DISCLAIMER – I do not own Mass Effect franchise, the story, or any of its characters. All rights go to Bioware.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
THIS CHAPTER is a tribute to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - namely, to the idea of the sentient planet-spanning xenofungus that plays the central role. It is the realistically dark future theme of that game that makes it perhaps the most amazing game that I had ever played. That game's amazing idea of a sentient planet-spanning xenofungus and its background story is what has inspired my alternate depiction of the Thorian.
On another note: grammar correction and error-checking tools that I use are giving me many false error positives. I've done my best to edit this chapter as good as I could, but if something turns out to be inaccurate, do notify me.
Chapter posted on 20.1.2017.
Tags: Action, Sci-fi, Adventure, Friendship building, Love.
Rated M – for mature and adult themes.
Enjoy…
.
Chapter 14 – Into the Belly of the Beast
.
The pair of Makos rolled up to the middle of the skyway, pulling up in front of a large structure built into the side of the great road. The soldiers and security personnel dropped down readily from the Mako roofs, fanning out around the perimeter with their guns at ready as the rest of the forces popped out of the hatches and advanced toward the ancient structure with Marcus himself in the lead.
Marcus motioned for Stavros to move with him into the structure as the large garage doors opened up. Twelve people in total entered the building – six of Marcus's specialists and three of Stavros's men with Lizbeth in tow, with the rest of armed personnel staying outside at guard.
"Which way?" Marcus demanded as he looked through the very much empty hall that spanned the entire base surface of the building.
"Here," Stavros said as he advanced to one side of the building and pressed into an inconspicuous pressure plate.
The concrete-coated pressure plate descended into the wall, then sprung upward, revealing an old analogue lever switch which Stavros yanked downward.
There was a rumble, and the floor at the further end of the chamber began to slide backwards.
"A passageway down," Stavros said.
"What was this building used for?" Marcus asked.
"No idea," Stavros said. "That pressure plate was found by accident when one of the guys leaned against it as he was taking a five for a smoke. The Headquarters was notified when it was found; they must've figured this was as safe a place as any to escape the geth."
Marcus looked back toward his forces and motioned forward with his head.
"Move out! Stavros, take point."
"Roger."
Stavros led them down a large ramp that descended down into the lower reaches of the old skyway, going first down, then angling back by a 180 like a stairwell until they started hearing human voices. Marcus hand-motioned them all to silence and approached the entrance, peering down what appeared to be a stone platform that descended into a spacious chamber and heard the first clear sounds of a vicious argument.
"You can't do this, Jeong!" a woman cried out angrily.
"Shut up!" a man's shrill voice replied. "I need to think about this, dammit!"
"That's my mom!" Lizbeth cried out from behind him as she heedlessly rushed out.
A black armored hand lashed out sideways, grabbing her across the chest like a steel bar and launching her back into Stavros who grabbed her readily and placed a gauntleted hand over her mouth.
Before she managed to squeal a grievance, a black plated mask loomed over her, the pair of round, red ocular goggles glaring down at her and robbing her of her voice.
"Do not. Rush out. Into the nervous infantrymen's. Rifle sights," Marcus spoke icily.
Before the wide-eyed Lizbeth managed to move or try to utter anything, they heard someone gruffly speaking up from inside the chamber.
"I heard something!" someone shouted.
"What?" the shrill male voice – Jeong, apparently – demanded.
"I'm telling you there's someone out there!"
"T-there's nobody out there!" Jeong shouted. "If there were, w-we'd be hearing geth shooting at us by now, you dimwit! Think a little! What the hell am I paying you for otherwise?"
Marcus quickly motioned for Stavros, Alenko, and Williams to fall in.
"The rest of you," he spoke through their internal comms. "Fall in after us."
He shouted through his amplified external speakers,
"FRIENDLIES!"
And then he led his men into the chamber, the whole force pouring down like a river of armed troops after him.
The raised weapons from the other side quickly lowered down as shouts of, "The Alliance!" went over the vast hall, followed quickly by exclaims of relief as the numerous present civilians saw the Alliance troops and the remainder of their security forces descend down to them.
"Mom!" Lizbeth yelled out as she pushed through the armed throng and ran into a large chamber.
"Lizbeth!" the older woman cried out as her matronly face lit up in utter relief and she ran to meet her daughter in a fierce hug, tears of unshed tension spilling down her cheeks in a stream that washed it all away. "Oh, my baby, you're alright! Oh, thank you, heavens, you're alright!"
"So, she was alive," the short Asian man declared almost derisively as he stood imperiously with his arms on his hips before his head turned to look over Stavros's men with a decidedly sour look. "And I see so are others."
"Sarge!" one of those other men called out in surprise as he saw Stavros. "You're alive!"
"You're damn right I'm alive, Carlos," Stavros replied. "Now, where's Montoya?"
"Dead, Sarge," the man replied. "Ulrich, too. They covered our retreat so that we could reach the entrance to the tunnels beneath the skyway road – that's how we got here. There was no one in charge except Jeong until now." Carlos then turned his head toward the angry Asian man, speaking accusingly, "You told us they were all dead, Jeong!"
"That's Mr. Jeong to you, Mr. Alonzo," the little man sneered as he stepped up to the taller man's face. "Don't forget who's paying you. And I didn't say they were dead, I said they were most likely dead." He then turned to look at Stavros. "So you're alive, and I suppose the colonists are, as well. And who are these people you dragged here with you? The Alliance? I'm surprised to see you here at all. Everyone knows how incompetent and late you tend to be when rescuing people!"
Jeong kept ranting. Marcus stepped forward, walking up to the ranting man and reaching up to unclasp his helmet.
"… and if people like you were on my pay list, I'd –" Jeong suddenly choked backed what he was about to say, flinching back, as he was met with a pair of ice cold blue eyes that looked down at him like he was a parasite needed to be crushed mercilessly.
"I am Commander Marcus Shepard, of the Systems Alliance," Marcus said slowly. "Now, I suggest you choose your words carefully from now on if you know what's good for you, Mr. Jeong."
Murmurs arose among the troops that were guarding the Weigh Station.
"Holy shit," one guy spoke in amazement, "It's the Butcher of Torfan!"
"And the guy that defended Elysium," another added.
"Fuck me…"
Jeong fumed as he turned to look around, taking in the people's stances before he spoke up, though visibly stuttering as he tried to fight of his nervous jitters with an act of angry façade:
"Y-yeah? Well, I don't care what you think of this man here," Jeong yelled at the private security force men. "The ExoGeni's paying you, not Alliance, and you'll be following my orders! Now, the headquarters was clear about what needs to be done here."
He then turned toward Marcus, raising his finger toward him in what was probably supposed to be a threatening manner.
"As for you, I don't know who you think you are, but if you think you're going to interfere, remember that the colonization agreement of this world signed by the Alliance makes this colony private property!" he said, nodding smugly. "Yeah? See, you Alliance grunts get to protect this colony from outside threats, but you get no right to interfere in our internal business down here! That puts you in the breech of the agreement, and we'd be able to defend ourselves. I have over forty soldiers against – what? – ten of your people I see here, right?! So, I suggest you play ball, Mr. Alliance soldier."
Marcus just stared down at him.
"Are you fucking stupid?" Carlos spoke up incredulously through the ensuing silence as he looked at Jeong. "Do you know who this man is? Do you know what he's done? I mean, are you even fucking aware of what an N7 is?!"
"Does he realize that he just called war against the entire fucking Alliance Navy?" an unnamed soldier asked his buddy in amazement. "Screw the paycheck, I got nothing – hey, Commander! We've got nothing to do with this wacko!"
"Here-here!" another one agreed, with more of them nodding.
"Glad to hear it, soldier," Marcus spoke grimly, all this time not taking his icy stare away from the corporate executive before him who was turning left and right angrily.
"Dammit! You'll be in violation of your contract!" Jeong shouted at security personnel. "You won't be getting a dime, and you'll be forced to pay back for what was invested in you!"
"Piss off, you fucking twat!" A British man growled back. "I'll sooner be alive and bankrupt than dead without being able to spend that money. You want to 'purge' the colony? Then you better get your own goddamn hands dirty, you wanker!"
Jeong huffed in a rapid breath like a weasel.
"Dammit, you don't understand!" he shouted angrily as he looked around. "There's a dangerous biological contaminant underneath Zhu's Hope colony, and the Earth Headquarters ordered us to purge the entire colony to prevent the spread!"
Lizbeth shouted angrily then, "You can't just repurpose people, you bastard!"
Jeong snorted. "You think somebody is going to miss a thousand colonists? Look how many died at Eden Prime!" he then turned to Marcus. "The ExoGeni will compensate you very well, Commander, if you –"
Marcus unclasped his machine pistol from his smart carry mag plate.
An absolute silence dropped like a ton of bricks throughout the room, as all eyes were riveted at the weapon.
"Here's what's going to happen," Marcus spoke gravely into the silence. "You will tell me everything you know about the Thorian, Mr. Jeong, everything you've done, everything your bosses had told you to do, and after we're done, I'll be the judge, juror, and executioner of whatever I deem a fit solution to the mess the ExoGeni has made."
He cocked the gun. There were a few seconds of shocked pause.
"Y… you can't do that!" Jeong spoke up in shock as he eyed the gun in Marcus's hand warily. "Y-you're an Alliance soldier!"
Garrus, who stood right behind Marcus, spoke up:
"As of four days ago, Commander Shepard has been elevated to Spectre status of the Citadel Council. As such, no galactic laws apply to him."
There was a pregnant pause, and then the stunned Jeong searched the faces of Marcus's companions. He gulped when he met their angry, no-nonsense stares.
"What are you looking at us for, pyjack?" Wrex queried with his gruff, rumbling bass. "We're not gonna help. Hell – it'd be interesting to see Shepard blast your knee caps off just for good measure; you don't need legs to talk. And his guns use explosive ammo, you know. They tell me it's next to impossible to reattach limbs after that."
Jeong began sweating profusely, his eyes darting to the gun.
"L-l-l-look," he began, raising his hands halfway up. "Th-the Thorian is, like, extremely dangerous, Spectre," he spoke, trying to paint a nice story. "It – uh – falls under class 5 hazardous native life form. Now, that's the truth! And class 5 needs to be purged!"
"The Thorian," Marcus spoke slowly, "is a sentient life form. As such, it is protected by Citadel Sentient Species Protection Act, pending evaluation. And the colonists are Alliance citizens. That means that if you or your company are about to commit genocide against them, you are – as that soldier over there said a minute ago – declaring a war against the entire Systems Alliance. Not to mention the entire Galactic Council."
He paused for a moment, watching Jeong's eyes widen in impotent horror.
"So, now, I suggest you start talking," Marcus stated.
And Ethan Jeong did.
He told him the entire story, down to the finest detail – beginning with how they accidentally opened up the passage into the Thorian's lair and found out about the plant's capabilities. He spoke of how he communicated the intel to the Main Headquarters on Earth and spoke in detail of how the Board of Directors decided to turn Zhu's Hope into an experiment without any of the people's knowledge, let alone consent. The stamped correspondence between him and ExoGeni CEO was right there on his omni-tool; the written orders clear and unambiguous. And so was the final transmission less than an hour before. He admitted it was essentially the ExoGeni Main Headquarters' order to swipe the project under the rug solely for the sake of them not being discovered rather than fear of any biological threat.
In the end, the corporate executive sat at one of the cots, and placed his head into his hands, knowing that not only his entire career was over, but that he might very well end up behind bars. The sight of him the others could see was one of complete and utter defeat.
"What happens now, Commander?" Stavros asked when it was all over.
"Your men will take care of the people here," Marcus spoke. "My men and I will deal with the Thorian."
"They won't let you anywhere near it," Lizbeth spoke up. "The colonists, I mean. They're under its control."
He shook his head. "Not necessarily. The jarheads predicted the Normandy's usefulness in that field, so they equipped it with several canisters of the N7 Pax."
Ashley snapped her fingers. "The nighty-night gas!"
Marcus nodded. "The advanced antiterrorist tool for hostage situations, and this situation fits the bill. The Pax has a dual function of blocking non-somatic neural impulses and putting people to quick sleep, regardless of species physiology or DNA. We'll drop a few of canisters from the Normandy and have the entire colony safely knocked out within seconds. They'll sleep for at least two hours."
"The colonist's nervous system might be already compromised from the Thorian spores, Commander," Juliana Baynham spoke up suddenly. "They may sleep for significantly longer than that."
"Even better," he said, then tapped the comms. "Ground team to Normandy."
"Go ahead, ground team," Jaina's voice came through smoothly.
"Jaina, I need you to arm the Pax and drop it down into the colony."
"Just what I was thinking myself," she replied. "I had already called for the crew to load the gas warheads into the tubes. But there's a potential problem."
"What is it?"
"I'm watching the colony right now through the external ship's cameras, and there are some types of unknown alien life forms walking amongst the colonists. They came out of the hidden entrance to the colony. For all intents and purposes, those aliens look like plants!"
"Plants," Markus parroted in understanding.
"Sounds like you know something," she noticed.
"Something like that," he replied. "For now, just be ready to drop the Pax when I tell you to."
"Roger that," she said. "I'll also prepare a crate of Pax grenades should you need them."
"Good thinking, you do that," Marcus called, then cut the comm. "Alright, people, listen up! We'll try to do this non-lethally, and luckily we might just be able to do so. Once the colony is pacified, we're rolling in and restraining everyone. The N7 Pax works quickly, and the warheads are designed to make it linger in the air for a long while, so sealed masks are mandatory until we say otherwise.
"Also, there seem to be alien plant-like life forms walking amongst the colonists. We don't know if the gas will affect them, but nevertheless, I want concussive shots, only. I will be the one to assess the severity of the situation and if more lethal methods against these aliens are needed. Now, who is the best expert on Thorian?"
The scientists looked amongst themselves, then toward Lizbeth and her mother.
"W-well, that'd be either me or my mother," Lizbeth said slowly.
"Good. You both ride inside one of the Makos with us. Alright, people, move out!"
The teams quickly began to shuffle with military efficiency toward the exit, with Ashley speaking up:
"So, let me get this straight," she said, counting it off on her fingers. "First we had walking cyber-zombies, then we found out about there being ancient machines that destroyed the Protheans, and now we have walking plants?"
Wrex chuckled. "I knew I was right to trust my gut about this being one interesting adventure! Next thing you know, there'll be living Protheans popping up from some ancient bunker or something!"
"If only," Liara commented wistfully. "I'd trade my last hundred years just for a chance to speak with one of them."
The teams quickly filed out of the Weigh Station and piled into and onto the vehicles, with Lizbeth and her mother entering the interior of one of the Makos, before the entire formation advanced toward Zhu's Hope. This time, and with no one to shoot them, they made the trek much faster, despite the wall-like debris, barricades, and broken geth platforms giving them trouble. As they approached, Marcus looked up into the skies, where Normandy circled in a broad arc around the Zhu's Hope mega-tower.
"Normandy, whenever you're ready," he called up.
Moments later, the vessel languidly changed course and angled toward the colony and approached into range. It angled menacingly downward, ignoring the colonists' futile gunfire and launching a number of small warheads armed with sleep/paralyzing agent. The warheads dropped onto the ground like smoke bombs, beginning to disperse the invisible gas.
Marcus watched as, within seconds, colonists' gunfire began to lessen in amount, until it was completely gone within twenty seconds.
"Normandy to the ground team: the colonists seem to be completely neutralized; however, the alien creatures show greater resilience. Some of them are still showing signs of movement, although at a subdued rate."
"Roger that, Normandy," Marcus replied, then led his forces into the colony.
True to its nature, the N7 Pax had neutralized the colonists with utmost efficiency. A quick check of vital signs on a few of them showed that they were truly asleep, with paralyzing agent coursing through their bloodstream.
"Jaina, the colonists are neutralized," Marcus spoke into the comms. "Land the Normandy, and transfer us those grenades. Miller, get those Tritons at guard duty next to the Normandy's cargo bay platform, and stay there in case we need a rear guard to protect our retreat."
"Understood," the man replied succinctly, and the two lumbering Tritons clanked their way toward the sideways passage.
"Shepard, look at this," Garrus called, and Marcus trotted up to him, his rifle raised.
On the ground in front of them, a creature was lolling drunkenly as it sat on the concrete, its head swaying to and fro. The moment Marcus saw it, he recognized the shape of its crab-like head and its four eye-analogues, and he crouched down next to it, all of his attention on the creature.
"Well, that can't be the Thorian," Kaidan commented. "I mean – this is small."
"Yeah, but what is it?" Wrex rumbled.
"It could have been spawned by the Thorian, Commander," came Lizbeth's voice through the speakers, the girl being safely tucked in the airtight interior of one of the Makos and was watching everything through the video feed. "That's as safe assumption as any."
"Shepard," Liara spoke up in near whisper, "Didn't you say back when you interacted with the Beacon that the Protheans had four eyes and wide and elongated heads?"
The other squad mates turned sharply to look at her. That got their attention, alright.
"I did," Marcus said gravely, causing the heads to turn his way. "And this is the rough mimic of what they looked like. The fact that there is a resemblance makes this more than a coincidence."
"Are you telling me Protheans were plants?" Ashley asked incredulously.
"These aren't Protheans," Marcus interrupted that train of thought with a firm voice as he examined the creature. "Protheans were flesh and blood – the Beacon imprint gave me at least that much clarity. These, however, are some kind of imitations. Look," and he pointed, "it's made of green vines of some kind, intertwined in an uncanny imitation of muscle, and tough green bark is covering most of it. No, this is a plant life form. I could bet they were made by the Thorian."
"What are those glowing things?" Tali asked as she pointed at several plum-sized orbs embedded deep into the creature's body and glowing with a soft turquoise glow.
"Fruit, maybe?" Wrex pondered out loud. "Anybody else, hungry? What?"
"I sense faint biotics in them," Liara said as she leaned in closer, passing her hand above bulbous growths.
"Biotics could explain a lot of things," Garrus nodded.
"Commander," Stavros called, "my men are reporting numerous other creatures like this one all over the colony and amongst the colonists, too. Some are reporting even larger creatures than this one."
Marcus straightened up from where he was crouching.
"Shepard to all teams," he called. "Assume the creatures are dangerous but do not fire. I repeat: dangerous, but do not fire!"
"You really think that's wise?" Garrus asked.
"No," Marcus said as he primed his rifle. "But if we attack these creatures, then their boss might not be inclined to work with us, and I need what it has. I can't afford to have it killed until I get what Saren was after as well. Come on; we're going down to find this thing."
"Need an extra gun?" came an unexpected voice from the side.
Marcus raised his head to look to his left, and saw Jaina in full body armor, holding her Locust in her hands, with a pair of Normandy crewmen with breather masks on their faces carrying a large crate of grenades behind her.
Marcus fought off the momentary urge to just grab her into a crushing hug and never let go.
"What took you so long?" he said instead, his broad smile carrying through his voice.
She sighed theatrically. "Oh, you know – had to do my nails, destroy a wolfpack of geth frigates – the usual."
A chuckle escaped him before he turned his head toward the rest of his team and motioned them with his head toward the crate that the marines had deposited on the ground.
"Arm up. We're going down."
.
Twenty minutes later, Marcus, Jaina, and their six specialists were descending down the steps deeper and deeper into the lower regions of the Tower in a standard close-quarters battle-ready formation.
"Twenty minutes. How long do you think we'll be descending down?" Ashley muttered.
"We're nearing the floor that the ExoGeni had found the Thorian on," Jaina announced as she monitored the objective on her HUD.
"I'm detecting movement," Garrus spoke as he monitored his sensors carefully. "Lots of it."
"Nothing on the thermals," Jaina added.
"It figures. Plants do not produce a lot of ambient heat," Marcus commented.
"Contact, twelve o clock!" Garrus called as he scanned the chamber in front of them through his sniper. "I count five… six. Shit. I see a big one and I think he's seen us, too."
Suddenly, a thumping sound of heavy steps could be heard approaching.
"Spread out," Marcus commanded, motioning with his hand, and the team split in various directions, minimizing the threat of a wipeout by a large foe.
The steps grew in intensity as the floor beneath their feet began to vibrate with each step until a large creature – much larger than the Protheanoid creepers – came into the light as it passed through a large doorway. It was as large as a heavy mech, covered in thick, green, armor-like bark, with massive limbs and six turquoise-colored slit-shaped eyes on its almond-shaped head. Several Protheanoid creepers followed it, forming up on the juggernaut's sides.
And the creatures just stood there, warily, watching them.
"What are they doing?" Kaidan wondered as he eyed the creatures down the sights of his rifle.
"Watching us," Wrex spoke with surety. "Waiting to see whether we'll attack them or not."
"Calculated thinking. Self-preservation," Garrus commented. "Could these creepers really have that?"
"Geth had those when they rebelled against us," Tali spoke quietly. "And we thought them nothing more than VI-s."
Jaina just watched the creepers silently. It was becoming obvious, just as Wrex said. The creatures were watching them all carefully, assessing their actions, waiting to see if there would be conflict. The large one, especially… despite it not having any irises in its eyes, Jaina could tell without any shred of a doubt that it looked straight at Marcus, and no one else.
"It's looking straight at you," she said.
"I know," he replied without pause, then turned his head and met her eyes through her helmet's mask. A silent understanding passed between them, and she nodded. She turned her gaze back at the large creature and spoke up:
"Can you understand me?" she asked out loud, the chamber echoing with her words.
To everyone's amazement, the largest creature nodded, with a deep, vocal rumbling sound coming out of it. Jaina looked back at Marcus, the two of them sharing another silent understanding.
"Can you talk?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow.
The creature seemed to just look at him for a moment and then raised its chin up. Another low rumble came out of it, as the vines at its throat began shifting and unraveling, After a few long seconds, they formed an opening that shifted and vibrated, and sounds came out:
"IIII c-c-caaannnnn," The creature spoke in a deep, drawn-out rumble.
"Did that just sound like asari language?!" Garrus asked in wonder.
"Goddess, it did!" Liara gasped. "It's Armali!"
The creature rumbled, and spoke again:
"P-p-peeeaaaccce?"
Marcus nodded. "Peace," he said.
"Fffollow," It said, then motioned slowly with its head, and turned its hulk slowly, ponderously, almost like an elcor. The other creepers moved sideways, opening a path for the team to move through.
Jaina looked at Marcus questioningly, to what he nodded.
"Nobody fire without my command," he said, and started walking after the large creature.
The team followed in formation, with all of their weapons brought to bear, ready to blast their way if anything amiss was to happen.
The large creeper, for all its ponderous movement, was taking long strides through the halls and hallways they were passing through, stopping every once in a while to make sure it was not running away from others. Despite them descending ever deeper into the bowels of the skyscraper, there seemed to be lots of illumination coming in from all sides where empty wall-spanning windows used to have been. And more and more signs of life could be seen.
Leafy vines were sprouting from the crumbled rock, snaking across concrete walls and twining around steel beams, and patches of moss were sprouting like bushy fur balls at various places. And none of the tendrils seemed to stand alone. Every piece of every plant seemed to be connected to another, trailing like cables and roots, or a nervous system of a huge creature.
"Commander," Garrus spoke up at one point, "Look over there."
Marcus trained his eyes the way Garrus had pointed and saw the glint of metal. Twisted and mangled remains of several geth were sprawled across the floor, with several of them being impaled and crucified by the plant vines in a deathly strangle.
"They fought the geth," Jaina commented.
"I've never seen any plant do that," Wrex spoke as he looked at the geth that hanged off the wall by vines that surrounded him. "And I've seen everything."
"Come on," Marcus called.
More and more of the destroyed geth could be seen. Many of them seemed to sprout veritable weapon damage, punctures, and scorch marks, whereas many seemed to be crushed to a mangled pulp by some huge force.
"You think our friend here is responsible for those?" Jaina asked with a pointing nod at the plant juggernaut that led them.
"I don't doubt it for a second," Marcus replied.
Among the destroyed geth platforms, many of the four-eyed creepers could be seen scuttling about. Some of them were dead, with their bodies in the process of being twined in living vines and disassembled before their very eyes.
"Feels like we're in the bowels of a beast," Garrus commented.
"Anybody else noticing how there seems to less and less space not covered by plants?" Ashley asked.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Kaidan said. "We're practically walking on them."
"I've never seen this dense population of plant life," Tali whispered in amazement.
"It is a beautiful sight," Liara said wistfully. "To see life sprouting again in what was once a dead world gives me hope."
"Hey, Commander," Kaidan called. "If this Thorian is sentient and all, do you think it might be angry if we're – you know – starting to step on its kin?"
"The juggernaut doesn't seem to mind us doing it," Marcus replied as he kept a careful watch to their guide, his rifle at ready for any sort of trouble.
"Is anybody else hearing that?" Liara asked suddenly.
"Yeah," Kaidan noticed, narrowing his eyes as he tilted his head. "It's like… crickets and animals?"
"It sounds like a forest," Ashley agreed.
As the group seemed to approach some undetermined destination, the sounds of nature seemed to grow stronger. More and more of the moving plant creepers could be seen about, with some of them silently following the group at a few paces distance.
"Are those creepers armed with geth rifles?" Jaina asked suddenly.
"They must've taken them from the geth," Garrus ventured a supposition.
"They're learning," Marcus said. "Adapting."
"Doesn't give me much comfort, Skipper," Ashley groaned.
"My experience tells me that I'll get out of this mess without a problem," Wrex said, to what Ashley perked up momentarily. "It says the rest of you are pretty much fucked, though."
Ashley sent him a dirty look, only for Wrex to chuckle evilly at her.
"Don't worry kid," he said. "I always carry a couple of cans of Black Napalm with me. It will be…"
He trailed off as the juggernaut finally led them into a gigantic atrium.
"… not enough," Wrex finished grimly as he gazed up, and up, and all around.
"The fuck…?" Jaina whispered as she and everyone else looked at the huge formation of plant life that was sprawled everywhere.
The gigantic singular mass of diverse plant life was blanketing every piece of free surface in a thick layer, covering everything in vibrant, healthy greens, interspersed with numerous bluish-glowing pods and berries, and tiny glowing mold-like tendrils spreading across the walls. A massive torrent of water was gushing out from the ancient broken pipelines, falling like a waterfall and was running in rivulets across the area until disappearing further down the various cracks.
Insects were buzzing around; odd insects, from things that looked like butterflies and bees, to things that crawled like arachnids and slugs. Cricket-like sounds could be heard, strange bird singing and chitters from weird animals that seemed to run away from their presence.
And in the center of it all stood a single, humongous formation of glowing vines and tendrils intertwined together like some gigantic brain whose spinal cord descended down into the bowels of the building. It towered over everything, thick vines spreading from it in all directions, seemingly connecting it to everything around it like an organic spider web.
"That's… big," Jaina whispered.
"Bigger than a car my ass," Ashley croaked as she craned her neck. "That Baynham chick needs to get her facts sorted out. This thing's as big as a house! Literally!"
"By my calculations, it's six floors in height," Tali said hurriedly as she typed at her omni-tool. "This node alone could not fit into the central chamber of any of our Liveships!"
Marcus just watched, as the juggernaut that led them stopped at the terrace above which the massive growth was looming over. A group of non-glowing vines on the underside of the massive growth were working, undulating, almost like a throat was moving while it was swallowing.
And then, the vines separated, bringing forth a plant-like form of an asari being formed, like it was surfacing from behind a waterfall. Small, tiny vines and tendrils were literally weaving into her body, forming arms, hips, and legs, and finally solidifying into a plant imitation of an asari commando armor.
The vines held the asari clone suspended in air as their work was finished before the clone was lowered down onto the terrace standing on its own feet. Its eyes opened then, and everyone present witnessed the incredibly humanlike green eyes gazing back at them.
There was a moment of silence as the clone's gaze swept the group before it opened its mouth.
"I am the… Old Growth," the clone spoke slowly as if it was testing out its speech, trying to find the most accurate words, its voice resonating almost as if made of numerous others.
Marcus and Jaina shared a look, then lowered their rifles before they straightened out and slowly approached the creature, examining it carefully with their scrutinizing gazes. The likeness to an asari was remarkable. Its mimic of skin texture and tiny asari scales was astounding to the amount that one had to look closely to see the different texture that formed it. The creature gazed back at them, examining them emotionlessly just in turn, but despite the coldness, there was a glint of great intelligence in those eyes.
"When your juggernaut spoke," Marcus started as he pointed at the large creep with his chin, "was that actually you speaking?" and there he nodded up toward the giant plant mass.
"Yes," the clone nodded. "I spoke through it, and I speak through this form now."
"Why do you look like asari?" Liara asked, taking a careful step forward. "And how come you speak Armali? Where did you learn that asari language?"
The clone briefly looked at her before turning around and pointing to a large bulbous pod a few meters to the side that looked like a closed white flower, and was covered in glowing blue tendrils and dendrites through which energy pulses could be seen traveling like speedy flashes of light.
"In there lies an asari," the clone said. "She sleeps, and I learn from her mind. This growth is based on her form."
"Are you harming her?" Marcus demanded sharply.
"No," the clone replied simply.
Jaina eyed the white bulbous pod warily for a few seconds before she turned her eyes back to the Thorian clone.
"How did she get here?" she asked.
"She came with the cold ones; the… geth," the clone replied. "They were controlled by the one called Saren. He wanted to know of the Ones That Came Before – the Protheans. In return, he promised me what I wanted – to gain from him the knowledge that the … colonists… did not have."
Marcus and Jaina shared a careful look.
"What kind of knowledge are we talking about here?" Marcus queried.
"Every kind I can learn," the clone said.
Eyebrows shot up, and Liara spoke up first:
"You… you are curious!" she said, her eyes wide in amazement behind her sealed helmet's visor. "Is that why you took control of the colonists?"
"Yes," the clone said. "But they did not have enough knowledge. Their minds weren't great enough to help me with… finding the solution I sought. Saren convinced me that he could."
"And he betrayed you," Marcus supposed.
The clone was silent for a moment appearing to be in hard thought.
"Yes," she said in the end. "He said that he could help me find a solution. Instead, after that asari linked our minds and traded our thoughts, I saw his plans to bring forth the… agents of destruction upon everything – including me. I saw it in his mind! He was… two-faced. Lying. Betraying. So I attacked him, doing everything in order to kill him right then and there. I failed to stop him."
Marcus's and Jaina's head shot toward one another in realization, just as the rest of the teammates looked amongst each other before they quickly turned to the clone.
"So, that was what really happened," Marcus said. "It was actually you who threw the first punch!"
"We were wondering why the geth were attacking you on foot," Jaina said.
"And it makes much more sense when you look at it," Garrus added, making everyone's heads turn toward him. "The geth weren't trying to destroy the Thorian. They were trying to break through to Saren! He was in a tight pinch down here. That frigate that we saw rising from beneath? No denying it now – that was him there. When he managed to flee, the rest of the geth began their retreat as well."
Ashley's feral grin could be heard in her voice as she spoke:
"It's a nice thing to see other people – well sorta – had seen through the skull-face's plans," and then she quickly added, "Ah! Uh… n-no offence, Garrus."
Garrus's mandibles twitched in slight confusion. "I don't understand. A skull is considered a powerful totem in turian culture," he said, then spread his mandibles into a smirk.
"So, you fought Saren," Marcus spoke as he turned back to the Thorian, nodding. "I assume he still got the Cipher, though, right?"
"There was nothing I could do about that," the Thorian said. "The knowledge transfer that the asari did was simultaneous – by her touching both him and my mind vine. The transfer was quick. It took me… a few of your breaths to understand the depth of his deception from the thoughts I had received."
"A simultaneous mind meld with two people?" Jaina wondered turning to Liara. "Is that even possible?"
"Very much so, yes," Liara said. "It's called a poly-meld, but it's an advanced melding technique, and can be very hard to achieve if the meld navigator isn't either very skilled or the participants aren't highly in tune to each other."
"Alright, so we know what had happened here," Marcus nodded. "But what about the colonists then?"
"You have used them to attack us," Jaina added.
The clone nodded. "It was because of your… ship," she spoke slowly. "I didn't understand then that it was different from the geth ones. To me, they were all the same flying things that wanted to give me harm, so I forced them to attack you. It wasn't until you… came out of its belly that I realized they were different."
"Alright, but that forcing and mind-controlling of the colonists is what we were actually really referring to," Jaina said sternly. "Are you aware that we absolutely do not appreciate anyone forcing us to do anything? In fact, we will fight violently against it! You've seen the colonists' memories. You must've known that we, too, can bring huge destruction if we feel threatened."
"I have, and I do know," the Thorian replied. "But I needed to risk. I needed every piece of knowledge they had to find a solution. But not enough is there. I need more, and their memories show you as an Important One. You may provide what I need in a… " the clone stopped, tilting its head as if it was searching the right word before it continued,"… in an indirect way."
Marcus and Jaina were silent for a few moments.
"We'd be willing to accept that," Jaina said slowly. "But you need to release all the colonists of your control and not to do that again to anyone else unless it is in self-defense. Think how you'd feel if someone were to violate you."
"I understand," The clone nodded. "Your terms are acceptable."
"Alright then," Marcus murmured, then sighed. "You said you need help with something."
The huge mind above them shifted, the pulses of light passing through it in greater intensity and the clone spoke almost forcefully:
"I need a solution!"
"Yes, you've mentioned that already, several times," Marcus agreed. "A solution to what, exactly?"
The clone closed its eyes as the huge brain pulsed with light.
"I came to life long ago," the clone began. "I don't know when. You measure time; I don't. I just live, and breathe, and eat, and drink. And I grew. I learned that I can control other creatures on this world. They obeyed. They helped me grow. Many of them became a part of me, and I a part of them, unified with my body, working with me in… symbiosis. The more I grew, the more I could think, and the more I could learn. So I decided to grow even more, and learn even more. I wanted to know.
"But then came a moment when I could not grow any more, nor learn any more. There was too little food left. In my search for knowledge, I had become so big that I had consumed it all, and what was left couldn't sustain me. Suddenly without food, I shriveled. My body began to wilt and die. And with it, so did my mind. My thoughts became hazy. I could not think any more. I fell into a thoughtless existence that lasted for a long, long time. I… slumbered… unaware of myself.
"When I woke up, the world has recuperated, and there was food again. But I had forgotten. My body is my mind, and when the majority of it shriveled and died – I had forgotten. I began to expand once more, again almost nearing the new threshold of knowledge before the same thing happened again – I consumed everything once more, and everything repeated. And then again. And again. And again.
"I do not know how many times it took me to finally realize what was happening. Longer still to see the reason why. But once I did, I realized that everything would always repeat if I didn't do something. I would consume and grow, and I would eat everything again, and again I would shrivel when there was nothing left. Again, I would lose my mind, become less than I was, and sleep. I wanted to find a way to break free of the cycle. I wanted to keep my mind. But it required knowledge, and no matter how much I grew, I couldn't find the solution before consuming too much."
There was a heavy silence as the plant clone finished speaking.
"You…" Liara spoke up, taking a couple of slow steps toward the clone. "You can't remember how many times this had happened, can you?" she stated slowly, somberly.
The huge brain shifted gently as light pulsed through its plant neurons, and the asari clone tilted her head, her eyes looking up and to the side before she crouched down and began drawing dashes in the dirt with her finger. Dash after dash, the clone kept at it diligently until it finally stopped and straightened out after 23 dashes.
"This is how many times it has happened since I began remembering and realizing what was happening to me," the plant clone spoke. "It has happened many times more before that."
"Jesus Christ," Kaidan muttered in disbelief. "It has been trapped in a cyclic pattern of its own death and rebirth for…"
"Millions of years," Jaina finished grimly as she gazed up into the huge mind before them.
"Keelah."
"Spirits."
"And I thought us, krogan, had it bad with repetitive self-destruction."
Marcus just shared a wordless gaze with Jaina, before he looked at the clone.
"Something changed, I take it?" he asked.
"Yes," the clone confirmed. "It was after that many cycles of… self-destruction… that the ones you call Protheans came from the skies. When they came here, I got curious. As they built their… cities… I watched them and learned. They… presented something I've never seen before. They were… like me. Organized. Thinking. Realizing things. Solving things.
"I enthralled a few of them, and learned how to think beyond the scope of 'now'. I learned how to form… concepts… how to… test things. But I also learned that they would destroy me if they knew of me. I did not want to shrivel again, so I stayed hidden and learned. I learned their thoughts. Their minds were much vaster than other walking creatures that lived on this world with me. I used their form to create my own walking creepers. I knew that with the Protheans there, I would find a solution to never shriveling again."
"But before I did, the Protheans were suddenly and violently consumed by others who came from the sky."
"You know exactly who destroyed the Protheans?" Liara spoke up animatedly.
The Thorian's brain pulsed with light, and the clone pointed toward the pile of destroyed geth platforms nearby.
"They were cold ones, like the geth," the clone spoke. "The Protheans called them… the… Reapers."
Everyone shifted uncomfortably, looking to each other.
"So it is true," Garrus spoke with an ominous tone as he looked to others.
"They are the ones that destroyed the ones you call the Protheans," the clone kept speaking, her expression darkening into pure rage. "And they are the ones that the one you call Saren wants to bring back. I saw it in his mind when the asari made the link between us using her mind. Instead of the solution, I found his intent to bring the destroyers back. Their destruction. Death. He knew that they would destroy me as well. He knew that the destroyers would come for me eventually, destroying me from above. I saw it! They wanted to force me into a final wither, the one without awakening, and I refuse to let anyone make me wither again! The moment I saw what his plans were, I attacked him.
"He was too skilled, though. He used powerful attacks of blue light to flunk my attacks away and strike back. I only managed to capture the asari. She was closer to me during the transfer. Saren escaped, ordering his geth to fight me. I ordered the colonists to protect me from above, in turn, and spawned my creepers to fight the geth here. I put the asari to sleep and captured her in the pod, wanting to absorb her memories in order to fight the geth. It is there that I realized that the asari's mind was twisted by the touch of the Reaper, in the same way that I had sensed Protheans were long ago. It does not touch me, but I can feel it."
Marcus and Jaina narrowed their eyes, sharing a grave look before they slowly returned their gazes to the clone.
"What do you mean when you say 'her mind is twisted by the touch of the Reaper'?" Jaina demanded slowly.
The Thorian's brain pulsed gently as it formulated its response.
"Like… colonists… are… to me," it said. "similar… but, different."
Shock slammed into everyone present.
"B-but the Reapers are supposed to be machines!" Tali exclaimed in agitation. "How could a machine control minds?!"
"Doesn't really matter how," Garrus shook his head. "If the Reapers destroyed the Protheans, then their tech must've been extremely high. Who knows what they have. What worries me more in this whole thing is the connotation that Saren already has Reapers with him. Hell, they could be the ones piloting that huge dreadnought – keeping themselves behind the curtains while sending the geth to do the dirty work."
"I'd have to agree to that being their dreadnought," Marcus growled. "When we saw it fire on the Normandy, it shook one of the Beacon memories loose. It was the image of dreadnoughts like those destroying cities, only…"
Jaina watched his posture knowingly, clearly seeing his concentrated frown behind his full plate mask.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
He was silent for a second before he shook his head. "There's something off about this whole Reaper dreadnought and the possible Reapers that might be piloting it. There's something – another piece of the beacon's imprint but… it's escaping me."
"Which is what we came here for," Liara spoke slowly, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Isn't it?"
Marcus turned to her for a second and nodded in agreement before he looked forward toward the thorian clone.
"What Liara says is true," he said. "I have Prothean memories imprinted in my head that are the key to stopping Saren from unleashing the Reapers, but I cannot understand them that well at all. This is why I need the Cipher. You want to learn ways of how to prevent losing your brain power over and over again? Give me the Cipher, and I can find people who can teach you how. But you must work with them, not enthrall them!"
"I understand," the Thorian spoke at last. "I will do what you ask."
Everyone sighed in relief as the negotiations seemed to draw to a successful close.
"Right," Jaina spoke. "So, now we need an asari to perform the poly-meld."
The clone suddenly spoke, "No, you do not."
When everyone turned questioningly toward it, the clone spoke again:
"An asari was needed for Saren to learn. But the method she used was not efficient. It was not… in tune. Now, I learned and have found the way to transfer thoughts much better than an asari ever could; an asari is no longer needed."
The Thorian's brain began shifting, and the non-luminous vines near its base that had spawned the asari clone began shifting again. A minute later, they opened up, and a single glowing vine came out, snaking slowly through the air toward Marcus. A blue colored and glowing bulb, shaped like an onion and the size of a volleyball, was attached at its end. When descended down in front of Marcus, it opened up like a flower, showing thousands of tiny hair-thin dendrites spread across the inner petals' surfaces.
There were a few moments of pause as everyone's heads leaned in to examine the flowery bulb.
"That goes over your head," the clone spoke. "But I cannot transfer memories to you through your armored shell."
Marcus slowly reached up and unlatched his helmet with a hiss.
"I hope the outcome is as optimistic as you hope," Jaina said.
"That makes two of us," he replied as the dendrite flower descended onto his head.
The sense of thousands of tiny tendrils enveloping his head was disconcerting. They were pleasantly cool to the touch, but they caused the instinctual surge of adrenaline that all humans had when insects crawled on their skin.
Then, it happened. A surreal sense of detachment from his body swept him, and he felt things that shouldn't have been possibly felt by a human mind. The sharing with the Thorian's mind felt like his own brain had inhaled fresh mint, invigorating and stimulating, and as if his senses expanded a thousand fold.
Images came next, followed by an immense sense of déjà vu. The sense of living another life flooded him, another time, another place. He saw things in a way a pair of eyes could never possibly see, sensed absorbing things through his skin in a way that human never possibly could. His limbs felt different. His felt as though he had fewer fingers than he should, but that it also felt accurate.
It seemed to last for a long time before it abruptly ended, leaving behind an echo firmly lodged in the back of his head. The thousands of tiny dendrites slowly detached from his head and the flower floated away, retracting back into Thorian's brain.
He felt hands steadying him.
"I got you," Jaina's soft voice came from next to him.
"How long did that last?" he asked.
"No more than a few seconds," was her response. "How do you feel?"
He was silent for a moment, looking around him.
"Different," he answered at last. "Something feels different."
Thorian clone spoke:
"It will take time for it to settle in," it said. "Everything takes time in life. Meanwhile, I will honor our agreement and release everyone I have enthralled."
They heard a sound from their side and saw that the large pod that apparently held the original asari begin to shift. Like yet another flower, it began to spiral and crack open. Wisps of vapor sprayed out of it and dissipated as it opened up, showing an asari in a fetal position and wrapped in a network of thin tendrils that slowly began to retract.
The asari breathed in deeply, then her eyes shot open and she jerked up as the last of the tendrils retracted. She jumped up from the opened pod and stumbled onto the thick carpet of moss that covered the ground, steadying herself as she dropped to one knee before she stood up slowly.
"I… I'm free," she gasped as she looked around and down onto her own hands. She looked up and saw the armed and armored people, and flinched when she saw her own clone standing with them. Her eyes locked onto Marcus.
"You," she started, "you're Commander Marcus Shepard, aren't you?"
"I am," he replied.
"My name is Shiala," she said hurriedly. "I was one of Matriarch Benezia's apprentices."
"Was?" Marcus intoned dangerously.
"No more!" she exclaimed. She sounded as if she was begging for something to stop. "By the Goddess and all that's holy, I am not with either her or Saren anymore."
The Thorian suddenly spoke through the clone:
"I told you she was touched by the ones you call Reapers," it said. "Her mind suffered for it but, because I fixed it, she is aware of it. She speaks the truth."
Marcus slowly examined the asari with his gaze.
"What should we do with her, Commander?" Garrus asked slowly.
Liara spoke up, "I know her, Commander. She served Benezia for several decades. She could tell us a lot of her recent activities. Maybe she could even shed the light onto what is going on."
"I will!" Shiala spoke up. "I will help you, believe me. I will tell you everything I know!"
"Then, we will go up to the colony," Marcus declared. "There are a lot of things to sort out."