Asteroid S1115 34b "Morbius", Palaven System
The White Rot spreads unabatedly- Station and ship decontamination systems did little to the pathogen, traditional form of antiseptics had no effect as the microscopic humans simply burrowed below the surface/ constructed shelters/spores/shells from the local material to isolate themselves from the onslaught of chemicals. X-ray radiation did little more than brighten their view, and UV radiation, which should be deadly toward most form of bacterial and viral pathogens, were merely a high-pitched sound in the subjective timescale of a 16600000x-accelerated humanity.
Within the first 5 months of first contact with the Earth and the spread of White Rot to the galaxy, the Citadel and nearly 1 10th of the galaxy's planets and colonies have succumbed to the plague. However, with every virus and pathogen that exist, there bound to be someone that would attempt to take advantage from it.
Sar-krioddin Industries, a joint Salarian-Turian weapons company that had a secret bioweapon program, have set up a test facility for the White Rot pathogen on Asteroid S1115 34b, which have been renamed "Morbius", in an attempt to weaponize the plague for whatever need the company have.
Hollow World V-2417, 7 1/2 Void Jumps from Cosmopolis
Markus Eosin Wrieght woke up from his hideout etched into the metal outer walls of the Hollow World he was born in- A normal part of the daily routine for most Humans that live inside the Void Worlds since the ancestors of this particular branch of Humanity were brought here on Continents of Food that were dropped onto the Earth, 6916665 years ago.
Tieing up his suit of mercury (which was among few of the materials that are still flexible enough to be made into form-fitting clothing at the scale of 0.1 to 5nm, or the thickness of an average Human arm.), Markus Eosin Wrieght leaped out from his hideout, finishes his breakfast of lubricants and oils laying around on the surface of the field of metals he resides on, and departed toward the nearest town and Void Terminal at full sprint.
Arriving at the terminal 18 minutes and 49 seconds later, Markus quickly selected his destination- An office building situated at Cosmopolis. The terminal springs to life, a characteristic, moderate-to-high-pitched tone start to emerge from within the device as the void particles within is bombarded with electrons, before a corridor of zero mass space-time envelopes Markus Eosin Wright and sent him toward the next terminal with a delay of less than 421ns. Or about 7 perspective seconds in his time.
After a minute jumping across the other 6 Void Terminals in his course, another 30 seconds quarreling with border security staff on the arrival side in Cosmopolis and about half an hour of Full Sprint toward his target, Markus Eosin Wreight finally arrived at the office building he work in.
"Markus, you are late again!"
"I arrived here BEFORE I left, and I'm still late?"
"Your' fired!"
Consensus Space, Rannoch S104 5.1 Server Cluster "Tralknet"
"You can talk?"
"Yes. We can. We are Geth. And a delay time of 60ns is plenty for us to reach consensus. At least locally."
Sezegy J. Mercer never thought that there were artefacts that update themselves fast enough to allow real-time communication- After all, for a race with a perspective timescale so short that they perceive visible light as sounds and see protein conformational changes in real-time, it's impossible for any of the larger lifeforms- Which Sezegy J. Mercer knows that exist in many of the Void Worlds he have went to before, to talk to them in meaningful time.
That's until when he and many of the traveling traders entered this particular Metal World- The background sound, unlike that of the other worlds which are either random, constant or periodic, instead produced a rhyme that is indicative of intelligence. That is, the sounds resembled Speech. After locating the source of the sounds, another large plateau of "clear" polyacrylate plastic, and after exchanging information with the other explorers that met above the source of sound, the sounds suddenly Greeted them. In a language that Humans can understand.
"Are you code-based lifeforms like the Geth?"
"We are people- Physical lifeforms that are unlike anything else in the world. We are not code, but we are not made of atoms, either."
"So how could you understand our direct, intra-Consensus communication that average in less than 60 nanoseconds, without external aid? No intelligent lifeforms in the Galaxy are capable of thought in this short time. Only the Geth and other Code-based intelligence could. Like VI or AI."
"Are you spirits? Physics experiment indicate that isolated spirits should not be possible. Prior experience indicate 95% chance of you being a VI or AI in disguise. Likely used by the other races of the Galaxy to contact with and study us."
"That's until we show you what an Atom is."
Chatting with themselves a little, the Humans decide to reproduce a diagram of the size comparison between a Human and the rest of their world, using a coding scheme that is only found in the most ancient of all history books of their times. Or the most primitive form of coding scheme used by the television systems that is used and shared between many large trading groups in the Void Worlds.
The Geth soon received a stream of bits, coded by two different wavelengths of light, that, when parsed with the right intervals of 300 bits per line, depict what seems to be a picture of a bipedal, vaguely Batarian-like lifeform, a close-up depiction of one of the (5-fingered) hands of said lifeform, and a number of depictions of the common molecules in the world beside of it. The different elements depicted in the picture also have a number, written in binary, around them, which the Geth immediately concluded to be the size of said object through comparison between the number near the depiction of the molecules and the Geth' own data for the sizes of the molecules being depicted.
From the Humans' crudely-made image (which is full of noise&had quite a few lines lengthened/shortened/messed up for up to 10 pixels per line,), the diameter of their "atoms" are apparently about the 2 15th to 1 3th the width of their own fingertips! Which, if the size data of the larger shape is correct, it would mean that a human is about the same size as 983 hydrogen atoms lined up, or about 104nm in height!
"What ARE you?"
"We are humans. And we are the only thing in our world that is not made of atoms."
"No, we mean what substance are you composed of?"
"We don't know. Legends tell that there was once a time that our ancestors were as large as 25.7 average-sized continents lined up. And the word 'atom' was meant to be the Latin acronym of 'an object that is so small that it could no longer be cut apart', used to express the concept of atoms being the smallest building blocks of matter including the ancestors themselves. Then some Event struck, and our ancestors found themselves to be surrounded by a field of visible, fingertip-sized atoms that they can eat, manipulate and use to build things with. This is how we come to be. If the mean of 'Atom' is really as what legends and our history tell, whatever substance we are now composed of must not be a form of matter. And we still don't know."
Asteroid S1115 34b "Morbius" in Palaven system
Saleon: "Test subject growth... Optimal. Patterns emerge from infection on organic feed-stock just as expected. Subject display exceptional planning capability on-par with Physarum Polycephalum. Evidence for sentience dubious. Need more observation time for further data down the life-cycle of subject."
Draedon: "Current data suspect the White Rot pathogen being likely a member of the phylum Myxomycetes- A kind of slime mold. So it's not unreasonable that it may also display more complex behavior like Sporulation upon exposure to adverse environments. Remember when the Asari shuttle first landed on Sol III, where the crew report hitting something in midair?"
Saleon: "It might be a bird. Or something. Not indicative of complex behavior of subject."
Draedon: "No- As indicated by The Goddess's Seeds during the Asari's exploration of Sol III, there are no Ophisknotan life on Sol III- No animals, no fungi, not even amoebas. The only form of life that is not a plant are the shimmering, white colonies that are later found to be the colonies produced by White Rot- The colonies of the test subject. There is a chance that even the plants were produced by the same sort of microorganisms responsible for White Rot."
Saleon: "Testing for further life cycle of the subject would proceed anyway- Isolate a part of the lab and reduce the amount of feedstock dispensed to it, and see what would happen."
Hollow World V-2417
It have been an unnerving decade for Lord Signus Eldritch V of Continent M-W61. About 10422 years ago, or nearly 14 generations ago, the amount of resources within the Western World have been steadily decreasing- And the ambient sound levels are decreasing, too. Making fluoroelectrical power and vibratiosynthesis less efficient. Many of the inhabitants of this world have left through the Void Terminals in the major cities and colonies, while what's left have been in a starved state- Little reproduction happens due to the lack mass needed for binary fission or conjugation, and there are reports pouring in about deaths due to starvation as the supply of materials have been dwindling.
Using the latest sonar technology- large constructs that operates on the principle of sound waves to form "images" of hidden sources of sounds behind certain materials, Lord Signus Eldritch V have been able to locate multiple sources of organic materials through their emissions from beneath the large Sodium Calcium Silicate Ocean that occupies the southern wall of the hollow cube.
Although getting to there would require a large amount of engineering effort, Lord Signus Eldritch V have already found a solution- Blueprints for macroscale machinery that could drill through even the toughest ground material within several years, which he have been keeping in the archives of his colony and are well-known by many of the inhabitants of Continent M-W61.
Calling in his construction team and putting out job offerings for builders, Lord Signus Eldritch V have begun the construction of a breaching unit, better known as a handheld electric drill by the wider galaxy. He would be the first to breach through the Sodium Calcium Silicate wall and lay claim to the abundant organic material on the other side- Solving the famine within his time of rule.
Asteroid S1115 34b "Morbius" in Palaven system
Saleon: "Fascinating- I never seen cell growth and differentiation happening in mere seconds. Just turn on the camera and record all that happened right now- This is beyond imagination! Scans show atomic-level precision manufacturing with velocity and processivity faster than an Omni Tool fabricator. I know that there must be a late life-cycle stage once the condition becomes unfavorable for vegetative growth of the subject."
Draedon: "And it looks like it's almost certainly sentient- The construct produced resembled almost exactly some of the tooling that were left inside the old mining base when it was first allocated to us."
Saleon: "Wait-"
Hollow World V-2417, Southern wall of the Western Fields of Metal
Lord Signus Eldritch V: After nearly 3 and half years of hard work, the breaching unit is finally finished up and running- Today marks the day we breach through the sodium-calcium silicate Ocean beneath Us. And we will get to the Biomass-filled perpetrators of this experiment and put an end to this famine once for all!
As the breaching unit activated, the enormous drill-bit composed of microcrystalline diamond start to spin- First slowly, then faster and faster until the edge of the drill-bit becomes faster relative to the Sodium Calcium Silicate "ground" than Full Sprint as an enormous electric current within the copper coil winding of the electric motor interacted with the magnetic fields within it's casing, producing Lorentz forces that accelerated the small continent-sized structure to velocities enough to scratch and power through the hardened Sodium Calcium Silicate, otherwise knows as Glass, beneath it.
As the drill-bit lowers into the field, the diamond tipping the enormous diamondoid carbon/polymer ring grinds into the surface of the glass, scraping off enormous mountain-sized chunks from the surface that flies away with such extreme velocities that they disappear from view almost instantly, chunks heated to such high temperatures through the violent interaction that they emits an audible hum from the heat even after they disappears from view, as the drill-bit assembly of the breaching unit sank steadily into the Sodium Calcium Silicate Ocean beneath it.
About 8 years and 5 months later
The Glass separating V-2417 and the unnamed experimenters below the Southern Wall finally gives as the drill-bit of the breaching unit breaches the last layer of Sodium Calcium Silicate beneath it, the enormous velocity sending the circular cut-out flying away from the drill-bit and off into the space below within less than 10 days, before the drill-bit starts to retract into the breaching device, out of the way of Lord Signus Eldritch V's conquest forces toward the two Ocean-sized piles of organic matter/biomass beneath it.
"WAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The two Salarians didn't even know what have hit them.
Asteroid S1115 34b "Morbius" in Palaven system
Saleon: "That thing is DRILLING THROUGH the glass separating us from the experiment! Red Alert! Containment Breach! Activate the decontamination protocols RIGHT NOW!"
Draedeon: "(opening the glass covering the button saying 'emergency lockdown&incinerate sample') They have got through! We must evacuate, lock down the lab and incinerate everything within it as fast as possible- AAAgghhhhhh-"
Consensus Space, Rannoch S104 5.1 Server Cluster "Tralknet"
-We have reached consensus. From the footage we obtained from inside the possible location of the terminal of which the first contact with the 'Humans' happened, we have concluded that: the 'Humans' were the pathogen responsible for White Rot within the wider galaxy.-
-As per data of White Rot obtained nearby infected facilities and planets, these 'Humans' possessed great coordination ability and are highly intelligent. -
-Outcome of a war with White Rot as per current White Rot capability should the 'Humans' were lying to the Geth: 15.16% chance of successfully eradicating White Rot with no regard toward Garden Worlds under the Citadel Conventions; 20.43% chance of winning with White Rot contained on the current planets they already infected with surviving Citadel and Geth ships. 64.41% chance of losing all spaceflight capabilities to White Rot with leftover pathogen Uncontained; 55.52% chance of all Organic life being eradicated by the infection. 45.11% chance of total failure- The end of all life and non-White Rot intelligence in the Galaxy as we know it, with a total containment failure of White Rot and loss of all spaceflight, ground and planet-side capacities of all worlds, Citadel, Terminus or Geth, to the growing Infection.-
-Outcome of a war with Humans should what they claim during their first contact data being true: 1.101% chance of remnants of non-Human life forms surviving in corners and hideouts of the Galaxy; 98.899% chance of all non-human lifeforms to be completely eradicated and consumed by their plague. A race with natural capability of manipulating atomic particles could corrode away the microchips used in current technology unnoticed within seconds, with simulation using current White Rot affected area suggest total outage of all technological and tool-use capacity within a 45.686ly range of all discovered Mass Relays in the first 5 hrs of the war. Metazoa fares worse within simulation, focused membrane rupture in the Sinoastrial Node triggering cardiac arrest of all known sapient Metazoan life within the first 1.5 seconds of direct skin contact should they decide to use the tactic against the Organic factions of the Galaxy, resulting in the death of 90% of all Metazoa within the Galaxy in the first 30 seconds, another 90% of the remainder within the first minute, and all but a few that lives within isolated locations like isolated asteroids, space stations, long-range reconnaissance vessels and sealed habitats or the interior of high-level biological labs.-
-Consensus on dealing with the Humans: Cautious, peaceful first contact with optic terminals only, minimize the chance of triggering warfare with any part of them since their first contact data suggest the Humans are not united, maintain a peaceful stance with them ALL THE TIME should hypothesis about their subjective timescale was correct and hope for the best.-
-The Humans have also provided maps about the "Void Worlds" (which is a colloquial name for ships, space stations, asteroids, planets and every place that is not on Sol IIl) they and their ancestors have colonized or have visited- These are to be put on high interest in the stealth reconnaissance program and monitored for activity. The Humans have also displayed interest for inviting a Geth diplomacy team to their worlds for a diplomatic visit. If this was to happen, the diplomacy team must not display any hostility for the entirety of their journey.-
-Consensus reached. Organize ships for diplomatic visit to the Human Void Worlds. Diplomacy VI LEGION deployed.-
Cosmopolis, 11 Void Jumps from Rannoch
Nearly a generation and a half after the First Contact with the Geth at the Rannoch system, the large, world-sized object have finally came to docking onto the meticulously-constructed docking device the inhabitants of Cosmopolis have built for their arrival.
After another 9 painstakingly-long years, the sound-producing interface devices are finally lowered onto the large, Ocean-sized docking interface terminal, and the Geth diplomacy team spoke.
"Greeting Humans, we are LEGION, and we represent the Geth for interacting with your civilization diplomatically, and to open a terminal to the Consensus Space for the exchange of information between your and our people."
Humans are fast, fleeting and does things as fast as lightning. Geth Programs are even faster running on their electric field-based hardware. The only non-synthetic beings that listen and speak fast enough to understand the Geth were the Humans, and the only beings that thinks and talks fast enough that a word doesn't last for a year were the Geth.
Soon after first contact, after the Geth complaining about their current platforms not being fast enough, many of the Human colonies decide to team up with the Geth in exchange for more technology that operates in a macroscopic scale. Today, the Geth aid in data storage and fast computation where the Humans have issue performing with their own brains, while the Humans aid in "fast" jobs that Geth Platforms couldn't keep up with by themselves. The Geth, by opening their Consensus Space to the Humans and aiding them in building more Terminals that emits Sounds(Visible Light), also brought to Humanity the first form of Internet that they can access and browse within Seconds rather than Days.
The age of a short alliance, known as the Alliance of Protomolecule, have begun.