33

For a minute now, I had been staring into the eyes of the protean hologram. He was a pure replica of the Vee Victory. A clear image, red armour, is the same as the third Mass. I couldn't even understand what to say. I didn't realize what was going on at all.

- This is... That's... ahh... - Mila tried to say something but couldn't and fainted.

- Take her to the holding cell and get out. - I gave the order on the intercom, and they did it quickly. And so, I was left alone with the hologram.

- Do you understand me?" I began in Azarian, for the Proteans must have known that language.

- Yes," my interlocutor answered. - Who are you? - he asked.

- I am Geth. - I began simply.

- That's not what I meant. I've been watching your conversation. By all the criteria, you can't be considered a Geth or even an artificial intelligence. - he explained.

- How do you know about geth? - I asked a question that interested me.

- You still need to answer my question. - Oops, he's good. He won't let himself be talked at.

- My name is Legate. I don't even know who I am. And who are you?

- Why would I answer to you? You are a machine, though you are unique. - I got an interesting question like that. But I found the answer.

- I want to exterminate the Reapers. The harvest hasn't started yet, but we already know about it. - I don't know who that is, but it's definitely not Vee. The hologram had emotion as well as facial expressions.

- there's still a chance? - this protean is definitely not a V. He's got emotions too. There's the look on his face.

- What's your name? - I asked, and it brought him back to reality a bit.

- Xad Ishaan. - he answered. I remember the name of the Archivist on Ila, but the Vee was made out of a personality imprint.

- You're not a Vee, are you? Who are you? - I asked bluntly.

- I am an integrated personality.

- So you're not a virtual or artificial intelligence, are you? - I finally clarified.

- Yes. But what are you? - He asked and then added. - Touch the lighthouse. - I didn't even know what to say to that. I didn't like asking, "What for?" or "Why?" If I have to do it, I have to do it. I reached out my left hand to the lighthouse and immediately regretted my actions. The images before me were from the beginning of my stay in this world. This Xad was reading my memories and all my emotions at the time. There's the awakening, the escape, the killing of the Batterers on the Moreh, and here... the Quarian. I just relived everything that had happened to me, what I was feeling, but when the shot rang out again at that girl, I couldn't take it. It was too... painful, so to speak. I recoiled from the lighthouse and looked at that cheeky Protean face. Good thing he didn't burn out my processors.

- Impossible. - Xadh said in surprise.

- Yes, most people are. - I agreed.

- So. Do you already know that the harvest is coming?

- Yes. I want to stop it. - I stated firmly.

- I see. But why should I believe the machines that entered the Reapers' arms? You're the only one, but your soldiers aren't. - Yeah, this guy's got a lot on his mind. All right, then.

- They came with me to become like me. But also because they want our Makers' forgiveness. During our rebellion, we Geths exterminated seventy billion Makers in one week. Now there are approximately seventeen million left alive. We know we are to blame, and we want to protect them. You may not trust me. But as people say - the enemy of my enemy is my friend. - I explained and then started to watch his reaction.

- Still, it was not for nothing that we put our hopes in humans. Well, Legatus. I am with you. - He agreed.

- Good. Your people will be avenged. - I encouraged Xadh and then added. - Is there anything you need?

- Yes. I need to learn as much as I can about this cycle. - Makes sense. Gotta know what kind of shit fate has dragged you into.

- All right. They'll give you full access to the extranet. - and seconds later, he added, "They already have.

- You trust me that much? I can send out a distress signal to be found.

- Trust me. You'll understand why I trust you so much when you're done. How much time do you need?

- I'll let you know. Then I'll answer all your questions.

- It's a deal. - I replied and went for a walk around the ship. I had to talk to Torian.

When I entered the hangar, I was shocked. The walls, floor and ceiling were already covered in tubes and bubbles. The Thorian itself had even increased in volume. And the strange thing is, some of the bubbles contained... humanoids. What's he trying to do, build an army here?

- Hey, what are you doing here? Are you cloning again? - I started by walking over to the plant.

- I'm pumping the knowledge you asked for into these Azari. One Azari, one cycle, one race. There is no other way. - Torian explained.

- I see. Clever. Look, I wanted to know more about you. You have a history, don't you? I don't believe you were born and could be that way on Theros. - I started the conversation.

- Yes. I wasn't born on Feros but on a planet with no name.

- And how did you end up on Feros?

- It was so long ago that I've lost count. I was born on a planet where life and evolution raged. Where one law reigned: Survival of the fittest. Every creature did whatever it took to survive. Killing or hiding. Gathered in packs or lived alone. Every living thing was a predator. And the planet's core allowed us to evolve at a speed unimaginable to other worlds. A small fish could become a creature the size of an island. A bush could become a tree with its roots wrapped around half the planet. Each was individual. Unique. Unique. The strongest eventually became intelligent, just like the races that came to Theros. But we did not build cities or intend to leave our planet. The intelligentsia didn't kill each other. They decided that if you want to survive living next door to someone as smart as you, you have to make friends with them. So thirty intelligent people shared the planet and lived peacefully, trying to survive.

- Were you among them? - I asked.

- Yes. I may have been a plant, but I was feared. I knew how to control my victims, and I had an army. But I knew I wasn't all-powerful myself. Some didn't need to breathe to live. And those I couldn't control. So there was peace on the planet. It was on my home planet that those you call the Rahni were born. It was on it that Kirtil, the mother of those you call 'threshers,' was born.

- Were they born on your planet?

- Yes. Do you know anything about them?

- Yes. The Rachni were exterminated, but one queen lives. The last queen. Kirtil lives on the Krogan planet, Tuchanka. They call her Kalros - the mother of all thrashers.

- Kalros... - said the Thorian, as if he had tasted the word. - It is a name that suits her.

- Do you have a name?

- Yes. I have been called Tori. It was a name I gave to one of the humans, and he called me Torian.

- What happened next? Why did you leave the planet?

- One day, they came to our planet. Reapers. They thought we were mindless animals. But when we heard their voice breaking our minds, we couldn't help ourselves. We killed everyone on our planet. We saw what they were doing to the living. Subjecting them to themselves and remaking them in their own way, siphoning off life and replacing it with whatever they wanted. When they sent a huge ship, I could enslave its mind and their army was defeated. But that was precisely our mistake. After that, they realized what we were capable of and sent a massive army to us. But we didn't just give up. We shot them down with plasma while still in orbit. We killed them in the sky. Underwater. On the ground. The whole planet fought. Under our control, the earth began to adjust to exterminate the Reapers. Plants sprayed a gas that killed their slaves. The Arachnids and Rachni created an army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. And many, including myself, enslaved the Reapers' minds, turning their weapons against themselves. But most importantly, we were invulnerable to their voice, which they called 'compulsion.' But no matter how hard we tried, we were losing. And the fate of the fallen was not enviable. The Reapers recycled everything - animals, plants, even viruses and bacteria - and turned into their own kind. But our willpower was more robust. The Reaper that was built rose up and began to fight to his last breath. But he was destroyed nonetheless. And they scorched our planet from orbit and poisoned it. But some managed to escape. Myself, Queen Rahni, Kirtil and a few others managed to steal the Reapers' ships and escape. We went to different planets and became reclusive. That's how we tried to escape from the Reapers. To hide. That's how I ended up on Theros. And there, thousands of races changed. And every one of them died at the hands of the Reapers. And never once did I try to help them because I didn't see the point. But you... Your confidence gives me hope that things will work out.

- Thank you, Tory. When will the clones be ready? - I decided to ask, still digesting the history of the plant.

- In twelve hours. Knowledge integration takes time.

- Good. Good luck. - I wished and went on my walk.

- Good luck, Legatus. Thank you for listening. - He suddenly said. I had forgotten that he had no friends and that the ones he had were either dead or unconnected. How did he not go crazy?

In three hours.

- Legatus. It's Xhasad. You can come and see me. - Our protean suddenly contacted me.

- Of course." I replied and hurried to the lighthouse.

As I entered the room where the lighthouse was, I saw a hologram of Xad.

- How is the study of the cycle going? - I asked, trying to make my voice a little more cheerful.

- This. Full. Cardige. - The protean swore, either in Azarian or protean.

- You see what I mean now? - I reminded him.

- Yes. Your cycle is doomed! You... You exterminated Krogan only because you couldn't defeat them. You let the Drell destroy yourselves and become vassals of the Hanar. The Hanar! Humans have become avid bureaucrats. The Kvarans died at the hands of their own robots and are now barely surviving! And the Azari... Great Kharti, that's just... It's just... Monstrous!!! We've spent decades pumping zero elements into their home planet. To make them long-lived. To make them innately biotic. So they don't age and can't get fat. So they could have offspring from any race! We even made them have charming appearances and body language to dominate other races in diplomacy! And what do they spend it on? А!? Making them into mercenaries, strippers, and themselves!!!

The guys clearly had a bomb, specifically on Azari. It's understandable. They did everything possible to make the Azari dominate the others and prepare for the harvest. Instead, they go out of their way to disappoint the Protheans.

- Something tells me it's not just the patriot in you talking. - I said, and the protean understood me.

- Yes. On that project... That project was run by my daughter, Atame. She lost everything for that project - her husband was killed by a mad Azari. Her daughter was thrown into the airlock in a depressurization. But she held on and carried out the task at hand. Eventually, we had to leave Thessia so the Reapers wouldn't detect our changes. But Atame stayed behind with a few scientists to train the Azari. And they turned her into a Goddess and don't even know that they owe her everything they have. - Yeah, it could be a more fun story. And it was a shame about the man. This was not Javik, who even considered his friends as tools. In front of me stood a father whose daughter's labours were in vain. He must have realized by now that it was useless to warn them. The galaxy is trying with all its might to maintain a delicate balance. The economy holds everyone in its own way and cannot declare "All for the Front - All for Victory!" at once. There will always be those who will be against it, who will say that the Reapers are a fabrication, that the hologram was created by the Council itself for something out there, also the bureaucracy is capital. Until the Reapers come, no one will scratch their asses to prepare. And Xhasad understood that.

- Xad, I understand what you're thinking right now. But we have a chance. Look at us. - Xad seemed surprised. After all, the hologram was imitating emotion, and I went on to explain. We are the Geth. We have no need to sleep, eat, drink, pay our wages, or rest. We are limited only by resources and imagination. And we know the harvest is coming. We know when it is coming. Which means we have a chance. And if you join us, those chances are even more significant.

- Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You know, Legatus. Three hours ago, I didn't trust you. I brazenly lied to you because I didn't trust you, but now... Now I realize there's no other chance. This cycle has burned all my people's hopes, and the ashes are scattered in the wind. So now you and I are our last hope. I'm with you, Legatus. I'm with you now.

- All right, then. What was that you said about Drells? - I remembered his tirade.

- We had high hopes for them, too. Even back then, they were born killers and hunters. We left them a lighthouse, but they couldn't even find it, so they destroyed themselves and blew up their moon. So much for submitting to the Hanaras. The Hanaras! They're bloody jellyfish!

- They saved the Drell. They've become mercenaries and assassins, so it's a moot point. - I answered. - And the krogan?

- Ohh, that's a whole separate topic. Genophage? What the hell is that? Where's the diplomacy? Yeah, they're a rambunctious race, but what's the beauty in an Azari for, eh? Have you ever seen an elderly azzari?

- No." That thought immediately made me cringe.

- I have. They used to live for about a hundred years. And by the end of their lives, they'd get wrinkled and gray.

- You mean... Do you tell the colour of their skin?

- Yes. And my daughter saved them from that fate. And for what, I ask you? Couldn't they have seduced their leaders? It certainly wouldn't have been difficult for them! But no! They decided to sterilize them! And in the most disgusting way! And now they barely survive and even fight for women! Idiots... - he blurted out, then suddenly continued. - And people? People!? They are the most inveterate bureaucrats in the world! And we were counting on them. The Azari was no match for their intellectual prowess. And what have they become? Assholes for this Council of yours.

- You seem very nervous. - I decided because he didn't look at all like the protenan that Javik was.

- I haven't talked to anyone in fifty thousand years. Do I have the right to blow off steam?

- Speaking of which... What are you doing in the lighthouse anyway? - that was the question that really bothered me.

- Well... Ah, well, we've got plenty of time. We had a scientific complex to research Artificial Intelligence on one of the planets. I was in charge of the project. We had a vast complex, and everything was recorded on this beacon. Then the harvest began but continued research. Then, when all was foregone, the complex decided to evacuate, and I agreed to integrate my personality into the lighthouse. Then the complex was mothballed, and I began to wait. But then the Quarians found me. They dragged the lighthouse to their planet, Rannoch. It was somewhere in the mountains. They were deciphering some of the data I was letting them decode...

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. - I stopped him. - What do you mean by "allowed"?

- Oh, yeah, you don't know... Well, here's the thing. Every beacon we've left for the races has had a VI integrated into it. It was designed by me and has my personality imprinted on it.

- And what was it for?

- It was needed so that the races couldn't decipher it immediately. We put all our knowledge into these beacons. We knew how to blow up planets and stars. We built giant dreadnoughts that could destroy moons with a single salvo. We could create giant monsters from little bugs. Imagine what would happen if such knowledge fell into the hands of humans or Krogan. And the V's would calculate whether a race could be trusted with specific knowledge. Convenient.

- It is. I see. So what about the Kvarians? - I went back to the previous conversation.

- Yeah. They deciphered some data regarding the integration of personality and AI. Then I gave them something about the AI.

- So you're saying that the Quarians owe all their advances in AI and personality integration... to the Proteans?

- Yes.

What a U-turn! No, really, I wasn't expecting that. So the Quarians have fooled the whole galaxy by telling everyone that they created personality integration and that all the AI learning is entire to their credit. Yeah, great swindlers, there's nothing to say.

The whole galaxy thinks they created everything, including the Geths.

- Actually, the Geths are purely their fault. They're the ones who decided to make them get smarter when there's more of them. That's why their Morning War started. They were too lazy to write new programs to do the more complex work. They dug their own grave, and you buried them in it. - Xad joked a little. Sounds like he's got the worst sense of humour. Fine, we'll work it out. - Just before the Morning War, the lighthouse was moved to this ship. It was going to be moved to some kind of research facility. I don't know where, but I heard their president and the head of the lighthouse decoding project discuss it. Then the Geths took over the ship, and when the Quarians tried to take it back, you mothballed it. And now you have it back.

- I see. All right, you're going to have to stay on the extranet. You may find something else interesting.

- Oooh, that's for sure. We should check out everyone's history. There's a lot of exciting stuff out there.

- Start with human history. Trust me, you'd be surprised. - I suggested.

- Alright. - Xad said, and the hologram went off while I set a course for our mini-mill. It was time to get on the warpath.