UPDATE 1/14/17: Fun fact: this flashback you were about to see was originally a dream sequence back in the second chapter. And this wasn't even the first dream sequence I came up with. The first one showed Eric finding his brother playing Mass Effect 3 back in 2012 during Christmas. 4Ferelden objected to that, wondering why Eric would have that train of thought when he passed out in the hospital in the old version.
Chapter Four: The Little Things
Year: 2012
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
The spring air was fresh after a day's worth of April showers. The sun showed itself through the parting clouds, revealing the sky above. The long grass swayed and parted in the wind, the drops of water falling off each blade.
It was a special day for Eric, and he wasn't alone in the park.
It had been less than a week since his father returned from his recent tour in Afghanistan. While his job as an intelligence analyst kept him safe from the war zone, the whole family was glad to see him alive and well.
On the surface, Tomas Grimes looked pretty much the same before he went to Afghanistan. He was a pale, middle-aged man of medium height, clean-shaven with short, dark hair. His eyes were hazel, rimmed by dark lashes. On the outside, only his physical build had changed. He had lost weight, and his face bore the signs of both age and weariness. Inside was a whole different story.
At home, he would tell them about the other analysts he worked with, and the military personnel he came to know, the stories they shared, and the jokes they told. He said little about what he did—some of it because it was classified, but they suspected there was more he wasn't willing to say. None of them want to push him further. They rejoiced in his return since they knew their time with him was short; soon he would deploy again.
"It's good to be back home," Tomas told his son. Eric nodded as they walked down the narrow path together. "Maybe we should go out more often."
Eric agreed. "What about the movie theater? The Avengers is coming out next month."
His father smiled. "All of you loved the time we've spent together. And you turned out well. Your sister's off to college and met a nice bloke, and you're a straight-A student. Alfonso, well… I wonder if we missed something with him."
"I appreciate it, Dad. But why are we talking about this? What's the point?"
"The point?" Tomas chuckled. "I thought philosophers do that, not scientists. You think about how things work, not why they happen. But it's pretty easy to connect the two, eh?"
He paused. "I was your brother's age when I joined the US Army; it was about doing the right thing, setting the right goals for us. Freedom, liberty, security—stuff like that. But as the months went on with no progress in sight, we focused on the little things. We assisted in this operation for a week, protecting these two villages for another month. Then we provided intelligence to guide this convoy back in place and get everyone home safe. The little things are the ones that matter. They're part of the big picture. They gave us purpose even when our commanding officers couldn't."
The once gentle wind intensified in its strength. Eric looked at the sky. The clouds seemed to be gathering again…
Year: 2182
Location: The Citadel
Eric was at the C-Sec headquarters with Vanea Surtius. As they walked down the archway of a hallway, Eric stopped when he overheard a conversation coming from an office nearby. One of the voices sounded familiar, so he took a quick look inside.
"…what's going on? This is the first time I've heard about it." It was a young male turian, his face covered in plain navy-blue tattoos. His question was directed at a bright-blue skinned asari, sitting at her desk. Eric couldn't put his finger on it, but the turian sounded pretty familiar…
The asari officer exhaled sharply and rubbed her temples together. "Look, you were kind of busy, so I'll keep it short: one of our own wanted to keep this… case confidential. She said it would cause trouble or something."
"I… what?" The turian blinked and shook his head as he planted his talons on the desk. "That doesn't explain the commotion I've heard about. What are you talking about?"
"Honestly? Other than Pallin wanting to bring the human in for questioning? No idea why." The asari shrugged. "If you want to know more, he's right here." She pointed at Eric, and the turian noticed Eric just standing there.
"Uh… hi." Eric waved slowly and awkwardly.
The turian approached him. Like Vanea, he stood about a foot taller than Eric did. Granted, Shepard was rather tall regardless of gender. Hey." The turian was rather hesitant, but it was obvious he was trying to be friendly. "You're Eric Grimes?"
Eric answered with a simple "Yes."
"Garrus Vakarian," the turian introduced himself. "I take it you're the one everybody's talking about all the sudden?"
That explained a lot. Garrus Vakarian was one of Commander Shepard's squadmates in all three games. Garrus was a C-Sec investigator, willing to help others in need but had authority issues, contrasting most other turians' belief in military discipline and obedience.
"Yeah," Eric answered. "Look, if it means anything, I haven't done anything wrong."
Garrus huffed bitterly. "I'll take your word for it. I just hope whatever you're going through would be over quickly."
Before Eric could reply, a talon tapped his shoulder. He turned at his turian escort.
"Let's go," the female turian said, more than a little impatient.
"Guess I shouldn't keep you waiting. Good luck," said Garrus.
Eric followed her to a brightly lit room with plain white walls surrounding him and a large, two-way mirror at his right, the kind he saw on cop shows. He knew that while an officer was interviewing the suspect, at least two others would observe, unseen, on the other side of the mirror. Seeing the setup of the room, he knew what was coming.
A pale man with high cheekbones and a crew cut for his blond hair sat at the table in the middle of the room. He wore the same blue-and-black uniform as everyone else working at C-Sec. Judging by his appearance and his occupation, the man could be in his mid-twenties. But knowing the medical advances in this universe, he might be older than he looked.
The man looked up at Eric from his datapad with a smile. "Hey, you're Eric Grimes?" He stood up and offered his hand. There was a sense of warmth in his English voice.
Eric shrugged and took the offer, shaking the man's hand. It wouldn't hurt to be friendly, especially if it could help move his case forward. "Yeah. You?"
"Edwin Ross, at your service," the man answered. "This is my first year at C-Sec and my first time questioning someone like you." Edwin chuckled. "Right then. Why don't you take a seat over there?" He gestured to an empty seat at the other end of the table.
"Okay." Eric nodded, and both men sat down. Nervous, he broke out in sweat and looked down at the table. Eric took a deep breath to calm himself down. Like with Natalie, he had to bend the truth to make the story believable. He didn't want to lie about his predicament, but it was that or having the cops decide he was nuts and lock him up. His stomach churned, leaving a rather bitter taste in his mouth.
Edwin noticed his discomfort. "You okay?" he asked.
Eric looked up and shook his head. "No. I… I just want to go home."
The officer sighed, looked down at the datapad, and back up at Eric. "Look, I know you're in a tight spot. From a law enforcement standpoint, I see nothing wrong with you, but I can understand why the brass is interested in your case. It's not every day someone just drops out of the blue into the Presidium." Edwin chuckled at the thought. "Anyway, let's try to get this over with."
"Thanks," Eric sighed, relieved.
"Don't mention it. It's part of the job. You know: protect the people, maintain law and order, and ensure justice. All the good stuff we're all supposed to do." Edwin smiled and looked back down at his datapad once again. "Okay…" He tapped on the screen a few times. "I'll be asking you some questions, short and sweet. It will be recorded. You okay with that?"
"I guess," Eric shrugged, worried yet willing to go along.
"Okay, then. Was the information you provided accurate?" It looked like Edwin was reading out loud from the datapad. Either he was new to this whole thing, using the datapad as a guide, or just following procedure. Or maybe both.
"Yeah," Eric answered.
"Good. And…" Edwin squinted at his datapad. He shot his head back up and back down in quick succession. "Huh?"
Eric arched an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"
Edwin shook his head and placed the datapad on the table. "Nah, it's that orb you've told Mrs. Clay about." He breathed in and out, almost in rhythm, as his hands had sealed his mouth. "Okay, about that…"
Eric raised his hands in protest. He hoped Edwin wouldn't see him as insane. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it's true."
"I'm not saying I don't believe you at all, it's just that—"
"That it's nothing like anyone has ever encountered before," Eric finished, nodding somberly. "Yeah. I get that."
Edwin sat silent after entering a few commands on the datapad. After that, he stood up and went to the door that just opened. "I'll be right back." He left the room, leaving Eric alone.
The silence alone was uneasy enough for Eric, and it made him feel paranoid. He twiddled his thumbs together and bit his tongue, fighting off the thought that C-Sec was after him for some obscure reason.
Finally, the door slid open, and Edwin entered, a smile appearing on his face as if he received some good news.
"Well? W-what's the word?" His hands trembling on the armchair, Eric was about ready to stand up and head on out.
"You're free to go, Eric," Edwin answered. "Mrs. Clay is waiting out front."
"Just like that? You guys are not gonna arrest me?"
"Nope."
At that moment, Eric jumped up and went to shake the officer's hand very hard. He was extremely excited to be out of his room. It was claustrophobic in here. "Gracias, gracias! Thank you very much!"
"Hey, no problem. Just doing my job here."
Eric left the interrogation room in a hurry, ignoring a bald, brown-skinned man who was taking notes from the conversation earlier. After making his way to the hallway, he saw a bronze-skinned female human resting against the wall nearby. Her long, brown hair was tied in a ponytail as she wore a red T-shirt and tan pants, along with a pair of white sneakers.
"Hey, Natalie," Eric approached the woman, recognizing her.
The woman looked at him and stood up from the wall. "Hey, yourself. Sounds like my buddies let you go pretty early."
"That guy, Edwin Ross, was pretty quick."
"He's the rookie, right?"
"Yeah, I think so. I just wish I wasn't treated as a criminal, y'know," Eric whined. "I'm a person. I'm human."
"I know, I know. We had no idea how to deal with a case like yours, so we're taking precautions here," Natalie answered.
"Right," Eric scoffed.
Natalie set out for the exit, with Eric following behind. "By the way, I just finished my latest report, so I'm free for tonight."
"What was your report?"
Natalie exhaled, struggling to keep herself from laughing. "Okay, you're not gonna believe this, but this one's an elcor serial killer."
Eric snickered, staring at the C-Sec officer in disbelief. "Oh, Dios. You're kidding, right? An elcor? The one species that use prefixes to express their emotions?"
Natalie shrugged. "That's the same reaction I got when Ian Shaw brought him in. I don't know how he managed to capture him but he just… did."
The academy was populated with the Citadel's denizens, as well as the officers and investigators making the station a safe place, or at least trying to. Through the white, square corridor from the exit, Eric and Natalie made it to one of the wards on the Citadel. Walking up the stairs to their right, Eric saw four of the station's five arms reaching out into outer space.
The marketplace was crowded, brimming with activities and vibrant with high-tech gadgetry. Some of them were exotic, such as the advertisements pestering Eric about state-of-the-art omni-tools from holographic pillars.
He approached the railing and imagined having complete silence around him. He never found it old to watch the faraway sounds of starships flying by, beyond the station and among the stars.
"Enjoying the sites?"
Eric snapped out of his thoughts and spun around to an inquisitive Natalie, who was standing right next to him. "Uh, yeah. I just got distracted. I've been thinking of something."
"What's up?"
"…Wasn't your husband nicknamed Jolly Rogers because of a tattoo? I think you told me."
Natalie shook her head and laughed. "No, I didn't. Even if I asked him, I couldn't get a straight answer. Now come on, we need to get going."
"Okay." Eric nodded and started following her again.
When Natalie tapped in a command on a terminal near a med clinic, nothing happened for a moment. As they waited for their ride, Eric turned around to see a green light appearing on the door, telling him that the clinic was open.
An engine hummed behind him. He turned to a white shuttle with a windshield encasing half of the roof. The windshield opened of its own accord which showed four seats, two in each row. Eric and Natalie hopped in, with Eric sitting next to her, and put their seatbelts on. The windshield closed, and the car levitated as Natalie placed her hands on a haptic screen. She issued a series of commands, telling the car's VI of their destination: her house.
Their skycar took off, joining in the rest of the traffic as it went from one ward to another. Because of the still heavy traffic, Natalie started asking Eric about his family to pass the time.
"Huh?" he blinked in confusion, not paying attention the first time.
"I asked if you have any relatives who served in the military. You don't talk a lot about them," she clarified.
"Oh. Well, uh…" Eric pressed his lips together. "Before my papa got a job as an IT analyst, he served and went to Afghanistan a couple times. He was an analyst. It's kinda his thing, analyzing information and stuff."
"What branch did he serve in?"
A pregnant pause. "I think he was in the US Army."
"You two get along fine before, well…?"
Eric hesitated, letting out a rattled and slow breath. By the look on Natalie's face, it was clear she was regretful. "Not well, I take it? I'm sorry…"
Eric shook his head, insistent. "No no, you're fine. I'm glad you asked."
"Was your dad like that because you're gay?"
He shook his head in almost an instant. "Not like that, no. He seems okay with who I love. It's just that… it's one of the things that changed him."
They landed in front of Natalie's house.
As Eric and Natalie exited the vehicle, it lifted off by itself and took off. They approached the front door, and Natalie pressed her thumb against the touchscreen.
"Fingerprint confirmed. Welcome home, Natalie," the voice from the touchscreen spoke.
They stepped inside the living room. To their right was a window large enough to cover most of the front side. Two black leather couches lay next to each other at a 90-degree angle. Across from the coffee table and the couches were an ultra-thin TV resting above a fireplace.
"Luke, we're home! Is dinner ready yet?" Natalie asked.
"Nah, not yet," Luke yelled out from the kitchen down the hallway. "I just put the pizza in the oven, so it's gonna be a bit. When it's ready, you'll have to eat in the dining room. I had a hard time cleaning the mess in the living room the other day."
"Okay," Natalie replied. Almost immediately after, she collapsed on the couch.
Eric walked down the hallway next to the front room. A small, yellow orb, a holographic drone programmed to assist Natalie and Luke around the house, was responsible for cleaning up the place.
Luke stood by the oven in the kitchen. His beard had just started growing. His clothes seemed rather mundane: a pair of black jeans and an orange shirt, the sleeves having been cut off at the elbows.
He spun around to Eric with a grin on his face. "Hey, man. How did it go?"
Eric shrugged. He was just about done with talking about that interrogation. "Pretty quick."
Luke's eyes widen. "Really? That's, uh, unusual. Usually, that kind of thing would last for hours."
"Did Natalie tell you?"
"I've been asked about this stupid guy back last year. He jacked up on a lot of stims, yelling about god-knows-what."
Eric dropped his jaw so hard it was like it had hit the ground. He tried to keep himself from laughing but failed. "That's just horrible!"
Luke laughed. "You kidding me? I could barely hold myself together during that whole case! The guy's fine, far as I know."
Eric felt a little awkward. "Oh. Sorry."
"Nothing to be worried about," Luke insisted.
"Hey, Eric!" Natalie called out from the living room, interrupting the conversation. "Could you come here for a minute?"
Eric turned to see Luke again. "We'll talk later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure." Luke nodded, now occupied by the drone.
Eric went to the living room, finding Natalie on the couch. She was playing a game of some sort. From the gleam of excitement in her eyes, she was building herself up for a pretty intense moment. In her hands was a controller. It looked like someone had mashed together the shape of an Xbox One controller with a PlayStation 4 controller button layout and called it a day.
He turned to the screen. On it was a person in plate armor, black as obsidian. He couldn't find any features that could tell who he or she was, being covered from head to toe. However, the person was humanoid, being athletically built. In the warrior's hands was a two-handed sword, though it was too big to be called a sword. It was massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of iron.
The armored warrior then lifted their weapon at Natalie's command and spun quickly, causing the blade to be covered in fire. Eric was confident it was so fast it burned up. And somehow, the warrior didn't break their arms, if not their entire body. In a single stroke, one of the dragon's heads on-screen was cut off. The decapitated head let out an ear-piercing scream as the fires turned it to ash.
Eric let out a quick breath, startled by the scene before him. "What's this game?" he wondered as he turned back to her.
Natalie paused the game and turned to Eric. "It's an action-oriented RPG called Redeemer. It's set in a world called Rurath, borrowing a lot from Slavic mythology."
"Like that two-headed dragon you were fighting?"
Natalie nodded. "Yep."
"Who're you playing as?"
"Her name's Casmira, a knight who has a symbiotic bond with a demon. The game doesn't explain what kind of demon she had," Natalie explained, waving her hand without moving her forearm. "She's a tank-type class with some fire-based attacks."
"Okay." Eric plopped down next to Natalie.
"Anyway, I've been thinking… you talked a lot about your dad lately. What about the rest of your family? Friends, maybe someone you love?"
Eric stroked his chin, considering the question. "Hm… yeah. I have two siblings—a brother and a sister. Both of them are older than me. My sister worked at a local news channel as a meteorologist and my brother, well… he was in college. Assuming he didn't goof off." He sighed. "I miss them. I miss my mom, too. She was always there for me, helping whenever she could." He fell into a thoughtful silence.
Eric missed his sister and her enthusiasm for their destination in Bangkok and Angkor Wat. He also missed his brother's eccentric personality, which was a common sign of someone diagnosed with ADHD. He sure missed his mother's loving smiles. He even missed his father and his attempts to reconnect with them all.
Their vacation together was supposed to be that time to relax, to recover from whatever hardships they went through the year. Instead, that goddamn orb ruined his whole life by bringing him here. Wasn't it Garcia's idea to go to Thailand in the first place? He knew it wasn't her fault, not like she ever planned that to happen.
He was just about to cry but stopped when he saw the pity on Natalie's face. "I don't know if I said it back at the hospital, but I'm sorry for your loss."
Eric shook his head, insistent. "No no no, it's not your fault but thanks."
The oven in the kitchen let out an electronic ding. From this spot, they could barely hear it, but it was there. "Well, that was quick." Luke opened the oven and got the pizza out. "Dinner's ready!"
Eric and Natalie sat up and went to the kitchen. Soon as they arrived, Luke had gotten out the pizza as well as the assortment of plates and cups. The familiar smell of dinner whiffed about as Eric grabbed a slice. It had many layers, with cheese, pepperonis, black olives, and green peppers on top. The sausage was synthetic, as Luke had told him of the various chemical compounds, stem cells, and proteins that make the meat taste like actual meat.
He turned to the large window behind him when he sat down at the oak table. Out there, he had a good view of another house. Two turians were sitting on a bench in a backyard. One of them a male adult and the other his son, judging by the turian child's small size. From what Eric understood of the turians' heavily militaristic culture, the turian was teaching his son about discipline. Of course, they could just be talking about school instead. Who was he to judge how another species act?
"So what have you been up to lately?"
Eric looked back at Natalie. She was sitting across from him, taking a kiss on the cheek by Luke. Blushing, she smiled as Luke sat down next to her, his plate filled with two slices of pizza.
"Well, I've done some voluntary work at the hospital," Eric answered, a little nervous about talking. He rested his head against his hand as he took a bite off his slice. "And I've been looking for a way back home." He scoffed. "No such luck."
"What about Garrett? How's he doing? He treating you right?"
Eric let out a small smile, feeling a little warm inside. "Yeah, he's great. You know that one movie Garrett and I saw earlier today?"
"Which one? There are a surprisingly lot of superhero movies these days," Natalie quipped.
"Wild Dagger," Eric answered.
"Nice." Luke took a bite out of his pizza. "So you were planning on going to MIT, right?"
"Yeah."
"So what'd you want to study?"
"Quantum mechanics, with a minor in computer science," Eric answered. "It was my physics teacher's idea of quantum mechanics. I used to go to church, so he convinced me on that front." He shrugged. "I was raised Catholic by my parents."
"Yeah?" Luke asked. "I've read about what life was like nearly two centuries ago, but I want to hear it from you."
"I…" Eric paused. He wanted to say that after he came out of the closet to his parents, the others found out, including his peers at school and church. He wanted to say several members of his church don't approve of his sexuality, despite Massachusetts being one of the most progressive states. That was why he and his family left.
Instead, he said, "No, I don't want to talk about it."
"Ah." Luke looked a little disappointed, but he continued eating. His mouth was half-full of pizza before swallowing. "Speaking of quantum mechanics, the Alliance is working on a quantum entanglement communicator. It's where a pair of particles interact with each other, transferring information in an instant. It can't be intercepted as easy as a comm buoy, that's for sure. Damn useful for the Alliance." He sighed and shook his head. "Everyone goes for the damn comm buoys."
"What's the catch?" Eric asked.
"It doesn't have infinite energy, for one," Luke explained. "Law of Conversion. You can't make anything from nothing. It'll likely have limited bandwidth. Plus, we don't know the exact momentum of the particles. Doesn't help that it's fragile. It's gonna be a while until we get a good, durable model."
Eric ate the rest of his pizza as the rest continued eating in silence. The huge slice made him feel nourished for the night.
Natalie spoke out. "So what do you want?"
"What do you mean?" Eric asked.
"I mean, what do you want to do next with your life?" Natalie asked.
Eric closed his eyes for a moment. "I… To be honest, I don't know. I was on summer break before I wound up here. I don't have much of a plan besides going off to college." He opened his eyes, wistful. "I've heard about the Jon Grissom Academy. The way I hear it, it's like MIT, but in space."
Natalie stifled a laugh while Luke leaned forward with a friendly gesture. "Or maybe you could, y'know… join the Alliance Navy."
Eric found himself taken aback, giving Luke a double-take. Him joining the military? He wanted to protest, claim he wouldn't last long, that he would rather do something else with his life than standing around patrol and possibly kill people. Instead, all he could mutter out was, "I'm sorry, what?"
Luke curled his mouth, thinking up something. "It wouldn't hurt to try," he responded. "The Alliance can put you in basic training for 16 weeks and several months of specialized training. I think, anyway, depending on whether they've updated their training protocol or not."
"No, no," Eric shook his head in protest. "I don't think that's a good idea. Just because my dad was in the military doesn't mean I have to. What makes you think that's a good idea?"
"So what do you wanna do? If you signed up and served a tour or two, it'll be an easy way for you to get a scholarship. They have an education program that'll help you."
Eric was annoyed. "And be faced with constant death and violence?"
"Most Marines don't face that kind of thing while on duty."
"I'll have a better shot at Grissom Academy. Maybe C-Sec or some other job."
"None of us can afford to take you to the Academy or at MIT. Do you know how expensive the tuition is, right? Good god. And I don't think things would work out between you and C-Sec," Luke replied. Natalie rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed grunt. "Err… no offense, honey."
"I'm just messin' with ya!" Natalie replied and elbowed him gently in the chest.
Luke turned back to Eric, an awkward look appearing on his face. "A lot of people already filled up the positions in C-Sec and, well, everywhere else. Most of them are not human because we don't have an official position on the Council. We've only been in the galactic community for almost three decades."
"Besides," Natalie butted in, "the Alliance would appreciate someone with your talents. The best part is that you can get to the Academy with their blessing. But it's your choice, Eric. Not like we're not pushing you or anything."
Eric closed his eyes for a moment, realizing that Luke and Natalie may have a point. He had no degree, no job, and no money to support him. He might as well hear them out. "So if I say yes, then where do I sign up?"