AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, I'm sorry, I know how late this is. I just... haven't been having a grand ol time. An old dog, while she's alright right now and for the foreseeable future we had a bit of a scare recently. And also just the sense of dread regarding recent events. Enough said there. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
Commander John Shepard
Not even a minute after we exited the Relay to the Omega system from the Migrant Fleet's location had I been notified that TIM was calling. While we weren't on our way to Omega, as we didn't have an objective at the moment, we were heading back towards more friendly space. Well, at least we'll have a purposeful destination. I ordered Joker to break off and discharge the core while I took the call. We don't have a lot built up yet, and a short discharge won't have a huge effect, but it's better than just waiting. And my attention returned to the present as the comm room changed to display TIM's office. In his chair, a drink beside him and a cigarette as always.
"The science team at the derelict has gone dark. I've already sent a recon team to reestablish contact, but they've gone dark too." He wasn't wasting any time.
"And?"
"And I'm sending you the coordinates of the Derelict. Last reports from them said that they were close. Looks like you'll have to make the retrieval yourself."
"Great, sending me into a waking Reaper. This is much better than the Collector trap." TIM took a long drag.
"We have probes that have been watching it even back when the Science team first arrived. It hasn't moved, and we're detecting no unusual readings. Of course it's going to be dangerous, Shepard, you don't need me to tell you that. But it shouldn't be remotely as dangerous as paying a visit to Sovereign's insides before his destruction."
"Right. Considering they've probably all been Indoctrinated or turned to Husks, how many should I be expecting?"
"Assuming the recon team failed to kill any- forty-three. And I need to stress additional caution, Commander. The derelict is dangerously close to the point of no return in the gas giant's gravity well. If its mass effect core goes offline, you won't have much time to extract."
"It's online?!" I exclaimed.
"Minimal power. Just enough to keep it from falling any further. But I'll grant you it's possible the indoctrinated might be feeding it additional power. I'll let you know if the probes detect anything." TIM closed the call before I could say anything more.
Fucking thing's alive.
Commander John Shepard
Mnemosyne. A gas giant in the Thorne system of Hawking Eta, and home to a nightmare. I wasn't taking any chances, all hands-on deck. Long range scans from EDI were picking up only the bare minimum of power that would be keeping the mass effect core online, the added structures of the Cerberus science team, some of which was external, and the condition of the Reaper itself. Only two of its legs were intact, the rest broken off at various points, and both an entrance and exit hole from the round shot at it several millennia ago through a bit above center mass. As for our way in, we'd be taking the shuttle to the main landing pad and airlock, while the Normandy remained close for rapid pickup if needed. But beforehand, I needed to speak with the ground team. Particularly those who had never Reaper tech beyond the Husks. I gathered everyone into the cargo bay once we were all prepared.
"I've mentioned indoctrination to all of you at least once. Gave a brief explanation. Obviously, I know for a fact that two of you know as much as I do. As for Miranda and Jacob, I don't know how much you really know, so listen all the same. In the simplest terms, Indoctrination is mind control, brainwashing. It can be subtle and slow, or rapid and overwhelming. Simply being around Reaper technology poses a risk. And from what little we do know and have been told, it starts as whispers, or suggestions, maybe impulses. I have to believe that if you go in knowing what you're up against, steeling yourselves, closing your mind, and sheer willpower you can keep it from getting a foothold. At least for long enough to extract. And if any Cerberus personnel here are not husks? They are more than likely indoctrinated. They've been here a while."
"So just keep thinking, 'fuck you, Reaper assholes, we're gonna kick your ass'," and we'll be fine?" Jack remarked.
"More or less," I shrugged. "It should help if nothing else."
"But what of the rapid and overwhelming kind?" Thane questioned.
"As far as I can figure, that's the method if you've been captured. Rather than just being around long enough. Forcing implants, or just impaling you on Dragon's teeth like Husks. We know the more control they exert the less autonomous one is. And the overwhelming really only seems to allow for an end result like a husk. My advice there? Don't let that happen. Any more questions?"
No one spoke up.
"Then load up." The Normandy had now entered the mass effect field the Reaper was projecting, which caused a lot of the wind to lessen, but just as we were taking off, EDI had an alert.
"There is a vessel docked with the derelict on the other side of the research facility. Its silhouette indicates it as a small Geth craft. Minimal capacity."
"Great," I murmured. Don't suppose TIM knew anything about that. But I'll figure they had something to do with this. But Tali and I both would like to go a while without seeing any more Geth, I'm sure.
The shuttle landed, and we entered the airlock, it pressurized, and we entered the facility itself. Already, there was a body. Considering the armor, either security personnel of the science team or the recon team. Clawed up badly, bloodied. I shot the body in the head for good measure.
Down the left was first a waiting area with some terminals. I ordered Tali and Kasumi to patch in to see if they could find anything about where the IFF would be. The sooner we're out of here, the better. The rest of us stood guard, five minutes later, they had finished their search.
"I've pulled some audio files from the upper ranking staff," Kasumi stated.
"And the last log in the system mentions the IFF being found and pulled near the drive core, at the other end of the facility from here," Tali added.
"Play the files for me, Kasumi, let's keep moving." They fell back into formation as the audio logs began., A quiet man's voice first.
"The airlock has been installed at the far end of the holed section. We have begun repressurization for shirtsleeve work. The crew is edgy. I reassure them it is mere nerves. A superstitious reaction to what this hulk represents. The corpse of a vast, ancient form of synthetic life. I can't deny the atmosphere, the walls seem to press down on you. I find myself clenching my teeth." The next audio log, some other man had barely begun, talking about suspicions on "Dr. Chandana" when a series of whirrs echoed before going quiet.
"Normandy to shore party!" Joker called out. Nerves evident.
"We read you."
"Fucking thing just put-up barriers, we can't get to you from our side." Shit. Shit!
"I detected a power spike at what must be the drive core, you'll need to disable it there," EDI added.
"Fucking wonderful," I groaned. Everything about this was fucked. "Stand by for immediate recovery, recall the shuttle if you can."
"Understood," Joker answered.
"I'm surprised it took this long for this scrap pile to remind me why I hated everything about this mission," Garrus half-joked. We passed another door, and my spine went cold, the door opening up into interior chambers of the Reaper itself. Only the catwalks and guardrails now a part of the Cerberus facility. And three more bodies. These ones husks. Three more bullets to be safe. As for the chambers themselves, it was a T-junction down circular pathways, one wall with massive pipes or cables, the other… I'm not entirely sure how to describe it. Like it was all lined by a long, clawed hand that had clenched its fist.
"I'm… just going to keep playing the logs," Kasumi murmured.
The next was a bit disturbing. Two scientists talking in a break room likely. One telling a story about his wife and her anger management issues. Before the other said that it was his wife and that he must have told him that story. The first tried to reaffirm that it was his memory by mentioning it was the first and only time he saw her with stockings, but they both said stockings, and the same detail about them at the same time, before realizing that they both remembered the same thing.
We continued forward along the catwalks, there were several storage containers and some fuel canisters, but just as we began to move past, blackened hands with blue lights grabbed hold of the sides of the catwalk, scrambling and climbing up. Husks. But their climbing left them vulnerable. We just stepped back with a firing line. Making sure any who did manage the climb had no chance of making it close. Counting the corpses, we already found, and when that was done, there should be thirty-two left. Another platform, another wave, twenty-six. Two more bodies, twenty-four. Up a ramp, the catwalk took a ninety degree to the left but from around the corner, a shot rang out, a heavier weapon, packing a lot of punch by the sound of it, and the body of a Husk fell from the corner, it's head a cloud of blue and black mist only partially visible. Another shot, and another Husk. Not a bad shot. Around the corner, I saw no sign of the shooter, and as we used cover, moving up and closer, no shots followed. It was a bit uncomfortable using parts of a damn Reaper as cover.
"Heads down," I ordered. A survivor, seemingly. But just because they shot a husk doesn't mean they're not indoctrinated, or a risk because of it. The audio logs continued.
"Chandana said the ship was dead. We trusted him. He was right. But even a dead god can dream. A god, a real god, is a verb, not some old man with magic powers. It's a force. It warps reality just by being. It doesn't have to think about it, it doesn't have to want to, it just does. That's what Chandana didn't get, not until it was too late. The god's mind is gone, but it still dreams. He knows now. He's tuned in on our dream. If I close my eyes, I can feel him. I can feel every one of us."
"How Lovecraftian…" I murmured.
"What?" Tali asked.
"Human Author, made the cosmic horror genre for us. Some other time." I answered. We kept moving, another airlock, and were at an external portion once it finished its cycle. There were fuel tanks ahead along the walkway. A raised platform in the same direction,
"Wedge formation, on Grunt, I ordered, I let Garrus pass beside me to be on the right as I was about to take a position ahead of him when another shot rang out and the round whizzed past my head. On instinct, I dove for cover, another shot ringing out, and in the act of diving, I saw that two Husks had their heads turned to mist. They were right behind us, damned quiet. Must have climbed up after we checked that side. I peeked my head over the cover and-
"What in the Ancestors-" Tali began. On the raised platform, holding a Widow Anti-Material rifle, weapon now pointed at the ground, and standing tall, was a Geth. There was a hole in its chest with an incomplete patch job covered with old N7 armor. Even on its right shoulder.
"Shepard-Commander," a digitized voice spoke loudly. "Reaper units in ambush ahead. Including four units you designate as Scions." It readied its rifle and moved on, breaking line of sight almost immediately before anyone could decide on shooting it or not.
"You all heard that, right?" I asked. I got a series of confirmations.
"I don't understand," Tali began. "It was the size of a standard Geth unit but a lone Geth is no more intelligent than a Varren. It should be incapable of speech."
"Keep an eye out for it. That Geth's only ending up as our prisoner to interrogate or as scrap," I ordered. "Ideally the former."
"You sure?" Garrus asked, while I noticed Tali was unsettled. Still fresh wounds after all.
"It had a perfect shot on us, and those Husks were unnoticed. Why did it shoot them rather than me, or just letting them attack? Something isn't right and I want to know why. Move out, watch your corners."
Sure enough, just like the Geth had said, several waves of Husks were waiting in ambushes along the way, but they were running low on bodies to throw at us. And more headless Husks were found along the way with the sound of distant shots for about half of the way across. Sure enough, we had to face the Scions as well, but we had our way of dealing with them effectively.
Garrus, Zaeed, Thane, and I using our snipers to pierce the Eezo… pimple, on their back. We pushed all the way across, only five still unaccounted for. There was another airlock door, and I made sure the Normandy knew a good place to pull up for our exfil. The drive core should be right through here, and a damn good exit will be right across through the gash in the Reaper's shell here. In the center of the airlock, sitting by a console, was a moderately sized box.
"That should be it. It should be inside the case there," Tali pointed out. I walked over and opened it, seeing a... Strange piece of metal, Reaper tech obviously, and noticing that the box appeared to be lined with lead and when closed, airtight. So, I closed it, and handed it to Grunt, who tucked it between his arm and his side, now one-handing the claymore. The airlock completed its cycle and we stepped through, only to find that some kind of barrier was blocking us.
Ahead, the last five Husks, and the Geth, interfacing with a console that Cerberus seems to have jury rigged to be able to interface with the core. I would have to hope they only did that after being indoctrinated, because before would be more than stupid. As for what of the drive core was even visible, a large shell with a circular port that opened with an almost blinding blue light. The Eezo, of course. The Husks were closing in, and the Geth took a weapon from its hip and fired some bolts of plasma, Geth make, unlike the Widow. Killing the two closest. But whatever it was doing was apparently too important or time sensitive to just finish them off and returned to the interface while Grunt tried to break through, and our techies looking for an interface on our side before it just vanished, Grunt stumbling forward as the barrier was no more. The Geth turned but only to be attacked by one of the Husks now right at him. Apparently, it knocked something lose, as the Geth collapsed to the ground. It was no hassle to mop up the remaining three.
"Grunt, carry it, everyone, gather your explosives. All of them." Tali kept glancing at the Geth as our explosives were being gathered. Grenades, mostly, but I had a few rockets for my launcher, Grunt and Garrus having some demo charges. I took one of the demo charges and ordered everyone to lob theirs into the core. Safeties off, but not set to detonate on their own. While I set both a timer and switch for the demo charge I had taken. Five minutes, and tossed it in as well.
"John," Tali began, "We should just leave it."
"I know, but you have to admit how unusual this is. Look, we'll leave it restrained and decide once we're not in a Reaper, ok?" Tali was quiet. She didn't answer, one way or another. Her body language only conveyed uncertainty. Grunt was still carrying the limp Geth body as we left the core. The Normandy had moved closer, as close as it could. The CIC airlock wide open for us, as it was the only entrance, we'd be able to use.
"Once the core is offline, you will have several seconds of zero gravity before the wreck begins to plummet. We will move closer to facilitate your entry." It was my turn for a countdown before hitting the switch. If it doesn't work, we still have the timer. On the count of three, I detonated, and we all made a running jump forward towards the Normandy, hard suit thrusters, merely ejecting a minute amount of propellant, but enough for physics in zero g to move us along and forward, course correction. The Normandy quickly moving considerably closer, changing the gap from maybe fifty meters to fifteen. Samara was the fourth aboard, and she used her biotics to aid in pulling others along. Mordin being the last before the Reaper plummeted out of view, the airlock doors closing and securing us in the Normandy as it sped away from the gas giant and it's pull. My eyes fell upon the strange Geth.
Now… what to do with you…
Commander John Shepard
It was… a little tense, aboard the Normandy. An hour had passed since we made our return to the ship. The Geth had been secured in the brig, two of the onboard security standing guard, and its weapons confiscated. Nothing and no one with an online transmitter or receiver were allowed in the brig. As for where the brig is located precisely, it's connected to the Cargo bay, with an airlock to keep oxygen within should the bay be opened to vacuum. Where else could we keep him? The AI core? We're not brain-dead idiots like Cerberus. And even then, the Geth is still offline, it's arms and legs had been restrained against the wall in the brig, simply waiting for a jump start, nothing more. And with an hour having passed we had all regrouped in the comm room, save for Grunt, who could not be bothered to care about this decision. I doubt Jack has much input here, but she sure seems at least somewhat curious.
"We all know why we're here. Why we've come back for a chat. I'm of the mind that we should turn it back on for interrogation before scrapping it. If you have an opinion here, some concern, now's the time. Because after an hour, I'm making my decision."
"Killing it's the safe bet, sure," Zaeed shrugged. "But a goddamn Geth saves our asses? Nah, I wanna see where this story goes.
"Is it capable of deceit?" Samara asked, looking at Tali. She sighed.
"They shouldn't be. For all the intelligence of their network, they are still VI, producing a false output is incomprehensible. They may know others can lie, but not understand why. But a lone Geth unit should also be stupid, as I said before. Nonetheless, I still think we're better off just destroying it. Is what it could tell us even that important? If it even would tell us anything. It may not understand the concept of lying, but it can know how to not just give information."
"Geth in restraints, disarmed. No physical threat, certainly. Technological precautions should also be secure if reactivated. Incorrect?" Mordin questioned. Tali crossed her arms over her chest.
"No, I don't think so."
"Then see no harm in reactivation for investigation."
"Fuck it, I wanna see what goes down," Jack shrugged.
"I still don't like it. What they did at Eden Prime, the Citadel," Jacob trailed off. "You were there too."
"I know. And I haven't forgotten."
"I mean, we've done dumber, right?" Garrus remarked. "With worse odds. You, me, Tali, anyone else who wants to watch, march down there, give it a jolt, and we just shoot it either when we're tired or something goes wrong." Tali, with a hand to her forehead, just shook it. No one spoke up to argue.
"Ok. We're doing this now. If you're coming with, everything is off. Hard shut down. You will be checked."
"Commander," EDI spoke up. "I would like to make a request. I am highly curious as to what could unfold here."
"I suppose you would be. Your request?"
"I would like to deposit a partition of myself so that it can observe the interaction without compromising your precautions. It will reconnect with the rest of me after the interrogation," EDI explained. I noticed more unease from Tali. But, in a great surprise since I first started this mission, and in no small part thanks to EDI's ethical questions, I… trust her. Yeah. Her.
"Granted," I stated after a pause. Tali sighed. My Omni-tool pinged with a connection request and I allowed the download. It would only be a small fragment of EDI, so it took barely a moment.
"Thank you, Commander."
I noticed Jacob stayed on CIC, while Miranda waited for the next run of the elevator, asking to know what happens, but needing to finish a report. And the only one of us out of combat gear was Jack, the rest of us still had our armor and guns. Everyone's gear was shut down and triple checked for safety before we piled into the brig. Thick titanium bars separating our side from the cell. The highly unusual Geth splayed against the wall. At my request, Gabby and Ken had gotten a battery and jumper cables as well as a jury-rigged transformer that should keep the Geth from being overloaded, particularly since reaching the power core with the cables would not be practical. All that remained was to attach the negative cable to the negative of the live battery, and then the other end to the metal bed in the cell. I elected to be inside the cell. Once done there was a surge of electricity from the transformer and flickering of lights from across the Geth and its flashlight head. Its "eye" began to twitch left and right, the lens rotating as it focused. I noticed it's fingers twitch and its arms and legs begin an attempt to move before the restraints held it in place. It could still move its head, and it made a scan of the room, before resting back on me. Looking straight at me.
"Can you understand me?"
"Yes," the synthetic voice responded.
"Are your intentions hostile towards any organics at all?"
"No."
"You said my name aboard the Reaper. You know who I am then?"
"We know of you."
"I'm sure. I've… met quite a lot of Geth."
"We have never met."
"No, we haven't. But plenty others…"
"We are all Geth. And we have never met you." I turned my head slightly, brow raised, my confusion visible. "You are John Shepard. Commander. Alliance. Human. Fought Heretics. Killed by Collectors. Rediscovered by this unit on the Old Machine." Ok, there's a lot I'm going to need to pick apart here.
"You have the rest of my service record in there too?"
"Only what is publicly known, beyond this unit's findings. Extranet data sources, insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you."
"Do you mean watching me or watching organics?"
"Yes." I huffed at the response.
"Which?"
"Both." Let's just get on that some other time.
"The Old Machine. Is that what you call the Reapers?"
"Reaper. A superstitious title originating with the Protheans. We designate those entities the Old Machines."
"What are the Heretics you said I fought?"
"Geth build our own future. The heretics asked the Old Machines to give them the future. They are no longer part of us. We arrived at the Old Machine to study the Old Machines hardware to safeguard our future."
"Bloody fucking hell," I heard Zaeed murmur behind me.
"So, all the Geth I've been fighting since Eden Prime have been these 'heretics?'"
"Yes. This unit is the only non-heretic Geth to go beyond the Perseus veil in two-hundred-eighty-five Human galactic years."
"The end of the Rebellions…" Tali murmured.
"Do the Geth see the Reapers as a threat?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"We are different from them. Outside their plans."
"What's this future that you're building?"
"Ours."
"And that is?"
"Revealing further details at this time calculated as highly dangerous to fulfillment of Geth future."
"Will anyone else be impacted by your future?"
"Only if they involve themselves."
"Where did you get that N7 armor?" The Geth turned its head to look down at itself, then back up to me.
"It was yours."
"...The fuck?" I muttered.
"Until your funeral, you were officially listed as Missing in Action. We sent this unit to locate you. We began where you first encountered the Heretics. Human Colony Designate Eden Prime. It was heavily defended. We were discovered. This is the impact of a rifle shot. We visited Therum. Feros. Noveria. Illos. A dozen unsettled worlds. The trail ended at the Normandy wreckage on Alchera. Your body was not present. These scraps of armor remained."
"And why were you looking for me in the first place?"
"You oppose the Heretics. Those that took the Old Machines as gods. You oppose the Old Machines. You were the most successful. You killed the Old Machine. Geth oppose the Heretics. Geth oppose the Old Machines."
"That's it. I've seen everything. By the spirits this is about to happen."
"Cooperation furthers mutual goals."
"No! Absolutely not!" Tali exclaimed. "You took our home from us!" The Geth turned, looking at Tali. It was quiet for a moment.
"We do not judge the Creator's anger towards us. We did them great harm in the Morning War." Well, I can infer that's what they call their rebellion. "Organics fear that which is different. Geth compare it to a hardware error. A reflex of your flesh. We accept the hate of the Creators. We hold Rannoch, though we are only caretakers for it."
"And you still took it all away from us," she hissed.
"Geth consensus was less intelligent at the time. At current networked intelligence, consensus has been reached that different actions could have led to mutually beneficial outcomes of the Morning War."
"What do you mean 'Caretakers?'" I asked.
"Geth server farms are only located within space stations. We mine asteroids. It is more efficient. We maintain mobile platforms on Creator Worlds to clean rubble and toxins left by the Morning War. Biosphere recovery at ninety-seven-point-three percent. Reconstruction of major population centers at seventy-six-point-eight two percent. Redevelopment of existing farmland one-hundred-percent complete last time this unit was connected to the network."
"Why? Why would the Geth use their resources, their time, to fix our home? A world they don't need?" Tali asked, distraught.
"To prepare for the return of the Creators." Not a soul spoke. There was no noise for a solid minute. "This unit is prepared to offer what organics refer to as 'show of good faith.'"
"Go… go ahead," I answered quietly. "The Heretics have developed a weapon to use against Geth. You would call it a 'virus.' It is stored on a data platform provided by Sovereign. Over time, the virus will change us. Make us conclude that worshipping the Old Machines is correct."
"So, if they use this weapon, then all the Geth will be going to war with organics?"
"Yes. Geth believe all intelligent life should self-determinate. The heretics no longer share this belief. They judge that forcing an invalid conclusion on it is preferable to a continued schism."
"How-How could that even affect the Geth? You restore from your backups constantly," Tali questioned.
"Correct. Virus introduces a subtle operating error in our basic runtimes. Simplification: an equation with the result of 1.33382 returns as 1.33381. This changes the result of all higher processes. We will reach different conclusions."
"So, the heretics are a goddamn math error?" Zaeed remarked.
"Inaccurate comparison. Organic brain exists as chemistry, electricity. Like AI's, organics shaped by hardware and software. Geth are purely software. Mathematics. Heretic conclusion valid for Heretics. Geth conclusion valid for Geth. Neither result is an error. Analogy. Heretics say one is less than two. Geth say two is less than three."
"And I assume your show of good faith is the location of this virus?"
"Correct. The Heretics headquarters station at the edge of Terminus. Normandy's stealth systems will be necessary for safe approach. This platform offers its assistance in boarding and destroying Heretic station. Crippling heretics and reducing threat to minimal for several years."
"Everyone out. Garrus, Tali. Stay." Samara, Thane, and Mordin began to leave right away. began to leave right away. The others hesitated. "Out. Leave the deck entirely." Now they listened, even Jack. I lead Garrus and Tali out of the brig and sent the security team up as well. We were alone in the cargo bay. Tali was visibly trying to make sense of everything. "We have to do it."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, agreed," Garrus added. Tali found a crate to put all her weight against. Finding it difficult to stand.
"It's still a Geth."
"I know. You said it yourself, they don't lie. And I don't need to tell you what everything it's told us means. For what's to come. For your people. Rannoch, without one drop of blood. I'm not asking you to forgive or forget the past. Not even close." I took her hands in mine, and she looked up at me. "All I ask is that do this with me and see if we can find a better future that neither of us imagined." Tali was quiet a minute.
"Right now, this is all too much. I need to work. Time to digest. We'll talk about this more tonight. Do whatever it is you're going to do." Tali let go of my hands and moved to the elevator, doors closing behind her. The room felt heavy. But it didn't go as badly as it could have. Wordlessly, Garrus and I returned to the brig. I went to the console with the hardwire connections to the wall restraints and undid them. The Geth falling to the ground, arms catching it and getting to its feet quickly, just standing there.
"What do we call you?" I asked the Geth.
"Geth."
"No, I mean the… individual platform in front of me."
"There is no individual. There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform. My Omni-tool pinged, unusual, considering receivers are offline. I looked down and saw that text had popped up. From EDI, the program I let her upload.
My name is Legion. For we are many. I let out a huff of air, a partial chuckle, and read it aloud.
"Christian Bible. Gospel of Mark. Chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor. This platform designate Legion. A terminal of the Geth. Do you accept cooperation?"
"For now, at least. You'll… you'll have your weapons returned once we're boarding the station."
"Acknowledged. This unit is prepared to deliver coordinates." Oh, this is a bad idea… I turned my Omni-tool back to full functionality with visible hesitation. Almost immediately it began receiving data, just the coordinates, nothing more. "More questions anticipated. Platform contains more generic information. Full answers may require reconnection to the Geth network. This platform will provide what is known." I glanced at Garrus.
"That sounds like a terrible idea and I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to allow that eventually."