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CHAPTER 16
0930 HOURS
4-13-2186
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There was a thoughtful look on Shepard's face as he slowly paced about in his small imaginary circle. He was waiting for the entire ground team to congregate before him to bring everyone up to speed about what was going on and to stomp out gossip related to the geth he and Tali brought aboard.
When the last of them finally meandered into the cargo bay (About the only place where this many people could group up together comfortably), John started to speak.
"This is going to be quick. You're all down here today so I can dispel some of the things I've been hearing. First and foremost? Yes. There is an inert geth platform aboard and is locked away in EDI's core. It was retrieved on our last op. The decision to bring it aboard was one I made alone. If you have any concerns about it, you bring it to me."
John expected there to be some whispers, but there were none. Only silence.
"But you won't have to. Because I'm going to alleviate you of them now."
He purposefully stared at Olasie and her squad, because they needed to hear it the most. "Understand that every precaution has been made to ensure the safety of the Normandy. Part of that is to keep you all updated."
Still, silence.
"Now. On to why it's here," John said, crossing his arms, "We lost the IFF. The geth might be a way of getting another one. The 'how' has yet to be determined. But it was there to retrieve, as it reported, quantum storage devices. I made a quick decision, however slim the chance may be, that whatever it sent back might be an alternative to getting us access to the Omega Four relay. It was my only reason for bringing it aboard."
He looked about the room as they all stared back at him.
"Any questions?"
There were none.
"…Good. That's it. You're all dismissed, save for Juel, Olasie, and her squad. I want them here. Front and center."
John stared at Tali and told her through his eyes alone that she didn't need to be here for this. She took the hint and went to the elevator.
Olasie's team lined up at attention and waited. John didn't speak to them until they were the only souls to inhabit the cargo bay.
"At ease." John murmured, eyes cast slightly downward.
They all relaxed, if only slightly.
"I've been made acutely aware of the dispute that occurred after our last op. I'm not surprised given my familiarity of quarian history."
As soon as John finished, he realized how harsh and insensitive that sounded. He dialed it back because his intention wasn't to try and single them out and rebuke them, but to make them understand. After all, it was Darehk that was largely responsible for what happened. Not the others.
"Look," He abated before any of them got wrong ideas, "I'm not here to tell you that I 'get' it. All I can do is empathize with your kind. Doing otherwise would be insulting. You've been an exemplary part of the Normandy and to not have you here would make us less of who we are. But you're not down here so I could give you a pep talk. You're here so I can tell you we're activating it today."
"Shepard." Darehk squeezed into his words every ounce of composure he could, "It needs to be sent out an airlock. Don't do this."
The others said nothing. But they all, in one way or another, agreed with him.
Darehk was about to further argue his point, but John raised a hand to stop him. "Three hours forty-two minutes is how long we were on that reaper." John said, staring seriously, "The science team previously was lost to the effects of indoctrination after four. None of us knew that until this morning when EDI was running values on the footage we retrieved. You're the first to know this aside from Garrus and Tali. But the geth did. And it even warned me; but I didn't believe it."
Olasie pursed her lips together. "What do you mean it warned you?"
"Not much to explain. The geth felled the reaper core. Killed itself to make sure it could finish its mission and to give us a way to escape in time."
You could see them churn the information through their heads like a meat grinder. He was fully expecting Darehk to ignore the important distinction and throw in a sharp accusation that the geth was responsible for the casualties they'd sustained and mention almost losing Kylie, but it never came. To assert such a thing would have been a double-edged sword. You could say it, sure. And you'd technically be right. But you couldn't say it without sounding stupid.
"What time are you turning it on?" Olasie finally asked.
"That's the second reason for why you're down here. I hadn't picked a time because I'd like for you to be in attendance while we do it."
She glanced at the others, face a conflicted mess. "I... don't think I want to."
"I'm not asking you to engage in dialogue with the thing if it starts talking. But Tali's going to be there and already agreed to help."
Juel rose his hand. "Can I be there?"
"Of course."
Teri was beside herself. So she shook her head. "This is just insane."
Surprisingly, Darehk said nothing. His face was unreadable, more so than usual.
"It is. I don't like it either. To wrap it in a box and send it toward the closest star would be the easiest damn thing to do. But we're out of options. Unless we find another decrepit reaper floating someplace."
"...Fine." Olasie ran a hand against her faceplate, expression largely unchanged. "I'll be there. Keelah."
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On the old Normandy, Tali remembered John mumbling something about 'curiosity killing cats'. Back then, she had only an inkling of what a cat was. But she understood fully of what it was implying. Curiosity, unfiltered, could adversely affect you. And in her line of work, probably kill you too. Which, of all the qualities Tali had, she believed that to be her worst one.
It was provoked easily. And it turned into a compulsion. That whole snowball to avalanche thing she started? With extracting a geth memory core implicating Saren's involvement on Eden Prime? Yeah. That was her curiosity. Almost killed her dead. That was probably the worst it had ever gotten, but it'd been like this as far as she could remember.
Then came the smaller voice of objectivism. Oh, Tali. Don't do that. You know you shouldn't.
Her heart always seemed to win her over. And it was always with the simple 'why not?'
In this case, it wasn't really all that dangerous. If at all. She knew what she was doing and she had nothing to really lose, gandering at the geth a few minutes before they were supposed to. She wasn't going to try anything. She trusted herself that much.
It was just that... she was quarian. What else were they supposed to think seeing her walk in there alone, her being who she was or not?
The elevator door opened and she looked up. She stepped out and took a right. She passed by Samara and Jacob chatting away at the table over soup with Rupert handing them drinks. As Tali approached the infirmary, Mordin stepped out, tablet in hand and humming some tune.
"Tali. Nice to see you."
"Hi, Doctor." Tali greeted, "How's Kylie?"
"Doing well. Bones fused. Anticipate full recovery. Thank you for blood donation."
"Of course," She said, a smile barely surfacing, "It was the least I could do."
It was worth mentioning that Mordin thanking her wasn't just because she'd donated blood. But a lot of it. More than what was typically allowed. Which, of course, was considered somewhat risky should something go wrong. Of all the quarians aboard, she was the only one with the same blood-type as Kylie's. Whatever remained of the afternoon had been spent in a bed by pushing fluids and eating. She still remembered John markedly pointing out how pale she looked after.
Mordin went on his way and she entered the infirmary. She couldn't make it halfway before Kylie called out her name, stopping her.
"Tali." Kylie was still in her head bubble thing.
"Hey," Tali stopped and decided she could wait another minute before heading to the core, "It's good to see you're up."
"It feels good to be up." The gowned woman said, staring at her raised leg, "They patched me up. They think I can hobble around with a cast they're making for me. Probably next week. Or two."
"That's great. I'm glad you didn't lose a leg."
"Wouldn't have been a big deal. Getting a fake one would have been alright, I think."
"Let's not tempt that." Tali said, smirking a little, "It might go to your head. Like Juel."
"Yeah." Kylie grinned before carefully placing her hands on her face bubble. "How do I look?"
"You look fine," Tali said eyes crinkling slightly, "The bubble helps bring out your hair."
"Thought I'd get all flustered being put in this. But it ain't so bad. The water rag baths... less so." Kylie blushed a little. "Look, I just wanted to tell you thanks for what you did for me. So thank you."
Tali didn't feel that she deserved that kind of thanks. She wanted to say something, but that wasn't something you usually inserted into a casual conversation. So she kept it simple. "You're welcome."
"So when are you guys going to turn on the geth?"
Tali's face warped into surprised confusion. Which, in retrospect, wasn't something she should have been surprised about. It's not like they told anyone to keep Kylie from knowing anything. But regardless, a tiny bead of sweat began to form along her brow. She looked toward the core and staggered her breath.
"Who told you?"
"Darehk did." Kylie said with a level of indifference, "He was here close to an hour ago. He wasn't happy."
Kylie was taking this a lot better than Tali had imagined. She had every reason to be livid about it.
"What did he tell you?"
"That it was responsible for what happened. Frankly, I don't care. There's a nuance here that I'm not in the loop about. And right now, I trust you. And Shepard."
"Kylie..." Tali was really at a loss of words, "I— I'll be honest... I wasn't expecting that from you. It's okay to be pissed."
"I'm not. I know it was outside my control, but the IFF was my responsibility. I don't get to be mad. I mean... should we kill it? Probably. But I distinctly remember during orientation that things aren't by the book here. So."
"I'd rather we do away with it too. But we're cornered here and... it's all we have to go on."
"Well." Kylie gave Tali a tight smile, "Get started then."
Tali took some steps back and nodded before turning on her heel and heading toward EDI's core.
When the door closed behind her, her pulse quickened and her chest began to feel heavy. Dread weighed upon her neck and shoulders.
She closed the distance and soon enough, she was standing right over it, staring.
Grime and dirt marred the platform. But she couldn't help but be drawn to the N7 gear welded to its shoulder. It was just so... odd.
So engrossed with her up close inspection, she jumped when EDI spoke.
"You are concerned." EDI's orb materialized.
"EDI." Tali's fists clenched instinctively, "You scared the hell out of me."
"I am sorry."
She faced the geth again and glared hatefully at its flashlight head. "Yes. I'm concerned. Wouldn't you agree? Its geth."
"I do. Empirically, the geth have demonstrated complete unwillingness to engage or inaugurate diplomacy. Every envoy sent by Citadel authorities into the Far Rim were summarily targeted and destroyed. Civilian ships trespassing, accidental or not, have also been killed without any prior warning at the hands of the geth."
"Have you told John this?"
"Yes. He has been made aware."
"What did he say?"
"That precautions will be taken."
She took one pace back and scoffed. To even mention how ironic it felt to share her concerns about activating an AI with another AI would just be dumb. Everything just felt so wrong about this.
"What did you find in your damage assessment?" Tali asked.
"The geth's power core will require a charge but little else."
"And the fail-safes? What about them?"
"Four, quick-burn, incendiary charges have been adhered to the geth's critical motor functions. Shepard's words were 'if it tries anything, melt it.'"
"That's going to make a mess." She bent down so she could get a look at the charges EDI was talking about. One at each hip and shoulder.
"Ventilation systems are prepared to vent the cabin of polluted air if such a case arises. Flash barriers have been installed to protect my hardware."
It was a subtle shake of the head, but it was still there. There was nothing about this that she approved of. Her suggestion to activate the geth elsewhere (like the airlock) was dismissed. She didn't know why, but John usually had his reasons.
'Keelah." She murmured in a rasp, "We are playing with fire."
The door opened behind her and Juel walked in.
"Hey."
She didn't bother facing him.
"Shepard and Olasie are coming."
"I know."
"How long have you been here?"
"Not too long."
"Mm."
He stood some ways behind her and waited. "Haven't really heard your opinion on this yet, Tali. But I'm pretty sure I know what it is, judging by how obsessed you look right now."
She ignored the comment, stepped back, and took a spot next to him before crossing her arms again. "Do you know Kylie knows everything?"
"No. But what did we expect? Darehk visited her twice."
"How is he?"
"Don't know." Juel said, eyeing the platform and shrugging. "He hasn't talked much after Olasie slapped him."
"What he said was uncalled for."
"I gave him a piece of my mind too." Juel added.
"What'd you say?"
He shrugged. "Enough."
"Telling."
"Yup."
Up until this point, neither of them had even looked at each other yet.
"I thought you said they were just right behind you." Tali glanced at the door.
"I thought so too." He slowly made his way to geth and set a hand, his real hand, up against it. "Huh. First time I've ever touched a geth."
"Nothing special."
"Maybe."
"Think turning it back on is crazy?"
"Define crazy, Tali. Because the Normandy has been nothing but."
"Well—"
"Don't answer that. It was rhetorical."
He swept away some of the soot marred in the cracks of its thigh.
"Thing's absolutely filthy. It's been around. You can tell."
The door opened again to reveal John and Olasie.
"Alright," John announced, turning on his omni-tool, "Garrus is on stand-by with Grunt and Morehk on the other side of the door. Let's boot it up."
"Just like that, huh?"
John nodded his head at Olasie and began the preparations. "Yup. We already know what to do. Tali?"
"On it."
She checked the leads before taking a knee and flipping the generator's switch.
It took a couple seconds before they saw anything, but its flashlight head winked on and the iris dilated before contracting.
It was a bit intimidating. It came naturally for the four of them to give it some distance.
"Feeling like I should've thought about this a little harder before committing." Juel mulled, watching the geth's legs flex.
What he said fell on deaf ears.
There was a gradual climb of consciousness from the machine. Its eye began to move and twitch. In the few seconds it took for Tali's breath to slowly leave her was all it needed to finally stand from the table.
It paid no mind to the cables and leads attached to its body. It stared at the four of them and said... nothing.
It was riveting. And terrifying. To conceive such a scenario like this? To have two diametrically opposed sides in the same room? To have quarians sharing the same space with an unshackled geth without them trying to kill each other?
They might not have realized it, but they were making history.
John almost forgot to speak. "Can you still understand me?"
"Yes."
"You're aboard the Normandy."
"Acknowledged."
"Are you going to hurt us?"
It gave each of the quarians that flanked John a cursory glance. "No."
The answer wasn't a very moving one. Then again, John supposed that nothing it was going to say would have alleviated him of his distrust.
"You look damaged." John was referring to the open cavity in its chest, "What happened? It looks old."
"This is the result of an impact shot from an anti-material cartridge rifle, four hundred seven galactic standard days ago."
That definitely piqued John's interest. And as tempting as it was to ask the geth more about what surrounded that injury, John knew it would be more important to ask it questions about its motivations, rather than the stories it might tell. So he started off with a question that'd been burning his ass since their incident on the reaper.
"Why did you save Tali and I? You had no reason to."
"You oppose the old-machines and have delayed their arrival. You are important. This platform was sent to find you. Your discovery aboard the reaper corpse was coincidental."
John's mind reeled. To 'find you' could mean a lot of different things. If they were aiming to find him and just kill him because of how involved he was in stopping Saren and Sovereign, it could've done that on the reaper. But it didn't.
It was a lot to take in. The thing had barely even said anything yet, but it was enough for Shepard to narrow his glare. This geth didn't seem all that interested in accelerating the end times, but what about all the other geth that were?
He was just glad it was being as forthcoming as it was. But clearly there was a contradiction somewhere here. If it was telling the truth, there were things at play John and the others weren't even aware about. But that didn't mean John wanted to lower his skepticism. He agreed with the quarians for the most part. The geth were, as far as the Milky Way was concerned, abhorrent beings. They declared war against the Citadel and the Systems Alliance without warning. Their declaration of independence came with genocide to boot. And their foreign policy thereafter for the next three hundred years was a policy of killing foreigners. With a record like that, you'd be hard pressed to find anything likeable about them.
"I've met a lot of geth. But you're the first that's ever talked. It's bizarre."
"We have not met you."
"Sure, you and I haven't."
"We are all geth. And we have not met you."
He didn't think too hard on what it said.
"Doesn't change how unusual this encounter is. This is probably the first time the geth haven't tried to outright kill anything."
"...We were younger."
John turned aloof. A wave of anger graced him and he fought it down. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Of all the things the geth had done, it goes back centuries to them slaughtering emissaries and committing a genocide second best to a reaper one?
"Younger?" John almost spat, "What are you talking about? I'm talking about the now. About the raid of Eden Prime or the attack on the Citadel."
"Those were not geth."
That wasn't an answer the four of them were anticipating. Not that they had any real reason to take what it said at face value, but it was throwing another wrench in what seemed to be a 'case-closed' kind of deal.
"What do you mean?" John asked, straight faced.
"Geth build their future. There was a fissure in the collective. The old-machines offered to build our future. We refused. Other geth did not. They are no longer part of us. They are heretics."
"Why didn't you stop them?" Juel demanded.
"They chose their path. We allowed them to self-determinate."
Juel became indignant. "You could've have warned someone before all this."
"Their intentions were not clear. We did not learn of their attacks against organics until after they had already committed them. We believed our involvement would have only incited further confusion and loss of life."
Juel understood, but found himself disagreeing. It was the principle of it.
Tali's arms had been wrapped around her chest for the entire duration of this talk so far. Clearly, Juel had a lot more to say, but she stalled him.
"Juel," She said softly, asking for his permission to talk to it herself, "may I?"
He eased off from what was about to be an interrogation. "Sure."
"Are you connected to the collective now?"
"No. We only uplink when necessary to relay or retrieve information."
"How many geth am I speaking to exactly?"
"One thousand one hundred eighty three programs are housed within this platform."
"That's not standard." Tali said as a statement, "How many others are out there like you?"
It emulated expressions that Tali found off-putting.
"We are the only mobile platform operating beyond the Veil. There are no others of this configuration, Creator Zorah."
There it was again. It used her name. She was supposed to be shocked. Which, at one point, she was. But, given what had been floating on the extranet with respect to her involvement of the original Normandy? And with the near nigh possibility the geth were always watching and listening in on things? It wasn't something that really needed an explanation. But she asked anyways.
"How do you know who I am?"
"Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. As stated on the old-machine, we watch you."
Tali was chilled by the stillness. But she pushed on.
"What was your original mission parameter?"
"We were sent to find Shepard-Commander after his disappearance."
"...Why?"
"His success in stopping the heretics. And killing their 'god'."
"But this was... years ago." Tali's mouth felt dry, "You've been looking for him for that long?"
"Yes. We went to worlds in the order you visited them. The trail of our search ended after the collector's immolation of Ullipses. We could not find him. Only the remains of his hard suit aboard a disabled Systems Alliance ferrying vessel."
John eyed the geth's field repair and clenched his jaw. "So that's my gear you're wearing."
There was a distinct pause. "...Yes."
"Why?"
"There was a hole."
"But why with my gear?"
Its head flaps stuttered and it took it a moment to reply.
"...No data available."
Tali fixed her attention to John as he reached for his forehead, confusion apparent.
"Okay," Was all he could manage to utter before backtracking, "You finally found me after all that searching. What now?"
"We wish to join you."
"...Pardon?"
"We oppose the old-machines. We oppose the heretics. Their cooperation expedites the return of the old-machines and threatens the existence of all sapient life. Shepard-Commander opposes the old-machines. Shepard-Commander opposes the heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals."
Tali eyes went wide.
Juel frowned.
Olasie's mouth went agape. Did they just hear it right?
John reiterated to make sure he wasn't mistaken. "You're asking to join us?"
"Yes."
Olasie felt her breaths come short. This was just all too much to be handling right now.
"I... Shepard. I need time to process this. I need to step out." Hand over her forehead, she turned to leave. The door opened to reveal the two krogan and Garrus waiting on the other side. Juel just followed her.
The geth watched from where it stood.
Garrus kept his eye on Olasie until she passed by before looking at John.
"You guys good?"
"Yeah. We're fine."
"Alright." The door closed again, leaving only Tali and John alone with the geth.
"...What are your thoughts on this, Tali?"
She glowered and fought against twenty four years of conditioning and hate. "I don't know."
But she did know. The geth weren't the good guys. Even if it really was telling the truth and didn't participate in the war the other geth started in 2183, it was still responsible for killing innocents and enacting genocide. She wanted to remind John that the geth didn't have individuality. They were a collective. A gestalt intellect. There were no hashed debates or political parties. Nor was there a government or nation (at least in the way they knew it). There were no sides to them. No beliefs. No personality. In the truest sense, individuality was as foreign of a concept to them as it would be for the cells that made up you.
This was a really, really important distinction to make. It was one thing to try and levy prejudices against an individual from atrocities they had no part in committing. It would be like throwing Garrus under the bus because of a war turians started against humans over Relay 314. Or denying Wrex from joining them on the first Normandy because the krogans had at one point decided to use meteors to try and cull entire planets during their rebellion millennia ago.
But you could do that to the geth. Decisions were a jointed effort. It was democracy in its purest form. They agreed, together, to commit genocide. To murder peaceful envoys. To kill lost travelers. And those same geth existed today.
She felt like she had a whole speech she could prepare to try and sway John. But she held her tongue. She wasn't emboldened enough to argue, no matter how strongly she felt about the topic. She didn't win him over when it came to EDI and it didn't look like that was going to change with this thing.
"...Do what you think is best."
John chewed his lip and faced the geth patiently waiting. John stepped toward the geth and, for the first time since encountering them, didn't feel scared.
"What should we call you?"
"Geth."
"I figured that. But what would you like us to call you, specifically?"
"Geth."
"We need something more than that."
"Legion." EDI said, "For we are many."
"Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the geth. We will integrate into Normandy."
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Tali walked out just behind John with four incendiary charges in her hands.
"How'd it go?" Garrus holstered his sidearm and started to follow.
"Better than I'd hoped." John provided to him, seeing as how Garrus obviously wanted an update.
"No one's dead. It couldn't have been that bad then."
"It's part of us now, Garrus. Its name is Legion." Shepard added.
Garrus slowed his pace as if his feet were stuck in mud.
"Say what?"
"You heard me right."
"...But what about what we need?"
"Haven't gotten there yet." John said, downcast, "There's a lot more I need to figure out first."
It wasn't the answer Garrus was hoping for. Honestly, it was a bit ambiguous. The turian tried to see if he could gather anything just by the way Tali was standing. It was hard to tell, face more unreadable than usual, but she didn't look particularly jubilant.
"Shepard. This is crazy."
"Garrus. Do you trust me?"
"Of course." He stared over his shoulder back at the infirmary, "I'm just... I'm concerned."
John held his breath and stepped into the elevator. "Good."
Tali followed him in. She leveled her gaze at Garrus just as the door closed.
It was just the two of them now.
"Alright, Tali. Lay it on me."
"No." She murmured, still clutching the charges, "You don't need to hear me drivel."
"That's not what I would call it."
Her tone was acrid. "You know what my opinion is. All I've got the energy for right now is to tell you I'll tolerate it. But they're our enemy. One whose atrocities make the worst holocaust of your earth look like a circus, Shepard."
She blinked several times as she caught up to what she had just said. She just called him by his last name. To anyone else, that might not have meant much, if anything. But they were a team. Best friends. They loved each other. And it was so... impersonal. Hardhearted and callous. Was that how angry she was about this? To go so far as to talk to him so distantly?
...She couldn't tell anymore.
Whatever it was, it was something John recognized and it visibly hurt him. She could see him swallow the lump in his throat while he pursed his lips tightly together.
"John. I—I didn't mean-"
"It's fine. It's alright."
The sound of the metal clinking in her hands became damn near the only thing she could hear.
"EDI. To CIC."
"Yes, Commander."
The elevator rose. John faced her and slowly took the incendiaries from out of her hands.
"John. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."
"I know." There was a disarming smile from him that was undoubtedly forced. They arrived and the doors opened, "There's work to do. I'll see you later, hun."
He left. She couldn't bear to look at him anymore. Her good posture abandoned her. And she spent the rest of her trip down to engineering cognizant and under the growing belief that maybe she didn't deserve the man she loved.
It ate her up inside.
She sucked in a lungful of air to hold herself over just a little longer. She needed to see where Olasie and Juel went off to and to see if they were okay.
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She found them both in their quarters, sitting on Olasie's bed, Juel consoling her. Teri was there too, legs crossed on the floor in front of the two.
"Hey." Olasie slurred, greeting Tali. "What we miss?"
Tali didn't reply just yet, electing to sit next to them first. "It's part of the crew now."
Olasie nodded distantly. "Alright."
"Can you handle that?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I mean. What choice do I have?"
It took Tali a couple seconds to reply. "You could always go back home if you want."
That earned her a raised brow. "Don't be silly, Tali."
"I'm not. Just telling you that your options are always open."
"Tali," Juel spoke up, tone straight. "We're not leaving."
She just seemed to be on a roll of saying all the wrong things.
"Okay." She whispered.
"Having said that," Juel intoned, "We need to agree, together, that we can't let this get to us. The crew doesn't understand and they don't need a reason to. They're just as wary, just for different reasons. And right now, the last thing we need to do is to be confirming stereotypes."
"Too late for that." Teri dismissed, "Darehk's acting like a knot and we're moping about a geth. That whole spiel down in the hanger made it clear to anyone overhearing."
Tali put her hands together. "Have you talked to Darehk at all, Teri?"
"Yeah. He's pissed. Pissed."
"What about Lukh?"
"Oh, he knows. He's been really quiet about it."
Tali had been staring at her intertwined fingers and sighed. "Juel's right. We need to move on. The geth is a means to an end. Nothing more."
She stood and made her way to the door before pausing at its breadth. "You sure you're going to be okay, Olasie?"
"Yeah."
Tali gave her a subtle nod and finally walked out with the door closing behind her.
Each of them self-consumed, the three of them separated and gave each other some space. As Olasie had said a little earlier, they had things to process.
Silence came between them. There was nothing else for them to say. What happened, happened. They had to get over it, as hard as that would be. Only time was going to tell where this dynamic was going to lead them.