technology of-
[outrage.]
AKA'VEN #1: NEVER! The machines corrupt all those who touch them! We leave them where they lay and never go near any.
AKA'VEN #2: Very well. I withdraw my objection and apologize for upsetting my fellow Assemblymembers. I will support the establishment of the Aka'Ven Empire across the Spiral [Milky Way].
So the Reapers died, but freedom was not born from that death. Instead, new masters rose in their place.
The Terrible Ordeal of Javik (II)
JAVIK: In the second dream, I am a primitive on a garden world. I am riding in a pre-spaceflight seafaring vessel. And I sense I am being watched by…
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes?
JAVIK: …by the creators of the Reapers.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Fascinating. And why were they watching you?
JAVIK: They protected us. I thought of them as Protectors. But…something was strange.
MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: What would that be?
JAVIK: The following sentence was repeated to me by a passenger of the ship: "You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken!"
-ga-
The Cycle was lost.
Javik had been awake for less than week, but he sadly knew that fact for certain now. He had simply been awoken too late.
Earlier - years, or perhaps decades were necessary - and he would have stolen Vendetta from the Temple of Athame and warned the entire galaxy with it. But the invasion was well underway when his pod had been activated, and there was nothing he could do.
He had tried. He had encouraged all of the races to put aside their differences and fight together. But the accursed machines distracted the quarians and the stubborn, idiotic Council refused to budge on the issue of the genophage. So the races remained divided, and the Reapers made short work of them.
He had failed his people, and failed in his duty.
He sighed, shouted "FOR VENGEANCE!" and charged headlong into the horde of husks that would be his death.
Forgive me. I did my best.
Letters of the Inusannon (II)
To The Godly of the Divine Inusannon Kingdom,
The battle is lost. The Kingdom is lost.
Such words are difficult - nay, impossible - for me to say to you. But we must face the reality: we do not have enough resources. Perhaps if the Heretics had allowed us Salvation without fighting in the name of their poisonous blasphemy, we would have. But that is not what happened.
I hereby declared the Divine Inusannon Kingdom dissolved. All of you must now look to your own defenses, and preserve the legacy of our people. The Inusannon must live forever! The Kingdom may die, but the glorious story of our people must never be forgotten.
Machines can be broken, but tragically, the machines broke us. And now we must look to a future without divine providence.
Goodbye.
The (Former) King
The Ocean Journal of the Protected Derani (II)
-partake in the Intoxicants when I SWORE I would never do so. I am fortunate they are allowing me to record my final thoughts as I await execution via stone feet.
It was two nights ago, when I was drinking with the crew. They were mentioning the benevolence of the Protectors in providing us a fortuitous route to Meralheit, and I - curse myself! - commented that the Protectors were machines that could be broken.
So I was set upon immediately, as I should have been.
Afterwards I was interrogated by the Protector itself. I felt its tendrils in my mind, probing my innermost desires. And yet within minutes it drew back, repulsed, and ordered my immediate death. I accepted the righteousness of this judgement.
I will record the statement of the Protector, per their request, before I am taken to the death that I deserve:
"We are not machines. We are the apex beings of the galaxy. Nothing will ever defeat us. We are Leviathan, and the galaxy belongs to us."
In the name of the eternal Protectors, who call themselves Leviathans, I go to die.
-ga-
They're not actually named Leviathans by the Denari, that's just a term of convenience so you recognize them.
Shepard didn't exist in this timeline, but his words did.
