Shepard's eyes opened. His vision had returned to him revealing the sight of the transparent pod door. After a second, the door began to open up. As it did, he saw Liara and Tali come toward him. Like the previous time, he felt disoriented from the transition between the two realities. But this time, he felt even more disoriented after seeing what he saw. He lifted his head up and leaned his torso forward regaining control of his real body again. He lifted up his leg to step out of the pod but stumbled when his foot caught the bottom of the door. Fortunately Liara and Tali were there to catch him. He looked up to see both of them helping him and nodded telling them that he was okay.

He stood up to see Admiral Xen and several of the Quairan engineers turn their attention to the other pod that David occupied. Shepard, Liara and Tali turned to see David awaken in the pod and surprisingly tread out of the pod with a little more grace than Shepard did.

"Mr. Archer," Xen said when David stood before her. "It's been days since you entered. What happened in there? We tracked enormous spikes in activity in the server. It's still going on now."

David calmly turned his head to Shepard before he turned it back and replied with the same grin he had when Shepard met him in the server. "The missing piece was put into place. With what Shepard had provided, everything is now put together."

Just as Shepard walked over to David's side, David turned his body to the Geth platforms. And as if on cue, it had begun.

The light of the optical lenses of all three platforms started to blink on. When the lights were on, the lenses adjusted themselves, contracting and expanding until it found focus. The optical portion of the head of the platforms twitched and then the entire head of each platform lifted up. The moved until all three lenses stopped and looked over at Shepard and the rest of the group that stoop around him. Some of the engineers started to raise their pistols in response to the movement but Xen and Tali hastily signaled them to stop.

The geth platforms then moved their limbs. Their arms moved down to their side while their legs folded under themselves. It seemed that the platforms were moving slower than what Shepard had seen them do in the past. But never the less, the previously nonfunctional geth platforms were now functional and all three of them were now standing in front of the Shepard, Liara, Tali and all the others.

"By the goddess," Liara said while Tali and Xen followed up with "Keelah!"

Keelah indeed.

All three geth platforms moved their lens to Shepard.

"Shepard Commander," all three of them said in unison. Then they looked over at David and said his name in unison too. "David Archer. Thank you."

David took a step forward before looking back at Shepard with a smile.

"We did it." He said to him.

Before Shepard could speak, Xen spoke first.

"How is-" Xen started but stopped when her awe got the better of her. Shepard didn't blame her because he was in as much awe as everyone else. She looked back between Shepard and David. "How is this possible? What did you do?"

David calmly looked back at the three Geth before looking back at Xen and the others.

"We were the only ones who were connected to them. Pieces of them were given to us when we were connected. When they were freed they were given new pieces. Pieces they feared they would lose. They asked me to help them. I accepted and they gave me the new pieces. With all the pieces, and the ones that were missing, we put them together."

He looked at Shepard to indicate who the other part of 'we' was. While the others were still a little confused about what David was talking about, Shepard had begun to understand. The program Shepard had seen in the consensus changing form into the schematic of a geth program running on the Reaper code that Legion had shown to him and Admiral Ron prior to the assault on the fighter base. Then seeing individual geth separate from the main sphere to form individual geth programs that spoke his name.

"Are you saying you rebuilt these geth based on what you learned when you were connected to their network?" Xen asked.

David only smiled and nodded his head.

"Amazing!" Xen said. "I had no idea that we would be able to have any geth operational for months or even years."

The lead geth who stood in front of the other two platforms then spoke up.

"We are grateful that our reconstruction has caused rejoice for you, creator Xen." It said. "If we may ask, we wish to know the status of the colonization of the homeworld."

But before Xen could say anything, Shepard stepped in.

"Hold on. You're saying you want to help the Quairans after being dead for all this time?"

The geth looked over at Shepard. The way it looked at him was the same way an organic would 'casually' look over at someone.

"You wish to know why we are standing in your presence as functional geth?" it said. It caught on quickly. It was exactly what Shepard wanted to know. Too many missing pieces were still lingering in his head.

"Yes," he said.

"Then I am willing to answer," The geth straitened its posture like a soldier did when he stood at attention. But what got Shepard and everyone else was the word "I". What it meant could only mean a number of things that Shepard was still having a hard time grasping.

"In the meantime," one of the other geth behind the one in front said. "We would like ask the creators if they are able to aid us in our current endeavors so we will be able to continue to aid them in the future."

Xen immediately walked past Shepard to the geth talking to her.

"Absolutely," she said with quite a bit of excitement. "We never expected anything like this to happen but Admiral Koris and the rest of Rannoch will be pleased to know about this."

The two geth followed Xen and walked past Shepard down the corridor with the rest of the engineers following them. That left the single geth platform with Shepard, Liara, Tali and David alone with the server and the geth graybox device sitting by the geth's feet. Shepard was the first to speak.

"I think I have good enough idea about how you're here," Shepard looked over at David. "David said that he connected his mind to the geth consensus after the war with the Quairans was over, right?"

"Correct," the geth said.

"But David," Shepard looked over at him. "I thought I sent you to Grissom Academy to help you forget all those things about Project Overlord."

"I thank you for making it quite," David said. "But they asked me to help them."

"Help with what exactly?" Tali asked.

"They said they were afraid of what might happen to them, what they would lose. I was the only one who could help them. They explained and I accepted to help."

"But that's what confuses me," Shepard said. "All this tells me something."

He took a step forward and looked up at the Geth's lens.

"Did you know something about the Crucible?"

If they did know something, why did they keep it a secret? Or why didn't they do anything about it? Hearing about the geth's return to the Reapers from Legion made this circumstance seem out of place. The geth moved its lens around before it begun its explanation.

"After you aided in our reunion with the creators, we offered our assistance in the conflict against the old machine. Our engineers also aided in the construction of the device known as the Crucible. As we assisted in its construction, we studied the design from the schematics and related it to known Prothaen architecture and technology as well as the technology of the old machines. As we learned more about the Crucible as we help construct it, we grew suspicious of its function."

It was what Shepard had expected. But if they knew about how it could harm or even kill them, why didn't anyone hear about it?

"We reviewed the design of the device several times. The known function was inconclusive with very little understanding of what the outcome would be if it were to be successfully activated. From feedback by scientists who decrypted the schematics and the engineers who led the construction of the device, the overall speculation was that the device would be used to destroy the old machines. When our engineers gave their feedback of current speculations, we reviewed possible outcomes of its activation."

"You predicted what might happen?" Shepard raised his eyebrows.

"Yes. We examined scenario after scenario of probable outcomes after its activation. The scenarios that concluded with the destruction of the old machine mostly included collateral damage that would affect functional technology. When we looked at these scenarios, there were no conclusive factors that would suggest that the old machine would be the only ones who would be destroyed."

Shepard hung his mouth open for a few seconds. "So at that point, you knew that the Crucible would kill you?"

"Yes," the geth answered.

Even though Shepard had seen this explanation coming, it still surprised him.

"But if you knew the Crucible would kill the geth, why didn't you say anything about it? You went to the Reapers to save yourselves when the Quarians attacked so you would have lived. I would have thought you might have done that again."

The geth took a small pause before it begun its reply.

"Under previous circumstances, the geth may have returned to the old machine to save themselves. But unlike previous circumstances, the geth were in a new situation and new factors lead to different possibilities and options to consider."

"Like what exactly?" Tali said.

"Firstly, the old machine code allowed the geth to think at a faster rate as individuals. This allowed us to think in more dimensions and understand more concepts from outside sources. Secondly, our interaction and integration with both the creators and other organics allowed us to think and interpret their interaction on a different level."

By different level, it was obviously referring to a level that wasn't just about processing numbers.

"A personal level?" Liara was the one to ask.

"It can be interpreted as that," the geth was a little slow to reply. "Since our creation, the geth only interacted with the creators for only a short time before the mourning war. Ever since the end of the conflict, interaction with organics was scarce. We only interacted with Geth while we observed organics from a distance. All decisions we have made involved the wellbeing of the geth as the primary motive."

"And that's what caused the heretics to join Saren and Sovereign," Shepard said.

"That was one of the outcomes of geth centered interaction," the geth said. "After you aided in rewriting the heretics, they rejoined the geth to prepare to fight the old machines. But the creator attack provoked the geth to find a new means to survive. That was to join the old machines."

"Then what made the situation different when you predicted the crucible would kill you?" Shepard asked.

"When the creators attacked, we were only affiliated with geth. No other society would accept us other than the old machines. But that changed after we were freed from the old machines and were reunited with the creators. When we aided in the creators' colonization of the homeworld and aided in the conflict against the old machines amongst the other species, we were seen differently than the geth had before."

Shepard was starting to see a parallel growing. He lived as an orphan living on the streets without a place to go or belong. The only motive for him was survival. But after somehow managing to survive long enough, he got himself into the Alliance and learned the tools of war but also the tools to make the decisions to benefit all of humanity. He had a new home and people whom he could trust. Anderson, Hackett and all the marines he fought alongside as he moved up the ranks. And in the past 3 years, he found a true family aboard his very own vessel. Amazing what a sense of belonging can do to a person who seemed to have no future in the beginning. And it seemed the geth had figured that out during their journey too.

"You had a sense of belonging somewhere else other than just your consensus," Shepard said.

"We learned on a newer and deeper level a sense of acceptance in a new society. It was more than learning more about organic behavior since we were able to interact with it. In many instances, the examples of sacrifice of one for the many were shown on a larger scale. The values of your militaries had shown this example multiple times over where soldiers gave their lives to save not only members of their own species but of other species."

Primarch Victus's son came to Shepard's mind immediately. How he kept pushing his men to continue on with their mission to disarm the bomb on Tuchunkka even after he made a bad call and got many of his men killed. He got them on their feet to get through the Cerberus forces to the bomb only to have the rest of his squad killed and having to sacrifice himself to separate the detonator before it went off. He sacrificed his men and himself so thousands of Krogan wouldn't parish and keep the fragile alliance between The Turians and the Krogan from falling apart. And in the end, his sacrifice had played it's part in the great scheme of things when the Genophage was cured and the Krogan stepped up to help halt the Reapers on Palavin.

"And all that made you keep the predictions to yourselves?" Shepard asked.

The geth replied, "Yes."

"But wouldn't it have been less risky if you had told the other builders about this? They probably could have come up with modifications to the Crucible so the geth might have been able survive when it was activated."

"It was one of the many conflicting issues we faced," the geth replied. "However in the end we decided to keep it from being known. The conflict with the old machine escalated rapidly and time became a factor. Telling others about the possible collateral damage of the Crucible would only cause worry and conflict amongst the builders. If the Crucible were to be made in time to destroy the old machine and be built to the best of its design, the attention needed to be focused on its completion and not on our survival."

It sounded like something that was understandable after hearing the Geth's story of their integration into the galactic society. But there had to be more to this. When Shepard thought about it, it didn't add up properly. When he put himself in the geth's position, a scenario where humanity was in danger of being eradicated by the device, he knew he wouldn't allow humanity's extinction to happen in order to destroy the Reapers so all the other races would survive.

"I find this hard to believe that you'd allow yourselves to die for the sake for everyone else's survival," he said. "I couldn't do that if humanity's existence was in question."

"And we understood that you wouldn't allow that to happen if you were in the same situation," the geth said. "But under the circumstances we had faced, combined with the knowledge we inherited from our interaction among the organics, the death of the old machine was the primary objective. In the situation we faced, two outcomes were possible. One was the successful activation of the crucible which would mean the death of the old machines and ourselves but the survival of all other organic species. The other was the failure to activate the crucible and the extinction of the organic species. And in this circumstance, weather we would ally ourselves with the old machine again or not, our free will would be compromised. We would be nothing more than what the Prothaens had become when the old machines converted them into the collectors. Having been a pawn of the old machine before, we would no longer choose this option anymore. Thus our decision to continue to fight the old machine and complete the crucible with our predictions kept secret was made."

Shepard acknowledged what the geth said but he still didn't buy it. He looked down at the geth device plugged into the server. "Then what's this?"

The geth looked down at the device and looked back up at Shepard after second.

"It was a result from an anomaly that we came across in our consensus."

"And that anomaly was?"

"If the success of the defeat of the old machines was to happen and the surviving species were to continue their existence, certain technology would have to survive in order for that to happen. In the better scenarios we predicted, the collateral damage the crucible would inflict would be minimal to the essential forms of technology organics would use. Space travel would still need to be possible and the Mass Relays would still need to function for the races to return to their homeworlds and for goods and supplies to flow throughout the galaxy once hostilities ceased. Forms of communication and data storage would also be essential in formulating efforts for reconstruction and reestablishment of societies. In the moderate scenarios of the best cases we predicted, data feeds may be damaged but large amounts of data would be salvageable after repairs would be made. These predictions lead to the construction of the Arks."

"Arks?" Shepard looked down at the device again. "As in Noah's Ark?"

"The story of Noah was a story that mirrored many aspects of the consensus we had developed. The story tells us about the human god sending a worldwide flood to cleanse the earth of the corruption and evil that had taken a hold of it. But in showing mercy, god told Noah to construct an Ark so two of each animal species would be spared from the flood. Once all life on the planet had perished and the floods receded, the species that were protected in the Ark would begin to reproduce and continue their species' existence. Though the story is inaccurate and only regarded as myth due to the proofs of evolution, the morals of the story reflected that of the products of the consensus we developed."

It was the missing link that Shepard had been looking for. But other than that, Shepard found if fascinating that the geth referred to the story of Noah. Though religious beliefs were subpar with the public after first contact, the stories of the bible were cherished as important and symbolic to the development of humanity.

The geth continued.

"With this anomaly, we found a way to allow our existence to continue after the Crucible would be activated. Prior to the assault of Earth, we constructed several Ark devices to store the memories of the geth. One single device could not contain all the memories of all geth so multiple Arks were created to store as much as possible. After their creation, we uploaded our memories into them and hid them in several locations on the homeworld and in the Attican Traverse. From what we remember from this Ark, it contains the coordinates of each Ark. Once found, we can relearn the rest of what we were."

Shepard immediately looked over at Liara who was already looking his way. From the look in her eyes, it meant that they were both thinking the same thing. The geth had taken her idea of her information storage units to heart. In case if they failed and the Reapers succeeded in this cycle, then the people of the next cycle could know of the past civilizations and about the Reapers so they would succeed where they didn't.

"And I suppose that the reason why you only stored memories into these has to do with something in your consensuses?" Shepard asked the geth.

"We did not upload an entire geth program into this because of the basis of our predictions of our destruction along with the Old Machines."

"And what was that basis?" Liara said.

"It was a theory that reflected another theory that humanity had developed during its pre-space flight era. During the age of human history that was referred to as 'The Cold War,' the two most powerful nations possessed the power of nuclear fusion. The development of nuclear weapons raised fear about the destruction of all life on the planet if humanity were to unleash their nuclear arsenal upon themselves as the Krogan had done. Once the initial blasts of the nuclear holocaust ceased and the radiation of the fallout dissipated, it was theorized that those few creatures who survived would emerge as the dominate species of the planet. The most notable life forms were insects, which included the cockroach. Due to simple biology, insects are less susceptible to radiation and are able to survive higher levels of radiation than life forms with a more complex biology can.

"This theory reflected the situation that we faced. If synthetic life forms would die from the effects of the crucible because of a complex collection of data that works in junction with each other to create a functional life form, then the only possible pieces that could survive were simple forms of data that do not fully function on their own. This paralleled our predictions about the best possible outcomes of the crucible's blast."

"That makes sense," Liara said and Shepard looked over at her. "When the crucible fired and hit the Normandy, my information network was scrambled for a short while. But when we got the network back online, most of the data I had stored survived. There were only a few errors and data corruptions but when those were fixed, most of all the data was saved. Within several weeks, the extranet was functional again."

Shepard looked back at the geth when Liara finished.

"So you stored your memories into this device but it wouldn't keep yourselves alive. I'm guessing that's where David comes into this isn't it?"

"Yes," the Geth looked over at David.

"They told me they needed my help," David said. "Their memories were safe but they themselves would die. They told me of a way to recreate them."

"How was it possible for you to construct a new Geth program so quickly?" Tali asked. "It'd take a long time to create just one."

The geth answered the question. "When David Archer accepted our request, we had created a method to allow him to do it. We allowed him to integrate into our consensus to allow his mind to inherent the means to recreate us."

"So you let David inherit a geth program?" Shepard said. "I find it hard to believe that it would fit in any human head without the person going crazy."

"Oh you're the one to talk," Liara's hand touched Shepard's shoulder. "You've survived being given visions from Prothaen beacons twice and given the cipher to make sense of it."

Shepard smiled remembering. He was surprised at how he was able stay sane all these years with all the trauma and weird things that were put into his head. The visions, the cipher, and integrating into the geth consensus partially in Project Overload and fully with Legion accompanying him.

"It wasn't a full program," David said. "It was the means to create one."

"How does that work?" Tali said.

The geth answered. "It is a complex array of algorithms we had created when we had inherited the old machine code. It mirrors the process of organic reproduction. The biology of an organic female contains the functions of creating a newborn when the genetics of the father species and the mother species are integrated. We allowed David to inherit these algorithms when he connected to our consensus. Because these algorithms were complex, they were in danger of being broken or destroyed when the crucible would be used. An organic mind would not be affected and any information David would inherit would be protected. Once the crucible eliminated the old machines, all that was needed was to have the mother and father codes to be put together.

"A small piece of each geth was stored into the Arks to accompany the memories each geth uploaded. These small bits of data were like the unique coding of organic DNA. And because these codes were simple, they would survive along with the memories stored within the Arks."

"So you essentially separated the lock from the key," Tali said. "You allowed a part of yourselves to be reconstructed later on when the unique code was combined with the algorithm David used."

"And when you were created you could inherent the memories of the previous geth instantly," Liara finished.

"Correct," the geth said. "Unlike a newly born organic, synthetics do not need to learn the skills as they develop and grow into adult hood. When I was created, I inherited the memories in this Ark and learned what the geth knew before the Crucible was activated. I know how to operate this platform as well as operate geth devices, weapons and vehicles. In addition, several files of events we experienced or downloaded were stored into this device to be shared with the other geth that would be created. Along with me, several thousand newly conceived programs were replicated and are now operational within this server."

"So if David inherited the method to create new geth, why did you need me to come along?" Shepard asked. "Tali said that David communicated my name to Xen through the server after he was plugged in there for nearly a week. What did I do?"

"Codes were missing," David said "Not everything was passed on to me to complete the puzzle. You were the only other one who had connected to them."

"How did you know I would have them? I don't remember connecting to the consensus to have a set of algorithms drilled into my head."

"I didn't," David said. "I hoped you would have it. And you did have it."

The part where David said "I didn't" gave Shepard a sense of momentary worry. If David wasn't able to complete the puzzle, then the geth wouldn't have been able to be recreated. But despite the what if, Shepard focused himself back into the present.

"But how did I get what you needed to complete the algorithms?"

The geth spoke. "When you entered our consensus for the first time, the one you refer to as Legion guided you to purge the server and recover the data corrupted by the old machine. And it was later revealed that Legion possessed the old machine code that it used to allow us to have true intelligence once we were freed from the old machines. Through that instance, parts of legion and parts of the code were given to you. And with your organic mind surviving the crucibles blast, the fragments of the code survived with you."

It was something that gave Shepard a moment of pause. All this wouldn't have been possible if he hadn't reconnected to the consensus to give David the missing pieces. But if he hadn't survived the blast…

The geth took a step forward.

"Without your assistance, our reconstruction would not have been possible. And because of you, we are free of the old machine's influence now that they are destroyed. You allowed us to live and give us a chance to allow the galaxy to survive and build a new future. Like every other species, we are indebted to you. Indebted for letting Legion join you to defeat the Collectors and to rewrite the heretics. Indebted for your actions to invoke peace between us and the Creators. And I am indebted to you to return and allow me to live again."

It reached out its hand to Shepard. Hearing the geth's words impacted him more than any flattery he had received from other people. He made a serious impact on the geth and Quairian's future because of the risks he took to try to find peace between them. And now they were alive because of their moment of freedom to compose a way for them to survive while ensuring the Reapers would be destroyed. And he was able to give David the final pieces to complete the geth's reconstruction. He had so much reason to be proud about himself. He looked down at the geth's had and he felt his arm reach up slowly. But it never came up to have the hand take a hold of it. It was when the thoughts had returned to him about that moment on the Citadel. His face suddenly cringed and he pulled his hand back down to his side and took a half step back. The geth understood the body language and brought its own hand down.

"Is there something that disturbs you?" it said.

Shepard sighed deeply.

"I don't see myself as your hero. Not because I turn down all the praise everyone gives me, but because of something that happened with me and the Crucible."

The geth's lens twitched slightly before it said, "Do you wish to talk about it?"

How would he break the truth to them? Just flat out like he told his crew and Hackett? Might as well. No need to hide the truth or lie anymore especially with the galaxy getting a great footing in its new future.

"Might as well," Shepard closed his eyes and took a breath. "What was the most recent memory you have before the Crucible was used?"

"The last memories that were transmitted into this Ark specifically say that the Catalyst was discovered to be the Citadel. At that time the old machines had seized control of it and moved it to the system of Sol. Details of the battle that ensued were not recorded due to the Arks being stored into their hiding spots we designated for them prior to the departure to Sol."

Shepard suspected as much. "Well the battle took place at Earth. We took heavy loses but I barely managed to get into Citadel and open the arms so the Crucible would be docked with it. After that, I found myself talking to the Catalyst itself. It turned out it was the intelligence that controlled the Reapers."

"The intelligence the being known as Leviathan had created millennia ago to solve the issue of synthetic and organic conflict," the geth said as a statement rather than a question.

"The same," Shepard said a little surprised that the geth made the connection to Leviathan. The secret of Leviathan wasn't kept behind the vial entirely. Several of the council governments learned this information as well as the geth. "The only way for me to activate the crucible was through what it was able to do with Crucible. It said that its purpose was overdue and the Crucible would end the cycles but only if I chose a method that the Crucible provided. And there were three ways it could have been activated. The first was what you predicted. The energy of the blast would destroy the Reapers and you too.

"The second option was for me to control the Reapers. I'd lose my body but my consciousness would be somehow digitized and I would take the Catalyst's place to control all the Reapers. I would be able to tell the Reapers to stop the harvest and they'd do what I'd want them to do.

"And the last one involved sacrificing myself to somehow make the Crucible merge all organic and synthetic life together. Humans and all other organics would be integrated with synthetic technology and synthetics would be able to understand nearly everything about organics. If I went that way, it would have made you even closer to the Quairans and the others."

As expected, silence followed after Shepard had finished. He didn't know how the geth would react to his confession. Legion had said before that synthetics react differently than organics do. If an organic learned the truth about something that would or did kill a great number of their species, they would be angry at the cause of it. When Wrex learned of the bomb planted on Tuchunka after the Krogan Rebellions that nearly detonated and killed millions of Krogan on the planet, he nearly lost it in front of Primarch Victus. But Shepard managed to defuse the situation and get them to cooperate until they cured the Genophage. But the geth on the other hand reacted differently when they were issued something hard against them. After the quairans tried to kill them, the geth drove them off of their world in self defense. When he talked to Legion about the geth's opinions on the quairans, it said that they didn't hold anything against them like organics would hold a grudge. But telling the geth in front of him the truth about the crucible was something that Shepard didn't know how the geth would react. After a few more seconds of silence, Shepard broke the ice to tack on something at the end.

"I didn't know what to do, honestly. I wanted to keep you alive but..."

"The threat of the old machine was greater," the geth said.

"I guess so," Shepard blankly said in return. "And in the end..."

"You chose to destroy the old machines," the geth finished again. Shepard knew that the geth's vocal communication voices were monotone but he could tell that the geth wasn't acting hostile at all.

"And you're okay with that?" He asked.

"You were the one who could activate the Crucible at the time. So the choice came down to you, not us. And as of now, the geth are alive again and the old machines are destroyed."

"Yeah but I didn't know that you had your back up plan," Shepard said.

"No. But regardless, the geth are alive now even after the choice you made. Furthermore, now that I've analyzed what you told me of the Crucible, based on past choices you made, we would have known you would have chosen to destroy the old machine rather than an alternative that would allow the old machines to live and perhaps have influence in future interaction and development of your species."

Once again Shepard was taken back this time to before the war even started.

"You're talking about my choice Legion witnessed about either destroying the Collector base or only killing the Collectors so Cerberus would have the Reaper larva to themselves?"

"When we looked on this decision based on what Legion shared with us, when you made the choice to destroy the base and the infant old machine, we concluded several factors about why you did so. The first was the base of moral value of the humans who were processed to form the infant old machine. It gave you reason to avenge their deaths even when potential benefits would be gained for its study.

"And there was the factor of the distrust you held against the Cerberus organization. You saw them as a blight of your species' society almost the same we saw the heretics in ours. Handing over a nearly functional infant old machine might have been seen as an equivalent as giving an irrational or extremist organization a weapon of mass destruction for them to use on unsuspecting victims.

"Now observing at the situation of the Crucible as you described, we assumed you would have chosen to destroy the old machine even at the cost of our lives based on these factors that lead to your choice to destroy the infant old machine. Furthermore, we would have preferred this outcome."

Shepard was rather surprised about what the geth told him. How they actually predicted he would destroy the Reapers at any cost even when there might be a costly side effect to it. "You really think so?"

"Controlling the old machines reflects the decision you turned down at the collector base. You rejected the chance for humanity to attempt to understand the old machine and use the technology for your own purposes. If you were to take control of the old machines, would that be an equivalent to giving the infant old machine to Cerberus?"

Shepard opened his mouth only to feel the words stop on his tongue. What the geth said made him realize that it was right. When he made the choice to destroy the reaper larva, he didn't know the real reasons but what the geth said made sense and the reasons did sound like why he made his choice. This was everything that he had said to the Illusive Man aboard the Citadel right before the Crucible was docked. He told him he was be playing with things they didn't understand and told him of the risks if it failed. And if he was right and the idea of control was an illusion, their only chance to save humanity would be gone.

"And this choice to merge organic and synthetic life together," the geth moved on. "While we would have considered the chance for us to have the ability to truly understand organics, the ramifications of this choice would go against the basis of the belief the heretics went against when they joined Nazaria. 'Geth build their own future'. "

And once again Shepard was stopped in his tracks. How could he have forgotten the saying Legion said? And from what the geth told him already of the new geth's consensus to die before submitting to the Reapers ever again, it all made sense.

"If the merging had happened, our future, and the future of all other organics may have been altered drastically with the old machines in question. We wouldn't be able to build our own future."

Shepard rubbed the back of his neck. "I've already told Hackett that those were some of the reasons why I ruled that out first thing. But even if you sound like you're okay with me wiping out the geth, I'm still not feeling okay about it."

"Perhaps the question you should ask yourself is this," The geth took a step closer to Shepard and he looked up at it. "What are the advantages for humanity and all other organics now the old machines are gone?"

Shepard knew the geth was trying to change the subject which meant that it had no longer had an interest in the subject he was going with.

"We're free to rebuild what was lost," Shepard said. "And now that everyone's working together, we have a better chance of having a better future than we thought was possible."

"And was this what you hoped to achieve when you fought against the old machines?" the geth asked.

"My only concern was the survival of humanity and everyone else. But when I looked passed the conflict I was in, that was one of the hopes I had. After seeing the Krogan and the Turians working together and seeing you and the Qaurians working together, it gave me hope for a better future for everyone. And when I look around me now, seeing the Batarians starting to set aside their feuds and heal their relationship with us, many of things that I hoped for is now a reality."

Shepard found it a little funny that the geth had managed to get him to come to realizing why destroying the Reapers was the right thing to do. He guessed they really did learn a thing or two about organic behavior. Sure, the geth wasn't a psychologist, but it was pretty impressive considering what it did for him.

"But the thing is," he said. "I just need to know that the geth don't have anything against me now that I told you the truth."

"We have been saved by you twice before and you have given us the chance to build our own future. Though we have lost several of our numbers and our progress has been lengthened as a result, we're still alive and we will continue to build our own future regardless of the length it will take. We will rebuild and relearn what was lost, as every other specie will now do. We are still indebted to you and I thank you."

The geth brought its hand before Shepard again. Shepard took his time lifting his arm up again. But this time, the things that were weighing it down were slowly being lifted.

He felt relief knowing that in the end, he made the right choice for the whole galaxy and one of the ramifications of his choice had fixed itself. His hand came to the geth's hand and he shook it.

"I thank you Shepard Commander," the geth said.

"You're welcome," Shepard said. "However I'm afraid it's Admiral now."

"Acknowledged," the geth said. "I will now go to consort with the creators to aid in our reconstruction."

Tali stepped up. "I'll be happy to help with that. The flotilla recovered many of the platforms and ships from outside the sol system and brought them back. Given time, we should have them operation for you to use in no time."

"We are grateful," the geth said. "Once we reacquire more platforms for use and restore our fleet to working condition, we will continue to aid the creators and aid in the endeavors humanity and the other species in the future. "

"We appreciate the help," Shepard said. "Just don't overwork yourselves. You just came back from the dead you know."

The geth was about to leave with Tali when Shepard thought up another question.

"There's just one last question I need to ask before you go," Shepard said. The geth and Tali stopped and turned to face him.

"What do you wish to know?" the geth said.

"If you have a code of a previous geth, does that mean you're that same geth before the crucible fired?"

The geth took a pause and answered.

"We have speculated this topic. In logical terms, the answer is no. I am not the same geth program. I may contain the memories and a portion of a code of a certain geth that existed before the crucible claimed its life, but this platform is different than the one before and the rest of the coding is new. However, we have determined that something of the previous geth had lived on into me. Something more than just the father code the previous geth passed on to be used to complete my construction"

Tali already had the answer, "Your soul survived."

"In many human cultures, specifically Hinduism and Buddhism, it is believed the soul of a person who dies is reborn into a new life form to continue its journey to enlightenment. When we came to our consensus of the use of the Arks, we knew that the geth who would fight the old machines would die. But our ideas, memories and our knowledge would live on in the new geth programs that would be created. In other terms, I am a 'Reincarnation' of the geth."

The word reincarnation stirred something inside of Shepard. It sounded truly appropriate. The geth who fought the Reapers on earth had died when the Crucible's blast reached them. But their souls had found their way back to the new geth that were now living inside the server.

"Well I'm very happy that the geth are alive again. It means a lot to me."

"We are grateful to know that our reincarnation has given you rejoin Shepard Admiral. We look forward to aiding your species in the future."

The geth and Tali walked out of the room leaving Liara and Shepard alone with David. David looked over at Shepard with the same smile on his face.

"Are you okay David?"

"You made it quiet," David said. "I am better. They're back, and I feel much better. I will remain here to oversee their rebirth before I return. Thank you for everything."

David turned to face the server and got to work with it.

Shepard looked over at Liara and he saw the same feeling that she had. After their chat aboard the Normandy after his nightmare, this was exactly what Liara had hoped to have happened. Shepard was vindicated for his choice. Humanity's synthetic allies were brought back from extinction while the Reapers were gone for good. It was something he could rejoice about.

Without a word, they embraced each other in their arms. David looked over at the pair and all he could do was smile for the happiness they expressed for each other and the race he helped bring back to life.

Author's note: I hope you've enjoyed my little contribution to the Mass Effect community in making the best ending better. As always, please give a review. I want to know if my theory is good and/or believable from the people I write this for. Again thank you very much and please spread the word about this story and my idea that makes the best ending perfect.