26The Normandy zooms through a nebula encompassing the solar system where the coordinates suggested the prothean world resided. After too many tense hours, they finally arrive at the solar system halfway through the nebula and hidden by thick yellow gas clouds.
“Well, at least we got to see a lot of pretty sights,” Joker laments as they enter the heliosphere surrounding the solar system interior.
The Normandy starts to shudder slightly prompting Joker to reach a hand out to readjust the interior gravity well. He frowns slightly and moves his hand back to his mouth as he leans back into his chair. He sits there for a moment before his peace is interrupted by Genevieve who enters the bridge wearing her fatigues and stares out into the open space beyond.
“Any sign of the St Helens?”
“Nada. If he were heading this way, we should’ve seen something of him by now. But it’s like he just vanished. Maybe he decided not to come out here?”
“He’s too tenacious to give up that easily. We’ll see him soon I’m sure.”
Joker shakes his head, “Not something to look forward to, commander.”
Genevieve smiles, “Let me know when we’ve reached that world.”
“Will do.”
Genevieve turns to leave when the power to the Normandy goes out and lightning flashes across the viewport.
“What’s happening!?” Genevieve yells and forces herself to remain standing as the ship rocks violently.
“Don’t know! Looks like a lightning storm! We just entered the heliosphere, well we’re technically just inside it! So the pressure waves of the central star and interstellar space should have lessened at this point! I can’t get any readings! EDI! EDI! Damnit! She’s offline!”
“No, I’m right here, Jeff,” EDI calls from the back of the bridge as she stumbles into the room in her automaton form.
She takes a seat in the copilots chair as emergency lighting starts to come on tinting the cabin in red. They feel the ship level out and hear a thump from the exterior.
“What the hell?!” Joker asks.
“The systems are still offline,” EDI says.
“How in the hell are you still functional?”
EDI looks to Joker, “All my algorithms were stored in this unit in case I needed mobile access. The second the Normandy’s systems went down I automatically transferred to this body.”
“Damn, that’s handy.”
“I thought so.”
“So what the hell is going on here?! Is it a plasma storm? Lightning storm? We haven’t had entry this rough before! Not even entering Harsa!”
“It isn’t a storm. If I had to guess, I’d say the Normandy has just been captured by a larger ship.”
Joker opens his mouth to speak but sees the shadow EDI is looking at falling across the nose of the ship. Above them a massive vessel is pulling the Normandy into its cargo bay.
“What the shit is this shit now!?” Joker asks.
Genevieve looks up out of the window and towards the vessel, “Whoever they are didn’t issue any warnings. I’ve never seen a vessel that size before. With the exception of the collector ship, of course.”
“Or the reapers,” Joker mumbles.
“Or the reapers,” Genevieve agrees.
The see the edges of the bay flowing past the bridge windows and hear the groan of metal closing as the Normandy hovers up a long shaft and into the open bay where it floats backwards and down onto solid grounding. They look out into the bay and see a dozen ships that appear to be designed for combat.
“Is this a carrier?” Genevieve muses as Liara comes up behind her.
“Trouble?”
“Liara, I don’t know what we’re in. But I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”
After several minutes of remaining stationary they hear a loud wooshing sound coming from beyond the Normandy and they cock their brows. EDI cocks her head and then says ‘ah’.
“The bay is being repressurized. In a moment I wouldn’t expect a welcoming party, as you say.”
“Alright. We’re likely outgunned here so let’s try to play it calmly and professionally,” Genevieve advices as they see several dozen heavily armed people rushing into the bay from a catwalk attached to the far wall.
“Okay, I’ve never seen their kind before,” Joker says as he watches them approaching the Normandy with weapons at the ready.
“Their ridges, Shepard,” Liara says. “They bear a resemblance to the collectors.”
Genevieve looks to Liara startled, “You don’t mean to suggest…”
“They could be.”
“Hey, hey!” Joker yells. “Somebody open a damned door before they use that damn plasma cutter!”
Genevieve hurries to the docking door and unlatches it. It swishes open as several of the soldiers beyond stop and raise their weapons toward her. Genevieve raises her hands into the air and puts on a smile.
“We come in peace!” she says.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We come in peace,” Joker snorts as the group is led down a long corridor.
He hobbles along on a crutch EDI fashioned for him with her walking beside him as they follow the muscled soldiers still holding their weapons at the ready.
“I uh always wanted to say that,” Genevieve quirks her lip. “Some of those old Earth movies back before first contact, you know.”
“Oh yeah, I know. I just can’t believe you said it!”
“Well excuse me for trying to have a sense of humor,” Genevieve shakes her head with a wry grin.
Genevieve, Joker, EDI, and Liara are led into a room connected to the corridor and see seats of an elegant, almost art deco design set out in a circular fashion in the center of the room. One soldier motions for them to wait in the room and then stands at attention to the side of the door. The other guard repeats the action on the opposite side of the door.
“Friendly bunch,” Joker says. “What did they do with the rest of the crew?”
“I would imagine they’re in a holding cell somewhere on the ship,” EDI replies and looks around the room.
Liara watches the guards intently paying close attention to their stature. Their body types are humanoid more reminiscent of the asari and the humans than the other species with three toed boots and a lower leg similar to the quarians and turians with the bend at the hock acting as an extended foot adding more height to the person. The faces are narrow with crowning ridges covered in a featherlike hair than fans out in every direction.
One guard had blue plumage while the other, gruffer one had tones of deep crimson and yellow. Each had four eyes with the two eyes above and to the side of the primary eyes that were slightly smaller.
“Still thinking about it?” Genevieve asks sitting down.
“Yeah. I mean, isn’t it possible?” Liara says sitting down across from her and crossing her legs.
“Anything’s possible. But it’s an awfully long time between now and then and they look much skinnier than the collectors. Built like rocks, don’t get me wrong,” Genevieve says with a slight smile. “I’d say the cranial ridge is the only similarity between these guys and the collectors.”
Liara sighs, “You may be right. So why did they bring us in here and not take us with the rest of the crew?”
“I would imagine we’re—“ Genevieve starts as a female of the species walks into the room and the doors slide shut behind her. “About to find out.”
The woman crosses the room and performs a slight bow with her flowing robes billowing in the effort.
“Apologies to keep you waiting, commander,” the woman says.
Genevieve raises a brow, “You know I’m a commander?”
“We downloaded the specs of your Normandy in our energy net and brought you aboard. There were many mission files in your database pertaining to your actions here, but we felt it prudent to speak with you directly. Our translators grafted all your languages and dialects into its sub processors and will make this process far more efficient, in case you were wondering.”
“I’m used to aliens speakin’ my language every day,” Joker says hobbling up beside EDI but maintaining a good distance from the woman.
“Then you should be familiar with the fact that they don’t actually ‘speak’ your language. Although the translator suggests your comment may be a ‘euphemism’ with an underscored meaning. Was there more to your statement than its face value?”
“Uh…I was just…saying.”
“Then let us proceed,” the woman practically glides over to one of the couches in the center of the room and sits down. “My name is Alianna Merintis. I am the prime ambassador of the Prothean Praetoria and its peoples. Whenever we have ‘visitors’ we confine them until we determine their reasons for violating our solar spaces. In this case, your Normandy’s data system is very concise if not wholly primitive in detailing your war with the reapers. So, the cycle has begun anew.”
Genevieve watches the regal form of Alianna sitting with a completely straight back and silky clothing wrapping around her form. The woman was almost too pristine and elegant. Her four azure eyes glare at Genevieve unblinking and the long cobalt plumage on her cranium falls straight down her back without so much as a waver.
“Yeah. It started three years ago when we encountered a reaper named Sovereign. It was the vanguard for the reaper forces. We destroyed it before it could cease control of the Citadel. Now the entity calling itself Harbinger is in control and pushing through all our spaces trying to harvest all advanced life again. Only this time, they’re not just content to decimate spacefaring civilizations. They’re harvesting pre-spacefaring as well.”
Alianna maintains a stoic expression, “Yes. Like all cycles they are looking for the forbearers. Those whose messages you have been uncovering and whose appearance your AI now wears.”
“It was a matter of necessity,” EDI replies.
Alianna looks at EDI, “No judgement being made. Just an observation. According to your records, she was dead for eons really. And still functional. Which isn’t surprising.”
“It’s not?” Genevieve asks.
“Not at all. We know all about the forebearers. Well, there are mysteries about them to be sure. But we know who they were. Though we’ve never managed to open the archives.”
“The archives?” Liara leans forward in her seat. “I would be honored to take a look at them, if you would permit. I’ve studied the prothean civilization all my life. This is a dream come true!”
“The protheans you’ve studied died a long time ago. Wiped out by the reapers. We’re their descendants. Our evolution over the last fifty thousand years has made us…different from our ancestral heritage,” Alianna states. “But it’s irrelevant. Even if I took you to the archives, I’m not sure any of your data nodes would trigger them. And certainly, you won’t find any weapon here. The reapers are an unstoppable force. Even with fifty thousand years of advancement, there is no way that we ourselves would be able to stand up to them. The most hopeful course of action is to find a small world somewhere, far away from their grasp, that you could hide and start again. Preferably a world that wouldn’t interest the reapers. Like we did here in the Belas system.”
“But you’re advanced now. And surely the reapers will want to harvest you as well,” Genevieve says pacing the carpet.
“Yes. Which is what brings us to the next issue. You cannot report back to your admiral Hackett. While we understand your need to discover this ‘weapon’ you’ve been looking for, we can tell you for certain that it does not exist. And now the reapers have the Citadel. You cannot leave lest you bring them here.”
Genevieve furrows her brows, “I will not fail this galaxy!”
“Commander, it was never your responsibility to succeed or fail. You never stood a chance,” Alianna stands and heads for the exit. “The rest of your crew is well. They are in our holding level for new arrivals. You may go speak with them as you wish. We will be heading back to Eligriss. It is the second world from the central star. You will find the gravity point eleven percentage higher than you are used to on your Earth and the sky is often a brilliant cobalt with tinges of azure here and there. You will be welcomed as honored warriors who have fought an unwinnable war against an enemy none dare to face. My guards will show you the way to your people.”
She exits the room and Genevieve frowns. Liara stands up with a gasp.
“She can’t do this!? We have to find out what that archive holds! We have to get back to the fleets! We have to defeat the reapers!”
Genevieve shakes her head as Joker comes up beside them, “This is bullshit! We should just grab the Normandy and make a run for it!”
“Jeff, the protheans will never allow us to escape. For now, the crew is safe. We’ll figure out our next course when the commander has had time to think.”
“Think!” Joker yells. “What’s to think about!”
“Our predicament,” EDI asserts.
Joker growls and walks around in agitation as Genevieve exhales sharply, “Let’s get back to the crew. Right now, it’s just best we do as Alianna requests.”
Genevieve walks up to the guards and nods at them. They turn and escort the group towards the facility where the crew is being detained.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garrus and Tali sit at a table playing cards with a group of marines. He shuffles and deals out the next hand and groans as he looks at what he has.
“I don’t know why I bother playing this. Every time I do I realize why this game is called ‘oh hell’. This is already a disaster.”
“You’ll be alright, Garrus,” Vickers says from where he sits mulling over his hand. “Passes the time until the commander arrives to tell us what the hell is going on.”
“Oh hell,” Tali muses. “That’s what’s going on.”
“How oddly appropriate,” Garrus replies.
“Shepard!” Tali yells and stands up.
The group turns to see Genevieve and the bridge crew entering the massive room where the crew of the Normandy is scattered into groups looking distraught over their circumstance. Genevieve doesn’t look much better as she approaches their table. The two guards remain at the entrance to the room and talk with their fellows already there.
“Genevieve,” Garrus says and stands up to meet her. “What’s going on? What mess are we in this time?”
“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
Liara looks pale and sits down in a chair nearby to place her head in her hands. Garrus frowns and looks to Genevieve.
“How about some good news first?”
“Okay. We’ve been abducted by protheans, they’re taking us to their homeworld, and they have an archive that will be useful to our search.”
“Wow, that’s a lot to digest,” Tali mumbles. “Do we even want to know what the bad news is?”
Vickers comes around the table to hear better and crosses his arms. The marines form a near circle around the group. EDI and Joker decide to take a seat at a table across the room.
“The bad news is…they say there is no weapon and that the reapers are unstoppable,” Genevieve nods her head with a frown and puckered lips. “Oh, and that we’ll never be allowed to leave again because if we do we’ll only inevitably bring the reapers to their doorstep.”
“What!?” Garrus questions with wide eyes.
Mumbles of fury echo through the circle and the word starts spreading across the room to the other members of the Normandy who fume as well.
“So, what are we going to do, commander?” Vickers asks trying to maintain a professional appearance.
“I don’t know. But I think the first step is to go to this archive of theirs. The Normandy is impounded right now but I’m pretty sure this Alianna, their ambassador, would be willing to let us check it out with what we have. I’m taking Liara with me as well. We need to keep the group small so who else wants to come?”
“Hey, I go where you go,” Garrus says.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing the archives. It’s always good to learn something from history,” Tali chimes in.
Vickers shakes his head, “I’m going to hold back with the crew and keep us organized. You know people are going to want to take back the Normandy as soon as we can.”
“I don’t want anybody doing anything hasty. Don’t even go near that ship until I come get you. There still may be a diplomatic solution to this, do you understand?”
“Understood, commander.”
“Alright. Then once we hit planetside of Eligriss, you marshal the crew and keep a tight rein. Make sure they do what the protheans ask and go to wherever it is they want them to go. Within reason. If you suspect danger, you act,” Genevieve gestures to the group and Vickers. “In the meantime, I’m going to meet with Alianna and see what we can accomplish. You have your duties let’s get to it.”
“Ma’am!” the marines salute and Vickers smiles as he joins them in spreading the word.
Genevieve turns to head towards the guards when EDI meets her half way.
“Shepard. I wish to join you in the archive. Jeff is going to remain with the crew and stick close to doctor Chakwas.”
“Sounds good, EDI. We’re heading up to meet with Alianna now. Hopefully when we land she’ll take us to the archives.”
“Thank you, Shepard,” EDI responds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It takes forty minutes until the prothean carrier has reentered the atmosphere of Eligriss. It descends towards the capital city where the crew disembarks along with the Normandy personnel who are under armed escort.
Genevieve and her immediate team walk with Alianna towards the main government complex. As they walk, Genevieve takes in the capital city. Sleek, angular buildings rise up like skyscrapers in every portion yet wide forests exist between and around the structures. Whereas some similarity exists in the architecture between these buildings and those on Ferros, there was little more in common. Most were tall, many were short, yet all seemed to join in a symphony of glass construction and rare metals.
“So,” Genevieve says refocusing on Alianna. “Where are you taking my crew? Will they be safe?”
Alianna barely looks at her, “They will be very safe. They are being taken to the integration compound where they will be introduced to prothean life. There they will encounter the unique species that have from time to time wandered into our system. We don’t claim a utopia but we do claim to be respectful to the individual.”
“I see. And what about the Normandy?”
“Your ship will be stored in our engineering compound. We don’t make it a habit of destroying vessels unless given reason to. We can always use another ship in the fleet.”
“Yours already seem so advanced. How could any of our vessels even compare?”
Alianna cracks a slight smile and keeps walking forward, “Understanding other technologies is how we became so proficient in starcraft construction. This is the central governmental complex. I’ve already registered the diagnostics and files recovered from your vessel with the administration. So there will be no need to meet with the council. That frees us up to visit the archives and show you what we already know. This way, we can move forward with what needs to be done and make it less painful than it has to be.”
Genevieve hmms and raises a brow, “I do appreciate your allowing us to retrieve these data nodes from the Normandy.”
“Of course, commander. We’ve never seen so many in a collection before. But, even so, no one has ever initialized the archive.”
Liara speaks up, “What exactly are the archives?”
“It’s a massive complex underneath the government center. We estimate its construction over one point three billion years ago. The metals used in it are extraordinary. They don’t rust. They don’t break down. They don’t even melt. We have no idea how they were forged in the first place. What we do know is that this was a holy site to the inusannon who existed here up until the end of the cycle before the last. This was a colony world and much of what we know of the forbearers comes from their records.”
“So is it a massive computer network?” Liara asks.
“No. It is all made of crystal interwoven with the metal alloys that ring the floors, ceilings, and walls. We have a library attached to the central complex of the foundry deep within the surface. The floor is a wide, deep blue crystal. A single sheet with no creases nor cracks. A central spire rises up from that floor and beams of the metal alloy sprout out from its top like a fountain of water forever frozen in a golden chrome sheen. The spire holds bumps ever few centimeters across its surface that are millimeters wide. The inusannon thought that it was a portal to god. That they could speak with god by mastering the bumps on the spire’s surface. But, we’ve never discovered it being able to do anything more than look beautiful.”
They continue onward towards a wide stairwell leading down under the government complex and into a subterranean section of the city. As they move down the stairs, sunlight pours in from the far side of the building hovering above them. The tops of trees disappear from view as the group walks further down and below the surface.
“So how did you hide from the reapers?” Garrus asks as they hit a flat path leading a dozen meters or more towards another passage way.
“In the last cycle, the prothean government of the time had a policy of forcing all societies to join them or be left defenseless. This conscription cost the prothean empire greatly when the reapers attacked. They were unable to effectively mount an efficient counter attack because of how homogenized the society had become. Seeing the failure of the government, a group of scientists and engineers fled prothean space and headed for a sector that contained inusannon relics and ruins. They hid beneath the surface of the worlds, having hidden our vessels, and only emerged once they were certain that the reapers had left. Our forefathers came to this world because the reapers ignored it the last time around. It was a ruin. No sentient life remained. But it was still capable of supporting a wide variety of life. So here they stayed. The nebula offers effectively a curtain against intruders and prothean instrumentation of the time was capable of breaching beyond nebulas and novas to detail what was happening behind them.”
They enter a lift that descends into a deeper cavity.
“So you’re just going to hide here while the reapers terrorize the galaxy yet again?” Liara asks as the lift nears the bottom of the shaft.
“Preserving our people is the only choice we have. If we foolishly throw ourselves at the reapers, we’ll be wiped out too.”
“We’re amassing all the assets of the galaxy to put into one final push against the reapers,” Genevieve says. “Having your technology on our side would be a major boost to our assets.”
“Yes it would be,” Alianna states staring at her. “But you keep missing the point of where the reapers won’t be stopped. Countless cycles before you have tried. All have perished. Who knows how long the reapers have existed. Who knows who created them or for what purpose. All that is known is that the reapers are unknowable creatures that destroy all advanced life every fifty thousand years. Give or take a few thousand. Even every last soldier, ship, and weapon in this galaxy would pale in comparison to the strength of the combined might of the reapers.”
They walk down a long hall that slowly turns from rock into crystal. And within moments the group is entering a large room covered from top to bottom in polished crystal and lined with a metal purer than any they have seen before.
“You weren’t kidding…” Garrus says walking through the room.
Liara nears the monument spire at the center and sees the tiny bumps on its surface, “This is incredible. You say the inusannon viewed this as a holy site?”
“Yes. When my people first arrived, there was a crumbling temple barely concealing this marvel deep in a forested ravine. The government center was eventually erected to be the center place for this reverence. We know what the inusannon knew. That the forbearers were beings of light who brought into existence a multitude of species and were a great unifying civilization far in the past.”
“How do you know this?” Genevieve inquires.
“There is a hall of records holding every stone, every millimeter of scrolls, recordings, music spheres, and data nodes ever found on the planet. Within that wealth of knowledge, we found the secret histories of the inusannon. They spoke of the bearers of light who brought peace and order to the galaxy. The inusannon scholars also suggest that it was the abyssals who destroyed them and cast them into the dark. The abyssals then went to work culling the weak from the strong and bringing darkness back into the hearts of all those who followed a peaceful path.”
“They could have been referencing the reapers,” Tali says walking around the spire.
“We came to that conclusion long ago,” Alianna responds. “But regardless. Here we are in the archives. What will you do now?”
“We figure out where that last data node is…” Genevieve says and walks the perimeter of the hall. “Spread out and see if you can find a fixture or something. Did you guys ever find an automaton down here?”
Alianna shakes her head, “No. No synthetic lifeforms have ever graced this room. Until now.”
Alianna looks to EDI who is busy examining the surfaces of the spire. Genevieve frowns and walks towards the spire as EDI is brushing her hands across the bumps in the spire surface. As she comes closer, Genevieve hears a humming.
“Do you hear that?”
“Hear what, Shepard?” EDI asks.
“A low humming.”
She comes up to the spire and begins running her hands across the surface. EDI cocks her head.
“I sense a low resonating vibration coming from the spire,” EDI says and runs her fingers over several more bumps. “I think these bumps are crystallic synchronizers.”
“Synchronizing with what?” Liara asks.
Genevieve feels something vibrant in her pants and reaches into her pocket to remove one of the nodes. She holds it up and sees it glowing blue again.
“It’s resonating with the nodes,” she says and pulls them all out.
In all there are six crystal nodes in Genevieve’s hand and all are glowing blue. As EDI rubs her hands across the bumps she feels her own body responding to something.
“Shepard, I believe this unit recognizes the tune.”
“How? She’s been inactive for like a billion years,” Garrus says.
EDI takes the nodes and sets them at the base of the spire. She walks around the spire running her hands over the various bumps sampling the tones and matching them up with the individual nodes.
“I believe we have two more nodes than necessary to activate the sequence,” EDI says. “I think I’ve finding a sequence.”
Alianna looks on in bewilderment, “Only five minutes here and you think you’ve solved a hundred thousand year old riddle?”
EDI picks up three of the nodes and shifts their positions and then repeats the tones. After several minutes, the spire begins to thrum with energy and the metal streams glow gold. The group steps back from the spire and they see a holographic display come into existence. The spire and metal streams seem to melt into the ether until only the holographic sequence is all that’s left standing there.
“Greetings, sentients, I am Rhou’ke Shaa; Prelate of the Detos,” the man says.
They look at the display and all eyes turn to EDI. The man is of the same type of automaton that she is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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