"You have ten minutes, recruits!" the drill sergeant yelled. "I want your plates clean and your asses on the track in TEN MINUTES!"
It had to be genemods. There was no other explanation for a human having a voice so loud, it could make plasteel windows tremble. The last thing in Shepard's mind was food, specially after throwing up twice during the morning PT. She had forced the horrible grey goo down her gullet in the morning, and she was still surprised it was even worse on its way up. She had assumed that goop was rock bottom on the palatability scale.
She grabbed a tray and moved through the queue, getting a ladleful of the same goop she had had in the morning. Surprising, that. She had expected them to use the leftovers as mortar to do repairs on the base, but apparently they were still meant to eat it.
With one strategic move, she pushed through the queue in the middle of a rushed pileup, and managed to make it through with a half-empty tray.
"MINDOIR!"
Or not. She remembered Roy telling her how he had gotten the nickname Mindoir during his first week. Well, for her it had only taken the first day. So far nobody had bothered her about it, but then again, so far all they had done was run and do ridiculous exercises.
"Sir!" she replied.
Before she could put that thought in order, and seemingly out of nowhere, another two full loads of goop found their way onto her tray.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" It wasn't a question. "The Alliance is paying for your gene mods, and for the gene mods to work you need to feed your body!"
"Yes sir!"
"Now go! I want that plate clean!"
Shit.
She dropped at the nearest seat and started spooning the goop in. Roy had told her once that the purpose of the bad food was to keep the soldiers in a bad mood, and she still wasn't sure whether he had meant it or not. She could believe it, though.
A moment later she was shoved nearly out of her seat as a massive recruit made his way onto the bench. Q-ball. Bald guy, face like a thumb because he was really, really overweight. The drill sergeant had put the beams on him as soon as he took the first look at his size, and he had been riding his ass ever since.
His tray looked remarkably empty.
"Hey Mindoir," he said, leaning in a bit too close for comfort. "Wanna trade?"
"I don't think it's a good idea," she replied.
"Come on, you ain't eating all that," he said. He then grabbed his spoon, and reached into Shepard's tray.
Before he could get the spoon an inch back, someone grabbed his head and slammed it right on his tray. Grey goop went all over, and the only reason Shepard wasn't covered with it was that there hadn't been that much on his tray to begin with.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Q-ball!" the drill sergeant yelled. Once again, it wasn't a question. And even if it had been, given the way he was digging into the goop with Q-ball's face, there was no way he'd be able to answer. "Since you're digging into the farm girl's tray, I can only assume you're done!"
The sergeant got Q-ball back on his feet with a mighty pull, and pushed him away without any ceremony. She didn't have a chance to say a single word before an extra scoop of goop landed on her tray.
"You got some of your food stolen. Now eat!"
Dammit.
She didn't complain. She didn't see a way she was ever going to finish that tray, but then again, she knew better than to argue. With that much crap in, chances were it was coming out in the near future anyway.
I bet Roy's just enjoying a nice rack of ribs at Relay Rob's. Damn him.
Hello Roy,
Yeah, the meatgrinder is seriously making me question my decision. If I hadn't spent a quarter million of your credits on genemods I probably would quit. But don't worry, I won't waste your money. The sergeant has it out for me though, he keeps saying that I'm too thin and that I have to eat more. Driving me nuts.
I almost spent the first night doing laps of the barracks, because I couldn't stop laughing. Remember when you sent me that recording of the noises people were making during your meatgrinder? It's a lot funnier live.
Anyway, lights out. I want to hear all about your "holidays", okay?
Take care,
Lana.
I was not a happy camper. I had spent twenty hours next to a living chainsaw in one of the most cramped civilian shuttles I had ever seen. That living chainsaw was a turian, and I had no freaking idea they could snore like that. I had managed a little bit of sleep, but I had spent the rest of my time just annoyed. The asari attendant had given me a few looks of sympathy, and even a couple of drinks on the house to make it more bearable, but there was only so much she could do. Earplugs, dammit. Earplugs. I even considered sealing my ears with omni-gel at some point out of desperation.
So, I had spent the flight creating a fake extranet website for Aperture Labs. I was tired of being constantly asked about my vest, so I figured I might as well. Research on long-term stasis and cryogenic preservation for intergalactic travel.
May as well go for gold. Or maybe I should buy some civilian clothes at some point.
"Dear passengers, in a few minutes we will be entering Thessia's atmosphere. We hope you have enjoyed your travels with us, and hope to see you again onboard."
That was enough to finally wake up the turian. He snorted, coughed, and snorted again.
"Damn blue witches," he muttered.
Really? Blue witches?
It had to be the translator. I didn't think turians believed in witches, and apparently he was a xenophobe. Well, or maybe he was just pissed at something. He gave me a glance, and decided my completely ignoring him was his cue to keep talking.
"I'm lucky enough to be allergic to levo dust," he snorted again, and looked me up and down.
"Guess the Goddess has a sense of humor after all," I said, getting a few muffled giggles from the other asari around us.
I could feel the turian shifting on his chair, so I have him a glance. Yeah, he was annoyed, and so was I. I had barely slept a wink. But it didn't get much further than that, once we hit atmo we had more important things to worry about.
Planetary re-entry in a shuttle was always an exciting affair. But credit where credit's due, we were right on time. A few minutes in, and I was out at the spaceport, bag on shoulder.
And the place looked incredible.
Asari love glass. Let me rephrase that, asari really love glass. The spaceport was a simple, utilitarian building, and yet the terminals were built fifty meters tall with multi-color hued glass, silver plasteel and water features running all over them. It looked like a freaking work of art.
What. The. Hell.
And that was only half the story. The spaceport was, obviously, built on high ground, and the view of the city on the other side of that glass was simply indescribable. Whatever I had thought I'd see, whatever I had thought I had seen in the games, it didn't even begin to do it justice.
The smallest building could have been a landmark in any city on Earth. I had seen the Gaudi buildings of Barcelona, the Alhambra of Granada, the Louvre, hell I had spent a week in Rome (you'll be amazed what places one can get to in Europe with a rail pass and nowhere to go to call home). Holy crap.
"Welcome to Thessia."
I turned to see one of the asari from the shuttle behind me, smiling openly.
"Erm, thanks."
"First time?" she said, getting a nod back from me. "I always enjoy the reactions from our visitors. Here to see the views?"
"Not really, I came for a talk. Down at the University."
"Oh, I see. A scholar." She offered her hand. "I'm Thyrin."
"Roy," I replied, shaking it.
As soon as I did, there was a flash on my mind. An image, went in the blink of an eye as quickly as it had come. She noticed my reaction, and let go of my hand.
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't expect… We call this the Courtesy of Thessia, a small thought we share as a form of greeting."
"I… see," I said, looking up from my hand, which I had been examining like an idiot. "Sorry I didn't offer anything."
"Your surprise was plenty," she said with a smile. She swiped at her omni-tool, and mine pinged with an incoming message. Contact information. "Perhaps I could show you the views after your talk."
I chuckled at that. "If I'm lucky," I replied, raising my omni-tool. I accepted the incoming, and sent my own. Then I noticed the time. "Damn, I really have to go."
"So do I. Enjoy your visit, Roy."
She gave me a look and walked away, swaying her hips as she did. Was it an asari thing, or just that we humans noticed that whenever it happened? Well, whatever, I had to get to the campus, and I had no idea how far it was. I made to the taxi stand, and soon I was buzzing away towards my destination.
It was a shame that I was in a hurry, because the views were amazing.
It was also a shame that I had a lot more to think about than just looking at the pretty buildings. I still wasn't sure how I was going to approach Liara. It'd depend in great part on how the talk went. I wanted it to be my cue to start talking protheans.
We'd soon see.
It actually took almost half an hour to get to my destination, and when I arrived I realized that the image Thyrin had put in my head was a view from the campus. Very nice of her. I hopped off my cab, paid the outrageous fee, and legged it towards the Prothean Studies building. Dammit, I was late. When I got to the hall, it was already started, so I tried to sneak in as quietly as possible.
"And thus, the isotopic composition of the relays is not consistent with the proposed timeline for their construction," Liara was saying. There was a huge projection behind her, and I couldn't understand a word that was written. Of course, it was in Thesserit.
I sat at the back of the hall, trying to be as quiet as possible, and fired up the omni-tool. It synced automatically with the projector on the backrest of the empty seat in front of me, and translated text appeared on the mini-projection.
Yeah, it didn't help. I had no idea what she was talking about.
"Matriarch Fridea's work already accounts for the discrepancies," one of the asari at the front was saying. The hall was pretty large, could hold a couple hundred people easily, yet it was mostly empty.
"Her works highlight the composition of the relays being altered according to the radiation from the stars they orbit," Liara said, and zoomed into one of the diagrams on the projection.
It was a scatter plot of some sort. "Compositional divergence versus isotopic deviation".
Of course, duh! And I wasn't being sarcastic at all.
"Which is consistent if materials were gathered in the systems they occupy, relays are too large to have been constructed in one central location and moved after the fact."
"But several systems with mass relays clearly lack the raw materials necessary for the construction of the relay."
Again, she worked the terminal, and a list of systems appeared, accompanied by graphs of raw materials. These graphs diverged somewhat, depending on whose projections had been used for the estimate.
Right, nobody knows how to make relays yet.
"And yet, for relays located in such wide orbits around their stars, it'd take over a billion years for their composition to be altered by the incoming radiation at the levels you propose. Whose timeline is less realistic?"
There were murmurs of assent, and I could see that Liara took that blow to heart. I had to bite my tongue. If only she knew how right she was.
"Right," Liara said, swiping at the projection to change the subject. Archeological digs across the galaxy. "But what about the dating of prothean cities? Analysis has shown-"
More murmurs. Damn, that had been a mistake. She had some evidence on her side, she could have conceded that she didn't have the whole story, while allowing that the established narrative lacked some explanations too, but she had folded completely. She was going on about how prothean cities seemed to all date in a narrow 20,000 year band, but the audience was no longer listening. By the time she was done, barely half a dozen asari remained.
Half a dozen asari and me.
I made my way towards the stage as the rest of the asari left, drawing a few curious glances. Liara was on there packing up her things, datapads and all. She had made a huge spread, so I guessed public presentations around those parts were very lively affairs. Had to be prepared. By the way she was handling things, how her shoulders slouched, she was clearly upset.
"Good talk," I said, catching her by surprise and making her drop the datapad she had in her hand. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
"Uh, thanks," she muttered, breaking eye contact quickly. She picked up the datapad and shoved it in the bag with the others.
"Too bad they wouldn't listen," I added. I crossed my arms and leaned back on one of the front row seats. "You're more right than you think."
"Evidence seems to suggest otherwise," she replied. She still wasn't looking at me. Damn, this wasn't going well.
"It's hard to find evidence of anything on the protheans, much less whatever came before them." I paused, hoping to get her attention, she glanced at me, and returned to her stuff. She wasn't even packing anymore, it looked like she was just trying to avoid yet another awkward conversation. "Almost as if someone, or something, had gone to great lengths to erase their passing."
That got her attention. And when she looked at me, she seemed to realize for the first time that there was a human there talking with her. She was about to speak, but closed her mouth and took a step back, looking me up and down.
"I'm sorry," she finally said. "I wasn't expecting my talk to attract the attention of a human. Few enough asari attended as it is."
"And fewer remained," I heard her mutter.
"I was sitting at the back," I said, pointing over my shoulder with my thumb. "Didn't want to interrupt. Roy Morgan," I said, offering my hand.
"Liara T'soni," she replied, coming down from the stage to shake it. "But you probably know that already."
The Courtesy of Thessia. I offered the thought that crossed my mind when the billion years age for the relays was offered. She was right. Liara offered something much more innocuous, just a little thought of how few humans she had ever met, and how she didn't want to be rude towards-
She didn't even finish that thought before she was massively sidetracked by the one I had offered. The wide-eyed stare she gave me? Priceless.
"That's impossible! What evidence could you have of that?"
"It's all there, isn't it?" I said, pointing at the now deactivated projector. "Remove the impossible, and what remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
She pointlessly followed my finger, talking to herself. "A billion years, if the relays were that old, then the protheans couldn't- No, of course not, there would be evidence of other civilizations, occupying the galaxy. There's no evidence," she finished in a defeated – and, dare I say, annoyed – tone. "Mister Morgan, I have heard all sorts of theories about the protheans. But in all my years, I have not seen a shred of evidence for any of them."
"More like an absence of evidence," I said.
"As you say."
Here goes nothing.
"What if I told you there is evidence?"
"If only."
"No, I'm serious. I mean, think about it, the protheans were all over the galaxy, then disappeared without a trace fifty thousand years ago. Whatever happened must have been cataclysmic, wouldn't someone have documented it?"
"Mister Morgan-"
"Roy," I interrupted.
"Roy. I have made my entire academic career mission to study the prothean extinction. I am well aware."
"Right," whoops, I think I offended her there. "All I'm saying is that it's actually documented."
"Documented how?"
I made a point of looking around and lowering my voice. "A working prothean VI."
She blinked, looked at me, looked again, and the way she did it, I could tell she was trying to figure out if I was on the level, crazy, or pulling her leg.
"You just happen to have something like that?" she said, her voice doubtful.
"No, I don't have it. I know who can get you to it, though."
"Who?"
"Your mother."
Now that hit her. She took a step back, surprised, an angry too. She was looking at me very differently all of the sudden, like she had finally figured me out somehow, and hadn't liked what she had seen.
"What is this, one of my mother's little intrigues? I haven't had anything to do with her since… ten years at least! If you're here for her-"
"Liara, please…"
"No! I will not be part of her games. She may want to sell her image of being the wise and powerful Matriarch, I know better than that."
"I haven't even met her!" I said. Damn our voices had risen. "Liara, this is important."
"So you were here for her all along, it has nothing to do with my work."
"It does!" I took a deep breath. Shit, this wasn't going well at all. "Look, this is going to sound crazy, but your work is probably the most important discovery in the galaxy. This whole galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction," I said, and I saw her give me a narrow look at that. Yeah, I know those were your words. "And if we don't want to be the next ones, we better get ready."
She looked at me for a long while after that, and I was on pins and needles over it. I needed her to stop thinking about her mother. Well, no, to stop thinking about how pissed she was with her at least. But she made up her mind.
"I believe you are serious," she said.
"Like a heart attack," I replied.
"What? No, it does not matter. But why my mother?"
"Because I think she can give you access to that evidence."
"How? She's a politician, not… Oh. Ooooh."
She actually had to brace, reeling from the blindingly obvious reason. Yep, it meant someone already had that VI. And someone who I suggested her mother could get to. High level asari politics.
"I'm not even sure if she knows about it, but I'm hoping even if she doesn't, she can do something once I tell her about it."
"So… who has this… this… VI?"
"If you don't know, you're better off not knowing. Trust me on that."
She didn't reply at first. It was a hell of a story, although at least I had shown her I was serious. Maybe she'd demand a mind-meld to confirm it. Why not? Well, as long as she didn't go digging in the game stuff. If they found out all this was because of a video game, they'd throw me into the loony bin and throw away the key.
"Why should I trust you?"
That was the question, really. I had absolutely nothing to offer her. So, I offered the only thing I had. "My rugged good looks perhaps? Why not?"
"Your story is hard to believe."
"I know. But imagine if I'm right. It's going to rock your mother's world."
Going by her face, she probably didn't get completely the double entendre, but she knew what I was getting at.
"And if this is some ploy, using me to get to my mother?"
"By me?" I said, and pointed at my face as I spoke. "I'm sure she can handle me."
"Yes, I'm sure she can." She gave me one last look, thinking. I could tell she was weighting the pros and the cons, and that she wasn't particularly convinced either. In the end, whatever side it was that would prefer to rebel against her mother seemed to win, because she smiled. "Very well. I haven't spoken to her in years, it could be amusing. What should I tell her?"
"Hm, what about religion? Tell her I'd love to spend some time discussing Athame with her."
"Sounds innocuous enough," she said, shrugging.
You have no idea.
Hey Lana,
The sergeants hate everyone, not just you. Everyone's too thin, too fat, too quiet, too loud, too tall, too short… Hell I remember one guy kept getting chewed up because he was too blonde. They always find a reason. But anyway, do try to eat. If your gene mods are anything like mine, you're soon going to be hungry all the freaking time anyway. Protein paste may not be glamorous, but gets the job done.
Anyway, my holidays so far have been very uneventful. Taking in the sights, I'll leave the adventures for later.
R.-
Finding a place to crash in Thessia isn't difficult. Asari are very social. Almost pathologically so, in fact. They spent a lot of time on trips, visits, travels, and anything else you can think of that involves spending time with others. At any given time, most asari cities have about a third of the population composed of travellers.
Humans, however, were a rarity on the planet. We had been part of the galactic community for some fifteen years, and while business and political travellers reached Thessia very shortly after humans joined the galactic community, tourists and the like were as rare as hen's teeth.
So I really stood out there. It may sound like a good thing, but it was more like a rarity, some sort of exotic animal to point at and ogle. Really less fun than I'd have liked. But, as luck would have it, I didn't have to wait for long. Liara had done as promised and reached out to her mother, and not two days later I received an unexpected visit very early in the morning.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," I said, responding to the knocks on my hotel room. "Who is it?"
"Mister Morgan?" Feminine voice, and for some reason, strangely familiar.
"Yes?" I still hadn't opened the door.
"I have a message from Matriarch Benezia T'soni," the asari said.
Huh.
I opened the door, and recognized the asari even before she opened her mouth. Damn.
"Hello Mr. Morgan. My name is Shiala Dovan, I work for Matriarch Benezia. May I come in?" she said, and smiled. I have to admit, she looked good. Less green than I remembered her, and with the most innocent smile in the world.
Which was a sharp contrast with what I probably looked like.
"Sure, come in," I said, stepping aside.
"Oh my, did I wake you?" she said as she walked in. She was wearing what everyone in Thessia seemed to wear, very tight fitting spaceclothes. Seriously, what a planet.
"Time difference," I replied. I had to stop for a yawn as I spoke, and closed the door. "Haven't gotten used to it yet."
"Good."
Her tone changed in an instant, and I turned around to find her with a solid biotic barrier around herself and a gun pointing at my face. The best thing was how completely unsurprised I was by that, although it did make me rather uneasy. I couldn't say that I didn't expect it.
"That's a bit more forward than I had-"
"Shut up. Arms up, hands where I can see them."
I did as she said, letting her search me thoroughly. She did it twice, apparently surprised by the fact that I wasn't carrying a gun. She gestured for me to go in, and sit on the chair by the window. The hotel wasn't a very flash one, and I wasn't even in one of the nicer rooms. The good rooms were all high up, offering a tall view of the city. In my case, all I could see were the taller buildings all around, perfect for a sniper to get a good shot at me.
Silly me, it was an asari commando walking into my room that I should have been worried about.
"I had hoped to talk to Benezia before it came to this," I said. I tried to get more comfortable, but a quick gesture with her gun made me put my arms on the armrests where she could see them better.
"You expected." She looked me up and down. "Matriarch Benezia and her daughter…" When she stopped talking at that, I could tell she was pissed off. "After years apart, she has word from her daughter. And what does she have to say? A human she's met during her work, she wants her mother to meet him."
Damn damn, damn!
I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to say. Of all the scenarios I had thought of, I have to admit that one hadn't even crossed my mind.
"How dare you." She stepped closer, gun pointed at me.
"Well, damn. Benezia didn't send you."
"Oh, she did. There has been an unexpected opening in her schedule, and Matriarch Benezia would love to meet you at your earliest convenience," she said, sounding like a quote.
"So you're going to ignore your orders?"
"No," she answered.
She had been slowly walking closer, and now that our legs were touching, she stepped to the side and seated herself straddling my legs, her gun right under my chin. She put her other hand on my head, and her eyes turned suddenly dark.
Oh shit.
"But I will be a krogan's daughter before I let you meet with her without knowing what you're planning."
There was no "Embrace Eternity" whispered to my ear, no warning. Nothing. One moment I was trying to sort my thoughts while looking at the dark pools that were Shiala's eyes, then the next thing I know she's the one trying to sort through them.
Show me what you are really here for.
What the hell is this?
Show me or I'll rip it off your brain myself!
My arrival at Thessia. The trip to the university. Liara's talk. I was amazed at how vivid it all was. They were my memories, but the level of detail was almost as if I was experiencing it again. And I could also feel Shiala's reaction to it. Seeing Liara take such a public blow during her talk was hard, and it was hard for Shiala to see too.
Daughter of your Matriarch, right?
Shut up, it's none of your business.
I can feel you as much as you can feel me.
So the relay of the talk continued. It didn't end well. Then I approached Liara, started talking.
You were manipulating her.
No. I need her help.
To get to my mistress.
You know it's not true.
I needed Liara. She was the prothean expert. We needed her. If we were going to find Javik. Ilos. The Reapers.
That thought branched off into another branch of my memories. Back. Back through my year in the army. Back through bootcamp. Back to Mindoir. Back to Shepard.
Stop!
I'll find it, what are you-
You want to see? Well damn you, look then!
It wasn't just me. It was there for Shiala to find, too. Thessia. I had seen Thessia before, I had seen it through a sixty inch 1080p television, yet the level of detail of my memories was so high I couldn't believe it wasn't real. It felt real. So, so very real.
Thessia. Burning. The skies alight, reapers everywhere. Fires, smoke, and death as far as the eye could see. A desperate rush to reach the Temple of Athame, and the prothean beacon inside. I felt Shiala recoil at the images, rejecting them as if they couldn't be real.
They weren't, not yet at least, but it didn't matter. I pressed on, every detail, every death. And leaving the planet behind to burn.
That's not possible.
I didn't have to say anything. I knew she could feel my thoughts. Real. Very real. The reapers were real, and the galaxy was going to burn,
No!
You wanted to see it? Then fucking- "-see it!"
The words were out of my mouth before I realized the mind meld was over. Shiala jumped back, and fell on her bum when I pushed forward, grabbing the gun off her hand. Damn but I was pissed. I took the gun, pointed at her, and then just threw the stupid thing against the wall.
To her credit, Shiala recovered quickly – more quickly than I did, I had done that on autopilot and now my feet were not all there – and stood up immediately, biotic barrier shimmering around her. I just plopped down on the chair again.
"What was that?"
"You wanted to know, now you do," I spat.
"That was not real," Shiala said. I could tell she was struggling to recover her cool front, not managing completely.
"For your sake, I hope it doesn't come to that." Unless she enjoys being made the thrall of some weird space-age sentient plant.
She extended her arm, and with an extra glow of biotics, her gun flew to her hand again. Very nice control there, I didn't know many biotics in the force that could do that with such precision.
"So, what's it going to be?" I said, trying to stand up again. Yeah, my feet were back. I could stand.
Matriarch Benezia was a rather rich and powerful politician. That much I knew, but it really was hard to grasp what it meant. She had multiple properties on Thessia, and even more abroad. She also had ships. And one of those ships was a large yacht, about half the size of a frigate, which she apparently didn't use unless she wanted to be away on very private business.
My quip about how private that meant flew like a lead balloon.
But the ship was swept for bugs thrice a day, by several people independently, and everyone aboard had been personally vetted by Benezia herself. I didn't get a number on how many people were aboard the ship, but Shiala did mention that most of them were elite asari commandos.
Well, I never planned to try and escape anyway.
"Mister Morgan," Benezia greeted me. She had had me wait in her tiny "office" for over an hour, and now that she had arrived, she barely gave me a glance as she walked in. Shiala, too, walked in behind her, and stood by the door
I stood up to greet her. "Matriarch. Roy's fine."
She took at seat behind her small desk, and finally looked at me. She had one hell of an intimidating stare, moreover for someone who wasn't armed. And yeah, even though she had that flat, serious look, it was easy enough to tell she was pissed off underneath. Not a great place to be. I sat down and stirred uncomfortably in my chair, trying to find a better position. I think the freaking chair was designed to be uncomfortable.
"Very well, Roy," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You have somehow managed to charm my daughter into arranging a meeting between the two of us, revealed to Shiala the existence of the prothean beacon in the Temple of Athame, and dragged me all the way out here. Now, I would like an explanation. Starting with your knowledge of the beacon, it is a closely guarded secret we don't discuss with just anyone."
I was about to glance back at Shiala, but Benezia caught my movement even before I had made it.
"Shiala overstepped her bounds when she came about the knowledge of the beacon. But she's not your concern."
Damn. She got me even before I moved, and took the chance to both chastise her and to show me she knew exactly what I was thinking. This was going to be great fun. Not. The ship was cool enough, which I appreciated, because I could swear I was about to start sweating.
"The beacon doesn't matter, I just wanted to get your attention."
"It does not matter," Benezia said, her voice mockingly low. "I cannot decide whether you are a fool or you have no appreciation for your own life. What do you know about the beacon."
No, she wasn't asking. She wanted an answer, so I had to give her one. And given how bad a liar I was, and the fact that Benezia had shown me she could read me like an open book, I better make it good.
"Just the basics," I said, struggling to keep my cool. "Kept in the Temple of Athame, you asari use it to stay ahead of the rest of the galaxy with technology."
Given the narrow eyed look she was giving me, I thought she wasn't too happy with the explanation. So her next statement really threw me off, which was probably what she wanted.
"You do not sound like you disapprove."
"It's a little self-serving," I said, and shrugged, "but there's something to be said about not using advanced technology willy-nilly, Drip-feeding it as advancement happens is probably the right approach. Profitable for you, but not wrong I think."
She didn't look convinced that I was really on board with it, but at the end of the day it didn't really matter. With the reapers coming, all this was going to become rather useless and petty.
"And how did you learn about it?"
"… are you asking me where I found out, or if anyone else knows?"
"Both," she replied with a nod.
"For the latter, nobody else knows."
"Not even Shepard?"
WHAT?
Oh that threw me off all right. Benezia raised one hand to gesture for me to stay seated, because I was already about to bolt to my feet.
"What the fuck do you know about Shepard?" I said.
"Only what Shiala has shared with me," she said, her voice calm. "She is someone close to you. You haven't shared this with her?"
"I made a point not to," I said, my voice grating low. It was the truth, and she better believe it.
"I see."
I looked back at Shiala, and she actually had the audacity of meeting my gaze without a blink.
"Very well Roy, you now have my attention," Benezia said.
Wait what?
It was the last thing I was expecting to hear, and this time, Benezia didn't mind showing she knew exactly what I was thinking. Dare I say, she was smiling – not a lot, not very openly, but there it was – and it actually looked good on her.
"What is it you were so desperate to tell me that you would risk your life to do so?"
Was she just humouring me? I didn't think she was going to let the matter of the beacon go so easily, I hadn't even told her where I had gotten the information from. But she was sitting back, fingers interlaced with a gesture of infinite patience, and a small smile on her face as she waited for me to make up my mind. I smelled a rat, but couldn't find where it was.
I guess this is it.
"What do you know about the protheans?" I said.
"A great deal. What is it you wish to know?"
"Their extinction, really. Your daughter's area of expertise."
"Your claim is that they were hunted to extinction by a race of machines, the reapers," she replied, and made a small gesture towards Shiala to answer my unspoken question. She had read my mind. "The same reapers you showed Shiala over the skies of Thessia." She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped, and just gestured for me to continue.
So I did. I explained the reapers, what they were, how often they appeared, everything I could remember. Benezia barely said anything, just asking the occasional innocuous question or making a comment. It felt like she was just observing me. I didn't think she actually believed me, but she seemed willing to at least let me speak.
"It is a rather farfetched story," Benezia said.
"You could ask Vendetta." I waited, but she didn't say anything. "The prothean VI in the temple?" Nothing. That meant-
Oh shit.
"If I was meant to know about it, Roy, I would. Few people know about the beacon, fewer yet have access to it."
"Define fewer," I said.
"Less than ten," she replied. With the look she gave me, she wanted to grill me some more about the beacon, but she decided to wait, going off another tangent. "I am curious about these reapers. What do they need us for?"
"Need us?"
"Why leave anything behind, including technology, if all they want is an opponent to destroy?" she offered.
"Yeah, they don't just destroy organics, they turn them into more reapers."
How did it go? Every ship a nation, or something like that. Damn, I couldn't remember that speech from Nazara, in part because it was from the first freaking game, and in part because after the third game I cared a lot less about the reapers' motives. I found it an enormous letdown, specially because it was so unnecessary. Elditrich abominations don't need motives, specially not motives that sounded like the result of a badly programmed AI loop. The galaxy burned because some poorly paid code monkey made a few shitty lines of code.
Anyway, better not get started.
"I could help you remember," Benezia said. Goddamn it was annoying that she could read me like that. Was she reading my mind or something? "It was obvious enough, Roy. Your body language is very eloquent."
Did I really have a choice?
"Are you going to go on a joyride in here?" I said, tapping the side of my head.
"I am quite adept in the restoration of memories. Nothing more," she said.
I always knew it'd come down to it. I just hoped after all was said and done I would still be able to walk it off in one piece. To be honest, the fact that Benezia was so calm was really creeping me out. Like she was just waiting for me to dig my own grave or say something I shouldn't.
She beckoned me with her hand, and I leaned forward. She put her hand on the back of my neck, while her eyes became completely black. I could feel my heart rate speeding up, and Benezia caught it too.
"Calm down," she whispered. "Take a deep breath. My thoughts will become yours, and those you wish to share will become mine too. Embrace eternity."
Here we go.
I had my mind set on the scene with Sovereign. I could see the platform, the VI-like interface, I just couldn't quite remember all the bits. But now that it was the middle of a mind-meld, it all looked a lot more vivid. A lot more real.
"Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what theychose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."
Holy crap did Sovereign's voice sound fucking scary in here. Now that it was real, it was-
This is not real.
I know, it's a memory, but still…
I meant the memory. This is not the memory of a real event. Yet… yet you are convinced this is a real event, one that might come to pass.
That's… as good a summary as any.
How? For you to believe this strongly what kind of information-
Oh shit. I could feel Benezia pulling at my memory strands, and of course, talking about the memories was leading straight towards where they had come from. Shit, shit, shi-
She stopped.
I am not planning on forcing memories out of you, Roy.
Really? My thoughts went straight back to the previous meeting with Shiala. She had had no problem trying to drag things out of me.
That was unfortunate. She was overzealous in her desire to serve me. It is not the right way.
So you haven't thought about doing just that go get the information on the beacon out of me?
If you had left us no other choice, I might have considered it. The more likely scenario would have been to silence you.
The fact that she had given me that thought so coolly really didn't help matters, but as she helpfully pointed out as soon as that thought came up, it wasn't something I hadn't considered myself. And I clearly understood why that would have happened.
Mind melds were weird. Benezia found that thought amusing.
"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die.
"We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.
"The cycle cannot be broken. The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind.
"Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."
The more Sovereign yammered – and yammer he did, I could hardly believe I had it all so clear in my head and all I had needed was a little help – the more nervous I felt Benezia become. She had been so calm, so… clinical, when she had been asking questions, that it was quite a surprise.
Asari politics are not for the faint hearted, Roy. After nine hundred years, I have learned to maintain a façade.
I wouldn't be very good at that.
I noticed, her thought rang, together with the amusement it had created.
Since we were melding, I could tell she didn't believe it all completely. It was more like she was allowing herself to consider the mere possibility of it being real. Something about it rubbed her the wrong, or rather, the right way. That thought was right there, and I found it surprisingly easy to follow, but I tried to stop as soon as I realized what I had just done.
We are melding, Roy. Both of us. I offered my thoughts, as well as my memories. Go ahead.
You're thinking… it makes sense? With the Temple?
Yes. If this is true, if this information is real, some of the policies suggested by the High Priestess would be explained. The reaction of someone afraid of what might be out there.
I didn't quite follow, but I decided it didn't really matter. High level politics was clearly too much for me.
You sell yourself short, Roy, as you humans would put it. You have made me start to believe in the possibility of your tale being real, something I never thought you would be able to.
Because… I know too much? What?
Benezia tugged gently at one of my memories, the one I had shown Shiala. The destruction of Thessia. I let her do it, and soon we were navigating through it. Reapers all over the sky. The temple.
I can understand how Shiala was so shaken. It is a very vivid thought.
So how do I know too much?
This. Thessia. The Temple. I know you have never visited it. I consulted the register; we track all visitors that come and go, as you can imagine. You have never visited, yet the level of detail in these memories... Those who have this knowledge would never betray it, that is a fact. Something else is at work here. No, don't try to block it, I will not force it out of you.
We went back to Sovereign. There was little left there, the exchange was almost over, but there was one more thing.
"My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weaknesses. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence."
That was it. I felt the meld untangling. Slowly, gently. Then, with a deep breath, I felt myself almost dropping back in my body.
Shiala had been expecting Benezia to be more eager to meld with the human. At least that way she'd understand why she'd been so eager to force him to show what he was planning back when she had gone to pick him up at his hotel. She knew she had overstepped, but she was sure it had been for a good reason.
The way Benezia had reacted to the memories she had taken from Roy, and then shared, had been humiliating. She had treated her like a maiden fresh out of Temple. She knew it wasn't real but there was something odd about it. It felt real. Real to him, at least. She had lost her composure because of it, and it grated at her.
She consulted the time and snorted. They had spent a good half an hour melding. The Matriarch was probably pulling all the secrets out of his brain and he likely didn't even know what was happening. She was remarkable. All she needed to see was the tip of the fin, and she could tell everything about the shark.
That was why her reproaches stung so much. Benezia was always right, and in hindsight, she always saw where she had gone wrong, and how she should have done better.
It was different with the human. She still didn't understand what she had missed.
When the melding was done, Benezia opened her eyes and sat back, fingers interlocked under her chin, thinking. She knew that pose well. She could wait like that for an eternity if she needed to.
Roy, too, seemed to relax, though from her position by the door she couldn't see his face.
Hmph, fool.
Time stretched as the two of them looked at each other. She could imagine how uncomfortable the human had to be feeling, having had all his thoughts exposed like that. She had to steel herself with patience, eventually he'd break.
"You have to understand, Roy," Benezia finally said.
Matriarch? Goddess, what did she see?
"What?" Roy replied, his voice… not exactly calm, but less agitated than she had expected.
"You have offered me very little evidence. Yes, you know things you should not, but it does not mean I will simply accept those I have no knowledge of on your word alone."
"Sooooo, what kind of proof do you need?"
"What kind of proof can you offer?" Benezia retorted.
Shiala could hardly believe what she was hearing. The Matriarch sounded almost like… like she believed him. Like she was willing to… to what exactly? She didn't know. She was about to open her mouth in protest, but before she could even try, Benezia nailed her on the spot with a look.
Quiet, girl.
She didn't need to hear her thoughts to know what that look meant. She clenched her firsts in frustration, and stayed put.
The human, in the meantime, was muttering to himself. She couldn't understand what he was saying – the translators couldn't pick it up, and she even knew a little bit of the human language, though this human had a very strange accent – and he kept shaking his head. After a while, she heard him mutter a much louder 'shit' and look up to the Matriarch.
"You can't access the beacon to confirm-"
"I will not be… opening that can of worms, as you humans say, unless I have an exceedingly good reason to do so."
Roy nodded, but she could see it was a gesture of frustration.
"Fine. There's a couple of things out there, but they'd take time."
"So?" Benezia prompted. Shiala could only agree, get to the point already, Roy!
"There's one thing, a couple of relay jumps is all it'd take." He hesitated again. "How would you like to see an actual reaper?"
The temperature of the room dropped by five degrees at least, going by the chill that made her way up her spine. And even though Benezia didn't seem to react much, she could see the words had had an effect.
"Is that so?" she said, and sounded healthily skeptical.
"An inactive one. Some thirty million years old I seem to recall."
"That would be a start."
"Okay, but…" Roy hesitated, gathering his thoughts. When he spoke again, he sounded as serious as she had ever heard him. "There's one thing you have to promise. You will not board the ship."
"Why?" Benezia said. Yeah, that sounded odd.
"There's… Reaper technology is dangerous. Really, really dangerous. If you believe nothing else I say, you have to believe this. Being in close proximity to reaper technology kinda fucks up with your brain. I don't know how it works, nanobots, brainwaves, whatever it is. It's called indoctrination. It's like brainwashing on steroids. Whoever becomes indoctrinated, becomes a slave to the reapers."
Benezia stopped short of snorting, and Shiala herself had to fight the urge to do the same.
"That sounds-"
"I'm fucking serious!" Roy snapped. "Any reaper technology is too fucking dangerous to go anywhere near it. Use probes, scans, whatever. Just don't board the fucking ship. Don't go anywhere near it."
"I remind you, you are the one who is trying to provide evidence for your story."
"Then we're at an impasse," Roy replied.
How dare this human-
"Very well, you have my word. I will not board the reaper, or go near it."
… why is the Matriarch being so accommodating to this human?
She saw Roy relaxing visibly, taking a deep breath and leaning back on the chair. Goddess, he really was serious. Indoctrination. It sounded like something out of a bad vid.
"Mnemosyne. It's a gas giant, can't remember what system it is. Only reason I remember the name is because it's the ancient goddess of memory, ironically enough. There is a gravitational distortion on the upper layers of the atmosphere, easy enough to find. That's the reaper."
Benezia didn't respond immediately, and Shiala could see why. It stank of a trap. Although it was all too weird. It was such a strange story, she didn't know what to think of it.
But the human seemed to believe it.
"Very well, Roy. I will confirm your information." Shiala stiffened, but was once again prevented from saying anything by a look from the Matriarch. Benezia reached to her terminal, and a moment later her aide, Fieney, came through the door. "Fieney, please escort Mister Morgan to his quarters. Roy, I'm afraid you will have to be confined to them until I have confirmation."
Roy took a rather philosophical view of the whole thing, standing up and offering a mere shrug. "Can't say I didn't expect it."
"Of course," Benezia replied, nodding at him.
The human nodded back, gave Shiala a glance, and walked out of the room, following the Matriarch's aide. Shiala bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for them to leave, and as soon as the door closed, she turned to Benezia.
"Matriarch, you can't possibly-"
"Of course not," Benezia replied, raising a hand to demand silence. Her demeanour had changed instantly, becoming cold and serious. Yeah, Shiala wasn't surprised. She had been furious at the fact that the human had used her daughter, and it looked like she hadn't really let go of it.
"Then why?"
"The human is convinced that his story is true," Benezia said, pointing at the door. "I had a glimpse of his memories of the information, it was some kind of simulation. I didn't follow any deeper, he did not want me to. But he believes it is true, or will become true."
"You believe it?" Shiala said. A flat look from Benezia made her feel like a fool for asking the question.
"I do not know who sent this human. Few know about the beacon; the list of asari who could plant these fake memories in a human's mind is exceedingly short."
Shiala wanted to ask, but kept quiet. The Matriarch was now lecturing her, so she better listen.
"The problem is that it's too obvious a ploy. With such few people who could give him the information, it would be too easy… if it was an asari who did it. I am starting to think this is just a practical joke. In exceedingly poor taste, but a practical joke nonetheless."
"So… what now?"
"Now we need answers. Why such an unbelievable story? Why a human? Why this human? And why me?"
"And what about this reaper?"
"Too obvious to really be a trap," Benezia said. "If it is a trap, it is either clumsy, or brazen. Either way, it will be informative." She took a moment to look at Shiala, and the asari felt another shiver run up her spine. She knew what the Matriarch was going to say even before she opened her mouth. "I did give my word that I would stay away. Take the shuttle, and go meet Captain Alkia. You will travel to this planet and follow the clues Roy has given us."
"Of course Matriarch," Shiala replied. She stopped for a moment before asking the next question. "What should I expect?"
"With what we know, it is difficult to tell. But please, do be careful," Benezia said, and now the concern in her voice was real.
"I will," Shiala said. "And after that?"
"Once we know more, I will deal with the human. One way or another, he will lead us to whoever is behind this little game."
Shiala nodded, then gave a respectful bow and left the room. Well, she had gotten herself tangled into this when she dug through the human's mind, so now it was time to prove that she could be trusted.
Author's Notes: You didn't actually think it was going to be that easy, did you? Of course, there's no need for Roy to know that. In that situation, I'd probably be too relieved thinking about how amazing it was that it had actually worked to really question how very reasonable Benezia had been.
Looking at the setup - Shepard away at camp with a metaphorical paper bomb in her pocket, Benezia trying to figure out who the hell this idiot human is, and Roy trying to keep the games away from all the potential mind-melds in front of him - the question is, who will blink first?
And wow, loads of reviews last chapter! Yeah, things are definitely going to get shaken up. And... one of my favourite characters is going to be getting onboard soon-ish. Canon characters, too. Muahaha!
McDouggal: Thanks for that! I actually wrote the letter like that on purpose; straight from the hip, so to speak, because I wanted it to feel "real". I didn't check the wiki or anything, just made sure the bigger points were correct but ignored the rest. HOWEVER, very astute of you to pick on the alpha relay nomenclature :)
BJ Hanssen: Interesting, I'll think about that! I do have plans for Roy, but that wouldn't interfere with them.
RadioPoisoning: As you can see, you weren't too far off! One thing is that, in my take of the ME universe, mind melding is a very important thing, so just pillaging someone's mind for memories is not seen particularly positive. Shiala's done it, and even under the circumstances Benezia didn't approve.
Lfan8: Thanks! I wanted the relationship between Shepard and Roy to be complicated, and in no small part because of Roy, not just Shepard. I can see the potential for romance, but we'll see how things develop along the plot. They're finally off Arcturus and going their way :)
Azariah: I've given Roy all this combat training, and now, instead of sending him out to fight stuff, I throw him in the room with a politician. I suck at this :D
Mizuki00: Throwing asari into the mix for more difficult interactions! So many ways things can go wrong :)
tdychko: Thanks for the reviews! Glad you're enjoying it. Roy's about four, five years older than Shepard, which is part of the awkwardness as he tries to be more adult than he has any right to be towards Shepard :D
Thanks everyone for all the reviews and positive feedback, really makes writing it that much more awesome. Next time, Shepard continues her training, Roy's bored out of his mind, and who cares about all that when we have an asari expedition going towards the derelict reaper. Stay tuned!