sixteen
"This barrier you formed around me…" Kat's voice carried a musing tone. "It's impenetrable. I can't stick my hands and feet through it and somehow you're able to exchange the air inside. Can't you carry me through a mass relay in one of these bubbles?"
Seriously, she couldn't believe she'd asked the question. On the other hand, she was an engineer. It was her job to find solutions to problems. She preferred the electronic kind, remapping circuits for fun and profit, but she could turn her attention to matters of, say, life and death when required.
Theoretically, the entity replied, the slow appearance of each letter lending a pensive nature to the word.
"What were you, before?"
A man.
"No, I mean, what did you do, what was your job?"
A pause, then: A soldier. After another pause a question mark appeared at the end.
He didn't know? How the fuck… Scratch that. He didn't even know his name, so it stood to reason he couldn't remember much else.
"You fought in the war, then."
Yes.
Poor chump could have been a fucking baker forced to fight with a wooden spoon, which would hardly be effective against…what were they called, Collectors? No, Banshees? The foot soldiers. Husks? She'd seen enough horror vids with husks to give her nightmares for two lifetimes.
Words were popping into being over her wrist. I saw the Reapers invade Earth. I was there at the beginning and the end.
A soldier, then. How had he gotten caught up in whatevertheshit he was now? Lips twisting, Kat thought about the question a moment, then asked it. "So, how did you end up, ah, like… I don't know what the fuck you are." Blonde brows dipped down and together. "Well, you're kinda like that black thing out there only a whole lot less scary now that you're talking."
Yeah, she'd just said that.
I had to end the war.
Well, that clarified everything. "Right. So you…?"
A full minute passed before orange letters began to form. I was the only one left, up there. I had to make a choice. I chose this.
"Up where?"
The Crucible.
A shiver rattled her spine. That was the Prothean device, the thing that had ended the war. Just as he said, Sunshine. Fuck, she needed to stop thinking that name. Made her think of Finch and Finch was gone, probably kibble in the belly of the beast and...
Kat pressed a gloved hand to her lips, stifling something that could have been a whimper or a sob. Her emotional state confused her, somewhat. She hadn't been in the habit of crying after sappy vids or keeping in touch with old fuck buddies or…just plain being sentimental. I'm tired. And stressed.
She wrenched her thoughts back to the conversation, which wouldn't solve the problem of how she got from this ball of rock to her cozy couch in London, but was interesting, nonetheless.
So, he'd been a part of the team that had taken the Crucible. Wait, only two men had made it up there at the end of the shit. Kat swallowed. "Only two men made it inside the Crucible thing."
I know, he answered. One of them was me.
Holy fuck.
"So, you're Anderson or Shepard."
Silence greeted her. It was deep and profound, as if his presence had withdrawn from the cavern. Nervously, Kat looked toward the closest wall, for the telltale glow of substance that blanketed the perimeter. A faint sheen winked back at her.
"Hello?"