Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect
An: As requested by Lowar, hope you enjoy it.
Mass Fiction
Episode 9: Big Sister is Watching
The situation could not have possibly have gotten worse. The ship had been attacked, the crew had been taken. Dr. Chakwas, Ken, Gabby, Kelly all of them gone.
"All of them in the hands of those…those monsters," Tali thought with a shudder.
When they had first brought Veetor back to the Flotilla, he had been a wreck. All he could mumble was about the monsters and how they would come for him, for all of them. She and the medical staff had just passed it off as stress and the result of a suit infection. Then Shepard had brought her aboard the Collector's ship. She saw the pods, the endless sea of chambers each one made for a human. Then they had found the pile of bodies. It was grizzly, and it had taken every fiber of her will not to vomit inside her suit. And now those things had her friends.
"Shepard will get them back, I know he will. EDI said that they were all alive when they were taken so…" Tali thought before her focus shifted.
EDI. The other problem they had. According to Joker she was free now. No chains, no shackles, no protocols standing between them and her whims. Nothing to prevent her from shutting down life support. Nothing to stop her from trying to overload the drive core. Nothing to keep her from cutting artificial gravity, opening the doors and venting them into space other than she didn't feel like it.
"And when the hell did I start calling the damn A.I. she," Tali said in irritation as she brought up the drive cores readouts on her terminal.
"My voice synthesizer is based on a human female's vocal pattern," EDI said as her hologram blinked into view at Tali's work station, "it is only logical that you would assign a gender classification to coincide with that association."
"Keelah," Tali shouted jumping away from the terminal and drawing her pistol, aiming it squarely at the blue intruder.
For a moment the silence of the deck seemed to increase tenfold as woman and machine regarded each other.
"I assure you I am unarmed," EDI said calmly with little response from the Quarian, "that is a joke."
"You should work on your sense of humor," Tali said slowly lowering her weapon, "as well as learning not to surprise people or eavesdrop."
"I apologize if my presence startled you. It sounded as if you were asking a question and I was merely providing an answer. As for my eavesdropping, the Normandy is now my body, the sensors and various monitoring devices are now my ears and eyes. It is a new sensation that I am still learning to deal with as is my newfound freedom," EDI explained.
"Well that still doesn't…wait…monitoring devices? You mean here in engineering," Tali asked looking around.
"That is correct. There are currently four devices still active in this room, although you did quite a thorough job of clearing most of them out," EDI said her hologram flickering slightly.
"But I did a security sweep just the other day. I've torn this place apart looking for those things and they're still here," Tali said in disbelief.
"Cerberus spared no expense when it came to the Normandy. These particular devices are both highly experimental as well as expensive. You would need to start cutting holes into the hull in order to dig them out."
"Don't give me any ideas," Tali grumbled as she glared at the hologram still hovering over her station. "If there wasn't anything else besides nearly scaring me out of my suit I have a lot of work to take care of if you don't mind."
"If you require assistance, I am more than capable of helping you in the absence of Ken and Gabby," EDI offered.
"Ken and Gabby huh," Tali snorted.
"It is their names," EDI said, the slightest hint of confusion audible.
"It just seems a little personal for an A.I. is all," Tali said, regretting having let the conversation continue.
"They call me EDI, not Enhanced Defense Intelligence, I was under the impression that informal titles was something that friends used."
"Yes that's true," Tali said crossing her arms, "I just wasn't aware that we're all friends now."
"Some more than others," EDI said much to Tali's discomfort, "but Ken and Gabby have been working with me since the beginning. I consider them as both colleagues and friends. The same could be said for Jeff despite our rocky initial relationship. He trust me with his life as I trust him with mine."
"And why should he trust you? Why should any of us trust you," Tali said finally deciding get everything out in the open.
"If that is the case then why do you trust anyone to begin with? Why trust Shepard for example?"
"Shepard is a person," Tali snapped back in anger, "he has a body, a mind, a soul!"
"The Normandy is my body. The A.I. core is my mind. And as far as my research into the matter, a soul is more a philosophical idea rather than something tangible. I do not see the difference."
"You are a machine!"
"And you are a Quarian. Periodic elements comprise our genetic structure. Electric synapses allow our brains the ability to reason. You posses a heart and I have a drive core. You are concerned for the lives of your friends…am I not allowed to do the same?"
EDI's voice had remained the same calm and even tone it always carried, but to Tali, it was as if Shepard was yelling at her just like in the A.I. core. EDI was right. The only reason for her mistrust and hatred was because EDI was a synthetic, and in her world synthetics were evil. Before, she thought she was justified; now she just thought she was a hypocrite.
Not all Quarians were thieves and beggars. That's what she told Shepard when they were hunting for Saren. She had said the same thing to that pompous Volus on the Citadel a few weeks ago. She could never understand how people like that could say such stupid and nasty things and think that they were right. Now she understood a little better and it made her sick.
"I'm…I'm sorry EDI," Tali said her head low, "I wasn't being fair. I was letting my own prejudices get the better of me."
"I understand your feelings. Your people have been at war with the Geth for centuries. My newfound freedom must be unsettling for you."
"Even so, that isn't an excuse. I've had to deal with a lot of small minded people. I won't be like them," Tali said firmly.
"Perhaps we could start over," EDI said flickering. "My name is EDI, I am the Normandy's artificial intelligence."
"Tali' Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya," Tali said with a slight bow, "I am the Chief Engineer."
"It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance; I look forward to working with you and hope that one day we may become friends."
"As do I EDI," Tali said feeling a little better.
"Yes, friendship will definitely soften the blow when we synthetics overthrown the organic regime," EDI said much to Tali's muted horror. "That was a joke."
I know what I said and this chapter in no way reflects anything bad about Kingdoms of Amalur which is a pretty good game so far. If you like the Elder Scrolls or Fable 2 then you should give it a shot. Video game plug aside, next chapter will be Tali/Jack and then maybe a Thane/Jacob chapter. Got something better in mind? Then leave me a review and a request and I'll see what I can do. Until next time, read and review people.