It's been a fast three weeks. Why do I even keep track? Living as long as I do, time feels different. I still get mentally exhausted if an activity drains me and I have to recharge. I don't know. Maybe my brain. The flow of time feels smoother if that makes any sense.

Something happened to the cannon during a test fire. Garrus tried explaining it to me. My attention slowly vanished. Anyways we spent the time fixing the issue while Shepard was doing stuff and the occasional mission. Tali went on a couple. I should go visit her. We haven't seen each other since she came aboard. She doesn't come to my dinners. My delicious cooking was too strong for her (in actuality Tali would eat her nutrient paste as she worked).

I'm entering the engine core from the left entrance. Tali is typing away and distracted. I slowly bring my head next to her ear. I'm about to scream her name when a force originating within my core tells me not to. I pull back then tap her shoulder. She turns around.

"*********! It's been too long. What have you been up to?" Tali leans back on the console. Is that safe to do? What if she presses the hyperdrive button? Please tell me there is a hyperdrive button.

"Helping Garrus with troubleshooting. We could have used your help, but we didn't want to bother you. I bet a lot of your time is being taken up learning the new engine" I said.

Gabby turns her head towards us "not really. Only slight modifications were made compared to the original engine. Most of what we've been doing is installing upgrades Shepard purchased and trying to incorporate Tali's ideas."

Ken took this opportunity to get out of work. He walks away from his desk. The flow of the conversation has both parties meeting in the middle. As the engineers speak in their made-up techno-babble language, as they do, I notice a difference in Tali. I walk a few steps towards Gabby, when the time is right, her shoulders become my shield.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Tali? The Tali I know was this adorable little jittery ball. The way you move is so elegant and graceful. What happened?" I ask as I cower behind the female shield.

Tali giggles "I practiced the mediation you taught me over the years. It helped immensely. My father thought I looked different when I returned from pilgrimage. My auntie Rann thought I was a different person."

"We like the way you move" Ken said. I know I shouldn't, but I'm going to do it anyway. My fist held up for him to bump it. Both our eyes remain fixated on the quarian engineer. Ken was inches away when Gabby slaps the gravitating bro flesh spheres.

"Attention for the following, please meet me in the conference room ASAP…" Commander Shepard lists the entire cast. Something happened. I thought he was on a mission. Must have returned early.

Tali and I exit into the hallway, joining Thane. He asks "did something occur?" Neither of us know. I press the elevator button and see Grunt coming out of his room. Wet and smelly from being in his tank. I quickly look at Tali and Thane.

"Maybe we take the stairs" Tali wisely suggests.

"You alright Thane? You look off" I can't place my finger on it. The drell doesn't look sicker than normal.

"I was performing a ritual to repent for actions I regret" he explained. That's one way to remove the bad data from the soul. Kinda a weird one these days.

"I get it. I have regrets too" I remember that shiny bright yellow color of pain.

"You don't seem the type to have any regrets" Tali said.

"I lost control once and while it wasn't entirely my fault, a species went extinct" Tali and Thane are speechless.

"Relax, they weren't sentient. It was a small flightless bird. I ate more than my fair share" oh I fondly remember that juicy flavor.

"You ate something to extinction?!" Tali asks.

"Back then they weren't endangered. Truth be told I knew they would go extinct. I was curious how they tasted and it was delicious" my mouth is starting to water.

"The tone of your words makes it appear you don't carry much guilt for your actions" Thane said.

"Those things were little monsters. They weren't afraid of humans and as part of their mating rituals, they'd bring the female the biggest worm they could find. For some bizarre reason they thought our toes looked appropriate. My index toe was plucked. Never realized how important it was until it went bye bye. I retaliated by eating that idiot and got hooked" that was the only time I lost a toe.

"You are missing a toe?" Thane asks.

"Not anymore. Got a new one" I offer to show them and was rejected.

"Are humans capable of regrowing toes? Tali asks.

"No. I made a new one to replace it and things are back to normal" I said.

"You mean a prosthetic?" Thane asks.

"Nope. Real flesh and blood. To be honest, I kinda like the new one better" I wiggle my toe.

"Ar-Are you screwing with us?" Thane asks

"In a way but I am telling you the truth" I smile. I love screwing with people this way. Who knew telling the truth would be so much fun!

"If I may ask, what regrets were you trying to remove" Tali asks, not meaning to pry.

"I have a son who I lost contact with. I wish to see him once more before my time comes" Thane said.

"Has Koylat sent you any messages or anything?" I ask.

"No, he hasn't. I'm not sure he would. After his mother's passing, in my grief, I threw myself into work and neglected my duties as a father. It was selfish" Thane said. We arrived outside the conference room. A long line of people awaits, asking if we know anything. I shake my head. Thane looks spooked.

The doors open and Shepard orders everyone inside. With him is Miranda, Jacob, and Kelly. They are all wearing frowns. There are not enough chairs for everyone. My inner child rushed to the chair in front of the in-progress puzzle at the corner. Thane and Tali stand behind me while I focus on the green pieces.

The sitters are Joker, Zaheed, Garrus, Chakwas, and Jack.

The standers are Grunt, Kasumi, Samara, and Mordin.

"I called everyone in here because I have bad news" Shepard said. Crap! Wrong tree piece.

"The illusive man betrayed us. Onboard the collector ship, the one that attacked the original Normandy, the illusive man set a trap. I confronted him and he was dismissive. I can't trust him." Shepard said.

Miranda steps forward. "As the unofficial second ranking Cerberus operative, I agree with commander Shepard. His actions were outrageous and inexcusable."

My sickness has progressed. I don't have much longer to live. My pillow had blood stains this morning. After breakfast, I coughed up a small droplet. The quarian's modification to the climate of my living quarters will give me an additional 6 months at minimum. Unfortunately, the timeline for progressive symptoms until my time comes varies widely from patient to patient. The current record from the first sign to blood to death is four years and he was on a ventilator for the later part. A new worry ransacks my mind.

It's hard for me to run through all the interactions I've had with ********* and pay attention to what the commander is saying. I ran through my memories three times to be sure. Scanning for any mentions or ways ********* would acquire that information.

He shouldn't know my only son's first name.

Click!

That wasn't the water wheel puzzle piece snapping into place. I turn slowly. Thane is aiming a gun at my head.

"Uhhh" I mumble.

"Thane! What the hell!" Shepard yells. The atmosphere is thick.

"Commander Shepard. I believe ********* is working for the illusive man" Thane said.

Miranda yells "What?!'

"Yeah, I'm with her. What?" My heartbeat is speeding up a tick.

Thane's overextended arms twitches "I have been trained since I was a child. Extensive study of facial expressions, voice mannerisms, reactionary behaviors, and I have created personality reports for each individual in this room. ********* has repeatedly demonstrated atypical behavior. My instincts forged from decades of experience has told me from the beginning something wasn't right with *********."

Tali attempts to abate the troubled assassin. "Why don't we all calm down and" she walks too close to the bullet path.

"TALI GET BACK!" My anxiety shoots through the roof. My quick and labored breaths slowly go away when Tali is free from danger.

"If you ever point a gun towards her again-"

"She walked-"

"I. Don't. Care." My words are coated with venom.

Commander Shepard raises his hands "Thane why don't we put the gun away."

"Please allow me to explain. ********* has traits of several different psychological conditions yet does not fit any criteria. He doesn't feel fear for most situations yet is extremely compassionate. High pain tolerance. His reactions to situations in the battlefield that surprise anyone else, he's indifferent to. He claims he never lies but says the most absurd things. Do you even really know this individual commander?" Thane said.

"He's not cerberus. I would know. Am I telling the truth?" Miranda defends me. Shit I'm going to owe her.

"Then the collectors. Perhaps they and he orchestrated everything" Thane said.

Commander Shepard replies "We met before I even became a spectre. Why would the collectors take interest in me then?"

"I don't know. What I do know is he must have knowledge of future events. He's never surprised at mission developments" Thane said.

"I'm stolid in the field!" I yell.

"His origin is a mystery. I searched through every database I could think of and didn't find a trace" Thane said.

"Thane is right about that. I tried looking myself and came up empty handed. I have access to top secret databases, and I should have found something. It's like he's not from this galaxy" Miranda said. I no longer owe her. Why did she use those words? I feel a smirk starting to form. Suppress, suppress, come on!

"Thane. Put the gun down and let's talk this out" Shepard said

"HE KNEW MY SON'S NAME. I NEVER TOLD HIM THAT!"

"He could have heard it from someone else. You told me about Koylat" Shepard replies.

Thane asks "Did you tell him?"

"Well no but I told others and maybe one of them told him. Did any of you tell ********* about his son?" Silence.

"Commander Shepard, I understand you think he is your friend, but he somehow knows things and is dangerous" Thane said.

"Says the guy pointing a gun at me. I'm not dangerous. Ok I am but I won't harm you guys" I said.

"He knows what will happen" Thane desperately tries to be heard.

"That's enough!" Shepard yells.

"If he doesn't, why is he smiling like that" Jacob points out.

I can feel Shepard and Thane eyes fixating on the back of my head. I enjoy my last breath of this air before everything changes. My toes slowly turn the chair around till I can comfortably look at my commander's eyes.

"Busted."

"What?" Shepard asks.

"Can we please just leave this here? I don't want things to change" it's a weak argument.

"No. Spill the beans. I want to hear this. All of this" Shepard said.

"Come on pretty please?" He frowns.

"Fine! Thane is right. I do know the future. Well, kind of. It's hard to explain. Do you really want to know my story? It will get rid of the charming mysterious vibe I have" I said.

"Stop prevaricating" Thane said.

"Rude. I couldn't go a month with Tali before you pulled this stunt. Ok I'll tell you everything." I bring my hands together then pull them apart. In between my palms is a three dimensional rainbow grid image of various colors and intensity.

"We call this the lattice. It's a scale model of the infinitely growing omniverse. These lines are the most trafficked areas" I gaze upon my map.

"Stop with the light show and put the hologram away" Shepard said.

"This isn't a hologram. Hear me out. What does E=MC^2 mean?' I ask the room.

Grunt asnwers "the amount of energy in matter equals the square of the speed of light. That means a lot of energy for really big bombs" he's smarter than he lets on.

"Correct. Matter is merely a form of energy. Highly concentrated frozen energy. So what if we learned to thaw that energy and maintain our consciousness?" I ask. I get blank faces.

"A demonstration is in order. Grunt do me a favor. Run me over. Full charge" I slap my solid right pec.

"I'm not going to do that" he said.

"It will be fine. Sprint at me. I won't be harmed" I stand up and walk over towards the empty space.

"I will not hurt you. You have given me wisdom and helped me on my path to become an honorable Krogan" stop being stubborn.

"What are you doing?!" Tali asks.

"Do I have to insult you in order to get you mad enough to knock me over" I look back and make sure nothing important is behind me. The puzzle won't go on the ground.

"I won't" he said.

Sigh. "A Krogan woman wouldn't sleep with you even if your seed could cure the genophage" the room is dead silent. I think even EDI is stunned.

"I see what You're trying to do and it's working. Remember you asked for this" Grunt runs towards me. Everyone yells for him to stop. Samara, Miranda, and Jack are too slow to use their biotics. I alter the configuration of my being and allow Grunt to phase through me. Oh that feels so weird. I turn around and see him on the floor on top of a broken table. Confused how he missed.

"Matter is mostly empty space. Time for the real show. I'm not human. Not really. Not anymore.. I… am… energy" starting from the crown my head, my material body converts to pure energy. It's a brilliant jade green with little orbs of azure traveling upwards in a gently spiral formation. Everything flows like a gently river.

The room turns red. Alarms blaring.

EDI orders to evacuate as an incalculable amount of energy is in the room. I tell her it's me. A moment passes then the lights return to normal. I phase through the table and move my energy arm forward. This telekinetically moves the chair back. I sit down and condense back into my body. My feet kicked up on the table. I allocated a part of my reserves to generate an orange Mr. Smoothie smoothie.

"Yeah, I know what you guys are thinking. Did I really just see that? He could have done this all along? I'm super sexy and an energy being? I know I know it's a lot to process. I'll give you guys a minute for the confused and shocked brain chemicals to metabolize and return to normal" I take a few sips of my smoothie. These are addictive.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Jack yells.

"What the hell are you?" Garrus shouts.

"Are you God?" Kelly asks.

I reply "I will accept tribute" this one piece looks so close. I bang it into place. Good enough.

"I had a religious experience a long time ago and things kind of fell into place. Took years to fully understand things, self-teaching, experimentation, and training to accomplish what I am. There were stories but I never imagined they were real or that one day I could escape the limits of a physical body. I was just trying to improve my body and mind in any way I could so that I would never get that sick again." I said.

"This is a lot to take in, but that doesn't explain how you know the future. Are you psychic?" Jacob asks.

"No. I'm not actually from this universe. There are other universes, and I left my original one behind. For fun I travel to all kinds of different universes. Any tv shows, video games, etc. I find universes where these events occur and go there. That is how I know. Because I played the game when I was young and remember a lot of it. Despite how old I am, the process enhanced my cognition. It's not perfect, but pretty good" slurp. Nom nom.

"We are in a videogame? Jacob asks.

"No. This universe is as real as I am sexy. There are an infinite number of universes, and this is one where the events of the game are real. I'll answer any questions you have with complete honesty" I explain.

"Whoa. I don't know where to begin. So, you know exactly what will happen?" Jacob asks.

"Sadly no. The ability to find a targeted universe is pretty good but not exact. There were slight differences that my involvement could not have changed. Also, the game had multiple paths so it's more like I know what could happen but not what will happen. Although, I did change how things were supposed to go. It wasn't on purpose, but things happened. We all do it. There's no guarantees." I explain.

"We?" Miranda asks.

"Oh there's people like me. I wasn't the first to discover this path. There were others, but I basically figured it out myself. We're not gods or anything. Wait, my tribute! Oh man, I like free stuff."

"There are others? What exactly do your people do?" The air is tense.

"Calm down. We form hangouts or guilds. We explore the multiverse and share information. Tell others where the cool sights are and how to get there. Every week there is a party, karaoke, tournament or something. It's a lot of fun."

"You're not a human being?" Tali asks.

"I don't like to think I am. I was born a human, but anyone in theory can do this. Here I'll show you" I get up and transform into an asari with a shiny green dress with gold lines across my stomach.

"Oh this feels wrong' I fold my arms.

"Oh these feel nice" I transform into a formidable male Krogan near Grunt's height. Charcoal black plates and a green skin tone.

"This is more my style. Raw powerful masculinity" I transform into a thin quarian male equal to Tali's height with a blue wavy suit with emerald fabrics underneath and a pale green mask.

Transformations into a turian, drell, and into a geth. Everyone carrying a weapon instinctively aims at me. I hold my arms in surrender and quickly transform into other aliens not native to this galaxy. Finally, I go back to my human form.

"I'm most use to my human form and put in the work to achieve all this" I like this version of my body the best.

"Is that even your real body?" Jacob asks.

"Yes, this is my real body. A requirement for my talents is a really fit body. You don't have to be Olympic level, but I needed to be in a lot better shape than most and to remove all the toxic accumulations. If your body can't handle lots of fluid moving around, it will have a difficult time with the special stuff."

"Special stuff?" Mordin asks.

"Whatever it is, it's beneath the quantum level. It is the thing that forms the thing which gives rise to the things that aggregate into quantum particles. Very advanced civilizations will inevitably learn of this, but you guys are a long way away. Good news is you don't need technology to achieve this. Plenty of ancient people have done it. It's hard to sense but once you do, you can acquire it from the environment. Their stories become legends, a clue to our true potential."

"What can you do?" Zaheed asks.

"It would be easier to explain what I can't do. Uh let's see. I can't affect the energy of another being mostly. There are some of us that developed advanced abilities that I never bothered to learn. Can't get rid of the communists no matter how hard I try. Can't code or play music. Learning curve is too steep. I am an energy master. I can fly, convert matter such as this chair into pure gold, etc. There are some abilities I learned but rarely use because it's impractical. If I wish, I can read people's minds. The issue is I hear everything and can't tune it out. I won't do it."

Shepard comments "this is not what I was expecting."

"Let's hear this. I heard a lot. What did you think I am?"

"We thought you were a mutant biotic with healing abilities on the run from a doomsday cult" Shepard said.

"How do you even come to that conclusion?"

"Well, you have survival skills."

"I'm the outdoorsy type."

"You said your family was dead."

"They died of old age and lived a long life. I died a bit early. Lots of stress early in life does that to you."

"You died?" Garrus asks.

"Yeah lots of times. My first real death I just dropped dead. Father time ran out of sand. If I do die, I can use the energy of my corpse to form a new body. Want me to demonstrate? Thane shot me in the head."

Tali forces the gun down "no don't do that."

"Party pooper. I'll show you guys later. The cool stuff is quantum phenomenon at the macroscopic level. That allows me to travel between universes and other stuff. Since quantum particles can be in multiple locations at once, if all the particles are aligned, I can teleport and bilocate."

"Bilocate?" Thane asks.

A second version of me steps out from the original.

"Commander Shepard… there's two of me now."

"Jesus fucking Christ!"

"HAHAHA OOOWWW!" Both my bodies fall to my knees. I return to only one body. My hands squeeze my skull, attempting to override the headache like pain. Tali kneels down and asks what is wrong.

"Usually I can go longer. Imagine if a computer tried to view images from two cameras at once. It overloads my brain. Not doing that anytime soon."

I stand. It was a party trick anyways. We each have our own talents. Others can do it easily while I can't.

"I can't believe you didn't tell anyone" Garrus said.

"Kaiden knows."

"WHAT?! Why didn't he tell me?" Shepard asks.

"I asked him not to. I had to use my abilities to save him. Wasn't going to let my friend die. Back to before, a mutant biotic with healing abilities on the run from a cult? What did I do to give you that impression?" I'm genuinely confused how they would come up with that.

"You told me you escaped from a cult several times, we thought your skills breaking into the Normandy and escaping from c-sec handcuffs came from learning to escape" Shepard said.

"No, I said I escaped from several, multiple cults. If they find out who I am I let them kidnap me, then when the big moment arrives, usually at the execution part I escape, smack the leader, blow the crowd a raspberry, and hightail it. It's so fun to watch their shocked expressions. What made you think I was a biotic?" I ask.

"You can feel whatever biotics feel" Shepard said.

"I'm not sure what is going on either. I never felt this way around people. Not even around people like me. And the healing?" I ask.

"After Virmire, Kaiden was swearing up and down his leg was broken, but Chakwas didn't see any injuries. Also, she tested the thorian creeper spit up. It was so acidic you should have lost your arm" Shepard explained.

"Ooooooo. I did not think of that. Wait, if you knew, why didn't you say anything?" I was made a long time ago.

"I wished to respect your privacy" Shepard said.

I'm touched. "That's so sweet."

"My healing abilities are very limited. I can speed up cell reproduction to accelerate healing. I can also duplicate a person's body part and mirror them. I need something as a template. If I put a random bone or something in I am risking immune rejection. I disintegrated Kaiden's broken bone and used the energy to create a mirrored copy of his good leg. Anything complicated like diabetes or a pathogen I can't fix. But if someone is shot in the lungs, I could fix that. Oh, wait the left lung is shaped differently to accommodate the heart. If you are shot in the right lung, I can fix that, although it won't be as good. Anyway, you will still need a doctor. Hear that Chakwas your job is secure… for now" I warn.

"If there are multiple universes, are there other us's? Is there another you somewhere?" Miranda asks.

"Eh, I don't like to think about it."

"Have you met another version of yourself?" Garrus asks.

"And bring too much sexy in the room? You nuts?"

Shepard yells "STOP RIGHT THERE! Besides your weird magic voodoo, do you honestly believe you're attractive?"

"Well different universes have different beauty standards. I won't hold that against you."

"No. You're not that good looking" Shepard contests.

"He's not?" Tali comments. I turn to her, frantically speaking "DON'TYOUDARELISTENTOHIM. I am good-looking and the sexiest man alive!"

"Really?" Shepard tilts his head.

"LET ME COPE!"

The females come to my defense.

"Oh he has a handsome face" Chakwas said. I stare strikingly at Shepard. See she says so. That's a lot of s's.

"Eh it's kinda bland" Miranda said.

"Really? I think he's cute. Just look at that glow" Kasumi said.

"It's nothing to sneeze at. But he has a great body" Jack said. The girls quietly nod in agreement.

"He kind of looks like if you put Peter Brenton's head on Jason Starvensky's body" Kelly said.

"I love Jason on Citadel encounters!" Miranda said.

"I know! He's fantastic, charming, and funny. I hated how he left his drell fiancé for his ex" Kasumi said.

"Well, he knocked her up" Miranda explains.

"Fucking spoilers bitch! I'm only halfway through season 2" Jack screams.

While the girls are babbling, I turn around to my still awestruck fellas. I brush the air in front of me as I say "I am a godlike energy being from another universe and they are more interested in discussing a romcom I'm assuming. I'm letting you know, all the places I've been, women are the same everywhere. If it's not TV, it's books or something else. Chicks, am I right? Ouchies!" Tali elbows my ribs.

"The weird thing is just being around him. There's something that makes me want to grab a tight hold around him, take him, and" Jack freezes.

"Oh, you fucking bastard!" Jack's brown eyes flash into luminescent blue, a warning she is powering up. I hide behind Tali.

"I swear to god I don't know what I am doing. It just started happening one day and it was centuries after I ascended. I tried turning it off but couldn't. Tali, please save me. I need your protection" I cower behind the engineer.

"Are you fucking serious?" Jack's fists unclench.

"YES! It is why I haven't been accepting anyone's advances, well one of the reasons. I feel scummy even if it's out of my control. Tali go girl talk to them. If one of their own defends me, I'm in better conditions" I gently nudge the surprisingly muscular quarian forwards.

"Can't you take them all?" Grunt asks.

"There are fates worse than death, or in my case long periods of extreme pain. I rather not go through that again!"

"Well if it's not intentional, I guess it's ok" Jack comments.

"Is there anything we should know? Can we beat the reapers? Garrus asks.

"It's a possibility. Remember I'm not entirely sure how things will go and there's multiple ways it can go. Humans have these old books where you can pick the endings. The game was like that. Plus, my presence and changing a couple big things will have an effect. The good news is that Shepard seems to be doing a lot of stuff right that will save lives. Getting Ship upgrades and doing the loyalty missions. Shepard was the main character who the player controls. I'm not sure if you helped Jacob find his dad or save Miranda's identical twin sister who is also a decade younger. Yeah, guys let that sit it."

"Did you tell him?!" Miranda asks the commander.

"I swear on my mother's life I didn't" Shepard said.

"I know quite a bit about you guys. Let's see, Mordin worked on modifying the genophage during his time in STG which gave him a guilty conscience. Garrus your mom is sick. Kelly your shiny pink outfit and dance moves. All of Samara's daughter are ardat yakshis-"

"You swore you wouldn't tell anyone!" The justiciar powers up.

"I swear on my mother's… what the hell!"

"That's one of the minor changes that's not my fault. It wasn't so secretive in the game. Tali's eyes. Also, racism seems worse."

Shepard barely contained his rage "you knew and let me die?"

"You didn't die. Must have come pretty close to it."

"YOU KNOW THE NORMANDY WOULD BE ATTACKED AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!"

"Oh, hey Shepard before I go to live in Tuchunka, the ship will be destroyed in six months by collector aliens, and you'll enter a coma for years. Have fun. I always tell the truth and you never believed me."

"I thought you were joking!"

"I did make it sound that way huh. Shepard if I did warn you and Cerberus didn't revive you, so many things would have changed and that could have meant there isn't a galaxy to save in a few years. I already changed things by keeping the thorian and Kaiden alive."

"What?"

"On Virmire. You would have had to make a choice. Either him or Ashley would have died. That is how things were supposed to go. I risked my secret to save him."

"How could you? Why didn't you? No one asked for your help! We don't need you!"

"You're right. I came here because I wanted to. I know you can save the galaxy without my assistance. It was selfish of me. Just say the word and I'll leave this universe. I promise I won't return or go to any other mass effect universes" I choke up.

Tali says "Shepard you can't! I n- he's helped us so much. Please don't make him leave!"

Shepard is speechless. He leaves the room. Only time to process will help. This feels awkward.

"You should have told us. A Lot of other people died on the original Normandy. Adams. Pressley. They could have been saved" Tali said.

"Perhaps. Take solace they are in a much better place. I think."

"Wait… what happens when we die? Is there an afterlife?" Thane asks.

"I can exist as pure energy. What do you think?"

"We become like you?" Samara asks.

"Nope. Nice try. Though that is an option. If you really want me to ruin the surprise, you can come talk to me afterwards."

"Could you talk to my Kenji?" Kasumi asks.

"Sorry. I can't reach where they are. I would if I could."

"What's the point? Why don't I just kill myself and get it over with?" Jack asks. This sends me into a panic. I launch from my chair and yell in front of her.

"NO DON'T DO THAT! THE BODY IS LIKE AN INSULATOR FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE OTHER PLACE. YOUR THOUGHTS WILL ATTRACT THINGS! IF YOU HAVE ALOT OF BAD DATA, YOU WILL ATTRACT WORSE AND WORSE! I ALMOST FELL FOR THAT! DO NOT KILL YOURSELF! SAY IT! SAY IT!"

"Ok ok I wasn't going to anyways. Got shit to do first. Calm the fuck down." I take a huge breath in.

"You ok dude?" Jack asks. I nod.

"Any other questions?"

Grunt asks "is God real?"

"Oh? The big G man? Yeah? I have no clue."

"What? How do you not know?" Miranda asks.

"There are a few indirect pieces of evidence. One is that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Outside of the omniverse is just this huge amount of energy that dwarfs everything. We have no idea where this energy came from and it's impossible to date. We can also time travel and haven't found any answers. Second, we're not sure how the universes formed. It's like how the very first cell came into being. Universes take that energy for food and use it to grow and divide. That's one of the laws of the multiverse. Correspondence. As above so below. Basically you'll see the same patterns in the different levels of existence. C, we have no idea where souls come from. We can't make them or find out where they originate despite being souls ourselves. In universes where people think they are from, we check. It just looks that way, but they didn't come from where they claim. There are different theories as to why. The most common one is that they are being hidden. Remember there are billions of us with countless years of experience and no one has found squat. I have met beings with natural talent that subconsciously used these abilities and they believed themselves to be god, but there isn't anything that with training I can't learn to do."

"What do you think?" Miranda asks.

"I've seen some weird crap. I'm kinda afraid there is something that can eat universes. If a universe can act like a single celled organism and correspondence, who's to say there isn't a predator." This sends a shiver down everyone's spine including my own.

"Does anything matter?" EDI asks.

"It matters to me. Also, the idea is if there can be a god, maybe not do anything to anger it."

"What about the others? You're kind. Do we have to worry about them?"

"Let me put your mind at ease. The process involves mastering control over your emotions. Thankfully evil people cannot reach the stage of being as the requirements inhibit them. There are some people who become corrupted or become energy parasites, but they are taken care of. IT'S MY ENERGY! GET YOUR OWN. IT'S NOT THAT HARD. FILTHY MANIPULATIVE COMMUNISTS! No need to worry about them. Most of us are pretty chill. Since we can't permanently kill each other, or force others with our abilities to do things like the government, it's really just a bunch of people doing what they want. No need for food, money, etc. If we use too much energy, we get tired, but it's easy to fill up. Just teleport to a star or something and enjoy the buffet."

"What's the craziest thing you've done?" Kasumi asks.

"Hehe I pulled a Jesus and made the locals reset the calendar just so I didn't have to keep track of how long I was there. That's why I don't know my own age. I keep going to places with different years and I lose track."

"You seriously have no idea how old you are?" Joker asks.

"I have a special stop watch here" I triple tap my left shoulder and a screen pops up.

"I started this shortly after my first life. This isn't the best way to gauge my age because I spent centuries in the energy plane, and I didn't sleep there so this is at minimum. Let's see, that's the million comma, that's the billion comma. Wow, I am old. I'm 161,788,372,528 seconds old. EDI how old is that in earth years?"

She answers "5130.276 years."

"Five thousand years?! Kelly said.

"Holy crap! Jacob said.

"That can't be right" Miranda said.

"I am not!"

"That was three seconds in my universe. How many seconds was that here?"

Kelly informs me that it was three seconds.

"Wow. I can't believe how much time has passed. I thought I was around three thousand years old. I look great though." It's really been that long since I attempted it?

"Please tell me this galaxy is a gerontocracy."

"You are too immature to run the galaxy" Samara claims. My jaw drops.

"How rude. I thought you kids were to respect your elders. I fought in wars and stuff."

"What wars?" Joker asks.

"American revolutionary war baby. Send those British babies packing."

"You must have a lot of stories" Zaheed said.

"I told you a lot of them."

"This is going to take a while to digest. Do you have any questions from us? Jacob asks.

"Yes…"

"..."

I lower my head in defeat "How do I flush the toilet?"

He smiles then answers "You're supposed to say EDI flush."

"I'm not doing that. Listen I know things have changed but I am still the same old guy you know. If you have any questions, feel free to come by my room. This isn't the first time I had this talk with people, and I doubt it will be the last. See you guys later" I phase through the floor and return to my cot. No hiding it now. I make a super comfy twin mattress with the best blankets I ever found.

While I redecorate, a knock on the door is heard. Garrus comes in.

"Oh hey G. I'm redecorating. Any requests. We can go nuts."

"I wanted to ask you something. Could you bring back my squad mates from omega?" He asks. I hate that question.

"Even if I would, I need their consent and a body" if they really wanted to, they could come back. But who would leave that place?

"Damn. Their bodies were completely destroyed in the explosion. Not a trace." He hits the wall. No body? Explosives? Cover story? I can time travel, but it won't change the past.

"Do you know the exact day, time, and location?" I know a loophole.

"Uh yeah. I have the memory scarred into my mind. Why?" He asks. I ask him to tell me, but the time differences make it confusing to calculate. Luckily EDI did the math for me, and I am able to travel back in time to before the bombing.

I materialized in the alleyway where I chased Samara's daughter. The time is shit! I don't have long, nor do I know the actual location. Garrus wrote the address down for me. I pop out of the alley and quickly find someone to help me. The closest person is an elderly Krogan.

"Quick man, I need help. Where do I find… oh hey it's you. Now it makes sense. Hurry where is this place?"

Patriarch gives me directions and I just barely make it in time. I find Garrus's group and explain the situation. Not everything. The plan is to bring them to the present. A wormhole I push them through sends them to current day citadel lake. The exact location where I threw the racist salarian in. Afterwards I returned to Normandy, informed Garrus what happened, and he left to make some calls.

Back to decorating. What color should I paint the walls? Cedar flooring? I love the smell. Another knock on the door. Ugh. I'm going to be busy.

"Yes?"