8. This Mortal Coil
"Wake up."
Commander Shepard hears a small voice through the dull throbbing in her head. Her eyes slowly open to dark and unfamiliar surroundings, pushing herself up onto shaky hands and knees. The metal floor is cold and her bloodstained hands stick to it.
She's not sure where she is, her vision blurry and unfocused. There's a soft droning sound in her ears and her thoughts feel as if they are in a fog as she tries to remember what happened. I found Anderson... we stopped the Illusive Man... opened the Citadel arms...
"Anderson?" she whispers, quiet and hoarse. The weakness of her own voice surprises her. She turns her head slowly looking for him, instead she sees the control panel she collapsed near. But this isn't the same place. Where am I? Where's Anderson? He'd been a few feet away when she slipped from the controls, but she can't remember how she got to this new room. It has to still be in the tower. The control panel's here.
Shepard shakes her head slowly, trying to shake the fog away. A small, dark form catches her attention in her peripheral vision. It's a gun. The Carnifex she found in the keeper tunnel. She reaches over and grabs it.
The dizziness and ache forces her to close her eyes again for several seconds. It seems to help. She opens them again and looks forward, towards a light coming from the center of the room. The blurriness now gone, she tries to understand what she's looking at. The light is so bright, she squints her eyes to get a better look.
It seems to be a massive energy generator of some kind. A bright white beam flares in the center of the machine with a small console in front of it. Two large devices sit on either side of the central beam, with components clearly visibly. Shepard can tell immediately that they are not perfectly identical. The one on the left, glowing blue, has a pair of conductors exposed, and light blue electric sparks travel across the points. The device on the right glows red with a clear glass cylinder surrounding several wires and tubes. It doesn't look like a typical mass effect core though it appears to be functioning in a similar way.
Beyond this strange energy core is a massive wall of windows through which she can see Earth. The war continues in front of her as Sword fights the reapers. The galactic fleet is losing ground to the hostile invaders. The sight sends a shiver through her body. This is similar to the view from the previous room... This has to be the tower... but where in the tower exactly?
There are so many questions and she is so tired. Her eyelids feel heavier with each and every blink, taking longer and longer to open. She fights the urge to give in to the exhaustion choosing instead to focus on the generator. Could that be used to power the Crucible?
The bright white glare of the central beam is so intense she doesn't notice the small illuminated figure moving towards her until she hears its voice call to her again.
"Wake up," it says to her. The childlike voice sounds oddly hollow, as if echoing within itself.
The whirring sound in Shepard's head grows more pronounced for a few moments then fades to a soft murmur. A faint hum now, the more she tries to listen to it, the dizzier she becomes. Instead she centers her attention on the small form closing in on her.
An icy blue light emanates from the mysterious figure, shimmering like stars in the darkest skies. It does not appear to be solid or holographic. It's something else entirely. Otherworldly almost. Ethereal. Small. Maybe four feet tall at the most, it walks like a human. As it gets closer she can see more details. It looks like a human child... like him. The boy on Earth. The one from my nightmares...
The Commander slowly pushes herself to her feet as he stops three feet in front of her. She stands still for a second just staring in disbelief at the apparition before her as she holds her side with her left arm and grips the pistol with her right.
It is him. But how? Why is he here... like... this? She feels cold and heavy as the guilt and the feeling of failure wash over her. Feelings she'd experienced in Vancouver during the attack. She couldn't save him. Even in her nightmares, she couldn't save him. She takes a deep but shaky breath trying to steady herself.
"What? Where am I?" she asks wearily.
"The Citadel. It's my home," the ghostly child replies.
She gazes at his glowing expressionless face for a moment before looking around at the cavernous room. There's no one else here. Only the two of them. This can't be real. What is this?... What is he?
"Who are you?" she asks the child cautiously.
"I am the Catalyst." Its voice is cool and without inflection.
"I thought the Citadel was the Catalyst," she says.
"No. The Citadel is part of me."
The weight of his declaration takes a moment to register in her muddled thoughts. Once it does, her mind reels with even more questions and confusion. How can he be the Catalyst? Why does it look like that boy? Could it be a constructed interface? She remembers the geth consensus. Legion created the virtual gun so she would have something familiar in that completely foreign digital landscape. Is that what this is? This kid is a part of my recent past, from my memories... can the Catalyst read my thoughts?... An ability programmed by the original race that designed it? Or is he one of them?... A reaper? There are so many questions but the single most important one remains.
"I need to stop the reapers. Do you know how I can do that?" The words fall from her bruised and bloodied lips. Her voice is fragile, pensive, and hopeful all at once.
"Perhaps. I control the reapers." The child turns and starts to walk towards the center of the room.
Shepard follows, slowly limping along behind it. The wound in her side is no longer bleeding but it still hurts like hell.
"They are my solution," it states flatly as it stops and turns to look at the Commander.
"The solution to what?"
"Chaos. The created will always rebel against their creators. But we found a way to stop that from happening." The glowing apparition walks in front of the central beam of light. "A way to restore order for the next cycle."
"By wiping out organic life?" she responds with disdain.
"No. We harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger ones alone. Just as we left your people alive the last time we were here."
Shepard stops and scowls. The last time WE were here? It is a reaper…
"But you killed the rest," she says sharply.
The Catalyst looks out onto the battle beyond and Commander Shepard does the same. A massive Sovereign-class reaper annihilates an Alliance dreadnought, the battleship breaking apart, engulfed in fire and smoke. Her hands shake and she grips the pistol tighter. I have to stop this. But I don't know how...
"We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life, storing the old life in reaper form," the ghostly being continues to explain.
Shepard frowns grimly, thinking once again of the human reaper, the ultimate abomination. She glares at the reaper-child in front of her.
"I think we'd rather keep our own form."
"No. You can't," it replies looking up at her. Its false childlike visage blank though its tone is assured, superior. "Without us to stop it, synthetics would destroy all organics. We created the cycle so that never happens. That's the solution."
The desperation is tearing her apart. She has to end this war. She's unsure of how much longer the galactic fleets can hold out against the reaper onslaught. She feels as though she's bargaining with the devil, but there is no other choice. She has to try reasoning with it, with this reaper construct.
"But you're taking away our future. Without a future, we have no hope. Without hope… we might as well be machines, programmed to do what we're told." She exhales sharply, the confusion and despair turning to anger. She would not let the reapers win. Somehow she would find a way to stop this.
"You have hope. More than you think," it says in a somewhat softer tone. Almost sympathetic. "The fact that you are standing here, the first organic ever, proves it. But it also proves my solution won't work anymore."
As the boy looks back at the central beam Shepard struggles to grasp all it's told her. The room. The Catalyst. The reapers' philosophy. It threatens to overwhelm her as the buzzing noise and lightheadedness grow stronger. She forces herself to go blank for a moment, trying to take steady breaths and slow her racing pulse.
"So now what?"
"We find a new solution," the Catalyst replies.
"Yeah. But how?"
"The Crucible changed me… created new possibilities. But I can't make them happen." It pauses and turns to look at her. "I know you thought about destroying us." It is smug and accusatory.
The Catalyst turns to the red device and Shepard's attention follows. Almost instantly, images flash in her mind. Images of Anderson walking towards the mysterious red device, his gun pointed at it. He fires several rounds into the cylindrical machine, resulting in a fiery explosion and shower of sparks as the glass casing shatters.
Shepard gasps and staggers backward. Anderson? What is this? She turns to the ghostly child in horror. It's showing me this.
"You can wipe out all synthetic life if you want. Including the geth," it says to her. "Even you are partly synthetic."
Shepard's body sways, unsteady once more, as what the Catalyst told her quickly sinks in. This couldn't be real? Could it? She would be able to destroy them. Here. Now. Just by destroying that red glowing device. But of course there would be a dire consequence. That isn't lost on her. All other synthetics would be destroyed as well. The geth. EDI. This war has to end but could she sacrifice an entire race, an entire form of life for it? What if it's the only way? She takes a deep breath, the air feeling ice cold as it fills her lungs.
"But the reapers would be destroyed?" The reapers are the biggest threat to all life in the galaxy. If she didn't stop them, then nearly every species would be wiped out. Not just the geth.
"Yes. But the peace won't last. Soon, your children will create synthetics, and then the chaos will come back."
"Maybe," she responds. Her head is pounding. She closes her eyes for a moment, trying to make sense of what it's just told her.
"Or do you think you can control us?" The Catalyst asks as it turns toward the blue device on the left. Another vision takes over Commander Shepard's mind. This time it's the Illusive Man. The device has two conductors through which brilliant blue currents of energy flow violently. He reaches out to them with his hand and pushes into the energy stream which quickly begin to envelope his entire body, surging through him.
She cringes. They can be controlled. "So the Illusive Man was right after all."
"Yes. But he could never have taken control, because we already controlled him." There is something about its tone that causes a shiver to run through her body.
"But I can?" she asks suspiciously, eyeing the spectral child.
"You will die. You will control us, but you will lose everything you have."
"But the reapers will obey me?" Could this be the only way to stop the reapers and spare the geth?
"Yes. But there is another solution."
"Yeah?"
He looks toward the bright central beam and her gaze follows. "Synthesis."
"And that is?"
"Add your energy to the Crucible's. Everything you are will be absorbed and then sent out. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework. A new… DNA."
"I… I don't know." She is unsure about this. It feels wrong somehow. The very concept of it, even if it is possible, fills her with apprehension.
"Why not?" The Catalyst asks, as if sensing her unease. "Synthetics are already a part of you. Can you imagine your life without them?"
"And there will be peace?"
It nods. "The cycle will end. Synthesis is the final evolution of life, but we need each other to make it happen. You have a difficult decision. Releasing the energy of the Crucible will end the cycle, but it will also destroy the mass relays. The paths are open. But you have to choose."
Commander Shepard stares at the central beam. Synthesis. Could that be the answer? She shifts her gaze to the view of the battle in the space beyond the Citadel, her heart pounding in her chest. I have to choose. I have to end this war now or we'll lose everything. Everything we've done to stop the reapers... it will all be for nothing...
The droning in her head flares and she shuts her eyes tightly, tries to focus on her thoughts on what the Catalyst has told her. She takes another deep breath. Ok, Shepard. Think this through. She opens her eyes, pushing the fear and doubt away. She needs to focus now. This is too important.
She turns towards the device on the right. The red. Destroy the reapers. It's what she'd set out to do from the very beginning. That has always been the main objective. What they fought for. What they bled for. What lives have been sacrificed for. Her crew. Her friends. Anderson, Ash, Thane, Mordin, and Legion. Legion… the geth… there IS peace with the geth now. The Catalyst is wrong. She turns to it.
"The geth are now self-aware AIs and they ARE peaceful towards organics," she says defiantly.
The Catalyst stares at her, unblinking. It looks slightly amused.
"The peace won't last," it states nonchalantly. "It will only be a matter of time before they turn against you and proceed to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy."
She shakes her head in frustration. That can't be true. How does he know for sure that will happen? She has to rethink this. She can't choose that option, can she? Could she commit genocide to end this war? Wouldn't that make her no better than the reapers? No. No, this isn't the right solution. Sacrificing all synthetics would be sacrificing too much.
She frowns as she turns to look at the blue glowing conductors to the left. It's what the Illusive Man was so desperate for. Control... Would the reapers really allow that?
Even if they left the galaxy by her command, what would stop them from returning in a decade or so? Selecting this option couldn't keep them away forever, could it? She doesn't trust the reapers enough to believe it will. But then why should she trust any of these so-called solutions? She feels weak and unsteady again as she brings her left hand to her forehead. She glances up at the view. Earth is burning. The fleets are getting crushed. She has to make the right choice that will stop this war. It all comes down to this.
Shepard moves shakily and slowly toward the central beam. Getting closer, she can see a faint green glow to the energy pulsing through the small amplifiers at the panel in front of it. This is synthesis. If the Catalyst is right... this would be the only way to ensure peace between the organics and synthetics. She continues to take slow, uneven steps forward. It's the best option isn't it? There could be peace. The cycle wouldn't need to continue. It's the final evolution of life…
Still something pulls at her. Doubt consumes her. There is something about that idea, that dogma, that reminds her of something she's heard before. Words spoken by an enemy from the past swirl in her head. She cries out in shock, the realization hitting her like a tidal wave. Saren. It was Saren... She slowly steps backwards, away from the celadon-tinted energy.
The Commander looks in distress at the three devices. First, the blue. Then at the green. And lastly, at the red. These devices, these solutions, presented by the Catalyst to save the galaxy, these were the deepest desires and the motivations for three. The Illusive Man. Saren. Anderson. A feeling of nausea comes over her and she closes her eyes.
"You have to make a choice. The fate of the galaxy is up to you," the Catalyst presses her, sounding insistent and irritated. "You MUST decide now or it will be too late. And we will continue to end this cycle just as we have always done."
The humming sound reaches a crescendo. She brings both hands to her head as she spins around to face the Catalyst. Angry tears form in her eyes. They had her. This whole time. They were trying to get to her. And now they had her. She remembers the phrase she used to describe what everyone thought of Saren Artierus. A rogue spectre chasing ghosts. Only that was her now. That's what she'd become isn't it? Just a rogue spectre chasing ghosts.
A yell of frustration escapes her as she shakes her head. No. This can't be happening. After everything... after coming this far! Her heart beats so fast it feels like it could explode. She opens her eyes looking at the "Catalyst". It took the form of the boy from the Alliance HQ, the one she couldn't save. But that was the point wasn't it? To prey on her need to protect the vulnerable. To fight the good fight. To save those in danger. The memory of that day and of the nightmares that followed. She recalls them all. Had he even been real in the first place? Had the reapers been trying to get to her all this time? To indoctrinate her? The thought make her hands tremble with rage.
No. No. This isn't how this is going to end. I wont let them win. I have not lost this yet. She's still her. Still Commander Shepard. And she is not going down without a fight. She raises the Carnifex with her right arm, taking a step towards the reaper-created mirage.
"You're making a massive error." Its voice angry and deeper, completely mismatched to the child-image before her. "We've given you the only chance to save the organics. Why are you so determined to waste it? Will you really choose to doom the races of this cycle, Shepard?"
The kid on Earth... He's not real. He never was. The betrayal turns to another realization, a more hopeful one. They can't fool her anymore. She won't let the reapers use her. Not like they did with Saren or the Illusive Man. Not like they undoubtedly tried to do with Anderson. The Admiral. She knows there's no way he ever could be indoctrinated. The reapers may have tried, may have planned on turning him. But it never would have worked on Anderson. He was too strong. She's determined to make him proud of her. To avenge him and end this once and for all. She'd make this right.
Shepard takes several steps, steadier now, towards the Catalyst. She feels different, the droning dissipated. The throbbing in her head has stopped. She feels like herself again and she mentally connects the dots. There is something the Catalyst said to her. It's the only truthful thing it said. It's something that makes her thinks she could still end this war and stop the reapers.
"You gave yourself away. I didn't realize it until just now," she says, though her voice still hoarse, there's a fiery, resolute tone to it. "You said I was the first organic to make it this far. But you didn't think it would be me. Not at first. Those choices, those are what the others would have wanted, and you thought I'd choose from one of them. This is your failsafe isn't it?" She still has the gun pointed towards the Catalyst. It looks at her coldly.
"When Sovereign connected to the Citadel tower, it wasn't just to signal the reaper fleet in dark space. It was to add this program with these three constructs based on the three organics you had your sights on for indoctrination. You calculated it to be a possibility in this cycle, so you implanted the failsafe... But I'm not them."
"We have given you a gift. A chance to save the organics of this cycle," it declares, booming and furious. "You will regret this, Shepard. We will harvest you. This cycle will end in our victory just like every cycle before unless you make your choice from the options we've given you."
"No," she replies, defiant and unfaltering. "I will never let the reapers decide our future. We control our own destiny."
The Commander pulls the trigger, the round penetrating the ethereal form, causing it to break apart like a puff of smoke or a biotic flare dispersing.
The room suddenly begins to darken and for a moment she fears that the reapers are attempting to control her again. As she looks around the darkened room, she knows that's not the case. She turns slowly towards the center of the room. Moments earlier where the three devices had been, there are now three other devices. Only these are not glowing red, blue, or green, nor are they designed as they appeared before. These are all identical. Glass-covered cylinders partially covering pulsing beams of white light. The soft glow fills the area of the platform.
In the center, behind the middle cylinder, is a large mass effect core. It radiates the purplish glow of a typical mass effect core but this one is different. It's unique, refined somehow. The bolts of energy from the core cast a series of violet flickering light throughout the space. Behind this core is nothing. Just a dark metal wall. No windows that look out on the battle over Earth. Only dark metal and nothing more. Shepard smiles to herself. This is it. The true Catalyst.
She's certainly no engineer or tech expert, but she understands the basics of how this machine will work. She can still appreciate this. Simple yet elegant. The three devices aren't just conductors. They're amplifiers. They will increase the power of the core exponentially when looped into the charge provided by the Crucible. She breaks from her admiration. She still has to make sure the Catalyst will work with the Crucible and fire, but how?
She holsters the Carnifex at her side and scans the rest of the room before moving over to the edge of walkway. Looking down, she can't make out anything in the darkness below. This must be the pinnacle of the tower. She doesn't know much about it, except that it's not considered usable space and was designated a keepers-access only sector fairly soon after the asari discovered the Citadel. Makes sense... This is where Sovereign latched on. It must have known the Catalyst was here.
Towards the end of the walkway opposite the core is where she woke up, where the reaper apparition came to her. There's the control panel. The same one I used to open the Citadel arms. She looks at the ground as she moves towards the controls. It's not part of the walkway. It's a moveable platform of some kind. Shepard steps onto it and looks at the controls. They're completely new. Different from the ones she examined earlier to open the arms.
She starts the holographic interface cautiously. Within moments her hope surges anew, realizing that she can understand these new controls perfectly. A diagram of the Catalyst and its status flashes on the screen before her.
CONNECTION DETECTED.
The diagram shows the three amplifiers. They're blinking on the screen.
ENERGY IN BALANCE. BEGIN WEAPON ACTIVATION?
That was it. That was the reapers' goal. Commander Shepard turns her head towards the central core. The false Catalyst and its solutions. All lies. The choices were never real. They would have the same effect in the end no matter which option. They all involved interfering with the energy flow. Causing an unbalance and making the Catalyst unusable, causing a massive meltdown. If she had chosen any of the reapers' options, she could have destroyed the Citadel and the Crucible.
She looks back at the console and enters the commands to activate the Catalyst. A second blinking screen appears and she carefully examines it. She gasps. It's asking for a target selection. She grips the edges of the console. A cold feeling spreads in her chest. The system has the ability to analyze lifeforms. The reapers are not the only option to target. Turian, human, asari, krogan, salarian, quarian, geth, and others. All here.
The revelation that the Catalyst and Crucible together have the potential to destroy any race in the galaxy, sends of flood of worry over her. That's the catch isn't it? The price of having a weapon so powerful...
She slowly inhales and exhales. She needs to deal with the reapers first. The potential repercussions of the super-weapon would have to wait. Shepard sets the target to the reapers. The next screen displays the energy output readings. It uses the Citadel's own mass effect cores to charge up the force for the weapon. The energy would be transferred through the amplifiers and finally through the Catalyst's mass effect core, but it would need to divert the Citadel's gravity systems power to work.
Shepard enters the final commands and an alert flashes across the holographic interface.
WARNING: GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS OF STATION WILL BEGIN TO DISSIPATE. EVACUATION ADVISED.
Additional data on the screen informs her that the weapon will fire once the Catalyst is at full capacity. The discharge of energy upon firing will result in an overload of the mass relay network which will require manual repairs and restarts.
Shepard sighs with relief. She did it. This is it. The reapers would be destroyed. The relays could be repaired. The Citadel would still be intact as well. The Catalyst core glows powerfully. The bright light filling the room now and the glass-cylinder covers lower over the amplifiers.
You were right, Anderson. There's always another way.
She activates the platform controls to return to the lower level. Now that the gravity fields were beginning to weaken, she had to try and get off the Citadel with the Admiral. If there's any chance he's still alive, she'd get them out of this. Hopefully, they could find a functional aircar and get out of there. Maybe one of the Shield vessels would be close enough to pick them up. And Garrus.
"Garrus," Shepard whispers his name with a smile on her face.
She's exhausted but the job is finally done and now they could try putting his retirement plan into action. She'd head back to Earth and meet up with him. Somewhere in the back of her mind the doubt is present, lurking, but she doesn't let it intrude. She's earned this much at least, this glimmer of hope.
Besides, he was so far behind her in the push for the beam. Garrus and Liara are ok. She has to believe that they are. It's what kept her going, what got her this far. She lets her exhausted mind wander for a few seconds, indulging in reverie about what the future could hold. She chuckles softly to herself as she imagines Garrus chasing a defiant krogan toddler around the Normandy's Crew Deck.
As the platform lowers, Commander Shepard pulls her thoughts away from the sanguine and towards the consuming darkness around her.
"Anderson?" she calls out. "Anderson, can you hear me?" There's no response.
When the platform settles, she scans the small, dark circular room. Her heart feels as if its being ripped from her chest when she finally spots the Admiral.
"Anderson!" she yells, rushing toward him.
Admiral Anderson is lying in a large pool of blood, a gaping wound in his abdomen. Much larger than the wound from the pistol. His arms and legs are riddled with deep lacerations.
"Anderson! What happened?" she asks frantically, checking his pulse. It's faint. Barely there.
He slowly opens his eyes and looks up at her.
"Shepard?" His eyes are glazed, unfocused. His voice is weak.
"Anderson, what happened?" she repeats.
"The Illusive Man..." his voice is nearly a whisper.
She looks to where the Illusive Man's lifeless body had been earlier. Only now there's nothing. Just the smooth metal floor and wet puddles of red and black.
She looks back to Anderson. "He did this? How?"
"I tried to stop him. He's a full husk now... A monster... mutated. He knows you activated the Catalyst. He's going to try to damage the Crucible… try to keep it from firing somehow."
Anderson groans in pain. Shepard reaches for his hand and holds it. He squeezes back weakly. He feels so cold.
"I managed to get a few shots in, but I don't think it did much good. Shepard… You have to stop him."
"I can't leave you here," she replies, shaking her head.
"Yes, you can. You have to. This is over for me." He pulls his hand away from hers to detach a dog tag from his neck and gives it to her. "But you still have a mission to complete, soldier. Go... now... and be careful, Shepard. He's..."
His voices trails off and his eyelids close.
"Admiral?" she pleads. "Come on, stay with me... Anderson..." She checks his pulse again in vain. He's gone. The tears well in her eyes but she blinks them away. She wouldn't let the Illusive Man get away with this.
Commander Shepard looks down at her clenched fist holding the Admiral's dog tag and opens it to look at the dirty, bloodstained object. There's something final, absolute, and agonizing about holding this small piece of metal in her palm. Anderson is gone. He wouldn't be getting up to give other command, to fight another battle. She attaches the dog tag to the chain around her neck holding her own.
"I won't let you down, Admiral," she whispers as she gently places his hand on the ground before reluctantly letting go.
She stands and readies her gun before following a trail of black blood. Reaper husk blood. She moves swiftly towards the exit. The doorway isn't the same place she came in from. There's a new pathway. The room shifted somehow. Maybe the keepers did it, or activating the Catalyst caused the shift.
Shepard makes her way through the tunnels. She thinks about Anderson, and about Garrus and her crew. She feels deep down that he's still alive. No, not just feels it. She knows it. And she's determined to keep it that way.
She also acknowledges another feeling. This one less pleasant. This would likely be it. Her final mission. She's injured. Exhausted. This might be the last fight, but she has to stop the Illusive Man. No matter the cost. She can accept that she could die here. If she can save the galaxy from the reapers, save the people she loves, it will be worth it. A small price to pay. A sacrifice she'd make a thousand times over. She's ready.
Garrus, I'm sorry. A soft sob escapes her as she thinks of him. Looks like that retirement plan isn't going to work out... But I'm going to finish this... for you, for everyone we care about. I love you, Garrus. Where ever you are, I hope you know that...
Commander Shepard steps out of the tunnel and on to the Presidium. Pausing for a moment to stare out onto the destruction, before continuing further into the open area. The formerly pristine Citadel is destroyed, tarnished, covered in debris and blood. The dead are everywhere. Innocent casualties of this war and each are reminders of why she fights. Why she won't let the Illusive Man sabotage the Crucible. And why she won't let the reapers win.
Author's Notes:
Thanks for reading! Things are going to begin to really deviate from the in-game ending. Playing through ME3, I wish there would have been a 4th option. It always felt like you were playing into the reapers' hands by selecting any of the 3 in-game options. (Sadly you had no choice if you wanted to complete the game.)
But with this new option comes a revelation that could potentially have major consequences for the galaxy. A weapon as powerful as the Crucible can't exist without having serious implications. (Also when I think of the original race who gave rise to something as dangerous as the reapers, I think they must have had their own inclinations towards mass destruction.)