Mali awoke feeling warmer than she'd ever felt before. The chattering of small animals made its way through the window glass as well as shining daylight; small white clouds sailed across a blue sky. The warmness was most intense along her back and her left cheek, which was pressed against something soft but slightly bony. She turned her head to look and instantly recoiled; she had been snuggling quite contentedly in the embrace of the sleeping doctor. Her back hand been pressed against the asari's front and somehow during the night her arm had snaked under Mali's head to support it. Mali turned pink with embarrassment, but luckily the room was empty of any others, and the doctor was snoring quietly. Mali hadn't gotten to really study the doctors face before, but now she did, and found it captivating.
She had strong cheekbones and chin, but her cheeks were round, filling out her oval-square face. The dark freckle things splattered under her eyes, giving her a country girl kind of look. Mali realized for the first time that Liara had eyebrows, they were dark and thin, and slightly curved over her large eyes. Mali leaned in for a closer look—weren't asari hairless? Suddenly—with Mali's face only inches away—Liara opened her eyes. Mali reacted like a spider had just jumped out to attack her, she screamed and flew back—almost falling off the bed. "Jeez! Don't do that!" Mali imploded. The asari rubbed her eyes and looked at the teen.
"May I ask why your morning breath was lavishly gracing my nostrils?" Liara asked.
"Well I was—uh—this might sound awkward." Mali grinned sheepishly, but then she realized what the asari had said. "Wait! I don't have morning breath! How could you say that?" she accused, and instinctively through a pillow at Liara's face. The doctor chuckled and just arranged the just thrown pillow so she could rest her chin on it and still stare at Mali.
"I'm waiting for my explanation." She said.
"Well—I was wondering why you had eyebrows." Mali said it all in a rush, embarrassed. Her shame was furthered when the doctor burst out laughing. "It's not funny!" Mali complained, turning pink. The asari still let a few chuckles.
"I had them painted on, like my mother." She fell in too deep thought. "My mother always found them to be attractive, and well, I looked up to her, so I copied her example." She said. Mali leaned in as far as she dared.
"I see now." She answered. It was true, the eyebrows were not made of hair, but a line of dark blue ink, almost black, and it was artfully drawn into the shape of an eyebrow. "Kinda like a tattoo." Mali said.
"Yes, I guess so." The asari answered.
"You must have really admired your mother, to copy her like that." Mali said, a little wistful sounding.
"Yes. I loved her very much, but she wasn't very easy to get along with."
"Isn't that how it always is with family?" Mali asked. Liara was silent, thinking, then she took a look at her clock.
"We need to get a move on! Admiral Dickens has asked to see you for a trail." She smiled. Mali's face instantly darkened and Liara could see walls instantly slam into place—hiding Mali's usually visible feelings.
"Niles said I would answer for my crime." Mali murmured, in a daze. Instantly Liara was on the alert.
"What crime?" Mali continued to be in a trance, a pained expression covering her face like a blanket. The asari gently placed a hand on Mali's shoulder, it was tense and coiled like a cat about to spring. "Mali!' She shook her a little to get her attention, "what crime?" Mali looked up at her with deep sadness in her eyes. She sensed great pain emanating thought Mali's body; "Mali I can feel your pain, what's wrong?" she asked.
"You mean you don't know?" her voice was slightly accusing.
"No. I am not on the judicial board." She answered. Mali was surprised, Dr. T'soni looked like an intuitive person. Her eyes were so full of concern it made Mali's heart shudder, but admitting to what she would see as murder to her was something Mali couldn't do; for some reason she didn't want Dr. T'soni to know. Mali turned her face away; she did not answer. Instead she got up from the couch and went into the bathroom to wash up and change. When she came out again Ashley was up and making scrambled eggs, and the doctor had changed clothes too.
Mali had found her bag next to her side of the bed when she had gotten up, and had retrieved her lucky credit chit from one of its pockets. The doctor had kindly stuffed some of her new clothes in as well and Mali pulled on a dark blue shirt and white cotton pants along with her boots. Her omni-tool was still strapped to her wrist but Mali hadn't activated it because she didn't want anyone to know about Victoria. Both woman looked up from what they were doing when she came out, she looked accusingly at the doctor. It was obvious they had been talking. "We don't want to keep them waiting." Mali said coolly, a nervous knot forming in her stomach.
"Don't you want some eggs?" Ashley asked.
"No, I'm not hungry." Both woman looked at her and Ashley shrugged. They put on their shoes and Mali led the way out the door, Ashley closing it behind them. The trio split up at the parking garage, Ashley giving a slight wave giving a lame "I'll meet you there." Liara and Mali made their way over to the doctor's hover car and climbed in. the ride over was tense and silent, Mali kept shifting in her seat and her eyes roamed like a caged animal while the doctor's hands gripped the steering wheel till her blue knuckles turned white. It was only a few minutes till they reached the council building, but they were the longest minutes of Mali's life; she knew that the doctor deserved to know at least some of what happened, but she couldn't just open herself up to a complete stranger, no matter what she had done for Mali. Too many times Mali had trusted someone only to have them betray her later.
For the first time in a long time Mali thought the long knife scar that slanted across the left side of her stomach under her rib cage; it was a true testament to the horrors she had faced growing up on the streets. She pushed those ugly memories out of her head, now was not the time. All too soon Liara parked the car and turned off the engine; neither of them moved. The doctor twisted in her seat so the upper portion of her body more or less was faced toward Mali, who stared straight ahead. Her stomach rolled with apprehension and a film of sweat covered her upper forehead, dampening her hairline. "Mali I will be in that room, I will know sooner or later." She started, "but after all we've been through in the past two days, I hope that you will trust me enough to tell me now. Let's start out with where you come from?" she asked. Mali grinded her teeth together, her jaw aching, and stayed silent; inside, she didn't know what to do—no one had ever looked at her with so much compassion in their eyes before, except Yane. That thought made her choke back a sob that lurched out of her throat, she closed her eyes. "I want to help you Mali. I have sort of telepathic abilities—it comes with biotics; I can feel what you are feeling inside, I know how you are suffering. Let me help you…with whatever you've been through." Liara pleaded.
Mali's breathing became faster, she was a rollercoaster of emotions that each took turns slicing through her body. Her stomach was rolling and flipping in ways she didn't even know were possible; her breath hissed through her teeth. She held her head in her hands and shook her head from side to side, her blonde waves rippling. "No, no, no. I can't deal with this." She groaned as her heart constricted; she rocked back and forth, it felt like she was having a heart attack. "You can never possibly know what I'm feeling. Don't ever ask me these questions again." She looked up at the stunned asari who watched quite helplessly as Mali's calm exterior crumbled to reveal the tense emotions she had sensed all along. It was one thing to sense something—but as she saw the pain that echoed her soul in her eyes—she knew that seeing it was a whole different matter. "Thank you for all your help," Mali stared directly at her, "but I can take care of myself now." She all but ran away from the car toward the council building, leaving a shocked asari inside.
As soon as she entered the building two N7 officers in onyx armor flanked either side of her—one cuffed her hands in front of her. "We are to escort you to the council room." One commanded roughly; Mali only nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She cast a quick glance behind her as they reached the elevator at the end of the hall and saw Doctor T'soni slip in to the lobby through the doors; they briefly made eye contact before the elevator doors shut—Mali turned away as her heart ached. She was led into the council room, which had been transformed into a courthouse. On a dais with a large oaken counter sat five judges, Admiral Dickens among them. On either side of the entrance were rows of folding seats that accommodated anyone of importance that were not in the jury or seated as a judge—Mail spotted Ashley in one seat who gave a little wave when she saw Mali come in. Mali felt all the eyes turn on her as she was led down past the audience to a table and chair that sat off to the side on the right of the dais. The N7 officers stood at attendance on either side of her chair as she sat down, facing the judges—in the back Liara took a seat next to Ashley who had saved the spot—and the trial began.
In a loud voice Admiral Dickens commenced: "Somali Avon, you are here today to answer for the crimes you committed on December twenty-second of this year, roughly a month and a week ago. This being a military hearing, you will not have a defendant, nor prosecution. We will present you with the evidence we have, and after you will make a statement, after which the jury will decide your fate. We promised the New Chicago law enforcement that you would answer for your crimes so let the trial begin." A woman to his left stood up and with a sheaf of paper on her hands began:
"Subject Somali Avon at approximately ten-thirty p.m. on Thursday the twenty-second assaulted Finnick's house, killing him and thirty-one others." A gasp whipped through the audience like wild-fire, Mali refused turn her head or to lower her chin, and instead she looked all five judges in the eye. "Using a modified hover car with turrets and heavy armor plating she killed the outside patrols and dismantled outside security, then made her way within his house to his office, where she killed him before law enforcement could impede. If you will turn your attention to the hologram you will see footage of this event from multiple security cameras on the property." A large image of Finnick's courtyard blinked to life—coming from an imager built into the floor—it floated a few meters off the ground. Mali watched as a hover car pulled up over the all too familiar wall and started shooting—the turrets pumping. She looked away, but couldn't escape the images as the woman narrated the goings on. "As you can see, the hover car takes off and circles the rest of the time while she is in the building, suggesting some sort of remote control or program, we know for certain she had no accomplice."
"The hallway leading up to Finnick's office was designed to be impassible as shown by the construction schematics off to the side, but her obvious skill with which she gets through suggest advanced training." There was a pause and then the woman started up again, "there were no cameras in Finnick's office so we had to paste images from different officer's helmets to gain information on what happened inside—so excuse the choppiness. Mali's eyes were involuntarily drawn to the screen as she watched herself dive for her gun and swing it up to bring it level knelling on one knee. She had a wild look in her eyes—half desperation and half hatred—Mali knew that she was staring at the back of Finnick's head through her sights. The Mali in the video looked like a wild animal with bloodlust written on every part of her face, Mali couldn't turn her eyes away. She pulled the trigger and across the room, Finnick collapsed to the ground, almost dragging two officers down with him.
The hologram shut off. The trial went downhill from there.
Two hours later Mali slumped down in her chair from standing up for the eight-hundredth time, to the left of her the jury argued in strained whispers, bending over their omni-tools and almost bonking heads with one another. Mali resisted the urge to look behind her into the crowd; was she here, still sitting by Ashley? Mali leaned over the table in front of her and poured herself a glass of water from a pitcher; above her the five judges leaned tiredly on their hands—especially Admiral Dickens—and had exasperated expressions. The only reason everyone was still here was because the jury couldn't make a decision. Mali reviewed the balancing factors:
On one hand she was an underage girl who was obviously pursuing some sort of personal vendetta on a man who wasn't exactly citizen of the year, and on the other she was a trained assailant who had murdered thirty-two men and then assaulted police officers as well. Mali leaned back into her seat, stared at the ceiling, and zoned out. She just took deep breaths and let the sound of it fill her ears. Her stomach grumbled and she remembered she hadn't had anything to eat since last night. Her favorite line from Ashley's book came back to her, and she let the words flow through her brain, calming her. Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; thy fate is the common fate of all, into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary. A hard knock brought her back to the present where the jury was finally standing to give the final verdict. Mali sat up in her seat and leaned forward, holding her breath. A woman from the jury stepped forward a bit from the main group. "The jury has taken it to a vote, and have found the sides to be equally balanced." A murmur ran through the crowd; the woman raised her voice to be heard over the interruption, "so for the time being, there will be no verdict." Mali felt the tension in her chest slowly unravel as she continued. "Somali Avon will be observed in her training while the jury investigates more into her case, this trial is rescheduled on this day, one month from now." The lady ended abruptly and Admiral Dickens cracked the gavel down and almost simultaneously babble rose from the crowd as most got up and started mingling and heading for the door.
As Mali tried to get up one of the soldiers standing next to her put a stern hand on her shoulder; she wasn't going anywhere, she was a criminal now. She turned her head, no longer able to resist the temptation, and saw how the doctor was taking the news. Both she and Ashley were still sitting, Ashley looking around at all the milling people and Liara looking stoically ahead, a blank expression on her face. Ashely turned and saw Mali looking at them—she nudged Liara and then slightly waved and smiled in Mali's direction; Mali smiled back. Liara refocused and her eyes found Mali's; in them, Mali could see shock, anger, betrayal, and something else. Mali turned away, unable to look her in the eyes. Admiral Dickens made his way down to stand in front of Mali, looking past her he motioned Liara and Ashley to come over as well; Mali kept her head down as they approached and stood just to the left of her vision. Inside, Mali didn't know what was going on with her. Why was she feeling ashamed of killing Finnick when he deserved it? She thought. Why did she feel like she was letting Liara down when she barely knew her? Admiral Dickens burst through her train of thought.
"There will be some restrictions on her because of her actions. She will not be allowed to leave the campus without a tracker and she will have to report to certain areas at certain times. There will also be an armed escort making sure everything goes smoothly for the first couple of days; a failure to comply with any of these terms will result in her imminent removal form the program and sentenced to any punishment the jury seems fit." He looked down at Mali when he said this, all seriousness. "Mali, you will also be required to attend therapy or counseling—whatever you want to call it—sessions; twice a month. The jury fears you might be unstable." Mali bristled but didn't say anything, she knew she didn't have many options. Admiral Dickens turned to Liara, "I know I have asked a lot of you already, but I need to know if you can be her councilor. We know you have telepathic abilities and it might be useful, also, you are the person that has spent the most time with the invalid." Liara looked to Ashley, than sighed and nodded.
Admiral Dickens took Liara by the arm and led her a little ways away from the rest of the group. "I know it must be hard." He put his hand on her shoulder, Liara let her emotions get a hold of her for a moment and hung her head, staring at her shoes.
"How could she—she is so nice!" She whispered. Admiral Dickens smiled.
"That's for you to find out, as her councilor. You used to be an archeologist, yes? Well, dig up this past." He patted her shoulder, and Liara looked up, hard determination in her eyes.
"Of course Admiral." She said. He leaned in a little closer.
"I do know a bit. I got to video chat with Niles on their way over before they were attacked, and he was pretty sweet on the woman that was bringing Somali over. He said that the woman, an Alexandra Clair, recorded some conversations she had with her to use in the trial." He opened his omni-tool and downloaded them to hers; "there. One more thing." His face became apologetic. "I was wondering if you could watch her today until after her medical examination. We are kind of shorthanded as everyone's getting ready for the new semester, and I don't have anyone to spare to watch her. Just drive her over and sign off on all the papers, and then drive her to the campus to the main hall, where two men will be waiting; she will be taken care of." Liara nodded again, and the admiral smiled. "Thanks so much! You're really helping me out here Liara." He said.
Both walked back to Ashley and Mali, who were sitting side by side. Ashley was reading a poem off her omni-tool and Mali had her eyes closed and was listening, silently. At the sound of their footsteps her eyes opened and calmly stood up and levelly met their gazes. "Where am I going now?" Mali asked, tiredly; she was both physically and emotionally worn out. Admiral Dickens answered.
"The hospital. There is a mandatory check-up all recruits have to do, than you will be taken to the campus where you will be settled in before Monday' s training begins." A shadow passed across Mali's face as he mentioned the hospital, but she didn't protest. While Dickens talked to her Ashley and Liara moved away to exchange a few words, their heads close together and whispering. Mali felt nervousness tighten her stomach as she thought about the academy; she had never gone to school before. She rubbed her eyes and temples, what she needed was a shower, some food, and time to think. The two woman hugged, than Liara called Mali over.
"It's time to go, Somali." She said. Mali trotted over and stood awkwardly before Ashley; now they both new what she had been hiding.
"Thank you for everything; and the poems. You read beautifully." Mali said. Ashley bent down so her face was level with Mali's.
"What you've done doesn't change what I think about the girl I met last night," her eyes crinkled with compassion, "killing is killing—no matter the reason, so that makes me a murderer too." Mali was surprised at the sudden emotion that welled up inside her, and acting under its influence, she quickly stepped up and hugged Ashley, her eyes stinging with hot tears; but she knew that Ashley was wrong, killing wasn't killing—murder and duty weren't interchangeable.
"Thank you." Mali whispered in her ear, than without a backward glance she turned and followed the waiting Liara out of the council room. She trailed behind her all the way to the elevator, than at the last second climbed in with her. The tension between them was almost tangible; Mali imaged it floating between them on the air like some sort of knotted mess. The doors chimed and opened, and Mali graciously let Liara go out first. As they entered the lobby Mali saw a few rings where people from the hearing had formed groups to talk. As Mali stepped out many heads turned her way, and many glaring and appalled eyes slid through her vision. A few hissed with disgust and murmured names under their breath that was just loud enough for her to hear. Anger sparked to life in her stomach and Mali glared back as she followed Liara out; treating the nincompoops to her icy stare. They couldn't understand why she had done it—they never would.
Mali followed Liara to her car, and then both got in; but Liara didn't start the engine. Mali sat there, waiting—after a stretch it came. "I can't believe it." Liara shook her head. "I cannot believe that you killed thirty-two men. I just can't."
"I don't expect you to understand." Mali answered, cold inside.
"How could you do something like that? I know you know that it's wrong. And where did you learn all those violent moves? You just snuck up on them like you weren't even there and then snapped their necks like toothpicks! You are a fifteen year old girl, you shouldn't know how to do that!" her voice was hard and shocked, Mali heard a tinge of anger. "How could you just kill helpless men and then hurt the police as well? Were you angry?" She turned and looked at Mali, twisting in her seat. Mali watched as her thighs became skinny, than large again as the muscles settled down on the seat. "Mali, I'm trying to understand you here. I'm trying to help you!" Resentment rose and gripped Mali like a vice, she didn't know why she was angry at Liara, she just was. The words just spilled out of her, it felt like Mali was puking them up from some dark hole inside her; like it was poison that she was expelling from her body.
"I don't need your help; I never asked for it! Even if you tried, I am past help! You can never understand the pain that that put me through, it haunts me every single day! But it needed to be done. Finnick paid for what he deserved. I gave him an easy death, he should have died painfully and slowly, that what he deserved." She whipped her blazing eyes up to the asari's smoldering ones. "Now you know what I did. I am a killer—a murderer. That's what I was called in there. A killer. No one will understand that Finnick is the one that deserves that title. What are you going to do with me now; now that you know I killed people? Shun me? Forget me? It's what I would do if I were you." Her chest was heaving as the words kept spilling out; she realized that she had started crying as she had been talking. The hot tears raced down her cheeks, Mali started shaking, her body filled with pins and needles. She just didn't know what to do, she had never cried like this in front of anyone. Yet she couldn't stop, rolls and rolls of emotion kept sweeping over her like waves on a beach, each one breaking down farther and farther the emotional wall she had caged her grief in.
Liara looked at Mali; at her glistening cheeks, her bent over body that raked with sobs. The blue in her eyes cried out—desperate for help and attention. She sensed waves of confusion, anger, sadness, and huge amounts of guilt wash over her senses; she couldn't believe such a frail body could withhold so much emotion. Liara didn't know how to comfort this crying girl; one moment Mali could be as tough as nails and then the next Liara could be reminded that there was a sensitive young woman under all her coarseness that could get hurt. Liara awkwardly leaned over and placed her hand on Mali's shoulder. Mali didn't pull away but her arm became stiff under her; she looked out her window while trying to get her tears under control. After a while she let her frustration be known to Liara. "I just don't know what to do, everything has just fallen apart!" She exclaimed, still sniffling a bit.
"You just take it one day at a time." Liara said; patting Mali's shoulder fondly. "We're late for your check-up." She said. Mali wiped her cheeks and pulled on her seatbelt; a little embarrassed at how she had broken down.
"I'm sorry Dr. T'soni, I didn't mean to break down like that. It won't happen again." Mali apologized.
"Its ok," she smiled, "and you can call me Liara outside of school."
"And you can call me Mali, I don't really ever use my full name." Mali answered, blushing a little. She felt really awkward inside at this moment, she'd never really been good at introductions.
"Ok…Mali." Liara said.
I
Mali shivered through her thin hospital gown, across from her Liara smiled reassuringly. They had gotten to the hospital and checked in, only to have Mali rushed to an examination room because they were far behind schedule, and they had a lot more recruits to get through. Liara had been told to wait in the lobby to be called in. Behind the scenes and relaxing hospital music, Mali had been stripped down and told to put on the gown, which she had. Then she had been crammed into a machine that squished against her body on all sides, its foam melding to the curves of her body. It had enveloped her and for a moment Mali had panicked, struggling against her confines. Over an intercom which she could barely hear she was told to stop moving or the machine could not take her readings, and she would have to be stuck in there until it did. So with her heart beating madly, Mali waited ten terrible seconds as blue light flickered through the foam and it pressed and moved her body to take its readings. Than it opened like a capsule from outer space and Mali stumbled out, hands on her knees, breathing heavily.
Next she had been rushed to another room, where a burley human military nurse had been waiting. The flower stickers on the wall did not match the mood either of them felt. The woman had her hairy arms crossed, and the nurses' cap on her head was far too small for her orange hair, which stuck out in all directions, puffing out like smoke. She had taken in Mali's piercings, eye makeup, and red hair streaks and shook her head. "Hey! What are you doing?" Mali had asked as the lady roughly sat her down on table and had clamped her arms and legs down.
"No piercings, dyed hair, or any other facial disfigurements are allowed in the military, I am taking them out." She said with a ruff voice, snapping on some gloves.
"Hey you can't do that, I have rights yah know! And they aren't disfigurements!" Mali strained against her bods but to no avail.
"Yah, yah. That's what they all say." The nurse retorted. The woman had crammed her head down against the table and put her hair into some type of cleaner under her head, which she couldn't see. It clicked and whirred and Mali could feel her hair moving around in it, but try as she might she couldn't turn her head to see because of the head restraint. The woman bent over her and started working on her eyebrow piercings. The entire time Mali rented and raved. "I got these when I was thirteen! Don't you know how important they are? You can't take them out! It's my body, you fat lard!" The woman huffed and just continued her work above Mali's eye. "Hey! I'm talkin' to you!" Mali yelled. Outside the wooden door a nurse was showing Liara to a seat across the hall, where she was to wait for the 'check-up' to be over. Liara smiled as she heard Mali's voice rave above the machines, hearing its angry tone. She started snorting as she heard what she was saying.
"Hey! What are you doing with those! You can't throw them away! Those are real silver! Am I done yet? Have you finished taking out all my 'facial disfigurements'?! Who authorized this anyway?... Me? I would never! Let me talk to Admiral Dickens right now! I want a word with him...Hey! Don't poke so hard! Be gentle around my eye! That stuffs been caked on for three days now, it won't be comin' off easy… Ow! I said not so hard!" Liara covered her mouth with her hand, still snorting as they let her in a few minutes later. All of Mali's piercings had been taken out and her dark eyeliner scraped off; beneath was quite a beautiful young woman, who was extremely mad. "Liara, thank goodness! You don't know how bad they've treated me! They took off my piercings, and look at my hair!" She pulled it from behind her shoulder for Liara to inspect. It had been cleansed of all red, as well as knots and dirt and was slightly shimmering in the light. It rippled down to the middle of her back, not quite straight; natural highlights of lighter blonde and copper shot through, but mostly it was a steady golden color.
"Wow, I didn't know your hair was that color! I thought it was a brown. And your face! You know the first time I saw you I thought they had let a raccoon loose in the council room!" She laughed; Mali harrumphed and crossed her arms.
"Not funny." She frowned, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. Since then they had been waiting for the doctor. Mali turned again to the small square mirror that hung above the sink; she turned her face from side to side. Her face seemed empty and vulnerable without the makeup and piercings; it felt like more of herself had been exposed because she could no longer hide her true features. She had leaned out over the past month, losing fat in her cheeks. Her eyes were bright and clear but haggard and worn. Mali had a square face, with high aquiline cheeks and an angled chin and nose, giving her a slight elfish appearance.
Liara smiled, about to say something. Just then a doctor walked in, and gave Mali an apprehensive look. It was so quick that Liara barely caught it before it was gone; she only saw the remnants of it on his face as he turned and shook her hand. The doctor wore a starch white lab coat and rubber gloves. His hair was a plain brown, as well as his face; which was kind.
"Liara T'soni, it's an honor, I'm Dr. Tracy." He pumped her arm up and down as he shook her hand; she smiled back at him, politely, a little embarrassed to be given so much attention.
"The honor is all mine."
"I am proud to meet you; I only wish we could've met at a different time." He looked nervously from Mali to Liara and then back again; Mali could see that he was quite shocked.
"What do you mean?" Liara asked.
"You are the one signing off on this girls papers, are you not?" He asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
"Yes." Liara answered, confused.
"Well, we have found something...unusual, to say the least, Admiral Dickens has been notified and will be here shortly." He walked over and sat down on a stool across from a computer and logged on, pulling up Mali's examination. The burly nurse quietly slipped out, seeing as she was no longer needed. Mali was not sorry to see her go. Liara sat down in a plush chair across from Mali next to the door and crossed her legs. The muted tap of the doctor's fingers on the key panels filled the examination room; Mali shifted on the plastic table. They had found something unusual? Nervousness twined Mali's stomach; could her life get any more complicated? The wait was almost unbearable as Mali's apprehension grew; she grit her teeth in annoyance. Finally Admiral Dickens walked through the door and sat down next to Liara.
"Twice in one day Somali, what have you done this time?" he asked, half-jokingly. He turned to the doctor, "You just pulled me from a meeting, this better be serious." He warned.
"Oh, it is sir, it is." Dr. Tracy reaffirmed. He got up, turned the lights out, and walked over to the wall on Mali's right—no, not a wall, a screen. A picture a human outline speckled with blue dots flicked to life. The inner part was dark blue with a silver outline, the light blue specks peeking warily from their midnight surroundings. The doctor turned to his audience, Mali's stomach grumbled. "This is a diagram of an average human biotic; the blue dots on the person are the eezo nodules in the skin that make biotic abilities available—about an eight and a half to one, skin to nodule ratio." Another diagram appeared next to the human one, it was slightly taller and slimmer; the blue speckles increased in number. "This is a powerful asari biotic, like Liara. The skin to nodule ratio here is about five to one, maybe closer to four to one if you are a particularly strong asari."
"That doesn't seem like a whole lot of difference." Dickens said.
"You misunderstand Admiral," the doctor explained, "It is a huge difference. Each nodule makes a person that much more powerful. Having a five to one ratio is extraordinary, to say the least, and four to one is unheard of. It takes strong dedication to even reach half of your potential." He smiled apologetically, "sorry, I find biotics fascinating." Mali saw his eyes glance at Liara as he said this; Mali scowled.
"What does this have to do with Mali?" Liara asked.
"Well, while we were running her tests…" he stopped and looked at Mali, then took a deep breath and then continued. "We found something exta-extrordinary, and a little scary." He said, and then touched the screen. Up next to the other two diagrams another one flickered to life, smaller in stature and size. "This is Somali's body…and this is her nodule count." He pressed the screen and nodules filled the outline, there was not one spot left uncovered; her whole body burned blue.