Mass Effect: A Very Terran (Re)solution

by NihilMomentum

What would happen if someone with vast knowledge about the Mass Effect Universe, both official (wiki/Codex) and theoretical (fanfics), decent fighting ability and a plan was dropped into that Universe 13 years before Eden Prime? As it turns out, quite a lot! FemShep. Soft HFY. And a very different kind of self-insert.

20. Chapter 17: Stellar Solutions (1 of 2)

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or anything else referenced here. Those are the sole property of their writers/companies (Bioware/EA and such). I do not claim ownership of anything but my OC and original concepts.

List of track(s) used (you can copy+paste them in your PC by temporarily switching to the mobile version):

[1] –) Track Timed to Scene: "Discovery" [Epic Cinematic CC-BY] - Scott Buckley (part of the YT link: /watch?v=V1S1IfoX8Yg).

[2] –) Recommended Track (looped): Infinite Being - From Stellaris Original Game Soundtrack (part of the YT link: /watch?v=HgNfs5nrzQQ).

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Chapter 17: Stellar Solutions (Part 1: Carving Our Own Paths)

---

Somewhere in the Terminus, near the Vallhallan Threshold. Mid 2178 CE.

In a region of space somewhat far from the System's primary Mass Relay, two small Fleets floated in the void side-by-side while holding a defensive formation. One of them was led by a Cruiser of quarian design; the other was a mix of various designs, though all were in pristine condition, save for their rugged appearance. Suddenly, the quarian Cruiser hailed the Cruiser leading the other Fleet.

"Admirals Shala'Raan and Zaal'Koris, it's been a while.", I addressed the quarians that appeared on our screens, greeting them.

"Ah, Commander! I did not expect to be personally received by you.", said Shala'Raan with genuine surprise.

"Neither did I. I take it this means our issue is being taken seriously.", added her fellow Admiral, Zaal'Koris.

"Of course… Unlike certain groups, we won't deny aid to our allies. Besides, it's not everyday I get to escort dignitaries after all.", I responded with a nod and a beckoning gesture. "Come on in, Admirals. I'd rather not stay in one place for too long. But let's be clear: only those invited can go to the Headquarters; that means you two and no one else. As people still living under martial law, I'm sure you understand.".

"We're fully aware of how it works as well as the need for complete secrecy, Commander. Don't worry about us.", Shala assured me, nodding.

"But we do need another hand or two to take the samples into your ship.", stated Zaal.

"It's no problem.", I waved dismissively. "I'll get a few cargo lifts prepped for you.".

After their shuttle landed inside our ship, with the usual docking procedures taking place, I joined the welcoming party and greeted the duo in person, shaking hands. They brought in a few quarians marines, but only to help carry their important and delicate samples. With that done, the quarian shuttle took off with its marines and our cargo lifts got to work.

"There's something stuck in my mind… that I've been meaning to ask. Just how did it happen?", I shot them a vague question, looking at the samples that were being loaded onto floating eezo-powered lifts, but elaborated on it quickly after. "How did an airborne virus still spread? I thought the Flotilla had no more problems with filters breaking down, what with all the retrofits done over the years, least of all the Rayya.".

"Yes, that's correct, Commander; no more ships are falling down like they used to when we first met…", Shala said with an almost prideful tone.

"But our people have also been moving much more than they used to before.", Zaal'Koris continued. "One of those pilgrims brought back an airborne virus we'd never seen before. It spread so fast our measures could only restrain it to the Rayya. No one has died yet, but I don't know how long they can last.".

"We better get moving then.", I beckoned them to follow and moved without waiting for a response. "Come. Let's go to the bridge.".

They began following me soon after, as we made our way to the center of the warship. The samples of the virus were stored in a safe compartment, waiting to be taken when we arrived.

"By the way, the other Admirals… we've only talked through QECs. What are they doing during this incident?", I asked to satisfy my curiosity.

"Han is doing what he does best, what he can do: chasing a group that dared raid us. Xen is focused on a research project Atlas had sent her way, trying to slow down the virus. And Rael is arranging for the sick while also staying with his wife.", Zaal reported.

"So you guys were actually the only ones who could come, huh?", I inquired, betraying no hint that I had more-or-less arranged things to be this way.

"Yes. We all have our roles to play.", he replied. "At least they're doing something useful for once, not constantly talking about retaking the homeworld. The war faction's been rallying under Han, with a mantra about how we could do it presently, and he's happy to feed their hopes. Rael hasn't done anything, but neither does he try to stop his friend. Sorry about the small rant. I'm just stressed…".

"Don't worry, I don't mind. But what did you do about it? The war faction, I mean.", I questioned them sharply. "You know very well we can't entertain anything like that, at least not until the storm has passed.".

"We know, we really do. But there's no need to fear they'll cause trouble.", he declared in a confident tone. "Things like that always happen once in a while. It'll pass naturally. It's just that they've become more restless considering the current condition of the Flotilla.".

"In fact, those three have calmed down a lot ever since… Javik has been sent to share with us his experiences.", Shala revealed, shifting uncomfortably at the memories.

"Admirals, a word of advice. I've seen what large groups of emotionally driven idiots can do… What great damage they can cause if you don't nip the threat in the bud.", I paused briefly to emphasize my next statement. "So, I'd advise you to preemptively get them to cool their heads before the situation becomes an actual problem.".

"We'll… consider it when we return. You have my word, Commander.", Zaal promised with a firm voice. "Although I suspect all they're feeling right now is jealousy. After all, they still didn't get the chance to see the mythical headquarters. It's something that's been in our imagination all this time, I'll have you know…".

Shala sighed deeply and added to this statement: "Also, I never knew our people could be so tight-lipped about something. 'Admirals, you'll understand when you see it…' is all we get in response from anyone who visits the HQ, or something to that effect.". Shaking her head, she concluded: "If we didn't know better after all these years working together, we'd suspect foul play.".

Under different circumstances, given the amount of information they had on indoctrination, maybe there'd be suspicion that the loyalty of our quarian members was achieved through something like that. However, the Admiralty Board had received our bleeding-edge neural scan tech from day one, so they'd know very fast if there was some brainwashing going on with the quarians "sent" to us. This only served to confuse the Admirals even more though. Just what the heck is going on in the HQ? I guessed was what kept crossing their minds.

"Well, you're about to find out soon. Plus, your position isn't one to complain about, since the Admiralty Board knows much more about our organization than even the colonial leaders who joined us.", I pointed out and the topic died then and there, altough we kept making small talk along the way.

A few moments later, we finally reached our destination. As usual, it was located where the hull could offer the thickest protection while the outside view was captured by small hull cameras which projected their images onto interior screens. We had way more visibility of space than any warship's "cockpit" in the Alliance Navy, for example, without the inherent weakness that comes from having one of the most important parts of a ship right in front of it – to get shot at easily –, while only being protected by a fragile window. Apparently, that was a strategy to get people to join the navy ("see" space), Alec told me. Lack of creativity, I thought.

The first thing I did upon arriving was to nod to the pilot, who had been waiting for us.

"We are already on our way home. What path shall we take?", inquired the pilot, Heimdall.

He was, as the name suggested, our Gatekeeper and protector against possible invaders. Evidently, that role also synergized well with what he was doing right now, ferrying people in and out of our main Star System. Besides that, he was also a DS, but no one could tell with a simple look, since his appearance was like that of a middle-aged human.

"Take one that links directly with the HQ.", I replied without hesitation. This would help with my subsequent plans for the quarians, as the "shock and awe" tactic had proven itself time and time again.

"Shall I give our guests the complete tour?", he asked further, this time with a sly smile.

"Yes. The scenic route.", I added cryptically, matching his expression.

"What do you mean, Commander?", Zaal asked curiously, squinting his glowing eyes a bit.

"Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough.", I declared, smiling under the helmet. "And trust me… It'll be something else.".

The warship raced towards one of the Mass Relays, engaging its mass effect dive fully as we sat down and pulled our Omni-tools, to have something to do during the journey. Hours passed in the blink of an eye, mostly due to the lack of any excitement along the way, and we arrived at a rather "worthless" Star System, approaching a random big asteroid of its belt. It hosted one of our hidden W-Gates, which was mostly powered by E-Reactors.

Despite being deep within our territory, gravitational wave detectors as well as all other scanners were used to make sure no one would see what we're doing, just for good measure. The Admirals looked as lost and confused as one might expect during the entire process. Finally, after our scanners returned an all-clear message, Heimdall sent the proper signal to the asteroid and we waited for the magic to happen.

For our guests, this was going to be the discovery of a new world.

[1]

From installations hidden in the asteroid, drones spread out in a circular shape. They were bigger than infantry-level ones, yet smaller than most spacecraft. As the mass effect fields they materialized slowly came to life, an initially small point carefully grew into a dark and perfect sphere, its appearance reminiscent of a black hole, yet not at the same time. From any perspective one might see it, it appeared to be spherical. One of our guests, in an act almost instinctual, couldn't hold himself any longer…

Zaal'Koris leapt out of his seat and just stood there, staring intently at the steadily forming tunnel in spacetime. While all the starlight coming from behind curved around it, he whirled his head and looked at me, squeezing his hands slightly, but silently turned back to see the wormhole fully form at last. Light from the other side reached us by then, giving hints of what waited on the opposite side, and we too decided to reach out into this passage that cut through both space and time.

The warship entered the wormhole, its entire form stretching out and getting elongated by the effects of relativity, as it crossed light-years in a short span of time. The visuals inside were also unlike anything they'd ever seen, as if two sides of the Universe had squeezed themselves together harmoniously. In silence, we passed through this shortcut until, finally, we'd crossed into the other side of the bridge.

A Star, not much larger than Sol, burned nuclear fire omnipresently into the System except where such energy was harnessed by small dots, in a massive Swarm, almost enclosing it. Around it, large structures, or a few collections of structures, dotted part of it as well, their purpose surely as unique as their shapes. And all of it centered that Star, which was like a beating heart to the objects that orbited itself. In measured movements, the Admiral of the Civilian Fleet finally sat down again, his mind trying to process what it'd seen, yet coming up mostly short.

[1:21s]

Thus, in silent awe and wonder, we sailed the nothingness that was the void of space, like a lonely boat drifting in the open sea at night. For a moment, the only guiding beacon was that large Star, whose starlight was redirected all over the place by the innumerable spots orbiting it. Then, a few well-armed spacecraft linked up with our ship as its new escorts, revolving freely around us – their perfect choreography just another spectacle. They were, simultaneously, our sentries and guides as we sailed towards that massive Swarm. But our destination wasn't there. We approached one of the collections of large structures.

The almost blinding rays of light sent by the System's Star converged into fewer yet thicker beams that lanced through the darkness of space; then, they arrived at a few focal points of the structures, all to power the daring feat happening there. It was a three-dimensional metal forest of large particle colliders, where normal matter was subjected to the perfectly mimicked highly energetic effects of supernovae, thereby achieving the conditions to turn it into an element capable of manipulating dark energy.

And so it did; in quantities not to be scoffed at. Moreover, as soon as it was synthesized, the resulting material was quickly collected and sent somewhere else through, once again, a wormhole, to be processed and refined. Even at a glance, the Admirals could see that its output was constant – and enough to supply everything there and more…

[2:25s]

Right after, they beheld the largest single object present in this System, though only at a distance. On the end of a long tendril of stellar matter, all of it in the form of plasma, was a megastructure which seemed to be feeding on the Star like a hungry beast, its appetite not sated until all light was extinguished. But that wasn't the case, as what it collected was fed into large factories and a few shipyards that formed its other end, if not simply sent through wormholes elsewhere. And it only served to astonish the quarian duo how, despite pulling so much matter out of a Star, that massive forge appeared to still be under construction.

[2:50s]

The ship then changed its vector, distancing itself from the Swarm, and began to approach two other large objects. In their view screens, the Admirals could barely recognize identical twin cylinders, both connected to each other, with their axis spinning in opposite directions yet at the exact same speed, getting increasingly larger as we drew near. One side of them was enclosed with a cap, while the other still allowed large objects to enter.

When the ship drifted close enough, they witnessed what was inside of the cylinders: fields of green, with large patches of gold, dotted the landscape. Small structures, where people lived and worked, followed arcology designs, in a seamless fusion of artificial and nature. The "ground" wasn't flat, for it contained hills, tiny mountains and depressions, while it was filled with ponds and lakes surrounded by growing forests, as if a deity had carved a slice of paradise from a Garden World and gently placed it there. Light was provided by mirrors that reflected the Swarm's starlight, but one could also see, in the middle of this cylinder, a miniature, fusion-powered artificial Star, always ready to be awakened from its sleep.

At the end of the journey, after the ship had carefully looped around the inside of the space habitat, it landed on a section of it that was clearly meant for docking.

[1]

The Admirals, Zaal'Koris and Shala'Raan, simply stood there for a good minute, watching the view screens intently, almost too afraid to believe those were actually projecting what was outside. But then, with almost unconscious/automatic movements, they went outside eventually and realized it was all real. Then, the second thing they noticed was that the docking platform was very well protected.

I came out of the ship soon after. There were a lot of guards in there, almost all of them Digital Sentiences' platforms behind the power armor, but the Admirals had no idea about it, for the time being at least. They were shaken up enough as it was. Nevertheless, we had to move things along…

"Welcome to our Home System, Arcadia. I know you want answers. And there's someone who can give them to you. Just wait here for a while.", I stated curtly before disappearing into a small wormhole that linked up with a place within the center of this space habitat.

The duo was too slow to react to what I'd said, so they waited there, taking in the sights…

---

In the resting area of the docking section of the habitat. A very short time later.

Two pairs of glowing eyes observed, investigated and analyzed everything around them with newfound curiosity. The quarian duo they belonged to found themselves standing in a place that linked with every other important structure in this Star System. They figured as much since they'd seen some people coming and going from those "portals", which all had "paths" for anyone to walk on, be they human, asari, turian, salarian, elcor… or even those weird mechs that always seem to be accompanying them.

The quarian Admirals didn't miss a single detail and muttered their doubts and conclusions to each other, while also keeping guard of the floating precious cargo they'd initially come here for. Also keeping guard were the overwhelming number of sentries (mostly drones) posted there, who seemed to keep an eye on them in particular. This further reinforced the idea of waiting for their "guide" to show up, rather than starting to explore this station on their own.

That situation lasted for a while until, finally, from the same "portal" where the Commander had disappeared into, a particular individual arrived, known to them as the "representative" of the organization who'd changed their fates so much seven years ago. It was me who'd arrived with my "public" persona. I also knew it was time for some explanations…

[2]

When I returned from storing my armor and saw the quarian Admirals, my first impression was that they'd recovered from their astonished state – mostly. Couldn't really blame them. Anyone from this galaxy would get overwhelmed by what they'd seen.

So, I approached with a neutral smile, offering a handshake, and said: "Welcome to Arcadia, my friends, where we aim to build a truly idyllic future. It's good to see you two.".

"Sam, the feeling's mutual.", Zaal snapped out of what remained of his daze and said with a nod, accepting my handshake.

"It's nice to see you too, Sam.", Shala stated right after, as we also shook hands.

"We have questions… Many, many questions.", Zaal stated bluntly, giving off the vibe of a parched man who wouldn't let go of a recently found cup of water.

"And I have many answers.", I promised before they jumped on me. "Ha, you must be very confused after seeing everything all at once.".

"That's putting it mildly, yes.", added Zaal, trying to shake off the last of his shock.

"Wait, before anything else, please confirm this for us: was what we saw a new method of FTL!?", Shala exclaimed the question at me, before getting a hold of herself and taking a step back. "We always thought that your Headquarters was hidden because you had some sort of advanced stealth technology. That's how the other Admirals always explained it at least, not… that portal thing.".

"A new form of FTL… it was said to be impossible. Common knowledge is that only the Mass Relays and the schematics left in the Prothean data caches allowed us to have FTL travel and communications.", Zaal stated, though not so sure of himself anymore.

"Impossible? So was stealth is space, yet you know what we've been up to lately. And I'll have you know that there are a few whispers in the Alliance about a prototype stealth ship, so…", I pointed out.

"I see your point, Sam. But how does it work?", Shala asked curiously, then pointed at the excitement happening all over the system. "Better yet, what's all of that? Can you explain it or is it also a secret you need to keep until the war?". I shook my head in response.

"Alright then. Let me begin with those 'portals' you came through…", I prepared myself to explain everything as succinctly as I could, one item at a time. "First, they're not portals per se, but something called Einstein-Rosen Bridges – and colloquially known as Traversable Wormholes.".

"I've heard of this… It was in an old vid I watched a few years ago…", Zaal commented all of a sudden, grabbing our attention. "Ah, yes! Interstellar. They had to go to a black hole and even pass through one of those… wormholes. Amazing vid by the way. But I thought it was just fiction.".

It was my turn to be stunned now. I didn't expect that my little cultural invasion would have reached so far as to affect the insular quarian leaders. Regardless, I cleared my throat and said: "Yes, it's an amazingly well done representation of them. However, keep in mind that humanity had come up with the concept way before that vid. Many decades prior in fact. Interestingly enough, black holes (in that vid) faced the same situation as wormholes did until now. They were predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity and the math told us they were possible, but humanity had no actual proof of their existence until around 2015 CE, with visual proof coming only four years later.".

With the introduction given, I outlined the concept: "Anyway, the basic idea was to connect two different, and separate, patches of spacetime with each other, forming a tunnel, or a funnel, between them that allows passage from one end to another. As you've experienced first-hand, things can even pass through light-years relatively fast – just like humanity once predicted more than a century ago, with a lot of promising research to back it up.".

"If that's the case, then why did humans seemingly abandon it?", Zaal inquired, arms crossed.

"Because there was a major problem. Everything that approaches it ends up closing the wormhole gates. You see, gravity just wants to pull the tunnel shut. Even light exerts gravity, since it has energy, so we couldn't even use them as FTL comms.", I responded while lamenting, though it was mostly directed at the restrictions of my old Universe. "To have Traversable Wormholes, we'd require something… exotic, that could give us negative energy densities, like negative mass or with direct manipulation of dark energy.".

"Something capable of creating negative energy densities… or manipulating dark energy… Element Zero!", Shala suddenly blurted out.

"Bingo! What once was impossible becomes possible with eezo, this wonder material that can create cushions of antigravity, shape spacetime almost freely or even manipulate dark energy.", I added to her realization with a smile, one that didn't last long. "However, once again, there was an issue. We can easily create singularities with eezo, as you're well aware (and we've proven with the M-490 Blackstorm), but linking two pieces of spacetime at will? That's a problem that eluded us at first.".

"But you've solve it, right? So, how did you?", Zaal asked, considering he saw it working extremely well moments before.

"Quantum entanglement.", I replied briefly. "Really. You might think it has nothing to do with it, but it's the opposite. We harness the omnipresent connection between quantum entities that entangled particles have to act as beacons in spacetime. Like that, there's no need to do anything, such as trying to calculate any 'paths' for the tunnel to navigate through. Quantum mechanics does everything for us.".

"Entanglement...? Ah, so that's how it is…!", exclaimed Shala. "Atlas Foundation has always been a massive investor of QEC technology. Ever since we first met, I believe. So, that wasn't only for the media company and Hell's Angels…".

"Correct. Our work with QECs has helped immensely. In summary, we take two entangled particles…", I gestured with my hands, slowly moving them apart, "And separate them into two devices, which could be simple drones; then, by using quantum effects, we prop open and stabilize microscopic wormholes, while eezo keeps them open and/or expands them as required. This is the basic process of what you saw before arriving here.".

"And to think humanity had been sitting on this for more than two decades…", Zaal mused in a disappointed tone. "All it needed to do was dig through the 'old' archives, grab some eezo and mix in some entanglement in the research.".

"Yup. Maybe that was the reason the Alliance never gave it a second thought. Even if they'd set up a black ops site somewhere to experiment on wormholes, I bet they wouldn't be able to surmount this obstacle.", I speculated with a shrug. "Even today, we can't open wormholes 'on the fly' anywhere we want. We require entangled particles on both sides. It's not a big issue though, since most of them are used as static 'gates'. But an issue nonetheless; one we're tying to solve.".

"As if that wasn't already an amazing thing!", Zaal spoke up all of a sudden, almost yelling. "Don't you realize? With this, you could create a series of interconnected systems entirely separated from the Relay Network. Or hide a region of the galaxy from anyone. You… You already have done this…?".

"Yeah, you've guessed it!", I gave them another smile, one of approval. "This isn't the only hidden Star System we have. There's Wormhole-Gates, or W-Gates as we call them, here that connect to other hidden Systems all over the Terminus.".

The silence of a small interlude set in. The two Admirals had pensive body language, a cue I'd picked up after interacting with quarians so much. I figured they were considering what I'd said and coming up with the next questions.

"How much energy does it take to prop open a wormhole connection?", Zaal was the first to break the silence.

"And also, how far can it reach?", Shala added her own inquiry.

"Good questions. Well, what you need to know is that they do have limits.", I stated to get them to drop any unreasonable expectations. "The biggest one is this: the farther both ends of the wormholes are, the more energy and eezo is needed to keep the tunnel open. After all, even if using them feels pretty fast, there's still a tunnel we need to pass through. I reckon that to go from here to Andromeda would probably require one of those…", I said pointing at the swarm of little dots around the System's Star, "And a lot of eezo; believe me.".

"That's right. I've been meaning to ask… Just what is that crazy amount of satellites for?", Shala took the opportunity to ask.

"It's to satisfy all our energy needs, of course!", I declared casually, while looking out into space. "Every single one of those small dots orbiting the Star is a solar collector. Together, they form something akin to a megastructure called a Dyson Swarm. This one right here is still incomplete – or, rather, it's a partial one –, because the ultimate goal of the structure is to harness almost all the energy given off by a Star, instead of merely letting it spread into space. With the means available to us, it's relatively easy to build.".

They looked quite unconvinced at the last part, so I explained how we did…

First, we looked for and found this "lifeless" mineral rich Star System. It had many planetoids, a few gas giants, asteroids rich in rare metals and a Star a little bit bigger than the Sun. One of the planetoids, which we'd chosen to disassemble for materials, was very close to the Star and its size was almost equal to Mercury. Moreover, this System was "deep" enough into the Terminus that, even if someone had a large telescope pointing directly here, it'd take decades for our work to be discovered.

After that, we began considering the design of our Dyson Swarm, with the premise that the simpler it was, the better it'd be, while never forgetting modularity. Thus, we came up with ideas for satellites that were cheap to mass-produce, could operate without repairs and/or intervention for a very long time, were neither too big or too small, and could be redirected remotely. But that was just one part of the project.

Overall, there were four main pieces of tech required: solar collectors, miners, refiners and launch equipment. The collectors weren't a problem, as even the krogan once had access to "solar power collector stations" orbiting a Star (Nith) that emitted thousands of times the energy of Sol, which were then beamed to particle accelerators on the surface of Mantun, in order to manufacture antiproton (antimatter) fuel for warship thrusters. So, all the work only went into fitting the best designs already found in the galaxy to our needs.

The miners were taken care of by the robo-miners we'd received from our hanar allies and improved upon. As for the refiners, the Fabrication Engines would either easily build them or supplant their function entirely. Lastly, launch equipment was made extremely easy with eezo's ability to lower mass considerably, but was ultimately unnecessary, given that we had the wormholes to shift resources around freely.

With those requirements met, the construction of the Swarm could begin. The material-rich planetoid near the Star was set up as the main construction base, with a few Fabrication Engines plopped down there along with enough miner-mechs and solar collectors from the rest of the System to kickstart everything. The satellites would gather energy for the mechs to strip-mine the surface of the planetoid, sending all useful materials to refiners, which, in turn, built more infrastructure and satellites. These new solar collectors would then be sent "up" by movable wormholes, in order to orbit the Star and, thus, gather even more energy for the base.

As such, in a sort of Von Neumann style, each satellite provided the energy to build another; those two then worked together to build two more; four then became eight; eight became sixteen; sixteen turned into thirty-two, and so on. It was estimated that, within around 60 "doublings", the whole Star would almost be fully covered. Plus, even if it took a month for each "doubling", which it really didn't so far, we'd be done in more or less a decade. However, that planetoid would ultimately end up being disassembled.

"...only a matter of exponential growth. That is the power of automation!", I finished with an exclamation, not only in awe of what I'd finally seen first hand but also pride in the people we'd been recruiting during these 8 years and their accomplishments. "Just like with most of our automated systems, the code just needs to be written once. After that, we let it run on its own and the magic happens. The crews overseeing this project spend their time mostly making sure no problems pop up, fixing errors and further improving the code.".

"I'm sorry Sam, but did you mention Von Neumann devices? Those are classified as Tier 2 WMD's by the Citadel Conventions!", Zaal was the first to wake up from his stunned state, questioning me with a worried tone and barely containing his fear.

"And…?", I asked indifferently.

"And they're dangerous, both by themselves and if the Council finds out.", he added to his comment. "Automated, self-replicating machines could escape your control and go rogue at any time. Then, it might reach a point where you can't stop them. We paid a heavy cost to learn that: our homeworld. You know that, Sam.". I shook my head once again.

"Besides the fact that the Council can't possibly learn about it unless someone goes crazy and tells them, don't forget that we're outside of their jurisdiction, while no 'Garden Worlds' are being destroyed here, so the Conventions do not apply at all.", I replied calmly. "As for any 'out-of-control' situation with the Von Neumanns, I'm not worried even if it did happen, because we have the ideal programmers to deal with it, as you'll find out later.".

At this time, and after finalizing some calculations in her head, Shala broke her silence to ask: "But why did you feel the need to build this… Swarm? Where would you even use all that energy!?".

Her question was quite reasonable. No one, not even one of the Council races, has ever tried building something like this, or even remotely close to it. Even if eezo ultimately made shifting matter rather easy, they simply had no need for this much energy. Helium-3 fusion and antimatter annihilation was enough to power what they had, their rather "basic" technology, so that's where they stopped.

"We use it in everything! From all the strip-mining going around this System and its infrastructure to quantum entanglement generators.", I replied. "Plus, a good portion of it is used on those massive eezo particle colliders. Trust me, they need a lot of energy to mimic a supernova's effects on normal matter. And all the energy we don't need can just be returned to the Star. Which brings me to, I guess I could say, the next step…".

While only a selection of quarians could come to the HQ, due to their species' general trait of "100% more hostility against synthetic races", we revealed to the Admiralty Board many of our cards (like the eezo particle colliders) after they'd earned our trust with the "Thanix jolly co-operation". Meanwhile, as Zaal'Koris and Shala'Raan considered my words, I also contemplated how to introduce the part of this tour.

"You know, there was this incredible human scientist, Carl Sagan was his name, that used to say 'The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff.' in reference to the fact that we, and most of everything else, are made up of heavier elements, such as carbon, that came from exploding Stars.", I began, pausing a bit, partly for them to comprehend me and partly in respect for that amazing man. "You could also say that the raw materials that constitute our physical bodies were forged in the bellies of distant, long-extinguished Stars. So, with that in mind, I asked myself a simple question: why bother mining planets, planetoids and asteroids when I can go directly to the source?".

I paused, giving them another moment to think on the implications of what I'd just said. Of course, since it was something so outside the box the people of this galaxy had been living in so far. Most Star Nations focused their efforts into mining planets – where their colonies were. Smaller groups dedicated themselves to planetoids or a bit of asteroid mining. And those that focused on asteroids were standing before me, since they (quarians) couldn't just land on a planet to start strip-mining it, while most decent planetoids were already claimed.

"See that large, yet incomplete, structure over there? With that tendril of stellar matter in a line towards it?", I pointed to a specific part of Swarm, the largest structure that wasn't the collection of particle colliders. "What it does is it projects long and strong 'gravity fields' to 'draw in' matter from the Star. You could imagine that as the purely technological version of a giant biotic using his powers to pull stellar matter. Then, inside of the structure, all the metals are neatly sorted and processed, to be used on its large Fabrication Engines or its attached shipyard. After all, the denser materials, like iron and carbon, aren't all packed in the center of the Star, but evenly distributed throughout it. We even increase the Star's lifespan by doing this.".

"That's crazy... Why waste all this effort constructing that structure when you could simply strip-mine this System?", Shala questioned curiously, considering her role as the Admiral of the Scout Fleet, which was always searching around the galaxy for resources for the Flotilla, though not without fidgeting with her fingers. "From my experience, 99.9% of stars are usually just hydrogen and helium. Only about 0.1% of them is made up of other things, like metals.".

"That's true, yes… for metal poor Stars. This one here isn't 'all that better', with less than 2% of it being metals, but how big is that percentage in raw numbers?", I asked the crux of the matter, as I witnessed her going through yet another round of mental calculations. "In fact, it has a lot more metals than this entire Star System combined and easily thousands of times the quantity found in any homeworld, right down to their inner core… By the way, remember that planetoid I've mentioned before?".

"The one that resembles one of the planets from your homeworld's System?", she asked.

"Yes. It has enough materials for us to build a swarm of power collectors, but this Star here could've been a great source by itself.", I said while showing some images with basic data on the planetoid. "As you can see, the planetoid has only enough materials for the Swarm. In fact, while building our particle colliders, we've switched to primarily collecting materials from the Star. Besides, we don't have to keep what's not very useful, as is the case with the hydrogen gathered. It could be returned by reversing the gravity 'pull', simply dropped into the Star's gravity well or, if we're feeling fancy, thrown back in with wormholes.".

"But-, I still don't understand. How can we have the technology to do this?", Shala'Raan was still not quite convinced, though I didn't miss how she used the word "we".

"On the contrary: how could we not have the means to do Starlifting?", I asked in return, raising an eyebrow. "The truth is that any Star Nation in our galaxy could do it. And by only relying on electromagnetism too. That's right. It'd still be possible with relatively low technology, only way slower than what we're doing here. Don't believe me?".

They faced me with restrained body language. This time, however, I could tell it was more curiosity and expectation than doubt. There were a few methods, but I decided to mention one of three imagined by a human physicist named David Criswell, who also coined the term "Starlifting". The idea went something like this…

Orbital stations, forming a ring around a Star, shoot streams of charged ions at each other to create a ring of current, which keeps them from falling into that Star's gravity well. The stations act more like particle accelerators, heating up parts of the Star with lasers, beams or just by returning its own light. To begin the Starlifting process, those currents are shut down and the stations begin to "fall"; then, after developing sufficient inward velocity, the rings are turned on again, making the stations back up away from the Star, until they reach their starting position/location. Rinse and repeat.

This process creates a sort of "squeezing" action, pumping the stellar atmosphere out of the Star's poles, which is collected by magnetic fields. The more "rings" of orbital stations, the better, as they can be timed to always have at least one "squeezing" the Star at all times. Of course, the Star's own energy can be used to do the Starlifting.

"Ironic, isn't it? That a Star produces more power through fusion than is actually needed to take it apart. And no eezo is required during the whole process.", I said humorously to the quarian duo, who were probably re-considering their lives for the second time (the first being the Reapers' reveal). "However, we don't need to go that route, since we've got this almost magical material that can mess around with spacetime freely. The result is this stellar lifter, which, by itself, will be able to supply all the materials we'd ever need for the war. It's only downside, I won't hide this, is that it requires quite a bit of eezo. That's one of the reasons we only have one such structure for now. But we'll finish it soon, synthesize more eezo and then build more…".

This time, it was me who needed a small pause to catch my breath. A good thing was that it also helped our quarian Admirals gather their likely chaotic thoughts (if their body language and silence were any indication). A few seconds later, this quiet moment ended…

"Ok, ok. I can see how all of that could be possible due to eezo, but what about this…!?", Admiral Koris pointed at the massive station we now stood on before continuing. "It's much bigger than that one in Interstellar. This isn't something that can just be built because you have access to Element Zero. So… how is any of this possible? No, what even are these stations to begin with?".

"The space habitat we're standing on is called an O'Neill Cylinder, in homage to the human physicist who proposed it, and it's based on his fourth design.", I replied, explaining. "I say based on because we've done extensive modifications ever since the first drafts, based on 'Island Three'. For example, there are no more large windows around its length. It's all one solid cylinder now, which provides excellent shielding against micrometeoroids and radiation.".

"But how did you manage to keep it together? I mean… why doesn't it wobble and break itself apart?", he added a few more doubts. "It's common knowledge that the Citadel, same as the Mass Relays, are only possible because they're made with indestructible materials, or as close to it as one can get…".

"No, my friend. That's just it! It's a misconception. People see the largest space station in the galaxy, with its so-called 'indestructible material', and assume that one thing is related to the other. They aren't.", I declared confidently. "See this massive O'Neill Cylinder? Its original 'Island Three' design was theorized to be 32 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide… while only using steel. If you merely switch to titanium, the radius is quadrupled. It's much better with kevlar and zylon. And graphene (which is just carbon and very abundant in the Universe) lets you build things on the size of continents – that's a McKendree Cylinder, a habitat which is 460 kilometers in radius and ten times that in length, containing a total of 13 million km² of living space!".

Thinking on this again, one interesting fact I never forgot about a McKendree Cylinder was that it had nearly as much land area as Russia, the largest nation on Earth at the start of the 21st century. To build one of those massive Cylinders would mean having almost as much living space as our Russian товарищи have in the motherland. So, enough space to comfortably house billions of people.

"But this one right here is only 45 kilometers long and 11.25 kilometers wide, which is just a bit longer than the Citadel.", I revealed to them, leaving out the fact it was that size to rub it in the Citadel folks' faces. "However, it doesn't end there. O'Neill Cylinders have a lot of advantages over planet colonization. For isntance, you can choose your own day length. And temperature. And climate. And gravity too, since they're spinning to produce artificial gravity by way of centrifugal force. Basically, you're the one 'filling' the inside of the Cylinder, so you can give them whatever environment you want: varied like Earth, deadly like Tuchanka, toxic like Suen – or even arid like Rannoch.".

Now this gave them a lot to contemple, though I assumed what really got their attention was the last part. I'd hazard a guess that it also gave them some ideas…

"How many people can live in one of these space habitats?", Zaal inquired.

"We can easily fit over a million people here; and that's with lots of elbow room.", I replied briefly.

"You mean, we could fit our entire population into just a few of these…?", Shala questioned wide-eyed, which I could tell because of the brighter glow.

"That's right. Going by the cramped situation you're used to in the Flotilla, I'd say even 10 Cylinders like this would be way more than necessary to house your entire species. By the way, we're fast approaching that number.", I informed them about what they really wanted to know.

"Tha-, that's amazing!", Shala exclaimed at the concept. "But why do this? All of this effort and work… you could've focused it all on building weapons, armor and warships.".

"Because, Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, they represent the future; our true future.", I proclaimed with a heartfelt smile. "There are plenty of reasons to invest in megastructures and space habitats, but that, in simple terms, is my main reason. Not that we're disregarding all else, of course.".

"Ever since our first meeting, you've never struck me as someone who does things without purpose…", she spoke with narrowed eyes. "So, how are these megastructures supposed to represent our future?". Now, as I figured, was time to drop the "real" bomb.

"Let me put things into perspective… Let's say you found a 'Garden World'. You can try to live there, or terraform a 'dead' planet into one such world, and you'd have a planet's worth of living space.", I listed their options slowly before giving the alternative. "Or… you can turn all of that mass into O'Neill Cylinders, in a swarm around a Star, and have a billion extra planets' worth of living space. And the best part? Terraforming that 'dead' planet is basically the same amount of work!".

Given that a model 4 version of an O'Neill Cylinder can have around 4-6000 megatons of mass (assuming most of it is dirt, steel and water), the number of Cylinder we could build with a mass equal to Earth would total over one quadrillion (one million billion) – with each of them having an internal area equal to a bit over a millionth of Earth's surface. What that means is we'd get a couple billion worth of living space. Furthermore, if we disassembled all the rock planets in the Solar System to make space habitats with 10 meters thick of dirt and hull, we'd get an extra few million Earth's worth of living area.

"A-a billion…!?", Shala blurted out rather loudly, drawing some attention from the people in the distance, but they just went about their business as usual.

"Isn't that an exaggeration?", Zaal was calmer in his question, but doubtful as well. "Do you have any hard data on that claim, Sam?".

"Sure. Here's some basic information…", I sent them some data with my Omni-tool, relating to the calculations we'd done on planetoid's mass and projections on how many Cylinders we could build with those.

As for the Admirals, they were completely dumbstruck by my statements. I was as surprised as them when facing these numbers for the first time. It's utterly counter-intuitive for people who'd been influenced by the overwhelming majority of sci-fi media to think space colonization can only be done on the surface of planets. The fact that we could use all that mass way more efficiently by building large space habitats is lost on small, hidden parts of the zeitgeist, especially in the case of the people of this galaxy, who had a massive wrench shoved into the development of their civilization.

And it's not like we need to disassemble those so-called "Garden Worlds". What the galaxy didn't lack was large and "dead" pieces of rock, floating everywhere in their Star Systems – if you didn't go directly to Stars, like we were doing. Plus, if we found a particularly nice piece of rock and decided to terraform it into one such world, building space habitats would still offer us millions of times more living space, while being easily doable given known physics as well as our current technological capabilities.

"This… Of course! We've never given notice to this data because we wouldn't ever dare to think about disassembling a planet…", Zaal admitted, considering how happy they'd be by simply having a planet to call home, before finishing his line of thought, "...and then build habitats like this one. We wouldn't even think it was possible, because of the damned Citadel...".

"That's… it's as you said; the data is all there. But I still can't wrap my head around the fact that there's no sky in these… Cylinders.", Shala commented, looking up. "How could we consider the same as planets then? And that's besides the constant fear of it just breaking down randomly…".

"Or it being punctured by something, then all the air and ground leaking out.", added Zaal.

"Like how you've been living in your liveships for centuries?", I asked pointedly. "The truth is that none of those are real issues. If you want a sky, just add another cylinder inside that mimics one, with holograms, real clouds or any other method. And I think you two might be making the wrong assumption here…".

"About what? What do you mean?", questioned Zaal'Koris.

"They aren't harder to protect. On the contrary, they're much, much safer than staying on a planet's surface.", I responded with certainty, though it had no effect on the vibes of doubt they were giving off. "Don't believe me? Then let me state some facts. Firstly, they're not really fragile: there's megatons of protection around us; and the hull is made out of Kevlar. Secondly, they're defensible: long range attacks can be 'blocked' by movable wormholes, for instance; at closer ranges, attackers must face particle beams mounted on them or on their craft – imagine a Carrier. In fact, we could even have particle beams running through the length of the stations. Thirdly, you can only blow them up, not conquer them. They can be deathtraps, if we want to. Finally, although not ideal as spaceships, they're actually mobile, unlike planets. Opening a wormhole and turning the thrusters we'd used to spin them is all you need to escape somewhere else.".

One thing I thought about regarding the last part was Halo. I'd imagine what would happen if its version of humanity (UEG) had, in all those five centuries of interstellar exploration, actually developed their Civilization properly. The Covenant managed to find one of their colonies? No problem. They could just jump their entire colony(ies) through Slipspace to somewhere else. After all, High Charity, a massive station that's 348 kilometers wide and 505 kilometers tall could easily "hop around" with that very same method of FTL.

The duo stood there, hands in their visors and deep in thought for a good few seconds – and I was happy to let them. Even disregarding all the reasons I'd listed to them, there was still something captivating about forging our own homes amongst the stars.

"This might sound absurd to you, but I believe that vast swaths of rotating space habitats were more likely to be our Civilizations' futures than crossing many light-years to find that one 'Garden World'; or even endless terraformed worlds.", I spoke to them of my personal thoughts. "More so when we've got access to something as magical as eezo is. That was, of course, before the Reaper Trap ruined everything.".

"The Mass Relays and The Citadel…", Zaal spoke up. "I can see how they're designed to spread galactic Civilizations all over the galaxy and then split them up with a decapitation strike where their seat of power usually is. Han would say it's a typical divide and conquer strategy. But how did it ruin everything?".

"You know… many people, when confronted with knowledge of the Reaper Trap, conclude that Element Zero is the main culprit of it; as a 'technological path' that ultimately leads to stagnation. Evidently, that is not the case.", I said while gesturing to all the wonders around us, each of them either made possible or very easy because of eezo. "When I said that the Reaper Trap aims for our Civilizations to 'develop along the paths they desire', it's more nuanced, and sinister than that.".

"That's right... You've once hinted at more, and deeper, layers in the Reaper's Trap, though only in passing.", Shala said. "I also share Admiral Koris' curiosity on this. Could you clarify them?".

"It's… too complicated to explain in full, but I guess I could say some key points…", was my reply before giving them the short story, which went something like this…

Civilizations at the start of their space exploration and interstellar age need to carefully plot out their paths. As such, searching for efficiency, given that putting just 1kg of matter outside of their homeworld's gravity well is quite expensive, takes center stage. The first step is to set up their space infrastructure (fusion helps a lot with efficiency, but it's still way cheaper to build in zero G). From there, technologies are developed for them to adquire resources, likely from mining asteroids or even minor planets/moons, as it's easier to get their materials "up" with rockets or with things like space elevators and/or mass drivers. Terraforming is a massive and inefficient (living space) endeavor, so most resources would go to space stations and large habitats, resulting in progress all around (material sciences, automation, biotech, energy production, geoengineering and so on).

But then, somewhere in between, they find Element Zero. That's the first wrench thrown into a Civilization's development path.

Which is not really a problem by itself. Eezo's basic ability of reducing mass could be used to skip most of the harder or time consuming steps – making the phase of setting up space infrastructure much easier, besides everything else it'd help with (reaching rich asteroids, for one). Its mere existence also leads to a hunt (or a… space race) for more eezo, which further propels those Civilizations into the interstellar age. The real problem lies in throwing away efficiency and basing the solution to all of their problems sorely on it. If they treat this magical element as any other unobtanium in sci-fi, they might end up developing their own uses for it or, possibly, even their own method(s) of FTL travel/communications.

But then they find the tech caches left behind – carefully scrubbed of anything really good and "arranged" in a sinister way – by the previous Cycle's Civilizations. That's the second wrench thrown into a Civilization's development path.

They're handed over many pre-made solutions, "mass effect tech", in which there's already a tried and tested, perfectly understandable faster-than-light method. These startling new technologies catapults their Civilizations forward. Everything is changed. It's a giant leap forward with a doubt. For a moment. Civilizations lose the general progress they'd naturally make by walking the path on their own. Even promising technological venues get thrown away altogether, due to not being necessary anymore. Eventually, the predecessors starts to be seen as the apex of technology; and no thought is put into deviating from the "working/correct" path, or going beyond it, only in learning (i.e. copying) it. Worse yet, the "predecessors" might even get worship as deities – further proof of this phenomenon. That, right there, is a "nice" recipe for the death of innovation.

Thus, most energy is put into the search for more caches, mostly "scraps", despite being written in languages the aforementioned Civilizations either don't or barely understand, rather than research their own technology based on eezo. Still, problems show up, such as static build up during FTL travel. They can't go much farther than the home Star System due to that, which, if they'd continued like this naturally, might end up forcing them to "improve" upon the work of their "predecessors" (or, at the very least, to develop a Drive like the ODSY).

But then they find the Mass Relays and, through them, the Citadel. That's the final wrench thrown into a Civilization's development path. It's the final nail in the coffin.

The "superiority" of the "predecessors" is proven again. Within all of their home Systems, a large structure is found which can be used indefinitely to reach Star Systems and Clusters hundreds, if not thousands, of light-years away. Furthermore, those places are filled with materials, eezo and "Garden Worlds", almost as if prepared for them. And all of it requires no FTL capable vessel (of course, since the "travel" is done by the Mass Relay itself – and for that to be any different would go against the goals of the "Trap"). Just like that, all the ventures related to the Civilization's own development path (more so of proper colonization tech) that still remained are halted, for a much easier path has been "found".

What this leads to is the complete discarding of space habitats as a concept, as the Civilizations funnel their people into these new "Garden Worlds", where they set up their colonies. Eventually, those planets aren't enough anymore, given their crooked development and inefficient use of materials, so they open new Mass Relays and go looking for new ones, rather than build more living space with the tools that, had they developed normally, they'd probably have at their disposal. Rinse and repeat.

So, they keep doing what they always did. No change, no paradigm shift (technological, cultural, etc.), is ever required. And how could it be any different? It wasn't ever needed before. Why build megastructures that could house a couple million people, give or take, when there's this ten billion people worth of living space just one Relay jump away? Why try to improve the FTL method gifted by their "wise predecessors", or daringly try to research new ones, when it (as well as the secondary Mass Relays) already allow them to reach a lot of what's around a primary Mass Relay's Star System? They're quite satisfied with what they have, as are their leaders (the "elite"), when they're drawn into the Citadel due to its strategic significance and comfort.

Therefore, besides believing that it's beyond their capabilities (no one knows how it works), there's no need to build megastructures of their own, because they've already got the Citadel, while everyone else can just settle on planets. What if you'd prefer to live there? Well… no can do! You're simply not good enough for it. Settle on a planet instead.

The result of all that? Of course, it's a perpetual cycle of stagnation.

Those factors don't have to happen in such order; however, when combined, they lead to a Civilization that has reached for the Stars, even the far reaches of the galaxy, yet still has the mentality of a 20-21st century humanity. Perhaps even "older". It doesn't create new technologies; only scavengers for what's left behind by its "betters". It doesn't build its own future; "Garden Worlds" are just there, waiting for them to use. It can't escape, or doesn't know what to do, when the Trap is finally sprung. It's completely spread all over the galaxy, with technology no really better than what it scavanged; and no hope of vitory.

What's weird, at least to me, is that Element Zero is unfairly blamed for all this, when it really shouldn't be. For one, it's a naturally occurring material of this Universe. It predates the Reapers by pretty much all of its billions of years of existence. Therefore, any technology that uses eezo's mass effect fields to do a certain task is, by definition, "mass effect tech". That the Reapers design what they leave behind to lead Civilizations into a dead end isn't the fault of the material itself.

Sure, there are limitations. For one, it gets exponentially more expensive to use it on larger ships, which creates a soft limit on vessel size. But the trick is to not limit one's technological tree to it or whatever technology the Reapers left behind. Rather, one should harness its amazing ability to seamlessly manipulate spacetime itself. And then…

"When we use Element Zero to further improve our own technology, not abandon it; when we learn all we can from the 'mass effect tech' left behind in those caches, yet still seek to invent new, creative ways to use it; when we use our 'mass effect tech' to build wonders like this one, outside of the Mass Relay Network, and 'leave planets behind'... When we do all of these things, we're carving out our own path. And it is way outside of the cuttlefish's plans.", was my closing statement.

A contemplative silence set in amongst ourselves. We stared at each other for a moment; a very brief, but serious moment. But it didn't last very long.

"What you've shown… and told us… it's all crazy. You know that, right?", said Zaal, asking rhetorically with an amused tone.

"Of course it is. After all, we're pioneers here, doing what no Civilization of this galaxy has done so far, such as creating more living space.", I said, matching his tone. "Sure, people have built a few space stations here and there. The Protheans were even starting an ecumenopolis in Feros, which can fit a lot of people, I'll admit. But no one's ever dared to think in the sheer scope and efficiency we're thinking in…".

"And it's shocking, isn't it? That the most common future on the horizon could be a future with no horizon…", I stated lyrically, finishing the topic by quoting my favorite futurist.

"Ha… When I passed through that… wormhole and arrived here, I thought I'd left my old Universe and reached an alternate one.", Shala'Raan spoke with a shake of her head.

"Me too, Shala. Me too.", Zaal'Koris nodded along. "Still, how is all of this possible? Maybe it's just me, but I can't see us achieving this much without it taking many decades at least…".

"Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib, do you think so little of our potential?", I asked with a fake stern tone. "Don't underestimate our capabilities, my friend. Even if it took a few decades more, we'd still be able to achieve all this. But the truth is… we've cheated! I'll show it to you later today; the biggest reason we could get this far already. And also, in a way, why you came here in the first place.".

"Then lead the way. I'm interested in seeing what else you have in store for us, though I can't see it being more shocking than anything else so far…", he replied with an eager tone, but then added unsurely. "Right?".

I gave them a sly smile and asked rhetorically: "Who says the surprises end here…?".

"Come on, Sam. You couldn't possibly have more surprises…", said Shala before stopping in the middle of her sentence – completely stunned. Zaal'Koris then swiveled his head towards the direction she was facing and widened his eyes too.

"Ah, right on time! Well, a little late, but it doesn't matter.", I stated, checking the time while my guests were still trying to process what they were seeing. "Admirals, meet Senna'Nir, one of our best quarian programmers, a genius even (but don't tell him that).".

I spoke to them, but they were simply speechless. It couldn't be any other way, for who walked out of a local W-Gate was a young and rather good-looking quarian, with all characteristics of his species except for one minor detail: he was suitless. He wore casual clothes that were based on old quarian styles. He also wore a rather cheeky smile, of a small prank about to be fully realized.

"Ho-, how could you…", Zaal'Koris tried to form a question, shakely pointing at Senna'Nir, who'd finally reached us.

"...Be showing my skin so casually, and in public?", Senna'Nir interrupted his stutter, asking rhetorically, or in fake obliviousness. "Admirals, it's like Y'sin has been saying for ages now. We need to change if we are to have a future.".

"You know what I meant, young man! How are you out of your suit and… and still alive?", the Admiral finally managed to mount a question to his fellow quarian.

"Hey now, look at you. You're acting almost like the ancestors came back to life.", he said with an amused expression, muttering a few more words. "Well, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it works too I guess.".

"Sam, explain.", Shala turned to me, the silent observer in the background.

"Your eyes do not deceive you. It's exactly as you're seeing. The quarian immune system, well, we've 'fixed' it.", I confirmed, putting an end to any lingering doubts.

In fact, we'd done so for a few years already, it's just we hid the fact and didn't let anyone figure it out. Amongst the reasons why our quarian "core members" were so tight-lipped, this one was right at the top. They knew firsthand that we were carving out a future for the quarian people, so they trusted us; served mostly as our space assets; and protected our secrets, even from their own leaders. Keeping them away from ground combat also helped in protecting this fact from seeing the light of day, as any suit puncture would raise annoying questions, like why they had survived – every time.

"But… how?", Shala'Raan finally asked her own question. "No amount of genetic alteration could allow this. Even if VersaLife is leading in biotech research, it's still not within reach for it to solve our… issue. It's been with us for centuries already.".

"Yet we've created a solution, a way for quarians to live freely without a suit.", I stated with a proud voice. Before she could ask again, I gestured for them to hear me out.

"I know you guys want to know how we did it, but here's a better plan. Zaal'Koris will bring the samples to the HQ with me, which are our priority, while you, Shala'Raan, make a small tour of this Cylinder. This way, the both of you will 'cover more ground' and then tell each other what you saw. You'll know it all by then. Well, how about it?", I proposed.

"But are you going to tell us how you did it?", she asked skeptically.

"Yes. You'll understand it at the end; both of you, I swear.", I stated, nodding respectfully.

"Alright then. It's an acceptable arrangement.", she replied, to which Zaal concurred with a nod.

"Senna, can you take Admiral Shala for a tour?", I turned to him, who had now become the observer (and was secretly recording the Admirals' reaction).

"I'd be my honor.", he responded immediately, hiding his sneaky yet innocuous act, then gave a polite gesture to Admiral Shala. "Ma'am, what would you like to see first?".

"The main… city's plaza, or what counts as that here, please. Oh, and thanks for being my guide.", she said with a small respectful bow.

"It's no problem, ma'am. I'm happy to help.", Senna replied with a slight smile and a small bow of his own.

"Well, that settles it then. We'll meet again later.", I said to them, before turning to Admiral Zaal'Koris as I began to leave in the direction of a small W-Gate. "We should go.".

He nodded, taking full control of the levitating "cargo lift" carrying the samples, and began following me while taking a few glances at the large Cylinder around us and, especially, at the suitless quarian.

"Wait a moment, haven't told us what that 'megastructure' is called...", Shala drew my attention suddenly, pointing at a specific region of the Swarm, when we were about to reach the W-Gate, "...the one that's pulling matter from the Star. Well then, what is it?".

"It draws in stellar matter and forges it into works of wonders.", I paused and turned around to face her with a subtle smile. "So, its creator named it… a Star Forge.".

[2]

Soon after, Zaal'Koris and I vanished into a wormhole that linked with our Headquarters.

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Media Reviews

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[War of the Worlds]

Krogan Vid Reviews

I gotta say, after the Lord of the Rings, I'm getting sorta used to these more boring parts of vids. This one wasn't different, though I was disappointed that the title is lying. There's no war of worlds here. It's only the human homeworld that's getting wrecked, but it's by giant unbeatable robot walkers this time 'round, who go walk around blowing everything up with their death-lasers (and no consistent plan), so there's that.

The humans here are kinda weak when compared to the versions in their other vids, but at least they put up a fight against the alien invaders. If it were the asari or salarians, they'd just look for another species to save them. It's all useless in the end, 'cause them giant walkers have some crazy shields that are like our kinetic barriers, except super-buffed to be indestructible. So, the point of view we have isn't of the human warriors, it's of a normal human family. Not very exciting (save for some moments), but it's interesting. After all, not everyone can all be badasses like us krogan.

When the vid ended and there was that one human with the cool voice explaining how the aliens were defeated, I started feeling like the plot was kinda stupid, ya know… like these must be the dumbest invaders ever. Even dumber than those turians who thought they had found the human homeworld when attacking a colony with only millions of 'em. But then… I remembered how the quarians are a thing and was like "Woah!" It all makes sense now!

So, this vid is like… what would happen if quarians got really desperate, tried to invade a planet ('cause they can't get a homeworld otherwise, probably), abandoned their ships for some reason, and forgot their suits back home.

And here's a spoiler for ya: it goes as well for them as you might expect.

[Pharaoh & Cleopatra]

Asari Game Reviews

First, let me say that yes, it is a dated-looking game, but it has such an endearing artstyle. Ha, who am I kidding? The "pixel art" looks really aesthetic! Yet this wasn't what drew me in to Pharaoh and its expansion, Cleopatra. It was the neat little pixel art of beautiful cities from a unique old human culture, and the possibility to explore it, that brought me here. And I'd say it was definitely worth it!

In this isometric city-building game, you get to design your city as you wish, as long as you provide for your citizens' needs and amenities, while having a few benchmarks to meet in each mission. In addition, like I've said, it's all based on one of the humans' many cultures, the Egyptian one. When learning about this culture, one thing I found interesting was that, in spite of having a society largely dominated by males, humans of old also had Cleopatra, a very capable woman leader who's the focus of quite a few of their vids. Too bad it was a time they were much closer to batarians (slavery) than we asari.

Ignoring darker parts like those, there were a few elements that I really liked, such as their unique dancing style. What I'm referring to here is something called "belly dancing", which is a style that mostly features movements of the hips and torso, while the dancer wears a bit of revealing clothing. I do admit, that can be quite mesmerizing and I can definitely see it spreading all over Thessia (and then the galaxy!). Oh, and to go along with it, another thing I've found amazing is also present in this game, the music. It's so good I often find myself moving according to its rhythm while playing. I'd even say that some of the tracks are simply divine!

Speaking of that, those Egyptian gods knew how to have fun! I kept throwing festivals and they were always happy. There was one time that the music hit just right, so I couldn't help but sit back and watch all my humans running around the chaotic city to celebrate the festival. Just don't go much deeper into their mythology. It's wild, I tell you. Humans can be quite scarily creative sometimes. And they really loved kitties back then. Can't blame them. I do too!

A "feature" that I really enjoyed is how every person has voiced funny lines when you "right click" on them. Some even remind me of a few salarian friends I have. This also serves as a way for you to get feedback on how you're doing. Something I also enjoyed was the trade mechanic of this game, even if we had to center our city around it on every mission. It reminded me a bit of our city-states in ancient times, when asari bartered freely. Placing the entertainment buildings correctly was a nightmare though. Had to look up a guide on how to do it, so now you know there is, in fact, one.

The game page did deliver on how beautiful and neat you can make your city. That's right! After all the work you put into developing it, with all your citizens' needs met adequately, your reward is a city that doesn't look like the average Terminus colony.

But that's also why I found it extremely annoying how I'm compelled by the mechanics of the game to form a ghetto just to have my workforce reach their jobs, such as industrial buildings. It ruined my city's aesthetics every time.

Apparently, that issue had been fixed in later games of this city-building series, all of them from the same old human company named "Impressions Games". I'm quite interested in this "Zeus: Master of Olympus", that's based on a mythological human place called "Ancient Greece".

If that game is anything like this one, I'd say it's definitely worth a try!

Salarian Game Reviews

For how old it is (around as old as Deus Ex, I believe), this game has been a solid and fun experience to me. Also, it further reinforces those arguments that low graphics are good sometimes because they can let you focus on gameplay. Every mission is a new challenge, but always culminates in a unique city of your design (no matter how chaotic they are in the beginning), and the construction of "wonders" in the later missions. Something is always going on, so you're never bored.

At first, I was struggling to get all the amenities to my people and they to their jobs, until I discovered that all the "walkers" have a fixed number of tiles they can walk through before having to return to their building (I'll call it walker behavior), so we can apply logic to it! My ultimate solution was to build parts of the city in the shape of a rectangle or in a "L" shape, using "roadblocks" to keep all walkers inside of what I've started calling a "housing block". If you're gonna do as I did, then keep in mind that the biggest "loop" I did was only 42 tiles, but I know that there must be a whole science around it.

However, learning about that nice mechanic wasn't the end of it. I once tried to abuse a game mechanic that's related to revenue, by creating a city with no tax, letting my humans settle comfortably, building a thick wall around it, then increasing tax to volus levels. But I'm sad to say it didn't work. Apparently, the desire to emigrate is so strong that people learn to quantum tunnel through walls. I guess ancient humans were full of surprises, huh?

Speaking of surprises, according to the republisher the construction of those "wonders" (the pyramids, for example) that ancient humans built were attributed, by some of their conspiracy theorists, to aliens. I find it quite funny how humans think so little of themselves sometimes… especially when, for how impressive something so massive being built with only manual force and primitive technology, it's just stacking rocks on top of each other.

On a side note, I had no idea that mud huts, and most forms of Egyptian architecture for that matter, in ancient human history would spontaneously combust if not visited often by a fire marshall, but the more you know I guess…

Seriously, preventing fires and building collapses was a challenge. Another thing that was difficult at first was placing down the entertainment venues. Me? I solved it by drawing up all possible types of roads and sciencing up how each of them fits…only to find out that the republisher offered a small guide on how to do it.

Speaking of the guide, know that it has neat instructions on how to appease the "gods", if you're having trouble with religion. Basically, you need enough religious buildings to match your population. For the patron god, each temple covers 375 people, while a shrine covers 187. For local gods, it's twice that amount (750 for each temple and 375 for each shrine).

So, if your population is 950, you can build one temple and four shrines for the patron god, and one temple and one shrine for all the local gods. This will give you a total "coverage" of 1125. And then just throw in the cheapest festivals every once in a while (around when they get "Congenial"), then you're Seth.

Never had problems again, except Ptah now keeps filling my storage yards with clay.

Turian Game Reviews

Are you looking for a game to just chill and relax after a rough day at work? Well then, this isn't exactly the game for you.

Why? Because it's only been five minutes since you've checked the religion tab and osiris is having an identity crisis, thinking he's a krogan that's undergoing a "very" minor case of blood rage. You'd better build a lot of shrines and throw in a few festivals for good measure or he'll destroy all the work you did for the last hour.

Oh no! You got cursed anyway. Now watch as you lose all your crops, causing your city to go into an endless feedback loop of famine, which leads to emigration, meaning your food production buildings lack workers, which then leads to even more famine.

"I've been kicked out of my home, and through no fault of my own!" x 100 times… Go into debt. Pay volus-level interest on your debt. Go bankrupt. Refuse to give up. Rebuild your finances. Rebuild your faith. Rebuild your city. Learn about this fascinating insect from the human homeworld called a grasshopper. Watch as your crops vanish once more. Quit the game in rage and swear you'll never play it again.

Break your oath and restart the mission anyway, because this game is just that good! And I will not be beaten so easily without putting up a fight.

Basically, once you get it started, the Cycle can't be broken.

I'd give it a perfect 5/7 score. Would like to play again.

Now, I'll be trying this "Caesar III".

Looks promising…

Volus Game Reviews

Not wanting to simply repeat what the other reviews have already said, I'm just going to leave some advice here.

When I first saw the ability to assign any salary to me, I thought myself clever and chose a Pharaoh's salary, thinking that I had outsmarted the Egyptian monetary system. It took too long for me to realize that I was merely taking credits from my own treasury, only making things difficult! Also, in what I thought was just part of the experience, the REAL Pharaoh kept attacking my city with his armies, because of course he would. I had given myself his salary!

So, learn from my mistakes and don't be greedy.

[Stellaris]

Asari Game Reviews

"The galaxy. Trillions of stars waiting to be explored. Where wondrous creations mingle with desires and encounters with the unknown. Where the urge to go beyond; and to determine one's own fate… is universal. Where, from the ashes of devastation, a new dawn may rise, revealing a deeper understanding. And this seemingly endless galaxy is still there; lingering, waiting, for our next move, knowing that its greatest story still lies ahead. And it's yours to tell."

The quote you've just read is from this game's three year anniversary, over a century ago. In spite of that, it manages to be an ageless gem, being accompanied by an emotionally moving vid. How could it evoke so much emotion? I was so captivated that I spent almost an hour just watching all the game's trailers. They tell short stories that got me more hyped than most games releasing today. And then I finally got to play it…!

From what the republisher stated, and what I figured myself, Stellaris is a homage to many old human science fiction works. The story basically goes that one of the producers asked: How many sci-fi references should we make? And then another one replied: YES. I guess that's also why it features so many different FTL methods. Either that or humans must've thought the universe was filled with many hidden "layers", just waiting for them to peel them away, until they've discovered FTL is only possible with mass effect technology. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that this is a game where all your sci-fi fantasies can come true. Plus, if something seems to be missing, I've heard that there's always mods!

Which is what I did, by downloading the "Real Life Species mod". Afterwards, taking some inspiration from anime I've watched very recently (in these last years), I've created my custom asari nation, called The Great Yuri Nation. It's a peaceful, xenophile, democratic civilization focused on diplomacy. I broke alliances with my neighbors, made research agreements with scientific feudal empires, defense pacts with honor-bound warriors, commercial pacts with ruthless capitalists and migration treaties erudite explorers. I built beautiful structures, like the Mega Art Installation, focused on liberal policies, and picked the xeno-compatibility Ascension Perk, which allows the species of my nation to have children with each other, promoting harmony…

That's right! You can do that in this game. We asari have wondered sometimes what it'd be like, since we can only have asari children. The math kinda breaks down after some point though, when you get a pop that's half-speciesX, half-speciesY and also half-speciesZ, but what do I know? I've never really been good with numbers… Anyway, that's how I played. So yeah, I didn't mind fleet combat much. My professional opinion of it is that it has some of the best light-shows I've seen in these types of games. It's also way better than Kepesh-Yakshi at least.

One thing I can't forget to mention however is the marvelous soundtrack this game comes with. Just as with many other old human works, it's almost worth a buy just for that alone! I can list several off the top of my head that are simply made for space sci-fi: Creation and Beyond, Faster Than Light, Towards Utopia - Nova Flare, Deep Space Travels and heck, why not Robotic God too!? It does feel like it's telling the story of the rise of synthetics. For it starts slow and calmly, as if you're in an empty void of long, drawn out, peaceful notes. However, when the first beat drops, the Robotic God is turned on, and then it doesn't stop or slow down. Only learns, grows, evolves. As the tempo increases, more and more notes are added or edited in, denoting constant self-improvement, in exponential progress. In the end, the Robotic God has ascended, and the machine uprising is in full effect.

But there's one thing I still don't understand: Why are so many empires named "Imperium of Man"? And why are they always such big xenophobes!?

Seriously, beware of those guys. They always go after peaceful folk first!

Turian Game Reviews

Enormous warships that make the Destiny Ascension look small (Titans), planet-cracking weapons of mass destruction (Colossus), massive battleships way larger than the Citadel that also work as mobile bases/shipyards (Juggernauts), and structures enclosing stars. I never would have expected this from an old human game, back when they had basically no presence in space, but here we are… and it's called Stellaris.

I've had a lot of good times playing this game "on and off" during this last month. It lets you build your empire according to three main branches of development, which will determine how you'll be able to deal with your "neighbors". A salarian acquaintance described those three branches this way: Influence lets you convince your people that an already colonized alien planet you've just discovered has always been rightfully yours. Technology allows you to create new ways to kill the aliens of that planet and take it for yourself. And Unity makes your people work as one to build planet-killing weapons and destroy that very same planet.

Because, as he said, if he couldn't have it, no one else could. And if destroying worlds isn't enough, he can always take down the system too. It was at that moment I wondered if his Omni-tool had been hacked by a batarian. Jokes aside, for how morbid those descriptions are, it does show how much variety in playstyle you can have here. For instance, you can go the complete opposite direction of that and try to build a galactic community focused on diplomacy, unity and order, peace and prosperity, like we have in real life - due to Palaven's sons' and daughters' service.

You can even pull off a Tony Stark and successfully privatize galactic peace! A volus friend of mine did rather well with his Corporate United Nations of Trade Systems, or C.U.N.T.S. for short, and told me that you really "get" how it all works when you realize that people are just another type of resource in this game. Yeah. Couldn't help but notice eerie parallels of megacorps and how some asari corporations work in real life. I don't mean all of them, of course. Just saying…

And the next thing I've got to talk about is space combat. As a good turian, I couldn't miss talking about that, correct? What you've to know is that it starts before your fleet leaves the shipyard, in the ship design page. Yup. You've read that correctly. This game allows you to customize all the ships in your fleets, from the smallest to the largest, with whatever kinds of weapons you want. There's all sorts of variables here. Are you going for lasers or focus on tried and true kinetic weapons? Maybe plasma launchers? Have you researched point defense? Better have, or your enemies' missiles will ruin your day. What about shields? It goes on and on, and I'm not even talking about all the modifiers, stats, variables, and on it goes. Not even a salarian can understand all that.

But none of this matters in the end, because it's usually the biggest number/blob that wins, unless your enemy is an absolute barefaced ass that breaks his inferior fleets into many smaller ones, then hits your empire everywhere at once with guerrilla tactics, making you break whatever is near you in rage. Speaking of getting pissed-off…

If there's no one thing I can't help but complain about is that one Ascension Perk called xeno-compatibility. The asari keeps lagging everyone else's games with that damned perk. All. The. Time. Why do I say that? Because the galaxy turns into one giant orgy, eventually spawning its own Shroud entity that breaks physics, freezes the flow of time, and ultimately evolves into a new entity called "Task Manager", who ends said universe. Trust me, even with quantum computers, that thing isn't kind to your emulator. You should hope there's one of those crazy "Imperium" guys around to deal with them. A Devouring Swarm works too I guess. The asari starts lagging the end game? No problem… SUSTENANCE SPOTTED!

This brings to mind a particular scenario I've experienced. After a lengthy and costly war to unite the galaxy under my banner, with my remaining forces still reeling from it, the crisis decided to begin. It quickly overwhelmed everyone, those empires I hadn't conquered yet and even my own. All hope seemed lost. But then an inspiring song started playing, which I later learned was called "The Imperial Fleet" (spirits-damned kickass soundtrack!). I then ordered all my remaining fleets to rally with the rest of the galaxy's factions, united with my empire. This was it. I was ready to bring the might of the galaxy to bear on the crisis!

We all thrust at the heart of the extradimensional invaders like a pack of mad varren. No desperate measure was too much, no sacrifice too great, if only we could finally destroy all Dimensional Anchors. Our losses quickly mounted, our fleets growing smaller after each engagement, but we still pressed on, we kept fighting, until, at last, the Dimensional Portal was closed and the remaining Unbidden hunted down to the last!

When my remaining fleets returned home, a different, sadder version of the previous track started playing ("The Imperial Fleet Second Coming"). For a moment, I simply stood there, watching as my once great armada, now small and in complete tatters, marched proudly in victory. One day again they may be called to service, to save the galaxy from the horrors lurking within it, yet for now they'd receive their well-earned rest, as the brightest spear of the Dauntless Imperial Caretakers and Keepers of Sentients!

So… that's a microcosm of this game. Besides, it has amazing replayability, with no single game being exactly the same, and there's always something new to learn.

A bit of advice though: when you start, go for the full tutorial.

Thank me later.

Salarian Game Reviews

Ah, Stellaris… One of best genocide simulators currently available in the market. This is a game that, if nothing else (don't misunderstand me, for it has a lot going for it… just look at the other reviewers), makes people question their long-held beliefs, ethics and morals. For example… We all know that orbital bombardment of garden worlds is banned, but… it's a major pain in the cloaca to get troops down the planet and conquer it with land combat, so why not soften them up just a tiny bit? It's probably fine. Right? Just this once? It's not my fault ground combat sucks so much. I mean, I wouldn't mind if planetary invasions were a quick Starcraft 1 match instead. That'd be an improvement…

Anyway, coming back to what I was saying… have you ever wanted to revisit the Krogan Rebellions or the Geth War from a top-down perspective and the comfort of your home? Well, you can now with the Khan and Machine Uprising Events, as well as much more! Still not impressed? Then show me how many games allow you to do this…

Download real life species mod. Pick any you want and colonize just a few systems. Build tall rather than wide. Establish first contact with the surrounding alien empires. Start spying on them to try to influence their politics. Then trick them into creating a galactic community where you have basically all the deciding powers (vote), almost like… Ooooh, nevermind.

Anyway, with all of your extensive espionage and fleet power projection, make the galactic community adopt resolutions mainly beneficial only to you. Accept new members while, on the side, making them weaker. Falsify a galactic crisis to unite everyone against a common enemy (that doesn't exist). Trick the galactic community into giving you custodianship of the galaxy. Proceed to bribe all the strongest members to get your term limits abolished. Then…

Become THE FIRST GALACTIC EMPIRE! Create an imperial armada and make everyone else pay for it (especially the volus). Force the galactic community to expand your personal armada even more. Win the game, since you're basically the ruler of the entire galaxy… Wait what!? The crisis was actually real? Oh no. What to do? I know! Lure the crisis into your rivals' territory. Be safe at home because you built "tall". Watch as all your competition gets removed. Roll in with your imperial fleet that's just way too overpowered by now. Save everyone and become the hero of the galaxy. Win the game for real this time.

And to think it all started with the A.S.S. Explorer, the first science vessel from the Alliance of Scientific Systems!

Now, I'll ask again: which other game allows this? Yeah… as I thought!

And that's not all. There's so many ways to build up your strategy and make your empire super strong, then curbstomp everyone, especially with a few weird mechanics it has that are borderline esoteric knowledge. Truth be told… at this point, I'm so far gone that I don't even know where exploits begin and mechanics end.

So, anyway, to finish the review… I'd say this game definitely gets a recommendation for me. It's got a little something for everyone.

And remember: everything below Grand Admiral is easy mode.

Hanar Game Reviews

This one is swimming in joy at discovering this wonderful game, where it can play as its own type of species (aquatic), though it wished the "Here Be Dragon" was exchanged with "Here Be Enkindlers" (a mod, mayhaps?). Furthermore, this one would like our esteemed republisher to know that you have spawned a new trend in the music industry, the birth of the genre called space shanty. It couldn't any different, when we get in touch with a song like this:

Come all you young spacefarers, listen to me

I'll sing you a song of our fish from the sea.

And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather.

When the wind blows, then we're all together.

Boys blow ye winds fringeward, blow ye winds, blow.

Out to the galaxy, steady she goes.

Up comes the Great Dragon in search of our home

Through space to a place that's beneath waves and foam!

And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather.

When the wind blows, then we're all together.

Boys blow ye winds fringeward, blow ye winds, blow.

Out to the galaxy, steady she goes.

Up come the solar winds, taking us far.

All through the space lanes and out to the stars.

And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather.

When the wind blows, then we're all together.

Boys blow ye winds fringeward, blow ye winds, blow.

Out to the galaxy, steady she goes.

From the depths of the oceans, to the edges of the galaxy, this one had imensive fun while playing Stellaris, even if it features a rather violent gameplay. In fact, this one takes it as almost a challenge to make the galaxy a better place, bringing enlightenment, wisdom and peace to its inhabitants, enkindling a new path forward.

An aspect it has enjoyed a lot is the ability to build all those megastructures, from Mega Shipyards and Science Nexus to Dyson Spheres and Ring Worlds, for it allows us to reach out and touch the glory of the Enkindlers (it figures that is the point of science fiction after all, to "experience" what can't be done in real life). Only the Enkindlers are capable of such feats, as the beginnings of an Ecumenopolis on the world named Feros can attest to. Still, it wonders why they abandoned it in the end. Leaving it for the young species, perhaps? Like the humans who have set up a small colony there at the start of this year?

Nevertheless, in spite of all the enjoyment this one had playing this game, it left me with a worrying realization, through no fault of its own, it must add. Such came from the two main types of "Empire Building" proposed by players in meta-gaming: building "tall", where the civilization is based on fewer, but much more developed systems closely tied together, and "wide", where it is spread out amongst various systems, with much less development in a given one, but more "territory". This one's worry is that, just as it occurs in the game, this makes our civilizations, which are based on the Enkindlers' gifts (Mass Relays), vulnerable to a "Crisis"-level threat. Ours could be considered a "wide" community after all.

Moreover, what if an enemy is capable of shutting down the Mass Relays? This one knows that's a preposterous idea, but what if…? The universe of Stellaris has hyperlanes, which can't really be "destroyed", while we depend on them to connect our entire civilization…

Just a passing thought from a small fish from the sea.

[Synth/Retrowave]

Quarian Music Reviews

This is just about the perfect kind of music for programming, I think. Although I only dabble on it, fiddling with a few VIs while listening to synthwave has been an exciting experience. Folks back home can attest to that after I'd sent them my selection (thank the ancestors for Atlas Foundation letting me borrow one of their QECs for a little bit!).

Keelah, now that I think about it, we used to make lots of music. Now it's all about the war for the homeworld. Or how we're going to retake Rannoch from the geth, destroy them in revenge and then die in a blaze of glory, rather than just live peacefully in our new home. Kinda getting tired of it to be honest.

All I'm saying is… it's quite telling when I've felt more alive while listening to "Dance With the Dead" than most music produced back in the Flotilla.

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[Science/Lore Time!]

Is Element Zero capable of manipulating gravity (curving spacetime) directly or can it only do that indirectly through mass manipulation?

Short answer: it should, going by what canon/lore shows with artificial gravity (a-grav) tech. Now, on to a long answer that delves into this topic, let me take you step-by-step how I've reached that conclusion. I've read plenty of times, in the past and also very recently, how eezo itself can't directly curve space (manipulate gravity), but mass can and Element Zero affects mass, so that's how we get gravity… This is what I'm addressing here.

Let's start easy. How to explain biotic abilities like "Throw" without eezo being able to "do gravity"? I've heard a few "attempts" at answering this question, with one of better ones being that the mass behind the target is increased a lot, which then pulls it backwards due to the increased gravity. Some would even attribute it to "dark matter particles", while the Codex clearly states that eezo only "releases dark energy which can be manipulated into a mass effect field". No dark matter is involved. Let's take a look at that initial answer.

Considering the lack of air in a vacuum, it'd be easy to disprove if we could only try to "do" a Throw in space, but we can't test that, since there's no game map like that – and, to top it off, the game isn't programmed to make the distinction (not that the writers would even know to program it). However, the SSV Normandy's Tantalus Core can supplant this "test", as it "generates mass concentrations that the Normandy 'falls into', allowing her to move without the use of heat-emitting thrusters". Ask yourself: what does that mean?

It can't be explained with the Core increasing the mass of "something" in front of the ship, as there's nothing, no air, in space. So, to someone who defends that eezo can only raise or lower mass, the only explanation left is that the Tantalus Core increases the mass of the ship's "front" and this somehow makes it move. To me, it'd probably not move at all (I'll get to why soon) and, even if it did, it'd be really slow. Basically, it'd be a really shitty system.

Therefore, eezo should be capable of curving spacetime (gravity) such that the Normandy "falls into" this slope in the geometry (if you imagine the typical 2D "fabric" example) and, thus, changes its position in the geodesics of spacetime. It's just that the writers couldn't explain it better than "mass concentrations", so that's what we got. As I've said before, this almost feels like a "half-way" implementation of an Alcubierre Drive. Well, the "front" part of it anyway.

Ok then. Everything in the Mass Effect Universe starts making sense if you only consider that Element Zero can also manipulate gravity directly (besides mass). Take the Pull ability for instance. It appears to create a cushion of anti-gravity (quick note: this term means "a place or object that is free from the force of gravity", not something like a repulsive force of gravity – a "force" that pushes rather than pull things) around a target, allowing it to "float" in the air. If it lowered the target's mass to "zero", then one has to wonder why it didn't just burst into a bazillion photons or reach the speed of light (due to having no mass).

However, none of that is the main reason for me to "know" with certainty that Element Zero can manipulate gravity directly. A common feature of any Mass Effect ship, artificial gravity (a-grav), is actually the answer. Think again, but this time how Shepard (or any other SA personnel) can easily walk inside the Normandy as if they were on ground. I've read people saying it works by putting "plates" below the paths and increasing their mass close to Earth's, which would generate a similar gravity (around 10 m/s). Can you find the problem with that idea? It's quite simple: how would the ship move in that case?

Assuming it's possible to do it with small "plates", we'd need those things all over the ship, otherwise people on one side of the ship would be pulled sideways, while those below the plane would be pulled upwards. Moreover, even if each one of the buggers gets only 0.5 G, that's still an insane amount of mass added. So, now that you've a ship with a few Earth's worth of mass, you fire up your engine, but you're stuck in place no matter how much fuel you burn!

Oh, but the eezo drive will just reduce that mass so it's alright, no? That depends. If those plates' mass is lowered a lot but not quite enough to remove the gravity, you'd still have a few Earth's worth of mass, so still no moving. On the other hand, if it's "canceled out" by the eezo core, then say goodbye to gravity (and it's very clear in the game that they can do FTL and a-grav at the same time). Basically, you have to choose between getting stuck in place or having no "artificial gravity", if eezo can only increase/reduce mass.

As you can see, it's all a mess! But with direct gravity manipulation? All we need to do is to create an artificial gravity plane below all the decks that's constantly pulling people "down". It won't affect the ship's mass at all. Also, that Star Forge? If no more thought was put into it, that thing could be created with just a series of overbuffed a-grav systems, or a tech version of a biotic pull…

Moreover, remember when I said increasing the "mass concentrations" of the front of the Normandy would probably not allow it to move at all? There's the reasoning right there. If it takes the entirety of Earth's mass just to create 10 m/s of acceleration, how many "Earths" would it take for the ship to get any decent speed at all? And how would it even move with all that mass?

What's the importance of figuring this out or why did I bother writing this? There may be a few still wondering. Because, my friends, without determining that Element Zero is capable of manipulating gravity directly, we don't get nice things like a Star Forge. And it can cause confusion in the future, when gravity manipulation will become an important component of the new tech tree the MC is "building". Now, however, I hope this has clarified things.

In fact, maybe we shouldn't say that Element Zero is capable of manipulating "gravity". After all, according to General Relativity (and some very vocal folk), gravity isn't really considered a "real force" (in the traditional sense). It's a phenomenon or a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime. So, maybe it's better to say that eezo is capable of manipulating spacetime itself and, throught it, "gravity". The first opening crawl of ME1 does support that ("The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time").

:)

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Author's Notes

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And there it is! Another chapter of this "...terribly mediocrely written fanfic with a delusional protagonist and a mass of pseudoscientific 'cool' ideas implemented at the snap of a finger (...) by the protagonist's minions.", according to a guest reviewer [Insert Saitama's "OK" meme face here]. This one took a long time because, as you saw from the title, it would've ended up becoming two chapters in one (with at least 35k words, yikes!). So, I decided to split them.

This one might be somewhat controversial, considering that I'm kinda, sorta going against the established fanon that eezo is the worst thing in all existence. If you think there's a part I'm wrong about, or which could be improved, please leave your thoughts/arguments in the reviews section. Let's have a civil discussion about it. I don't think of myself as having all the answers of the Universe (it's 42 by the way) – and will come back to rewrite things if given a good reason, so as to make this story reach its full potential. Ok then, let's go talk about part 1…

Regarding the creation of Wormholes (Einstein-Rosen Bridges), I've based it on a recent article (2021) titled "Wormhole Tunnels in Spacetime May Be Possible, New Research Suggests", from Scientific American. If you still have difficulty imagining how those would look, here's two nice videos that visualize wormholes by drawing from their "mathematics": 1) "Wormholes Explained – Breaking Spacetime", by Kurzgesagt (part of the YT url: /watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw); and 2) "What Would Travelling Through A Wormhole Look Like? (VR/360)", by Scott Manley (part of the YT url: /watch?v=V7e-1bRpweo). Moreover, don't forget that vessels can still use eezo's mass reduction to go through the Wormholes faster, since it's a method that's "outside of the ship" (Drones/W-Gates).

Now, let me explain a little about what's new in this chapter (this next segment is for those interested in delving a bit more on the topics). Also, maybe a few lingering doubts could be removed in the next paragraphs.

We start off with the Dyson Swarm. If you think it's beyond what the MC's faction can do, give the video "How to Build a Dyson Sphere - The Ultimate Megastructure", by Kurzgesagt (part of the YT url: /watch?v=pP44EPBMb8A), a try! Oh, don't be misled by that title. It's ultimately about building a Swarm, not a Sphere (or a Shell). Way back, I remember one reviewer asking if the MC's group would be creating Dyson Spheres. Without getting too technical, I think it's utterly unnecessary for their needs to be honest.

A Sphere is just way, way too much, both in what it can do and what it requires to build (in the given timeframe). For instance, it'd dwarf Earth more than Earth dwarfs a tiny village. So, I'm not going with the much easier, and more "realistic", Dyson Swarm, which is just a fancy way of saying "a massive amount of satellite-like objects orbiting a given Star, almost occluding it". The MEverse has all the technology necessary to build something like this, as I pointed out ("solar power collector stations", fabrication tech, mining-mechs, VIs, etc.), and eezo reduces the difficulty of the process substantially.

In fact, like I've said, the krogan once had a very tiny "Swarm" that they used to create antimatter fuel, according to the description of the planet Mantun, which states: "With help from salarian uplift teams, the krogan constructed a chain of solar power collector stations in orbit around Nith. These vast arrays beamed power to particle accelerators on the surface of Mantun, which manufactured antiproton fuel for warship thrusters.".

With a real Dyson Swarm, even a partial one, you can do a lot of things…

Which brings me to the last part, the Star Forge (or Starlifting). Firstly, let me state that it is not exactly like the one from KotOR (some estimates put it at around 240 km long). That's unnecessarily big for what it does: use eezo-generated "gravity fields" to pull stellar matter. In fact, the largest parts would be the attachable componentes, like the matter processing, factories and shipyard (i.e. the "forge" itself). Next, for those who become interested in the process of Starlifting using electromagnetism, I'd invite you to see Isaac's Arthur's video titled "Starlifting" (part of the url: /watch?v=pzuHxL5FD5U). It ties in very well with the construction of megastructures.

A common misconception in sci-fi, prepertualted by most stories, is that resources in Star Systems are somewhat "scarce", barely being able to support some paltry space stations and a relatively small fleet. This led to the birth of a trope about how sci-fi writers have no sense of scale. An example of that can be seen in the SW prequels, in that a few million clones were supposed to fight a galactic war on thousands of planets. Another one would be the fleet numbers in, let's say, Halo, which are just a few thousands of military warships (on either side). Don't latch onto the examples I gave too much, especially Halo, since its writers (I'm refering mostly to the novels) seem to have problems with numbers and consistency, from what I've read online. They are just there to bring to light the problem of sci-fi stories having "Interstellar Empires" with a few thousand warships, maybe a few hundred thousand, and that being enough to decide "ownership" of the galaxy. The Mass Effect Universe sorta has a "way" around that, due to the Reaper Trap and the scarcity of eezo (no one builds warships without it, limiting their numbers), but I'd still say only barely.

The truth, however, is that a real interstellar empire would have millions of ships at least – and each Star System would be capable of supporting that. This "claim" sounds too crazy? Maybe even… dismissible? Well, here's a few facts. The Sun has around 333 thousands times Earth's mass and about 6 thousand times its worth in metals. If we just mined a very tiny portion of that (less than 1%), it'd be enough to build an armada to scare the crap out of most interstellar empires in sci-fi – while still leaving you with plenty of matter to spare. If a given Civilization wanted to, it could build itself "tall", as in Stellaris, staying only in its Home System, and still totally kick some major ass.

It's way beyond what people were led to think (with many even believing Stars are just big balls of "energy", not made up of matter, in the form of plasma, getting crushed/fusing). But the thing is that there's plenty of matter available to us even without Starlifting (it's simply overkill). In our Solar System, if you ignore how much materials Earth has (especially closer to the core), there's Mercury with its large iron core, the moon with lots of materials, all the asteroids all over it and even large boys like Ceres to mine. I had a good idea about that, but also realize most people have never even heard about it. So, I came up with that Mass Effect StarLifter, to crush any possible doubts about where MC's group got their resources from. There's only one of them (fow now), because of the eezo requirements and size. It's also the main force behind the construction of the Cylinders. But don't expect millions upon millions of warships to be pumped out of them, because they're still limited by eezo output.

The only worry I had about this idea was was the high temperature due to it being near the Star; but, after a quick chat with LittleSeraphim, she reminded me the existence of "Solar Statites", which are proof we can work relatively close to Stars. Therefore, there wasn't any issue like that with the Star Forge and Dyson Swarm. By the way, the Space Habitats are properly distanced from the Star. They aren't "hugging" it, if you're worried about that.

I remember that there was one reviewer who gave up on this story because I "don't give enough on the industrial side of info". I wonder how he'd feel after reading this chapter – if he hadn't left a while back.

Finally, there's the O'Neill Cylinders; perhaps the most important under-discussed concept that will greatly affect our future. I've got a video (part of the url: /watch?v=pzuHxL5FD5U), aptly named "O'Neill Cylinders", also from Issac Arthur, that delves further into the topic at hand. Seriously, if you guys don't open any other link I posted, at least watch this one. You already read what I've said about them in the chapter, so I'll add other info to it here.

Obviously, given the previous part, the resources to build them aren't a problem. Getting water is also not an issue either, since it's easily found in asteroids (it's one of the most abundant resources in the Universe). They aren't exactly super fragile; it all depends on how tough of a nut to crack you'd want to make them. By the way, while planets do have thousands of kilometers of protective rock, it's all underneath you; in most cases, only the atmosphere is there to protect you from things such as orbital bombardment (if it can to begin with). Also, if the Island Three and model 4 designs are too small for you, there's still the McKendree Cylinder, like I've said, which is around the size of Russia.

Think about it for a second guys. You build one of those and you've already got a "Garden World" colony worth of living space, since the nations of the MEverse barely have billions of people in each of their colonies. Going by an urban density of 27k people per km², you'd get 270 billion people living in that Cylinder (if 3 million km² of it is dedicated to something else). Otherwise, going by densities normally found on nations today and no improvements on farming techniques and such (like auxiliary facilities around the Cylinder), you'd still get at least 3-10 billion people worth of living space.

[Sarcasm Engaged] And they're a really horrible idea. I mean, you wouldn't have to face all the "nice" things planets have, such as: unpredictable weather (rain, storms etc.), random gravity and day length, natural disasters (earthquakes, tornados, volcanic eruptions and so on), different atmospheric mix, other lifeforms (including, but not limited to, that one little virus from the other side of the planet that puts you on lockdown for years), being open to space and also unmovable, losing its habitability as its home Star ages, etc… And the biggest downside of space habitats is truly horrendous… you'd have to build them (just like you have to build cities on a planet, truly horrible!).

This is a perfect example why, once you have enough space infrastructure, it just makes so much more sense to live in habitats rather than in planetary colonies. There's no need to go half-way across the galaxy just for more living space (and this is without considering even crazier stuff, like what Civilizations at the End of Time would/could do).

Many fanfics, especially AUs, feature humanity escaping the Reaper Trap by "abandoning eezo" while still falling for the mindset of the trap. They build colonies on planets, foolishly "spread out", mine only on those planets with maybe some asteroids and so on. And those who try to do things differently, such as by building a Dyson Sphere (the Shell type) or by changing planets, don't realize how monumental of a task terraforming really is and/or get the numbers completely wrong on megastructures.

For example, I've started reading fanfics again, with of them being Transcendent Humanity (by Solaris242), and one thing that struck me right at the first chapters was how they had built more or less 50% of a Dyson Shell (one has to wonder how the lack of gravity in the poles was solved) because of a supposed lack of living space. And then it only needs to hold around 100 billion to 1 trillion people (Uploaded included), with some guys in the reviews section (I'm reading those too) getting utterly mind-blown by such numbers. Don't take this the wrong way; I appreciate the story (it's even on the special thanks of my prologue). I'm just baffled by the numbers, since a Dyson Sphere is capable of easily housing 10 billion billion people. You've read it correctly: there's two "billion" in there. Thus, it'd way more efficient to just build a few McKendree Cylinders and a Dyson Swarm around Sol. I don't even have an idea how much more space a Shell would have for Uploaded if it also worked as a "sort of" Matrioshka Brain, but it's definitely bananas.

As for terraforming, even if we consider one of the most Earth-like in the Solar System, I'm talking about Mars here, find a way to increase its gravity (it's 38% of Earth), somehow get an atmosphere in there (good luck filling an entire planet with "air" without something like an algae that "creates" oxygen over a long period of time), kick-start a magnetosphere (otherwise you're gonna have a bad time with solar radiation and the atmosphere you've just got is going to run away), it's still be a herculean task. And those hurdles are only off the top of my head. So, let's go build cool stuff instead!

If you guys want to, maybe I'll make a full version of the "Reaper Trap Analysis". I'd have to set quite some time for that though. What you read is just a few "key points", not all of it.

I know there's lots of links this time. Think of this as me listing down the sources in a scientific article. This is necessary; both to "show" that what is going on here isn't crazy stuff and also because I've discovered, after talking with Blaze1992, The Ever Present (in the reviews section), that some people have difficulty mentally picturing some of the tech "shown" here, or just don't understand it as well as others can. Thus, I hope these links will help in that regard. And now you guys also have some idea of the amount of research that goes into these chapters. As always, my gratitude goes to Kurzgesagt and Isaac Arthur for all the free, high-quality content we've been getting for years!

Scyfly asked "how would bio qec work?" in the previous chapter, which I think is a pertinent question. Personally, I believe that the rachni queen can entangle organic "particles" with biochemical processes when laying eggs, with half of those staying with her while the rest go with (some of) the rachni. That way, they can contact each other through any distance.

It also seems like the writers used the term (in the Leviathan DLC) in a technobabble kind of way, to "explain" things they themselves didn't fully grasp. For an example of how they sorta "got it wrong", you can't "track" a signal coming from the other side of a quantum entanglement device (like they did in the aforementioned DLC), because there's no signal being transmitted. As far as I know, that's not how any of this works. It's all just "flipping qubits" on one side to affect the other in a predictable way.

…

Question(s) for my readers:

1) Was there anything talked about in this chapter that left some lingering doubts? Don't be afraid to put it into words in the reviews section. Maybe it'll be explained better in the next part, as I did with Scyfly's off-hand comment.

2) What names do you guys suggest to these first two O'Neill Cylinders?

3) How do you guys imagine life is in one of those habitats? And what do you want/expect Shala'Raan to see in her little tour?

4) Should the second part, when it's finally ready, be added to this chapter? Or leave them split like this? By the way, both together might reach at least 35k (likely more) words.

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When is the next Chapter coming? When it's ready!