#Really sorry for not updating, personal life and other things have gotten in the way, in some weeks most of the problems will be dealt with. But now we are here with my shitty story again. hope you enjoy this shitfest#
*DONT OWN MASS EFFECT OBVIOUSLY*
2176, October the 17th Alliance Calendar
Perseus Veil / Tikkun System enroute to Rannoch
I did not think my first time in space would be like this, of course in my old life I did not think I would ever go to space so I'm maybe picky, but what the actual fuck the fucking geth don't have any windows, structural weakness my ass. Of course, the research facility I was at in almost 3 months was also in space but again the no windows policy. I just want to see all the stars and shit but now I'm sitting in a corner being a grumpy old cyborg? I don't even not what I'm, maybe I'm some spirit as the geth call me, anyway I have had some time to think freely, and a thought appeared in my mind: I'm the oldest human in existence, or maybe were is some old hat going around, of course, that is only true if I'm the only one that is a "spirit". But at least I'm allowed to be grumpy by my age, wonder if they would lock my up in an elderly home if the Alliance would know about me?
Earlier I did some digging around, searched through old death certificates just to see if I existed in this universe, turns out I did not from what I can gather, but something left me on a sad note, when I was digging around I could not find me but it seems like my family existed at a point, all my siblings, my parents and everyone else. I did know of course that they all would be dead and all that but it was really depressing confirming it, at least they had good lives it seems like, every one of them reached 80 and did not follow in my earlier footsteps with all the drug shit I did, So hooray for small victories?
Found out almost all of them had families stretching until now, so am I a great-great-great and so on Uncle? That's fucking freaky to even think about it, one thing I do know is that I'm not going to touch any human female until great digging in their past, you can never be safe enough I guess.
I have been playing with my "biotics" or the mass effect fields the eezo in my body can produce, the only thing yet I have even come up with is the weight change, pirated some Asari vids and NO not that kind, these were strictly educational on biotics, but yeah could not understand a thing with all that meditating bullshit they talked about, have to get a teacher for this to work I think, maybe some mature Asari would volunteer?
Anyway I think Omnius is pretty excited to show me Rannoch, I don't really know why the geth want to show me it, to be completely honest I did not care that much for the geth when I played the games, but then again I had not gotten stuck with them in 3 months to really get to know them.
I think it is funny how much Omnius has grown in these past months, the only geth that I have met and has some kind of personality is Omnius, then again I know that Legion's is going to be around in almost a decade and hopefully my appearance will not fuck up the timeline that much so it does not exist. Had I woken up with organics, geth speak sorry, I mean the "normal" civilizations I had probably not cared if the geth was wiped out in 2186( I think it was) but now I will try to have both the Quarians and the Geth survive the Reaper War, uuuh it still makes me shudder thinking about that shit.
I can, of course, use my knowledge of the future to make small adjustments but it is scary if I just make a small misstep early the butterfly effect can make my knowledge worth horse-shit, otherwise Udina would already be on my hit list.
Sometime later:
I was just going around in circles listening on some good old music, I was interrupted when I heard the now-iconic metal to metal cling from each step Omnius took.
"Yes Omnius, something on your mind?" I asked looking up.
"We are 5 minutes out". Omnius said.
"Okay, Omnius can I ask you something?" I said furrowing my brow.
"Yes". Omnius said
"Why are you even showing me Rannoch, don't get my wrong I think its crazy cool that I m going to a planet no other organics have been to in 300 years but I really don't understand why". I asked looking at Omnius questionably.
"We wanted to show our gratitude for the openmindedness you have showed us, show you the birthplace of our Creators". Omnius said with a low voice 'what's with the low voice?'.
"Stop stop, wait a minute -" I began -" you geth are the ones that helped me out, I should be the one thanking not vice versa, you have done so much for me, let me tell you I don't think any other species would have had helped my and just dissected me in a lab somewhere, yes "we" humans would too, I know THAT for a fact. But instead you helped me, built me a new body and trained me". I said looking Omnius right in the flashlight.
"But we dragged yo..." Omnius began but I interrupted. "This beats sitting in some dark dungeon having jack shit to do all-day"- I said genuinely -" being alive again is still really refreshing". I said with a smile.
The ship started to slow down then we stood there talking, seems like we are close then.
"Let's go to the shuttle bay". Omnius said.
"After you". I said with a grin.
We began walking there, not saying anything. I don't understand this, the geth are so interested in philosophy and the nature of life, but their ships are so god damn boring and ugly, of course on the outside they are pretty nice looking but on the inside, god damn it looks worse than a bunker from WW2. Or yeah I know the answer too that, "cost-effective" and some more shit, they have an abundance of resources and almost unlimited workforce, why then not make something creative? Maybe it is because they are AIs, but I have seen their creativity just look at the different hoppers, they are unlike any species I know about at least. Anyway, we are at the shuttle bay now, honestly, I did not think geth had any normal shuttles at first, thought the dropships were their thing but it seems like those are frigates and they have "normal" shuttles also. We jumped onboard one of them, and yes no windows again just some cameras that seem like only the geth can use.
The way down took only like 5 minutes or so, lucky me! I felt the shuttle shudder when we finally hit the ground, I stood up and walked to the door, geth don't have any airlocks, Omnius and some other geth came and joined me.
"What do you want to show me here then?" I asked looking at Omnius.
"What do you want to see first?" Omnius asked.
I stood there and thought, me and Omnius had talked about this a little bit back at the ship, the geth had worked to repair Rannochs ecology, that meaning that they have begun to repair the different ecosystems on the planets so it seems like I will be the first sentient organic to even see these animals in 300 years to, pretty neat if you ask me. They have also began to repair ancient Quarian or Creator as they say structures. From what I have gathered the Geth are only on Rannoch as caretakers, the only presence they have here is just that: as caretakers, I asked Omnius about this and he then said that Rannoch was not their planet, it was their Creators. When I was a kid I would spend much time in the forest with my best friend shooting bows and shit like that, so naturally, nature has always had a place in my heart, so it would be pretty cool to see this planets wildlife.
"Show me the local wildlife, that's almost always fun". I said smiling.
"As you wish". Omnius said.
Omnius opened the door, and let me tell you, I was breathless right away, even if I don't need that shit, we were in an old canyon it seemed like, a dark blue river snaked its way through the bottom of a ravine, I could see a few trees littering around the area, they were a little bit odd but even so, they were really beautiful, grassland stretched as long as the eyes could see. I could hear birds or some other animal flying around and making some odd song, small rodent-like creatures were hunting something smaller or just playing. I was fucking awestruck, can't really tell you anything else.
We began to walk towards a cavity in the ravine wall, it seemed you could go down to the river from there, when we came in too the cavity I noted something on the wall and I began to walk towards it curious of what it was. More of the small rodent-like animals skittered away when I walked to the point of interest, it looked like some sort of a big violet fungus, I brought my hand forwards but the fungus or whatever it was closed up it pours like a barnacle, so fast I jumped of surprise. Me just standing there chuckling of my own reaction turned around and began to continue walking towards the river bank.
"This place is fucking amazing". I said with awe ingrained in my voice.
"Nice that you feel that way". Omnius said with a head plate flap.
"It reminds me so much of Earth but at the same time it is totally different, I grew up in the North of Europe so this does not remind me of course of that, but it still feels like Earth in some weird kind of way. Maybe it is just that I have been in one of your facilities so long that I'm not used to this any longer". I rambled, 'holy shit this is fucking overwhelming' I thought. Omnius just nodded at me, that fucking shitstain, my rambles of the nature here was switched out for mumblings of flashlights that think they are some paragons of finesse. This caused a flapping of the head plates of the one and only Omnius, too which I chuckled.
When we finally arrived at the riverbank, all the sound of small animals was switched out for complete silence, of course, the sound of water was still there, but this put me on edge, silence in nature is not a good thing. I was standing there searching for the cause of this disturbance, it was then I felt a nudge on my arm, I looked back and saw Omnius pointing at something.
"What is that?" I said with wonder, it was something almost a 100' from us, the animal looking something like a large sheep with big horns. Its back was turned against us and it just seemed to mind its own business. 'Odd, is that the reason why the animals are quiet?' I thought.
"That is, as the Creators called it a Qorach, the animal is the top predator in these parts". Omnis said.
"You mean that big sheep looking thing is a predator?" I asked looking curiously at the oddity.
"Yes, the Qorach analogous with the Earth species "Ovis Canadensis" or Bighorn sheep, the outward difference between them are that the Qorach is a carnivore instead of a herbivore like the Bighorn sheep, it also hunts in packs like varren or your wolfs." Omnius said informative.
"Hmmm cool, but what's on the underbelly?" I asked looking at some blue-green coating.
"Rannoch lacks insect life, so the plants on this planet had to evolve to get the other, bigger animals too pollinate for them. This turned its pollen and seed-casings very adhesive in nature, to help them with that". Omnius said still with an informative voice.
"I swear if the other species would accept you, you would dominate the teacher job market". I said chuckling.
My first remark did get my mood a little bit more sour. The Geth were only asking their Creators, or gods if they had a soul and the Quarians just freaked out and the majority of them tried to exterminate the Geth. But yeah I can see the Quarians point of view also, they were also afraid of their own survival and also repercussions from the Council, what can be gathered from this is that we sentient beings do mistakes, also the Council are shitbags, but that we already know.
I shook my head to get away from those thoughts, I was here on fucking vacation, not some anger trip. Suddenly we heard a loud splash and we immediately looked towards the big sheep, I mean Qorach, suddenly I felt pretty smart. The water almost seemed to boil, suddenly the Qorach was dragged into the water by an animal with big fucking jaws, big front arms that grabbed it. The water as suddenly it was disturbed, was again normal minus the Qorach standing there.
"What the fuck was that?" I almost yelled, my eyes almost bugging out.
"We should vacate the area, we would not want to disturb it". Omnius said with an even tone as always. I began jogging away after I shook myself out of my stupor.
"Answer my fucking question, what the fuck was that?" I said frantically, looking over my shoulder to see if it was after us, which it did not. 'Man, I can well my fucking prey instincts shouting at me too run and then run some more and never look back' I thought still shaken by that big fucking thing.
"It was a Qail, a marine mammal that has some similarities to Earths leopard seel, with two front arms being used to grabbing and swimming and strong jaws to kill its prey. It is also a freshwater animal." Omnius said with that still even voice that are starting now to bring me a little bit crazy with the shit that just happened.
"Just for future reference Omnius, tell me beforehand if we are meeting some gigantic carnivores seel that also likes to grab stuff I like to know that just maybe ahead of time so I don't shit my pants". I rambled and looked at Omnius with narrowed eyes.
"Thought you could not shit your pants, Alexander"- Omnius said, 'God please give me strength this fucking geth are joking about me' I thought narrowing my eyes even more, but a small smile began to form upon my face. -" But anyway, we did not think we would see a Quil today, you see they were on the brink of extinction planet-wide when the Morning War began and they have slowly began to come back to a healthy population, but it was refreshing to see one today, they have not been recorded this long south in 400 years". Omnius said.
"Hmm, do you mean that you were not prepared to see one today?" I asked with raced eyebrows.
"Indeed we were witnessing a promising development in the ecosystem". Omnius said.
"They are also the next candidate for a sentient being coming from Rannoch, give them 10 million years and they will probably have a civilization." Omnis carried on, this pinched my inner curious kid, what can I say this speculations have always been intriguing to me.
"Why are they even considered that?" I asked looking at Omnius again as we walked to the same cavity we came from.
"A few points actually brings them towards that list like the pack mentality, the ability to go up to land, grabbing front legs or arms but also a big intelligent brain. Before the Morning War, the Council and the Creators were studying them extensively". Omnius said.
"That's interesting. But -" I began, again looking towards Omnius -" Why are you geth interested in the evolutions of organics, you don't need to answer this of course".
"It is not the evolution that's important for us, it is the philosophical and cultural points of each civilization that's interesting for us, you organics have something that we synthetics lacks". Omnius said and stopped walking, I could see this is its favorite subject.
"And what do synthetics lack?" I said looking back at Omnius.
"Creativity and irregularity are organics biggest advantages to us". Omnius said with what seemed like longing for something, 'I don't still get how much Omnius has changed since I came here, it is fucking crazy' I thought.
"Humans are the perfect example of this, you have both art and music that makes the other organics speechless but at the same time your species have done acts so hideous, most often to your own species, that makes the other species terrified". Omnius said.
"Well of course we have fine creativity and all that, and yes my species have done some seriously fucked up shit. Creativity is a double-edged sword, on one side it can better peoples lives and all that but on the other side it, especially we humans are very good at finding ways to do things more gruesome, cruel, or hideous as you said." I said finding almost unlimited points to my last remark.
"It is very lucky that my species First Contact could stop so fast peacefully, otherwise I'm almost sure that we would have the same status as the krogan or batarians, of course, the Turians were much more advanced when us at the time but just look at our history we humans have warred with each other since, before the written word, it had almost been that long that we have evolved for just that, the council species still speaks of the Krogan rebellions and the Rachni but goddamn, for us humans, in that "short" amount of time we have gone from fighting with spears and swords to spaceships and supersoldiers. We have shown the galaxy that we are no pushovers, but still, the galaxy has not yet seen our true face in how we can conduct war or even fight it, and that's where the good old human creativity shines the most". I said looking at Omnius seriously.
"Why do you think that?" Omnius said.
"If we have so much hate within ourselves as a species, and have done so horrible things to ourselves, how do you think a war with an alien, an outsider would be? We would nuke their cities, burn their planets to the ground and slaughter their kind until we either were exterminated, subdued, or just won the war. We have done it to ourselves many times since the dawn of time, and after one or two generations we would not lose any sleep from it, maybe even make some art from it". I said with a grim voice.
"We humans have always advanced faster than under any other time through war, just think about how long it did take us from not having airplanes to our first moon landing, it was 66 years, and what happened under those 66 years? We had the 2 biggest conflicts we had had until then plus a nuclear arms race under those "few" years." I said still with a grim voice.
"But at the same time, your species can be peaceful and compassionate, and not ruthless. That is something we synthetics have difficulty understanding, we use logic to all our actions, we use only one way if it is deemed necessary and are the most effective". Omnius said.
"But why are you not using Rannoch then? The land has been yours for 300 years and none can even stop you from it, and why even restore it?" I said looking at Omnius.
"We deemed it… It felt wrong using our Creators homeworld for our own benefit". Omnius said.
I was not anymore in a talking mood so I just kept quiet and stopped the conversation.
Now the conversation stopped and we plus the other geth that came with us walked in silence, when me and Omnius discussed that shit earlier I did not even have time to see what way we were walking. Now we were in some sort of hollow now and the grass was much more sparse now.
"Is there something interesting living here?" I asked Omnius.
"Lemeks live here, other than them there are few species living here". Omnius answered.
"What are Lemeks then?" I asked.
"They are an analogue for your planarian worms, they have incredible regeneration, if they are cut in 279 different pieces each one of those pieces can regenerate into a new Lemek". Omnius
Said.
"Hmm, that's pretty cool". I said with some curiosity in my voice, but really now I was mostly waiting to see the old Quarian structures and monuments.
Some time passed and Omnius and the other geth showed me some more weird animals, shooting some kind of pest they seemed to dislike, it disrupted the ecosystems to much they said. They called the shuttle and we took off, with the shuttle they showed me some canyons and stone formations, did not think the geth had an interest in those things, maybe it was just to impress me but I digress. This trip is mostly a goodbye from the geth and they seem like they are doing this because Omnius wanted this, too be truthful I'm going to miss Omnius, the other geth have not really grown on me but they also do not deserve extermination in the Reaper War.
Now we were going to see some of that ancient Quarian stuff and they want to show me some gigantic structure that they have excavated and then renovated.
Me being truthful and all that I'm going to tell that the ancient buildings and monuments were kind of boring to look at, of course, the first 10 buildings feed my curiosity of the ancient Quarians and their culture that we now cant see. They showed me first a big temple of some old god, it looked pretty much like some of the old Sumerian stuff, built by sandstone and of course almost all of these buildings were built with just that same sandstone brick style of building that was so popular on Earth in the Bronze age and Antiquity. Humans and Quarians have much in common it seems, in terms of the ancient culture. Of course, they were much more advanced than us at that same time they built that, just look at when the geth raised up, we were still using old muskets and the train was the new and hot thing. That led me to another train of thought, some fucking old-ass Asari matriarchs and Krogans that are alive today lived when some of my ancestors raided the rest of Europe and also some others were living under the Mongols, fuck that's a crazy thought.
Fuck must stop babbling so much, Anyway, the sightseeing was getting pretty boring, I maybe was interested in that back when I was little but now that is just a little curious thought back in my head or crystal/ Or what the fuck my mind is now.
I looked at Omnius, it seemed to be looking at some kind of wall with some symbols on. One thing that I have noticed after I was dragged here to this galaxy is that learning has been a lot easier, my mind goes without fatigue and swallows all information that I seem to have an interest in, just like these ancient Quarian symbols on the wall, Omnius told me what they meant in ancient Khellish and I now can almost read from the walls, just like that.
"Omnius, I have been thinking". I said with a thoughtful voice.
"About what?" Omnius asked.
"Does the geth have any religion or some kind of afterlife you think about?" I asked stopping and looking at Omnius There where a moment of a small silence where it seemed like Omnius was pondering this. Omnius stopped and looked back on me, its head plates going through different "emotions".
"We…" Omnius said but ended abruptly, me furrowing my brow for this weird unexpected ending. 'Okay this seems like a big fucking question for them' I thought.
"You don't need to answer it bother you so much". I said.
"No, this is also something that we have been wanting to speak too you about". Omnius said looking at me.
I raised my brows and looked slightly surprised, "Okay is there something that you believe then?" I asked.
"Before you arrived we were not really speaking about this matter mostly because what the question did when we asked our Creators, but with your arrival, the question has been coming up in our conversations a lot more, but no we have no religion, only the Heretics worship the Old Machines". Omnius said.
"Some kind of afterlife then?" I asked.
"In almost all organic traditions and religions animals are not a frequent addition in the afterlife because they have no apparent soul, so it seemed to us that souls were a requirement for a being to come to the afterlife, and there is a question that we have not asked you yet, do you think that we have a soul?"- Omnius asked looking at me. -" Remember that your thought is your thought and are not wrong, we will not be angry with you if you say no".
Holy shit there was the fucking question, but yeah I have had that one in mind a long time now. It seems Omnius have saved that one for a time now judging with its timing and all. Me being an "expert" in this area and all that thinks that maybe(?) Omnius as a "whole", meaning all those small units together have a soul, but of course I am not an expert or anything, the one thing now that I know is that it seems like souls exists otherwise this place is my first theory, my brain, man I really hope that it is not that shit. Still, if some organic had given me that question the answer would be easier to give, here the geth sucks in all my words for some ancient wisdom, besides Omnius.
After some thought on the matter, I answered: "Omnius I really don't know, I'm still uncertain if even I am "alive" and how I even got here, but anyway I do think geth have potential to have souls, maybe you just need to be sentient? The question is very hard to answer". I said apologetically, my mouth puffing out some air on reflex.
"We see, we thank you for your honest answer". Omnius said truthfully.
"Omnius"- I said looking at it, if I was being honest I was kind of bored being here now -" could we shuttle our way home, would like to do something productive".
"Are you bored?" Omnius teased? 'Still Omnius have a chance in the soul lottery'
"Naah, love looking at old buildings hours on end". I said chuckling.
Omnius sent a motionless signal and we waited for the shuttle to arrive.
The trip "home" was uneventful, me just talking to some geth and Omnius about really nothing.
But anyway I have begun to plan for my reemergence to organic civilization, god help me I sound like a fucking AI, first stop is "hopefully" Omega, need to see the shithole in my own eyes, maybe get some experience. But now comes the next problem that I haven't thought about, how the fuck am I going to get there? Gonna ask Omnius for a ride maybe, anyway if I get there I still can't get to Citadel space for obvious reasons stated earlier, what the fuck will I do with all the time I got? Some weeks ago this problem was not even a thought really but now all the questions are really driving me insane. Let's keep it simple: become a merc for some experience, get some good contacts, maybe when I have some experience or have gotten myself killed can I start to think about the more important stuff like the Reapers and Cerberus.
I packed all my things, not that much really just the krogan armor I have on and my guns plus some everyday stuff I have gotten from the geth and started walking to the docking bay, Omnius said that the geth had one last surprise for me so I was kind of excited.
Going through the facilities corridors greeting some geth on the way I started to think that I will miss this place, Omnius especially, the geth have been over the top with their hospitality and I must begin to get in the mindset that everyone else is not like them, we organics are just in it for ourself, with me thrown in here for some wicked last chance for life it seems like. Still, I must remember to not show the "real" me for anyone else, for my own safety just think about what the government would do if some talking and seemingly sentient robot was running around, naah I must stay hidden with my "true" side. Zeratul has some nice programs for scanners but just a slash or shot in my arm would show that I'm not a human, also my connections on my neck and chest will certainly raise questions.
I arrived in the docking bay and saw Omnius standing with some geth in front of some shuttle. I walked to them and asked Omnius what this surprise was.
"This"- Omnius slapped the side of the shuttle -" is an old Salarian vessel, we don't need it anymore so we brought it to you".
"That is really fucking nice of you, but is this not a shuttle?" I asked Omnius.
"It is an old STG vessel for long-range espionage, it is specialized for a small crew and has no real armaments but it seemed like a nice goodbye present for you". Omnius said looking right at me.
"This is nice and all but I don't really know how to fly a thing like this". I said looking a little bit embarrassed.
"We installed a VI for that". Omnius said, too which I smiled.
"I really don't know what to say to you, you geth have given me so much and it feels like I have been just a parasite for you". I said shaking my head.
"We have talked about this earlier, it is our fault you got here and you helped us get insight in organic thinking firsthand". Omnius said.
Some time passed and we were just talking, mostly about where I will go and Omnius warned about some dangers on the "road".
"This is it then". I said looking at Omnius.
"Yes". Was the answer too which just chuckled.
I steeped in the airlock and said "Will miss you".
"It will be stale without you". Omnius said looking a little sad.
"You have my Omni-address"- I said chuckling -" Goodbye". I waved.
"Goodbye". Omnius said waving at the same time to which I chuckled, yeah that was a really strange vision don't hate.
The airlock closed and I walked into my new home.
#Next chapter is hopefully not as late as this one but with all the shit now, who knows? But of course, I was kind of lazy some nights and just not writing. But on another note now the pace of the story is going to increase, that is my plan at least#
NecrorexSparda Juubi-No-Kishin: Have not heard of that one, maybe will give it a try. Yeah I know, hopefully my writing skill will become better so I can polish more! :D
VODKA18: Thanks! :)