Chapter 8: The Open Box
Ryder sweated. But then, being stared at by Moshae Sjefa would make anyone feel uncomfortable, especially seeing as the angaran scientist had pressed her and Akksul for every detail they could dredge up about the Remnant structure that had been their prison, along with their experiences within, not a half hour ago. They had told the beginning of the story eagerly, hoping to impress how dangerous the Roekaar threat was and thereby convince the older woman that staying within the walls of Daar Toshaar was the best choice, but once the inside stories began coming out the two of them had tripped over their tongues a little too much, cutting into each other's words and panicking a little whenever they realized they had looked at one another meaningfully. Ryder wasn't sure that the Moshae registered what was left unsaid, but then, she wasn't sure she didn't. The woman was hard to read.
"I am beginning to like this drink you call green tea," the Moshae said, taking another experimental sip from the canister Ryder had offered to share earlier.
"Many don't like it," Ryder replied immediately, as if by rote.
"Where did you acquire it on Havarl?" she asked.
"I traded it," Ryder answered a little wearily, reaching up across her chest to massage one of her shoulders. "When you said you wanted to talk I thought I might need to stay awake, so I asked around among the people the Nexus sent." She could practically feel the dark circles growing under her eyes.
"It has an interesting composition of flavors," the Moshae remarked, peering into the canister to study the liquid.
"What does it taste like to an angaran?" Ryder asked curiously.
"A little like mold… and flowers."
"Oh," Ryder said, not sure what to say to that. "Is that… pleasant?" she asked uncertainly.
The Moshae considered. "We do not usually eat either one of those things."
"I… rather like green tea," Ryder replied. Great, we've reached the small talk point of the conversation.
Ryder took a deep breath, wrangling with the dilemma that plagued her ever since the Moshae had requested the Pathfinder's cooperation with her plans: to go back out into the jungle and continue her work excavating the Remnant site she had come to Havarl to see. Eyes sliding from the Moshae to Akksul sitting to her right, Ryder felt her brain actually ache harder as she considered whose side to take; the contest was between a man she had a very complicated relationship with and a woman who, she suspected, always got her way. She took the next swig from the canister, taking comfort in the spreading warmth of the slightly bitter drink, all the while ignoring Akksul's grimaces of impatience to finally make up her mind.
Grimly Ryder pondered the question, letting her eyes travel across the angaran equivalent of a library as she did. It was housed in one of the largest angaran buildings Ryder had yet seen, but it wouldn't have been out of place going by Nexus standards. Dozens of enormous holographic data streams lit up the whole room like a glowing forest, spiraling outward from a giant planetary hologram in the center of the room. Monitors of all shapes and sizes lined the walls almost to the ceiling, recording history in the making according to the Moshae. They were seated in front of a door that lead off to one of the library's back rooms, the one the Moshae was currently using as her quarters, and apart from a few crates blocking out the periphery, she had a clear enough view of this reservoir of angaran knowledge. As with many angaran designs she had seen so far, there was something utilitarian about the place, yet it had an unintentional ephemeral beauty about it that fascinated her.
At the moment though, Ryder found she was having trouble appreciating the view; she was far too busy wondering when this whole situation had gotten so horribly out of control. All of this never would have happened if she hadn't swooned a little not long after arriving, exhausted from the way she had been pushing herself while her body was still taxed from her time cut off from SAM. In that state Ryder had felt much too pliable to refuse the Moshae anything, and information had been what the older woman had been after. Apparently she had been perfectly content to study whatever it was she was working on here; until, that was, the two of them arrived and said something that sparked the angaran scientist's interest.
Ryder didn't really mind passing on all that the information, it was surprisingly easy to talk to her, and none of what she could say would endanger the Initiative in any way, but she thought she couldn't quite look at the older woman in the same way again after being flattened and squeezed by her like a sponge leaking information. At least, that's what she felt like: an aching, bruised and itchy sponge that didn't know how to disappoint Akksul without forfeiting ever finding out if there really was something between them.
Ryder swallowed another mouthful of tea as if to wash away her thoughts. "It could use some honey," she muttered. Inwardly she cringed; as far as stalling tactics went, that had been a pathetic excuse. She took another, more careful, sip to cover the moment.
"We may have something similar to it. I could acquire some," Akksul said and Ryder did choke this time, staring at him.
"In… town? I mean – in the daar?" Ryder asked, coughing and handing the canister back to the Moshae.
Akksul nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You and I could see what the market has to offer," he suggested, the corner of his mouth curling a little in smile or sneer, she couldn't tell.
Go to the market together? Ryder thought. Thatcouldn't possibly work as a stall for time, not pitted against a forceful personality like Moshae Sjefa's; it was as transparent as mentioning wanting honey in her tea in the first place, she thought ruefully. Something must have changed in her expression because Akksul looked vaguely satisfied that she had clearly caught on, though apparently he failed to correctly interpret her wilted enthusiasm.
"Yes, that sounds uh, good," she said hastily, suddenly realizing that she got so wrapped up in their conspiratorial exchange with Akksul that she had almost forgotten that the point was to escape the Moshae to talk away from her penetrating eyes. It might work.
"Pathfinder," Moshae Sjefa said calmly, putting the canister down, "if I ask the Resistance to accompany me to the site, they will come, with or without your consent. Or yours, Akksul," she shut the man down before he finished opening his mouth. "I am still asking because I am not important enough to break an alliance between our peoples, but make no mistake: I must continue this work." She took another swallow of tea, but her eyes never left Ryder's. "I am not your prisoner, am I?"
"Of course not!" Ryder exclaimed, taken aback.
"Then give me my escort and let me go. I would like to leave within an hour if possible," she said firmly.
"Shovaan," Akksul pleaded. "You must remain safe. At least let me send scouts ahead to make sure there are no dangers lurking there!"
"There is no time, Akksul," the Moshae replied, but she only flicked her eyes to him for a second; Ryder was her real objective. "What happened might change again at any moment without warning."
Ryder wet her lips. "With all due respect Moshae, the Roekaar want to kill you, not just kidnap you. Maybe you didn't know that the kett wanted you alive at the time, but I'm sure that whatever the Roekaar will send after you will be far more dangerous than anything you've been threatened by before."
The Moshae waved a dismissive hand. "We learned from that experience, but I will not be hobbled by fear, especially not coming from a Roekaar," she scoffed. She didn't look at Akksul as she said that, but Ryder saw him tense, as if he was waiting for the Moshae to blame her predicament on him at any moment.
"Moshae, no," Akksul leaned forward, trying to persuade her one last time to abandon the plan and let someone else go in her place.
As he spoke, Ryder took the opportunity to study him, now that there was no danger of their eyes meeting accidentally. The light from the data streams danced across Akksul's face playfully, softening some of the contours while secretively revealing others. His eyes looked like a dirty blue sea of stars now more than ever in that light, but moments after she allowed herself to linger there she felt suddenly inspired by Akksul's words, though she had only been listening with half an ear. She was a scientist and she had SAM; if the Moshae shared the objective, maybe she could persuade the woman to stay behind like Akksul wanted and let Ryder go in her stead.
"Why exactly is it so urgent that you get there now?" Ryder asked, unintentionally interrupting Akksul as she abruptly returned to the conversation. She gave him an apologetic look, but he refused to look at her to see it, clearly offended that she cut him off.
"This site is one of several that my students and I have been studying over the years. We call them dead sites because they appear to have been deliberately shut down and in some cases taken out of commission permanently."
"By the Jardaan you mean?" Ryder frowned.
"Yes," the Moshae nodded. "This is the first time in all the years I have been studying these sites that one of them has come back to life… not counting your adventure," she gave Ryder and Akksul each a significant look.
The pair of them exchanged a look of their own, this time one of concern.
Akksul was the first to break eye contact. "But we did that, we activated it," he said.
"I suspect now that you activated more than just that one site. By itself what happened here would have been interesting, but learning that you had just recently stumbled on another and got it working, that suggests a networking that we have only seen in the monoliths before now. That also suggests something powerful is happening, on the level of activating the vaults."
"Wait," Ryder said. "Almost right after we triggered the activation the whole place shut down again completely, it was even deliberately flooded. That means it's not networked any longer like the monoliths are; it's just a signal being passed on."
"So you said," the Moshae agreed. "But that doesn't mean that nothing significant happened. It could have catastrophic consequences to allow this to continue, but even were it utterly benign we need to be able to disable it if necessary, just in case, and for that we need to understand it and learn how to manipulate it. Now do you see the urgency?"
Ryder did. "You mean we might have… unleashed something and it could get a whole lot worse. But if that is so, it's our responsibility to fix it."
"Neither of you have studied these sites nearly long enough," the Moshae pointed out, recognizing what Ryder had been getting at. "If the situation is indeed that serious, you will need every advantage you can get, my experience included."
Ryder, unfortunately, agreed with her as before; but she still hesitated.
"That doesn't make the threat on your life any less important, shovaan," Akksul insisted.
"I said I will take an escort," the Moshae said in a no-nonsense tone. "I will have someone give regular reports on my safety if I must. I can be careful. Besides, if I'm always in one place, sooner or later they will find me; so many Resistance members and Initiative soldiers is hard to miss, even for a Roekaar."
You're preaching to the choir, Ryder thought wryly. Her own instincts told her moving around would make it harder to become a target; though, she was woman enough to admit that her position was influenced somewhat by the dread she felt at being caught off guard by Zivrel and being cut off from SAM again. Frankly, Akksul was being overprotective, but she didn't really want to find out if he could go back to loathing her over this because she disagreed with him. That was the true heart of her dilemma, embarrassing as it was. Now that she finally thought about it those terms however, she couldn't really justify stalling any longer.
"Ryder, please see sense," Moshae Sjefa said, and Ryder's attention refocused. The woman's tone wasn't at all pleading, but it did express the angaran's exasperation with the human Pathfinder very aptly. The next time she asked it would be a threat, Ryder knew, and that would have consequences; she was out of time.
Shooting a guilty look at Akksul, Ryder compressed her lips and at long last gave the Moshae a nod of assent. "I have one condition, though: Akksul and I will come with you."
"I hardly think that is necessary," the Moshae said calmly.
"Necessary or not, that's the only way I'm going to agree to this," Ryder said emphatically. She was careful not to glance at Akksul and gave the outward appearance that the man's reaction didn't faze her in the slightest, but she could feel frustration rolling off him in waves.
"And if I am in danger in the future are you going to drop everything to come to my defense?" the older woman asked pointedly. "Or is it that you don't trust your people to protect me adequately?"
"Well, no," Ryder replied uncertainly but instantly regretted it. "I mean yes, if you need it I will always come, but I didn't mean to imply…" she trailed off, breathing a little hard. "No, my people know what they are doing. But like you said, Akksul and I have experience with this; I think you need us, not to mention SAM."
It could provide valuable information to compare observations, SAM intoned.
Akksul gave a snort of derision at mention of SAM.
"Mhmm," Ryder mumbled under her breath, reluctantly acknowledging SAM's input.
"The escort, they should all be angaran," Akksul said after a moment. From the look that accompanied his statement he would see this through, for the Moshae's sake, but he clearly blamed Ryder for caving in, just as she had feared he would. "If it is that important, we cannot trust outsiders with this. It could threaten all angara on every world and for all we know the Milky Way aliens could use this against us one day – they cannot be trusted."
Ryder really wished he hadn't made that argument. She would have to set herself against him, again, and she was fairly certain that their sapling bond would not survive it, if their existing disagreement hadn't killed it already. Well, it had been a crazy idea to begin with, something between her and him; she just wished thinking that didn't amplify her loneliness. It wasn't as if the man promised her anything, technically he was still her enemy; perhaps she had been crazy to give in to that insane urge to be with him to begin with. It was time to face reality and accept it.
"No," Ryder said firmly, shaking her head to punctuate the word. "Out of the question. No offense Akksul, but if anyone can be bought by the Roekaar, it's going to be angarans. Like it or not, the Initiative is your only option who you can trust is not corruptible by a group of xenophobic angaran extremists." She wasn't sure if her words affected him or not, so Ryder just continued to look into his starry eyes steadily, silently imploring him to understand. Couldn't he at least see that she had the Moshae's best interests at heart? That had to mean something to him…
Akksul's mouth was a grim slash and he stared at her angrily like that for what seemed like an eternity, expression shifting almost as though he was reconciling himself to something; after a while he just seemed lost to her, searching her eyes in turn for answers. In the end, he gave a bare nod before standing and stalking away to the other side of the room without another word. Ryder let out a slow sigh of relief, but the worry in the pit of her stomach remained.
"Excellent," the Moshae said. "It is settled then. Gather up your things, children – bring your guns." She stood and withdrew to prepare.
Ryder stood and took a moment to compose herself before joining Akksul beside the stack of crates they had unloaded their gear onto. She reckoned that her priorities had been justified: first and foremost she had to make sure that the Moshae was protected and that through her the Initiative was seen standing with its ally in her time of need. Akksul's feelings had to take second place to that, no matter how much the thought anguished her; the both of them were just going to have to accept that. Grimacing and walking over she mused that she probably also had to accept that even if whatever it was they had been between them was doomed, for better or worse she did care about his feelings now; she just hoped he wouldn't use that against her one day. Despite feeling a fool for it, that very fact motivated her now to try and mend things between them as she reached his side.
"Akksul," she said, softly enough that she was sure the Moshae wouldn't overhear, "I wasn't trying to go against you, you know."
Akksul turned his head to look at her expressionlessly as he strapped his harness on. "I know," he said simply.
"So… you're not angry?" Ryder asked, a little perplexed, but suddenly hopeful.
"I disagree with your judgement," he replied tightly, "but I will not let her study this thing alone."
"That's why I insisted that you and I go along," Ryder nodded in agreement.
"Do you think I would have been left behind otherwise?" he said contemptuously. "I may be willing to follow the Moshae through fire, but I will never let anyone or anything stop me from protecting her."
"I know that," Ryder replied defensively.
"I don't need you or your favors to do that, so next time you decide to put the Moshae in more danger than she's already in, leave me out of it. I will do what must be done."
"I know that, too," she said stiffly. Anger built inside her but she ruthlessly suppressed it, along with the hurt and humiliation that his words caused. "I stand behind my decisions regardless of your feelings about it, Akksul," she continued coolly, "I'm not willing to compromise the Moshae's life or the good relations between our people for the sake of your pride or your mistrust. Even if you feel I have somehow wronged you by not agreeing with your version of protecting her, I'm pretty damn sure she's going to do whatever the hell she wants with or without you, so I'd rather cooperate and keep her safe than alienate us from her completely."
"I am not—" Akksul began, but Ryder shushed him by pressing her fingertips to his lips.
"I don't want to hear it," she said, letting a little heat seep into her voice. "The decision has been made, we need to focus on the mission by making sure that it goes as smoothly as humanly possible. And as angaranly possible." She cleared her throat.
Akksul brushed her hand aside. "I don't take orders from you," he glared.
"And yet you are going to go along with my suggestions anyway," Ryder said emphatically, "because for success we need to have one person calling the shots. If you think my men will listen to a Roekaar, especially you of all of them, then by all means, you tell me what to do."
"So I'm one of them again, am I?" he demanded.
"You tell me," Ryder shot back.
She could hear him grinding his teeth as he considered. It dawned on Ryder that this was the first time they had simply just stood this close to each other since they had escaped the Remnant building. He seemed to realize it after a moment, too, judging by the uncertainty that ghosted across his face. Abruptly he kissed her lightly on the lips before pulling away, clearly seeking to put distance between them. Ryder just stood there, stunned, stomach roiling with butterflies.
"For wanting to protect the Moshae," Akksul explained. "However misguided your idea of protection is, I believe your intentions," he added, then picked up his last weapon and holstered it before walking away to wait by the door.
Ryder touched fingertips to her lips before she could stop herself, then suddenly coming to her senses she hastily reached for a piece of her outer armor and began dressing. She kept her back to the door, not wanting to meet the man's eyes and betray how thoroughly affected she felt, but she didn't have long to sort herself out. In much too short a time she was strapping the last piece in place and after she fully armed herself, trying to take her time about it, she finally turned around to join Akksul at the door – only to find that he had gone outside already, doubtless to wait in one of the shuttles. She heaved a sigh of relief, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed, too. Maybe the sensation of sparks between them hadn't been mutual.
"Ready?" the Moshae's voice made Ryder turn.
"Yes," she replied. The pair of them left the building together. Outside the Moshae went ahead to the shuttles while Ryder approached one of the guards near the library's exit wearing the Andromeda Initiative insignia. "Who leads your group?" she asked.
"That would be Lieutenant Sajax," the man nodded towards a turian woman standing not far away with a larger group of Initiative people standing close to a shuttle landing pad.
"Thanks," Ryder said and walked towards the group. That must have been the team that she had ordered assembled not long after they arrived at the library. She thought she recognized the turian from the militia headquarters. "Lieutenant," she called out as she approached.
"Hey Ryder," Sajax said, "I've assigned some of my second team to keep an eye on things here, but I've got all the best shots with me. We're ready to go whenever you are."
"Good thinking," Ryder nodded in acknowledgement and the turian returned the gesture in thanks. "Let's move out."
Leaving the lieutenant to organize their people, Ryder climbed onto the first shuttle and found the Moshae already comfortably seated, along with the pilot; Akksul was nowhere in sight. She sat down slowly beside the angaran, hesitating and wondering if she should go find him, but she realized that when all was said and done any obligation between her and the former Roekaar leader had dissolved as soon as they had helped each other escape – as had their truce. If he decided to go his own way, well… she got her way regarding the Moshae, there was that.
No one else boarded their shuttle, though there was room for at least one more; she suspected that had been Akksul's assigned seat, though she had no doubts that he was on one of the other shuttles. It only took a few more minutes for the shuttles to begin taking off one by one; for safety the Moshae's shuttle only joined the group after two others were already in the air as an advanced guard, gliding through a low-hanging rain cloud to follow them that left beads of water streaking on the glass. Ryder watched the jungle's hills and valleys undulate beneath them, entranced by the vibrant blues and greens bathed in the purplish-golden glow of the afternoon sunlight; after a time the Moshae finally broke the silence.
"I am surprised to see that something seems to have passed between you two," she said simply.
"What do you mean?" Ryder asked in alarm, view forgotten.
"The last time the three of us met, all Akksul had for you were taunts… and you seem like you are struggling with him somehow, that is also new."
"That doesn't mean anything," Ryder insisted, forcing a laugh.
"I didn't think that anyone could get through to him after he left," the Moshae mused. Despite herself, Ryder leaned closer curiously, waiting for the woman to continue. "I had hoped for his sake that he would seek out something or someone to heal him… I was not expecting you."
"Believe me, we were forced together," Ryder winced. "We had to cooperate or we would have died down there. I wouldn't really call that a healing experience."
"I didn't mean that," Moshae Sjefa said in surprise. "I meant that there is an emotional bond between you now."
"Not really," Ryder said faintly. This conversation was shaping up to be so much worse than the interrogation, she decided. Things between her and Akksul were complicated enough without someone else's opinions added to the mix. "We just… helped each other, I guess we became comrades after saving each other a few times." Apparently it means nothing to him, though, she thought dejectedly. She wasn't fooling herself into thinking that kiss meant anything more than what he said it was; the angara were much freer with their emotions that way and they had, after all, gotten close.
The Moshae gave her a look that made Ryder avert her eyes, blushing. "It may be painful, but if you can save him… I hope you will take the chance."
Ryder cleared her throat. "Where um… where are we going exactly?" she shifted about in her seat uncomfortably.
"The silos, we call them," the Moshae replied smoothly. "Most of it is buried by the jungle, but sections of its infrastructure are accessible with only a little digging, just recently we exposed one of them completely to study it. When we finally glimpsed what was inside we found another dead site – similar to your description, actually, very different from typical Remnant structures in some ways. This place is much closer to the surface than any other site, however."
"Why do you call them silos?" Ryder asked warily.
"Because put together it looks like a planetary defense system network."
"You're not sure, though?"
"It is unlike any angaran defense system in all the important ways, but that is the most logical hypothesis I have to offer based on my observations."
Ryder nodded. "If anyone can fix this, it's SA—"
Something slapped against their shuttle, sending them spinning wildly through the air. After an agonizingly long and silent eternity of being unable to move from the G's sucking her to her seat, the shuttle mercifully stabilized as the automated attitude controls kicked in just before Ryder's vision graying out completely. She shook her head to clear the fog, but she realized that part of her disorientation was caused by the fact that her hearing was gone. She hadn't really registered the roaring sound before her senses overloaded, but then, a lot of blood had been leaving her head for her feet at the time, that would have confused anyone.
"SAM," she gasped, struggling to breathe normally. It was still difficult to move, they were still accelerating.
I have managed to counteract a potential G-LOC, but I am afraid that Moshae Sjefa had no such protection, SAM said. She is unconscious.
Ryder shakily turned her head to look at the Moshae; she seemed to be breathing, but she was definitely passed out. Struggling to regain motor control Ryder managed to get her hands to her seatbelt and she fumbled at the clasp to free herself. It kept slipping through her fingers but she kept trying anyway; she had to check on the Moshae, but more importantly, the shuttle was still out of control, even if the spinning had stopped.
Repairing damage now, SAM intoned.
She sucked in a breath as something needled through her body, but a split second later she was blinking and her limbs were moving with a wonderful fluidity once more. Not wasting any time, she made sure the Moshae wasn't bleeding and that nothing was seriously broken before she pulled herself towards the pilot's seat. The shuttle was gaining altitude fast and the engines were starting to keen from the struggle against the planet's gravity; one look was all it took to ascertain that the pilot was dead, hand still clutched on the controls.
"Please tell me you're not going away this time, SAM," Ryder muttered, removing the pilot's hand to stop their ascent before taking the copilot's seat to take control.
I am here, Pathfinder, SAM replied and she felt her mind sharpen, her senses elongate and her body tense pleasantly with renewed vigor.
"How close are we to the silos?" she asked.
We will reach the site momentarily. However, the explosion that was the source of the shockwave seems to have originated from the same location, I recommend caution.
"Oh, this is bad," Ryder breathed, feeling very weary all of a sudden, SAM's augmentations or no. At that moment she would have happily gone back to be trapped in the Remnant building again, with not a single worry about the future – mostly because there had been no future down there. But I do have a future to fight for now, she thought, and after a moment she pulled herself together with renewed determination. "SAM, take us down, but put us down a short walk away, just in case."
Beginning descent now.
The shuttle began to drop and Ryder felt her stomach flip, hands steady on the controls as she followed SAM's guidance precisely. She rode a few clouds that buffeted them off course, but each time she regained control quickly and resumed their path downward. Sweat slid down her face and beaded on her chin but she didn't waste time wiping it away; the shuttle had been damaged enough that she had to keep it in hand. At long last Ryder spotted the landing zone SAM had chosen and began a more rapid descent.
Minutes later the shuttle finally touched down with a groan accompanied by a teeth-jarring jolt and Ryder's hands sprang away from the controls; she fell back to the seat, breathing hard, but mostly she was overwhelmed with relief at still being alive. After nearly nodding off on the spot – she really was exhausted and SAM couldn't mask it fully – she jerked herself awake and went back to check on the Moshae again. Once she was certain that the older woman was unhurt and positioned as comfortably as possible given the circumstances, she stood and approached the airlock, but before she even took a step something caught her attention and drew her to a halt.
"Is that… gunfire I hear?" she asked.
Affirmative, SAM replied.
Ryder cursed and made for the exit. A moment later she was standing on blessedly solid soil again, purple mist swirling around her ankles, but what was in front of her was a scene out of a nightmare. Screaming angarans and Initiative men and women were battling what appeared to be a swarm of RemTech bots, but unlike any she had ever seen; half of them seemed arachnid in appearance and behavior, but what truly horrified her was the sight of one of the silo doors looming in the near distance, just one, easily twice as high up and more across as the Tempest, gaping open and disgorging hundreds of bots. Worse, many of those streams marched straight into the jungle instead of joining the battle at hand. She jumped as she witnessed one of the arachnids leap at an angaran from behind, one of its legs suddenly driving through the man, slicing through shields and armor with indifferent ease.
"What have we done?" Ryder gasped.