CHAPTER II
I finally got my breathing under control and tried to stand up, my increasingly spinning head forcing me back into a sitting position. Two identically uniformed individuals stepped towards me, a man and a woman. "deep breaths, you're gonna want to take it easy. " the man said, holding his hands out to keep me sitting down. I had seen my buddy play the first level and smirked through the response.
"I've been taking it easy for 600 years" I chuckled out a little bit and coughed up a bit more of the cryo chemicals still stuck in my lungs. The woman stayed back, typing into what seemed like a data pad. "Scott Ryder, recon specialist, pathfinder team. So you're the ones finding us a home?" I nodded, the man chuckling as he helped me to my feet. "can you try to make it somewhere tropical? Summer year round?" The woman got my free arm over her shoulder and chided her coworker. "let's just get him a cup of coffee first."
Weird, I could've sworn they switched their lines. I shrugged as they brought me into the Hyperion's med-bay, handing me a cup of freshly brewed, albeit 600-year-old coffee. I took a sip, eyes widening at the fact I could taste the drink, feel it running down my throat, warming my insides. This helmet is amazing! I would've paid soooooo much more if I found out it did all this. I took another sip of coffee before being derailed from my train of thought by an asari doctor walking towards me. I raised an eyebrow to the strange outfit she was wearing, at least according to my normal surroundings. She placed a data pad down next to me and pulled her right arm up, a half-translucent orange screen popping up.
"Scott Ryder? Let's get you checked out." She tapped a button and a laser seemed to sweep up and down my body, and the display at the far end of the room started up with a morale boosting message about Andromeda, basically, spewing exposition. The scan stopped and the asari picked up her data pad, entering in her findings after visually inspecting my eyes and face. Without even looking up, she spoke, making me jump for a second. "makes it sound so easy, doesn't it?"
I looked up at her for a second, not sure what she meant. She cocked an eyebrow and nodded towards the large display at the end of the hall. "the motivational speech over there, talking about world scanning and bold new adventures." I nodded and took another sip of coffee, finishing the mug. " yeah, but since when has being a pioneer been easy?" She chuckled and continued the examination. "I guess there's a bit more fun involved when you're on the pathfinder team. Look here." She moved her fingers back and forth in front of her, my eyes following them. "that reminds me Scott, pathfinder put the word out. Wants you all mission ready within the hour. No word as to why, but I think somethings happened."
I stretched and nodded my confirmation, feeling muscles stretch for the first time in what felt like 600 hundred years. She clicked her data pad again. "you seem to check out, let's just check your SAM Implant. SAM?" As she said this I felt a prickling in the back of my neck as a translucent blue hologram appeared behind me. "good morning doctor T'Perro, good morning Scott. How are you feeling?" I turned back slightly, eyeing the blue orb. "I'm... wow, this is amazing. I'm stiff but ready to go."
"your neural implant seems to be working, I'm getting normal readings."
Dr. T'Perro stepped towards me and helped me on my feet, motioning me towards a corner of the room. "all right, you're all good, but you might want to wait and watch your sister waking up, it's helpful to see a friendly face when first waking up. We're popping her doors no-" she was cut off by a large groan coming from the walls themselves. Before I could say anything, the lights flickered and the whole room suddenly shook. The sound of scraping could be heard echoing through the hull, suddenly the floor seemed to tilt down, and a cryo pod started scraping towards us, lifting off the ground and spinning away as the gravity cut out. A voiced echoed over the intercom and the door opened. A woman with white hair combed to the side floated in, grabbing a console.
"hold on everyone, brace for a reset." She typed something into the console and suddenly I hit the floor. "ouch?" I said out loud, more confused than anything. Why did that hurt? I'm only wearing gloves and a helmet. I was brought back to reality by the woman who turned the gravity on, suddenly my mind recalled her name. "hey Cora, thanks for the opposite of a lift." I chuckled as I got up, brushing myself off and helping the doctor to her feet. Cora smiled at us both for a second, before going back to a stern look. "Glad to see you up Scott, we've gotta move, our timeframe was sped up, geared up n' ready to go in 20 mikes." I nodded when I heard a voice behind us.
"uhhh... We've got a problem over here." I turned to see a technician standing over a sparking cryo pod covered in signs of damage, but still functioning. Then I recognized the pod, apparently my sister was in there. Memories began flooding my mind of stuff that I can guarantee weren't in the game. Fuzzy memories of growing up, waving to each other before getting into the pods. Must be cut content from the coding. But why am I feeling scared for her then? I ran over to the pod, followed by Cora and Dr. T'perro, who immediately ran a scan on the pod.
"doctor? What's going on?" I asked, startled by the level of worry in my voice. She looked at me with a hard to read face. "your sister is fine, vitals are strong. The pod was just damaged so it'll take a bit more... coaxing to get her to wake up. We'll have to put her in a mild coma and wait for her to wake up on her own. She'll be fine Scott." With hesitation I nodded as Cora nudged my shoulder.
"we have to get suited up, come on." I nodded and followed her to what seemed like locker room, Cora leading me to the locker emblazoned with a small sign. S. RYDER. "The Pathfinder wants to brief us in the hangar bay, get suited up in your environmental suit. He also put out to carry sidearms, so grab one of the Predator Handguns in the locker on your way out." She put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a small smile. "Sara's going to be fine, she's one tough girl." I returned the smile and opened the locker as she walked off, not recognizing a single piece of gear in there. Fuck.
Hey, ThatGuy here. Thanks for reading this far. Look forward to any and all comments or critisizms. I don't know why, but I've really enjoyed writing this so far. Yknow, besides the slog of watching the opening cinematics 30 times to get the lines right. And even then, I mixed them up and changed them slightly to show that's it's not just the same game anymore. Next chapter will actually involve some action, and maybe getting to the nexus, though I probably won't fit it all in. Anyways hope you enjoyed, and as always feel free to review or PM me with any questions,comments or concerns. Bye!