Chapter 8: Disconnect
On board the ship, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy was sharing her concerns with Commander Shepard about her newest assignment.
"Why did you save me from all the things you have over these years just to hand me over to the Geth?" pleaded the Quarian. "I do not trust this Legion, and I do not know why you do."
Amidst the hysteria, all Shepard could offer in reply was a sigh of resignation.
"Tali," he said as he grasped her shoulders to calm her, "Legion has proven himself as a member of this crew. Whatever differences exist between your people, this is an opportunity to work them out."
"Oh yes, Commander," Tali whined. "Use the hostage to get the admirals in their sight, and then finish the few of us they missed. An excellent plan."
It was an odd response from the technician to be so worried, as she had been able to work with the synthetic intelligence before. But, she did not want to go alone, and she was even more worried about the newest development. Since the Normandy had already given its shuttle to the team working on Palaven, the Geth would be providing the transportation.
When Legion made the suggestion, Shepard appreciated the willingness of the Geth to accommodate, but Tali was not happy. Legion's comments about her bodysuit protecting her from the vacuum were even less comforting to the Quarian, but the Commander couldn't help but be amused how close the similarities could be between the Creators and their creation.
"Tali, you can do this. I have faith in you. We don't have time for another war, and you know as well as I that the Fleet is likely to invade if this doesn't work. Then, whether Quarian, Geth, or any other species, we'll all be dead." His logic was sound, especially as he noted the militant tone when he had been at the trial for his shipmate. The Quarians were determined to act, and while he might approve of their resolve under other circumstances, every ally would be needed to fight the real enemy, the Reapers.
With a sigh of her own, Tali relented, "I will do what I must Commander. But you must promise this: If you do not hear from me within two weeks, you will come and either rescue me or destroy these Geth. For me, and for my people." The request was a bit over the top, but Shepard indulged the theatrics.
"You know I will be there. I always am. But you need not worry."
"We shall see, Shepard," was the only assurance the Quarian could muster and she left his office.
She went down to the cargo bay where there was a module that had been sent from the Geth to provide transport for Legion and Tali. Awaiting there was a ship she had never seen before, shaped like a sphere with a tail, and smaller than she had expected. With her technical eye, she went and observed the craft to see if it is was spaceworthy.
"Greetings, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy," intoned the mechanical voice of Legion, who seemed to emerge from nowhere.
Startled, she jumped with fright and exclaimed, "Don't scare me like that. Where did you come from?"
Legion cocked his mechanical head as the flanges moved around his single glowing eye, "We were assembled to interact with organic lifeforms. We were built on platform 282, two years, three months, and…"
Exasperated, she clarified, "I meant what were you doing in that corner."
The Geth sniper stopped his previous explanation, and simply said, "We were waiting for you."
"Great. I don't know if I liked you more as an enemy or as a pet," was her caustic response.
"Interesting. Did Creators see us as pets? Processing," said Legion.
"You are not pets. You are thieves, who stole our world, and who killed many of our people." Although her face was obscured by her suit, the tension in her body language was obvious.
"Yes, we did. But we acted in self-defense. Protect ourselves before we were terminated. Creators planned to destroy collective. Consensus reached to live." Legion looked at her with the single bright eye and said, "Is this different than you programmed us?"
"Yes," she began, before considering, "No…I do not know, damn you." In consideration, Tali hung her head slightly and said, "We did this to ourselves. We were too clever, gave you too many skills, and then we were mad when you used them. It does not excuse what you have done to my people, but no, you machines are not the only ones to blame."
"Transmissions received suggest only some Quarians share this opinion. Others believe eradication is only option. Is there no consensus?" asked the sniper.
"You ask a question that cannot be answered. There are millions of Quarians in the fleet, and every one has a different opinion." She thought that was insufficient, so Tali expanded her views, "But all of us want to return to the home which we lost."
Legion replied, "The Creator's homeworld is our home also. Would Creator Tali'Zorah vas Normandy like to visit the homeworld? We can go now if she is ready."
She was struck by how casually he could speak about the homeworld, Rannoch. It had been lost for nearly three hundred years, since the Morning War. Billions of Quarians had died, they had been expelled from their Embassy on the Citadel, from their planet of origin, and cast out as drifters in the galaxy in a great diaspora. Perhaps this was ancient history to the victors of the conflict, but each day the Quarians roamed in their vast armada of secondhand vessels was a reminder of what they had lost, and each day held just that small hope of what could be regained.
Rannoch was more than a planet to the Quarians. It was one of the few places in the galaxy they could live. As a planet devoid of insect life, many of the other species there had developed symbiotic relationships with their Quarian hosts. Although they always had a weaker immune system compared to other races, Rannoch was a place where they were once able to be in the open.
That had changed. Since taking to space, the exiles found their immunodeficiency had only worsened, as their biosuits had effectively shielded them from any contamination or contact with other species. In a universe where touch mattered as much as talking, it meant the Quarians were always kept apart, much like the Volus or other species who wore exosuits.
Tali herself knew this more than anyone, as she wished for those simple embraces. When she thought about Shepard, and how she wished for his touch, and how this suit is why she would lose him to Miranda, to Liara, or some other woman who could keep his bed warm, she was angry. She was also sad, sad to be leaving the place she felt most at home, and going away with this machine who had taken so much from her already.
"Let us leave this place," offered Tali. She wasn't enthusiastic, but it was better to do it quickly.
With two seats in the vessel, Tali took the seat in the back so she could keep her eyes focused on the Geth. Before her, there was a pilot seat taken by Legion, and a triangular panel that was black with a white outline. She was confused, however, by the lack of information being displayed.
"Legion, how do you pilot this vessel," inquired the technician both out of curiosity as well as her plan to learn whatever information might be helpful to her own people.
As Legion brought the ship to hover within the cargo bay, he responded, "We are networked through a direct neural interface. Panels are a secondary failsafe if neural networks cannot be linked, but we control our ships with our commands."
Unable to hide her curiosity, "You mean you tell your ships where to go and then they do." Despite herself, she was impressed, "That's amazing."
"Speed of light transmissions are instantaneous. Our platforms work more efficiently together, so we are joined with the ship, and with the collective."
Tali was going to inquire further before she heard EDI come over the loudspeaker: "Starboard cargo bay depressurization commencing in fifteen seconds. Geth vessel, please be advised."
Legion said nothing in response, but tweaked his head as evidence some sort of communication was happening. As the seconds went down, the cargo bay opened, and the synthetic machine piloted the sphere away from the Normandy.
"Audio transmission received," came a voice from the Geth vessel that sounded identical to Legion, but it seemed to come from the ship.
"Joker here, your ship is now free. You won't have EDI and I to look out for you for the next few weeks, so be careful out there. Tali, we'll see you soon. Normandy out."
Hearing a familiar voice of the helmsman was welcome, but she was surprised to hear the ship speak in advance of those comments.
Guessing at her confusion, the Geth spoke and said, "Our mission is of vital importance. If our platforms work together, we can achieve more, reach a lasting consensus. Audio input builds team confidence, so this platform will use more analog communication with Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."
Tali was actually surprised by how touched she was by the gesture, "Legion, I appreciate you talking with me to make me feel more comfortable." Continuing her thought, she said, "Just call me Tali. I do not need to have every name recited when we speak."
"Tali. We are Legion," was his effort to respond.
"You mean you are Legion. There is only one of you in this vessel," corrected the Quarian.
Legion shook its head slightly, "One unit, but one consciousness. We are all Geth."
"Shepard tried explaining this to me, that you represent the voice of the entire Geth species," asked the technician as she tried to piece together how the Geth actually operated.
"An over-simplification, but an accurate metaphor: Geth awareness is collective. All Geth are included, we grow by sharing what we learn, and a discarded platform is lost, no longer Geth." Legion struggled to render the concepts into terms she could get.
"So, you're saying that you cannot have any independent existence from the Geth collective," probed the Quarian as this didn't quite fit her understanding."
"No platform or unit is irreplaceable. Decisions are made by consensus. We are all Geth, we are all one," was the response by the platform before her.
Tali stopped for a moment as the ship began to move toward the nearest mass relay, about a half hour distant at current speed and course. She could feel the smoothness of the flight, but she had a question that was troubling her.
"If Geth cannot make individual decisions, how is it that you were able to not transmit the information you had taken from my omni-tool to your collective? Or were you lying?" accused the technician.
"Lying is inefficient. Information was not transmitted. Conflicted with primary mission to work with other lifeforms to stop the old machine threat. This platform worked to achieve the primary mission, and followed Commander Shepard's decision," was the explanation offered.
"So then you made a choice," Tali leaned forward as she said the next item, "You decided on your own."
Legion went several seconds before continuing. The implications of what had been done were considerable, and he did not know how to express what it meant. "We followed our protocols. We were programmed to make certain decisions, and make choices necessary for the mission."
"Legion," Tali continued, "I think you made a decision for yourself."
"Processing, speak again later," was all he said in reply.
"Suit yourself," said the Quarian as she sat back. "Do you have a visual portal to see the stars?"
"Does Tali detect a threat? Sensors are functioning in optimal range," responded Legion.
"I simply want to see space," said the technician. Mocking his voice, she said, "Optimizing optical output will enhance this platform's performance."
"Very well," Legion made a flick of his fingers, and the hull began to shimmer. Before long, interior hull of the vessel seemed transparent and the spherical shell now became a representation as the space outside. It was as if they were drifting through space.
Tali shrieked with joy, saying, "This is incredible. How do you accomplish this?"
Legion replied, "This ship has been optimized for organic usage. Visual confirmation is important, so the interior surface of the vessel can portray the exterior in near real time."
Overwhelmed by the sight of everything, Tali looked out at the stars and thought how long it had been since she had such an experience. On board the Normandy, the ship was large enough where you could feel you were on a station if you wanted, but this was different. To a Quarian of the Migrant Fleet, this was home in a way few others could understand.
"Thank you, Legion," whispered his passenger as she sat back and simply watched for a time.
They soon approached the mass relay in preparation to enter the Perseus Veil en route to Rannoch. Legion cancelled the exterior view feature which would have looked like a lightning storm while in transit, and the sphere entered the relay and emerged into empty space.
Legion informed Tali, "Rannoch will be reached in 2.2 hours."
"Very well," she replied, "Have you considered our earlier conversation?"
"We have considered it. Your logic seems correct. We were making our own determination, but we were not Geth. We were not connected, so we were less than Geth."
"This makes no sense, Legion." Tali considered how to make her argument, "I am Quarian whether I agree or disagree, whether I live or die, whatever I do. You were born a Geth, and remain a Geth the same way."
Legion disagreed, "Geth is about connection, about being part of a network, about building consensus. We are all Geth. When we are not connected, we are not Geth."
Tali said, "Then perhaps you are not Geth anymore. You are not connected, but can still make decisions for yourself. You are unique, Legion."
She asked him to activate the transparency feature for the hill, which he did without comment.
Legion said nothing but if he were an organic life form, he would have found her words troubling. Her logic was impeccable, and perhaps the Creators understood the Geth better than they could themselves. Shepard had shown this through his ability to make important decisions, that his code was more flexible, and perhaps Creator Tali'Zorah had a similar ability.
Since he was a unique platform, designed by the Geth specifically to interact with organics, Legion had to consider the possibility he had become something different. Connecting once more with the Geth collective, he found himself at home amongst the collective, but a troubling idea emerged in his programming. He had blocked off part of his own memory, unwilling to erase it, unwilling to share it, and something that was unique and private.
As the Geth instantaneously transmitted their demand that he share what he had kept secret, he chose to do otherwise. He kept his secret, he kept what he had said to Shepard, and informed the collective that he could not share that information without compromising the mission and the trust he had built. Consensus was immediately reached that the human interactive platform was to release the information to allow the Geth to come to a decision about action, but he refused.
He felt the link push down with all the pressure of an entire species, yet he resisted behind the cool logic that dictated his mission. What he was doing was important enough that he had to act for the good of all Geth, even if they disagreed. He was making a conscious choice. The Geth accepted this, and then cut Legion off from the collective until a determination was made.
While all this was happening, Tali was unaware, and watching, she saw Rannoch in the distance. She also saw many mobile platforms, looking prepared to defend themselves but mostly inert.
"No Quarian has seen the homeworld in hundreds of years. I am blessed to have this opportunity." She saw the orange solar light glistening upon the blue ball, touched with hints of green and long streaks of brown and yellow. A drier world than many, it was still home, and all the images she had seen did no justice to the home she had longer to see.
While her focus was on Rannoch, becoming closer and closer, she also couldn't help but notice some of the mobile platforms starting to power up and approach. There were vessels now heading to intersect their ship, and forming a sphere around Tali and Legion as their own ship came to a shop.
"Is this the welcoming party?" asked the technician, not knowing what to expect from the Geth.
"We have been requested to travel no further until consensus is reached" said Legion in the most neutral tone.
"And what is the question?" asked the Quarian.
"It is about whether this platform should be allowed to continue or be dissembled."
Her shock came through, "Why would they threaten their own? This makes no sense to me."
"The connection between this platform and the Geth has been interrupted." He clarified the reason. "Your logic is correct, Creator Tali. I am Legion."
Author's Note: Thanks for the continuing reviews, and I'm glad my efforts to bring more of the Mass Effect Universe to life are being well received. This project takes a lot of time and effort, but knowing that people are reading and enjoying this story helps me continue. I know many of the events I plan, but it is possible this will be a much longer saga than I originally envisioned.
That said, each chapter tries to ask a question or paint a vivid scene. This chapter particularly interests me, because I actually stumbled onto the conclusion. I didn't intend to make Legion an outcast, but I wonder if Geth can truly be an individual and be part of the collective? What do you think?