Chapter 6 The Forge
Liv rolled over in her bed; the sun shone through the window and hit her eyes she let out a moan. After a few minutes she realised that she was spread out across the entire bed.
"Shep?"
She started rubbing her eyes and looked around the room however there was no sign that Shep had ever been there, except that the window was still ajar.
"Where the hell did he go?"
She rubbed her eyes again and started getting dressed.
"Maybe it was just a dream."
She made her way over to her desk to and hit the power button on her computer and it powered up with a low hum as the orange hard light screen lit up. Liv was hoping to look over some equations that she had been working on when there was a knock on the door and her mother walked in.
Liv's mother looked like an older version of her daughter she had long dark hair that was neatly tied back in a bun.
"Hi Liv, have you only just got up?"
Liv grabbed a brush from the desk and started brushing her hair "Yes, is everything ok?"
"I thought I heard you get up earlier that's all, have you got any plans for the day?"
Liv let out a yawn "I was just about to go over some code that I've been working on."
"What happened to mass field theory?"
"I'm still working on it; I had an idea on how to get around some of the issues we've been having with bypassing the old reaper codes that have been stopping us from using the higher functions of the Omni-tools."
"Can I have a look?" Liv's mother worked within the computer science division of the local research lab and seemed eager to see what her daughter had come up with "It looks promising although it looks like you're having problems preventing a feedback loop."
Liv stretched and looked over her mother's shoulder to look over a chuck of code that seemed to have caught her attention "I've been meaning to ask you something, you worked with Shep's father at one point didn't you?"
Liv's mother didn't even look up from the screen "That's right."
"I know there were issues when Shep was born and he lost his mother, but what happened to his father?"
Liv's mother was still staring intensely at the screen "Cancer brought on by eezo exposure."
Liv stepped around her mother and leaned against the desk to get a better look at her, she was completely distracted by the computer "How did he come into contact with eezo?"
"It was during the invasion, the commander saved Shep's parents from a banshee, turns out the reapers had been pumping them full of eezo to increase their Biotic abilities."
Liv grabbed a notebook from the top draw of her desk and started taking notes "So why don't you like Shep did his father do something to annoy you?"
"Me and his father used to get along really well however." She looked up from the computer "Nice try Liv, I think I've found your problem just have a look at this chunk of code"
Liv put the notebook back down and started looking over the screen "I think I know what you're looking at; I'll run some more tests." Liv started making amends "How's work going?"
Liv's mother watched as the corrections were made "Slow and boring, I've heard that a few positions have opened up in the forge"
Liv stopped typing and turned to look at her mother "You're not really considering moving to the capital are you?"
She turned and looked out the window at the small and ruined buildings of the once great city "I don't know maybe, they do have the most prestige research and development labs in the UK."
"Have you applied?"
She couldn't look at Liv "I sent in my credentials last week, I'm just waiting to hear back from them."
Liv was trying to stay calm collected "What happens if you get the job, I don't think I'm ready to leave New London just yet."
"Where would you stay if your father and I left?"
"I don't know I'll figure something out." Liv took a deep breath "I need some air, I'm going out for a jog around town."
