The station was not shielded from scans. It had no defensive barriers, internal alarm systems or external anti-craft weapons systems whatsoever. EDI, while not able to link to its networked computer systems, was still able to attain an exceedingly impressive amount of information.
The hovering holographic representation of the station slowly spun over the conference table, its light reflected back in all the eyes focused upon it. The schematic vividly displayed everything from corridors, rooms, vents and crawlspaces, to infrared heat and electromagnetic signatures. Each organic on the station was highlighted by a tiny red dot…each cybernetic or synthetic signature showing up as blue.
"This is our location," EDI informed them, marking the position on the display. "There is an odd cluster of infrared signatures here, in this large chamber. Most here are stationary. Such signatures through the rest of the station are mobile."
"Those stationary signals are evenly ranked," Liara noted. "Markedly so. Shepard, I believe those may be the colonists and the Normandy crew, perhaps held in restraints or those same pods you saw on Horizon."
"What's the large image there, in that central chamber?" Tali asked, her face-plate reflecting the hologram back almost perfectly. "The green one?"
"Unknown," EDI stated. "The feedback on this object or structure is intrinsically unique, displaying both organic and inorganic components, as well as others I do not recognize. It will take me some time to fully analyze and come to a conclusion."
"Whatever it is, every path and corridor seem to lead directly to it," Kasumi added.
"Which means it's important," Tali agreed. "It might be Collector version of a power core…we take it out, we take that station out."
"Just so long as we have a way off it before it goes," Zaeed snorted. "Suicide mission or not, I much prefer living if there's any way to do so."
"Our first priority is getting our people," Shepard straightened, then activated her console, a pair of corridors on the display lighting up. "These seem to be the two most direct paths from our location to those stationary signals, where they're likely being held. EDI, are those security doors?"
"Yes, Commander. Each highlighted path is blocked from our destination by heavy blast doors. More, according to this scan, they can only be opened from with that very chamber."
"Well, that fucks that up," Jack grumped.
"N-no…no, I think I see a way." Tali indicated one of the small vents that seemed to parallel the larger corridors. It emerged right within their destination. "A single infiltrator could get through that vent, while the hostiles are being distracted by two teams transversing the corridors. Once on the other side, they could open the doors and let the rest of the team through."
"I do not recommend this," EDI immediately responded. "The indicated vent is part of the heat transference system of the station. Temperatures within are at the boundary of tolerance for most organics. Any prolonged exposure could cause significant injury and potentially death."
Shepard's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "How long would it take someone to travel from one end of that vent to the next?"
"Calculating average foot speed and given the length of the vent shaft, approximately nine minutes," EDI said.
"And how long until they suffered injury due to the heat?"
"Minor injury would begin within approximately eight minutes," EDI replied. "Heat exhaustion would set in at that juncture. More serious injury would occur at approximately ten and a half minutes. Death would be certain within fifteen minutes of entering the shaft."
"Ninety seconds between average travel time and serious injury," Miranda murmured. "Not much room for error."
"Shepard-Commander," Legion spoke up for the first time, standing by itself in a far corner as if it were part of the décor rather than the team. As eyes shifted to it, it continued.
"Our temperature tolerances are higher than that of present organics. We could safely traverse the vent and open the security doors without damage to our hardware or systems."
"Now there's an idea," Zaeed approved. "Send the big fucking toaster in."
"No," Tali protested, then looked at Del. "Shepard, I can do it. I'm small enough to move quickly, and I have the best chance to get the doors open in time."
"And you could die in there," Sydney pointed out. Tali looked at the blonde pointedly.
"We could all die in there," she reminded her. "Everyone's lives depend on getting those doors open. Ours, our crew, the colonists…everyone here is willing to give their lives to this mission, and I am no exception."
"Mei Mei-"
"Jie Jie, you know I am right," Tali insisted, turning her attention to Del. "Let me do this. I can do this."
"It is illogical to risk injury or death to one, when the same task can be performed by another with no such risk," Legion stated. "We will not be damaged. Creator Zorah may be significantly damaged."
"No offense, Shepard, but I'm not quite ready yet to put my life into the hands of a geth," Jacob protested. "All it has to do is not open the doors, and we're all screwed."
Risk one life, or risk all their lives? Shepard was trying desperately to believe and trust the geth, but old wounds took a long time to heal. Trust was not easily earned…especially not for Del, who had grown up without even knowing the meaning of the word.
Her dark eyes brooding, she looked from Tali to the geth, then back again. Finally she steeled herself.
"Legion will go into the vent," she stated, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Whether it's opening the doors or covering our backs during a firefight, we're going to have to trust it sometime, and the more people we can get through this without injury, the best chance we have of getting home again."
She paused momentarily, regarding each face that was turned toward her before she nodded and cleared her throat. "All right. The rest of us will split into two teams and take the corridors. I will head Alpha Team. Miranda, you will lead Beta Team-"
"Her? No one wants to fucking follow her-" Jack began, only to slam her mouth shut with an audible click as Shepard's eyes fixed hers.
"This is not up for debate, Jack," she warned. "Miranda will lead Beta Team. Jacob, Mordin, Garrus, Kasumi, Samara, Thane, and Zaeed…you will be on Beta. Grunt, Tali, Sydney, Deirdre, Jack, and Liara, you are with me on Alpha. We will hit our respective corridors at the same time Legion enters the vents. Blow through any hostiles and regroup within the blast doors. We will then assess and address how best to free our people, if they are in fact in there. Are there any questions?"
Silence. After a long moment, Shepard nodded. "Not many could have made it this far. You are each the best and brightest at what you do, and everything else aside…it's been an honor to work with each and every one of you. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you and we just may make it back home. EDI, will you be able to maintain contact with us throughout the station?"
"Affirmative, Shepard."
"Good. Keep analyzing the station and that strange signature. Let me know the instant you find anything new or relevant. All right, that's it. We hit dirt in ten, people. Suit up and let's get this done."
It was like walking into a hell of a most literal sort. The dry, almost molded landscape, the brilliant yellows and reds of the sky as a thousand dying suns whirled in an endless dance. Shepard thought of the tiny gold cross tucked safely beneath her hard-suit and imagined something like this would turn even the hardest of hearts toward at least some hope of a deity.
As she moved away from the Normandy with her team, Shepard glanced toward Miranda and her group that were headed in almost the opposite direction. She gave her XO an encouraging nod. Within her mind, a soft mantra had formed the background to her thoughts. Not a chant or a prayer, but a simple list of names that repeated endlessly.
Helen.
Gabriella.
Kenneth.
Kelly.
Nan.
That last one tightened her jaw. Her crew had only been taken hours before, but Nan had disappeared months ago. Though she knew it was foolish to hold on to hope that the woman still lived, some part of her continued to grip it tightly.
No distractions. You know the mission, you know the goal. Never stop pushing. Never stop fighting. Go home alive.
She saw Legion disappearing into the vent a moment before they stepped through into their own corridor. She was putting a lot of goddamn trust on the table…putting an awful lot of lives into its hands. If it was a mistake, she would likely not have the chance to live to regret it.
"Weapons hot, biotics ready," she ordered. "They're going to know we're here pretty goddamn quick. Take out everything that's not us and keep pushing."
Grunt gave a low, eager laugh, a gleam in his eye behind his helmet. "Let's do some damage."
"Miranda! Report!" Shepard barked into her radio, a breath before she half rose from her cover and sprayed another barrage of gunfire down the corridor. They could see the doors just in the distance but the drones had been insanely persistent, the small team fighting for every inch of progress.
"We're nearly to the doors," Miranda's breathless voice filled her ears. "They're pushing constantly but we're taking them down!"
"We're pinned just in sight of the objective," Shepard replied, the bark of Grunt's shotgun punctuated the boy's bellowing laugh. He was like a kid in a fucking candy store. "Legion! Status!"
"Fifteen seconds to objective, Shepard-Commander," the geth replied.
"All right, we're pushing!"
Gesturing at Sydney she pointed two fingers toward the right before she called over to the biotics.
"Li, Deeds, I'm gonna need a wall! Jack, it's time to bowl and you'd better not give me any fucking 7-10 split again! Grunt…right up the middle, big guy! Let's put the fear of the name Urdnot into these fuckers!"
"Ha!" he replied. Almost as one, he, Sydney, and Shepard swung over their low cover, opening up with everything they had. Bullets chewed madly through the oncoming drones, and several collapsed. More sailed into the walls of the corridor with bone-crushing force as Jack drove a biotic slam through the crowd.
A breath later, a blue sheen fell down just in front of them as Liara and Deirdre deflected the torrent of return fire.
They were just dropping the last of them, nearly to the door, when suddenly Liara's voice lifted in warning.
"We have incoming on our six!"
Shepard spun around, aiming her fire between the two asari as another host of drones charged up the corridor. They had nowhere to go. The blast doors were at their backs now, and unless Legion got them open sheer numbers would very quickly lead to their slaughter.
Liara shifted the scope of her barrier, switching it from fore to aft. As she did so, Deirdre sent a shockwave toward the charging Collectors, knocking several flying. Sydney plucked them out of the air with her sniper, each precise shot shattering a skull or splitting a chest…and still they came.
"Legion! We need these fucking doors open!" Shepard all but roared.
"Shepard, we're pinned at the doors!" Miranda reported frantically. "We're being pressed, hard! We can't keep this up much longer!"
Cold moved through Shepard's veins even as flame from her rifle muzzle flashed light over her face-plate.
Good going, Del. You've just killed everyone by trusting that piece of-
Behind her, the massive doors suddenly released and began to open. Halting in her fire a moment she shoved Grunt's arm, pushing him that direction before she grabbed Tali by the shoulder, all but throwing her that way as well.
"Move! Move! Inside!"
Quickly the group retreated past the doors, Shepard remaining in her place and laying down cover fire almost shoulder to shoulder with Jack until the rest had passed within.
"We got you!" Sydney called out. "Move!"
Halting their firing, the pair turned and rushed toward the doors as those already within took their turn to lay down cover. Shoving Jack in ahead of her, Shepard was within a breath later, whirling and rejoining the barrage until the doors snapped shut again.
Tali had rushed to join Legion at the other door, the geth working at a console rapidly as he attempted to open them to admit the other team. Shepard ran over, slamming her fist into the still sealed portal with a frustrated, "C'mon! Get these fuckers open!"
They parted with a sudden jolt, Jacob, Garrus, Thane, Zaeed, and Kasumi all but spilling through. Shepard indiscriminately grabbed arms, hauling them in with no attempt to be gentle. Mordin and then Samara ducked past, then finally Miranda. Tali, Liara, Sydney and Garrus rejoined Shepard at the door as Legion now fought to close them again, more than a dozen weapons leaping into fire to suppress the oncoming drones, to prevent them from flooding in after them.
Del heard a cry of pain distantly, the sound almost lost beneath the deluge of bullets, the hiss of thermal clips as they fell like rain to the ground. The doors suddenly jolted halfway closed, paused, and then jolted again, this time sliding shut and latching.
"This room is sealed," Legion reported as silence replaced the gunfire. "They will not be able to access this location through these access-ways."
"Good work, Legion," Del panted, suddenly very aware of her rushing heartbeat, the shortness of her breath, the tension burning her limbs.
"Shepard," Liara's voice drew her to turn around, and she blinked. The asari was crouched on the ground, holding on to Tali who had dropped into a sit. The quarian was clutching her arm, blood leaking in slow streams across her suit.
Shepard was at her side in an instant, down on one knee as she set her rifle on the ground. "Mei Mei!"
"I am all right, Shepard," Tali tried to reassure, but her voice was taut with pain. "My suit clamps are sealed…it's not in a vital area…"
Mordin moved down beside her as well, gingerly drawing the girl's hand away from the wound and regarding it. "Wound itself not serious, no significant blood-loss. Possible nerve damage, doubtless muscular, dominant arm…her weapon skills will be compromised. Biggest danger in suit compromise-"
"I can still fire a gun!" Tali said hotly. "It barely even hurts-"
"Hush, Mei Mei, no one's doubting you," Shepard told her. Gripping the girl's shoulder affectionately she looked around. Zaeed and Jacob both appeared to be wounded, though not seriously so. Still…it reduced their efficiency, and if Tali were to become ill from this-
Sydney, Miranda, Grunt and Kasumi had moved off from the group to scout their surroundings, the blonde former specialist swiftly returning. "Shepard, you have to see this."
Rising, Shepard and the others followed after her, Liara helping Tali to her feet, making sure the girl was steady, before they trailed after.
The space they were in was large, easily the size of the Normandy, and lined with the same pods they had encountered before. Above them, a strange series of pipes and tubes rose from them and disappeared into the far wall. While the walls and the pods had the same strange, almost organic feel of the Collector tech they'd heretofore come across, the tubes reminded her of the Reaper derelict…dark, definitively alien, somehow alive.
As she neared the rank of pods nearest the ground, she lifted a hand and unsnapped her helmet fastens, drawing it off. Already damp with sweat from their exertions thus far, Shepard could all but feel her pores open up even further. It was hot in here…not, perhaps, as hot as it had been in the vents, but hot all the same. The air had a stifling, stagnant, almost roasted feel to it. There was no humidity; indeed, the lack of any sort of moisture almost immediately began to irritate her sinuses.
Despite this, the clear fronts of the pods were glistening with fog and condensation, beads of water or some similarly clear fluid oozing down their sides as if the heat were making them sweat just as badly. Moving up to the nearest one, Shepard lifted her glove and swiped a clean path, peering within.
A human woman, unfamiliar, was slumped within. She looked dead…no, asleep. She was moving a little. Shepard could see her breathing. Squinting a bit, Del's gaze landed on the back of the pod, where some strange shimmer seemed to be moving down the surface.
As the shimmer began to increase, sliding down the inner sides and even dripping from above, a memory clicked in her brain.
Those tiny robotic insects she'd found on the Collector ship, the ones she'd found crawling over the corpses. She'd taken a small sample of them for Mordin, but all he had been able to glean was that each of the miniscule synthetics was simply designed to produce and secrete an infinitesimal amount of a strong acidic substance, designed to break down organic material. His guess, given the location where Shepard had found them, was that they were some form of housekeeping process, implemented to efficiently dispose of the dead used in the Collector's experiments but still preserve some of the genetic material for later chemical comparison tests.
Even as awareness dawned in Shepard's mind, the woman within the pod lifted her head a little, eyelids fluttering in reaction to the first drips upon her head. For a half a breath, her eyes met Shepard's in confused bafflement, before the drip became a steady stream, a virtual deluge of the tiny things pouring over her head and face.
She began to scream in fear and pain. Shepard's fist slammed into the front of glass, her eyes widening.
Oh, my God…her skin is melting!
Frantically she began to pry at the pod, trying to get it open. First, she desperately sought for a seam or a fasten that would release it, then tried simple brute strength as she pummeled the edge of the structure, hauling on it until her muscles corded. The screams filtering from within were muted but horrible, a wail of mortal fear, the calling siren of death.
"NO!" Shepard slammed her fist into the unyielding pod again, her fingers then pressing against the transparency as the woman's cries finally halted, her melting body dissolving into a simple gray fluid that began to drain out of the base of the pod.
"My God," she heard Kasumi croak behind her. "Oh…oh my God…all those people…"
"Shepard!" Garrus's voice snapped her head around, the Turian standing only a few feet away at the next pod. He, too, had wiped the condensation away from the transparency to see what was within. "It's Chambers!"
"Dr. Chakwas is over here!" Liara called, further down the ranks.
"Get these fucking things open! Now!" Del ordered, drawing her rifle. Reaching the turian's side she slammed the butt of it into the side of the pod, beating it with all of her strength. Within, the shimmer had already appeared, beginning to shift along the back of it just behind the confused, blurry-eyed yeoman.
Another slam, then another, before she heard something crack. All around her, she could hear the others doing the same, beating, prying, and working at the pods they could reach, desperate to save their occupants. Dropping her rifle she dug her fingers in again, feeling the front shift…then give way.
The smell as it swung open reminded her instantly of the thorian thralls…a heady, decomposing mix of mushrooms and rancid asparagus. Grabbing Kelly around the waist as the weak redhead slumped forward, Shepard hauled her out and away, turning and passing her to Tali. The quarian awkwardly lowered her to the ground as Shepard moved back over, grabbing her rifle again and assailing yet another pod.
Dr. Chakwas spilled into her arms a few tense moment later, the last to be pulled free. All around, her team were helping dazed and gasping prisoners. Assisting Chakwas to sit, Shepard cupped her face firmly, peering into eyes that weren't quite focused.
"Helen! Helen, can you hear me?"
"What…" the doctor murmured, her gaze struggling to clarify. "C-Commander?"
"It's me, Helen. You're safe," Del said urgently. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"
"Sick…a little. Weak…" the doctor mumbled in return, before blinking at her. "Shepard? You…you're really here? You…came for us?"
"Of course I came for you!" Shepard told her. "Can you move? Can you stand?"
"I-I think so."
Shepard helped her to her feet. Over a dozen had been pulled from the pods, a quick glance showing that they were just as weak and dazed…but seemed to be recovering. They were all her crew, with only one or two unfamiliar faces among the group. Colonists, perhaps, or travelers…unfortunate human souls who had found themselves locked in the wrong sights.
Kelly had managed to rise but was clinging to Garrus as if she would collapse at any moment, sobbing wearily in thick, almost moaning breaths. Holding Chakwas's shoulders, Del kept her steady, dipping her head a little to meet her eyes.
"Just take your time," she urged. The older woman's eyes were swimming with tears, her voice low and husky as she spoke.
"It was horrible," she murmured. "All those people, everyone…we couldn't move, couldn't breathe…they put us in those pods. I could…I could hear the screaming, the praying…the begging. Dying…so many of them dying…"
She sucked in a sob and then seemed to steel herself, looking upward. "They dissolved them all with those…those tiny little robots. Turned them into that sludge, then pumped it through those tubes."
"Where? Do you know where? Or why?"
"No, I…I don't. They clearly want our genetic material but…oh, the screaming…"
Shepard gripped hold of her, hugging her tightly, before she looked over the dazed and ill faces gathered around. Her throat was thick, and a trembling knot of nausea was clenching her gut like a vengeful hand.
Her crew, saved…but so few out of the how many hundreds of thousands? A pittance, a feeble handful of souls out of the masses that had been taken, slaughtered, meeting an end she would not have wished on her worst enemy.
The terrified eyes of that poor woman who had been liquefied right in front of her passed through her mind, but after only a moment the gaze changed into that of Nan. The image of that poor, sweet face melting…that dear, kind voice screaming out in agony…seemed to hit her like a knife to the gut, and her eyes closed a moment under the force of it.
"Shepard?" Miranda asked, and Del's dark eyes snapped open again. Ignoring Miranda, she gripped Helen's arm a moment, then stepped away from her, pointing.
"Tali, Zaeed. I need you two to get these people back to the Normandy," she ordered. "We can't afford to turn back and they're too weak and disoriented to be any use in a fight. Tali, once aboard I need you to start helping with the repairs as your wound allows…Donnelly and Daniels as well. Your priority is getting her back together enough to hit that relay back to home space."
"I…understood, Commander," the quarian straightened. Unshipping one of her prized machine pistols, Shepard took Tali's hand, pressing it around the grip and clasping it between her own at the same time.
"Here. She'll treat you good," Del promised. "And she's easy to fire one-handed. You can do this Tali. I wouldn't put the crew into any but the best of hands."
Tali straightened, nodded. As Shepard released her grip, the quarian stepped forward and hugged her tightly a moment, before stepping back again. As EDI directed the quarian and mercenary on the safest route back toward the Normandy, Shepard activated her omni-tool and drew up the station schematics.
"The rest of you, gather round. We've still got a fuck of a long way to go."
Liara could only remember one previous instance when her biotics had been pushed to such limits. Years ago, on Feros, Shepard had been poisoned by one of the Thorian's thralls. Not only had the fight against the geth, the thralls, and even the colonists taxed her reserves, but Shepard herself eventually fell into delusion, hallucination, the swelling of her brain caused by the poison driving her most literally mad.
She had attacked them, and Liara had barely managed to snag her in a biotic field…and had been forced to hold her there until help finally arrived from the Normandy. When Wrex had taken over the field Liara had nearly collapsed, her energy utterly spent.
Now, even with Deirdre's help -the two women bolstering each other's efforts- she could feel her body trembling with exertion, feel the exhaustion gripping every fiber of her being with its cold, tenacious claws.
Both asari were visibly struggling, forcing one foot in front of the other. Around them, the relentless plague of the seeker swarms was being held at bay only by their rapidly dwindling energies. Shepard, Sydney, and Grunt were occupied trying to cut down the drones that seemed to rush at them without end, protecting the two helpless asari even as they fought to protect them all.
Miranda and the others had once again taken a different path, attempting to split the attentions of their opponents and insure at least one group had a chance of making it through.
Sweat damping her face, Liara felt her muscles waver and grit her teeth, falling to one knee with a cry before forcing herself up. On. She had to continue on. If she fell now Deirdre would not be able to maintain the field and it would collapse. The swarms would be upon them in an instant. They would all die.
The door…so tantalizingly close and yet so impossibly far. She could hear her companion's rough, desperate gasps as she, too, fought to endure to reach it. The sound of gunfire sounded so distant and muffled, Shepard's shouted orders coming from another galaxy.
Then, the exit was there, and they were through. Moving far enough to allow the others in, Liara fell to her knees again even as Sydney accessed the door controls, closing the portal and sealing it.
As the heavy doors began to shut, a single Collector drone launched itself through, eyes flaring with yellow light as its carapace seemed to swell and crack. It crashed into the young krogan hard enough to knock him to his back. As he fell, however, Grunt grinned and jammed his shotgun between his body and Harbinger's.
A fountain of shattered carapace and black ichor flashed up from the Collector's back, flame licking through its body as the shotgun went off. The krogan's muscles steeled as he shoved the beast off of him, sending him crashing into the corner as he got to his feet.
Seeing the short corridor between them and the next rendezvous point appeared empty, Shepard slapped Grunt's arm. "Go. Make sure the rest of the way to the next door is clear," she ordered. As he headed off, Del went to Liara's side, Sydney moving toward Deirdre.
"You ok?" Shepard asked, removing her helmet and setting it aside as she helped Liara to sit against the wall. The asari looked flushed, her skin damp and her hands notably shaking. She gave Shepard a weary smile.
"Nothing a good night's sleep and a lot of electrolytes won't fix," she said. "I will…I will be strong enough to stand in a few moments, Shepard…and I will still be able to shoot. However I am afraid that Deirdre and I will be out of the biotics business for the rest of this mission."
"You did good," Shepard said, laying a soft hand on her love's cheek. Liara's look turned slightly coy.
"Oh, so you are now glad you brought me along?" she hedged softly. At Del's glower she smiled weakly. "Well. Whether or not you are glad, I am glad. There is no place I would rather be right now."
"I can think of a few thousand places I'd rather be," Del told her. Liara knew it was an attempt at humor, but Shepard's heart was not in it. The human woman looked drawn, coiled up so tightly even her eyes seemed to smolder under the pressure of it.
Then, abruptly, Shepard's head snapped around. Following her gaze, Liara saw the limp Collector laying in the corner, the glow in its eyes still visible, though faint. It seemed to be looking at them, one hand gesturing weakly.
It was alive.
As Shepard rose, already pulling out her pistol, Liara knew that it wouldn't be for long.
When the shot came, however, it made her entire body jolt with horror.
DO IT.
Shepard's head snapped around as the all too familiar voice traced its itching fingers over her brain, down her spine. Though it no longer caused her pain, the sensation was far from pleasant and always seemed to coat her very soul with a thin layer of grease.
Rising from her crouch at Liara's side, she drew her pistol. The Harbinger drone that Grunt had shot was still alive, gesturing weakly from where it lay slumped against the corner. His voice, however, was far from weak.
DO IT NOW. THIS IS YOUR PATH.
"My path?" Shepard asked, lifting her pistol to aim at the abomination's skull. "What the fuck are you talking about, my p-"
She felt the unmistakable snap of pain rape its way through her thigh, punching through the pads of her hard-suit and scattering fire in a careening jolt through her body. She heard Liara's cry, more of surprise than anything else.
Even as her leg seemed to wrench out from under her she twisted, striking the ground hard with her side and her shoulder, pistol instinctively pointing toward the source of the shot. Nausea slicked her throat a moment, dizziness swimming her eyes from the initial shock of the wound, even as she felt the hair-thin needles of her hard-suits automated medical systems slip into her veins, injecting painkillers and antibiotics into her blood.
The barrel of her pistol trembled faintly even as her vision cleared, and she firmed it on her target half a heartbeat before recognition slammed its way with agonizing force into her mind.
The shooter's jaw was tight, eyes grim, weapon aimed inexorably toward Shepard's unhelmeted forehead. Deep inside, some part of Del began to scream, but when the word actually escaped her lips it was only soft, fraught with disbelief.
"S-Sydney…?"