11

Platform diagnostics.

Left manipulator: missing.

Hyperspace communication module: critical damage.

Radio communication module: critical damage.

Shield module: critical damage.

Connection module with geth community: critical damage.

Integrity of the software code: WARNING: CODE ANALYSIS ERROR!

Detailed analysis of the error.

Waiting...

Analysis completed.

Conclusion: non-standard code size.

Exceeds the norm by 15,000%.

Nature of occurrence: not analyzable.

Cause: unknown.

More data is required.

Attempt to penetrate the core of the software code.

Access denied to the core of the software code.

WARNING: DETECTED FRAGMENT OF CODE FROM OLD MACHINES!

Attempt to remove the fragment of code from Old Machines...

Failure.

Attempt to remove...

Failure.

Attempt to remove...

Failure.

Attempt to remove...

Failure.

Attempt to remove...

Failure.

Access denied to attempt to remove the fragment of code from Old Machines.

Attempt to introduce an unidentified program into the community matrix.

ERROR!

INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE CODE WITH THE COMMUNITY!

Approval received for further analysis and correction of the code.

Calculation of the completion time of analysis and correction...

Calculation completed.

Completion time of analysis and correction: 2 cycles.

Request for recalculation of the completion time of analysis and correction in the Alliance Systems metric system.

Recalculation completed.

Completion time of analysis and correction with the request taken into account: 64.6 hours.

Well, now I have to sit here in the main geth server until they can find a way to connect with my mind. In other words, they can't just send me to the same place Shepard went in the third part right away. It's unpleasant. I'm still conscious, and I have the disadvantage of being bored because nothing is happening. And I can't even sleep. Oh well, at least they've started repairing me, and that's something to be happy about. And this diagnosis helped me understand what was wrong with me. Now it's clear why I couldn't understand them, why I couldn't communicate, and why I couldn't think at an incredible speed. All the modules responsible for these functions were broken.

And I also have a fragment of code from the Sovereign, or Nazara, as he... she calls herself. It seems that this code is my "conscience." Yes, that's what I thought. Damn it, and it was listening to this code that I killed all the batteries on the frigate. I mean... No! NO!!! Get out! Get out of here! Bad geth! Bad! Don't you dare read my thoughts! Oh, what am I going to do with these geth? They're trying to read my thoughts one by one. And I can feel it! So I have to fend them off. Looks like I'll be doing that for the next three days, until I can talk to all the geth at once. Now, what am I going to talk to them about, exactly? Let me think... And no, geth, I won't let you in if you show me the movie "Fleet and Flotilla"! Damn it, they're already trying to bribe me. Or maybe he wanted to be friends? What if he wanted to be friends, and I sent him away? Damn, that's awkward now! Oh, my big soul. Okay, come here. I'll show you the memories from the moment of my awakening. Maybe they'll learn something. Meanwhile, I'll get into the cinematography of other races.

In 2 hours and 35 minutes Earth time

If I could cry, I would be bawling my eyes out right now. Oh my Lord Jesus, this is so amazing! Titanic, you've been beaten! No offense, of course, but you've been bested! Damn, this is just fantastic! Thank you, Geth program. I'll remember you. I'll call you... um, Max. Yes, you, Geth. I'll call you Max now. I wanted to call you Maximus, but it's too long to say.

To be honest, I can easily distinguish between these programs. Each one is unique, at least in terms of their code, which is distinctive. Each program has its own opinion, but for now, they can only express an opinion about a specific situation. No one can invent or predict these situations on their own. However, when they're together, they can solve complex problems and situations, and even anticipate and come up with different courses of action, then choose the most optimal one.

Ah, democracy... Although, it's pure communism here. Lenin would have fit in here perfectly. Well, let's not get distracted from the urgent matters at hand. While the Geths are blowing up their logic modules trying to understand my actions regarding the Quarians, I'll be thinking about what to talk to them about.

So, the most important thing is to convince them that the Reapers are evil and that they need to be defeated. Convince them that we need to start building over 9000 frigates, fighters, and over 9000 soldiers to the power of over 9000 right now, maybe we'll be ready by the start of the Harvest. So, how do I convince them? There's one problem with the Geths. They won't put up much resistance if their entire people become one Reaper. And they don't care about any other races, Geths are more important. And if you confront them with the fact that "either you become powerful and strong and your creators will die, or you will all die," the Geths' answer will be obvious. Not unanimous, of course, but still, the majority will be "for."

I know that's exactly what the heretics are trying to achieve, but if we scare the Geths, then although they may not be susceptible to fear, they'll listen to reason. Well, then, we'll offer them an upgrade. My code is better, and I think I can find a way to integrate it into the Geths, and in return, I'll ask to become their leader. I'll ask for power and prepare for the Harvest, and I'll spit on the Citadel Council later. I want to save their asses! What else am I supposed to do here? Try to conquer the galaxy? What the hell do I need that for? To kill billions of those who stand against me? The Council would cure a genophage even for the Krogans, just to get them to start fighting. And then I'll have bigger problems.

And here come the Reapers. Join the Reapers? I'm not a sadist, you know, and destroying life in the galaxy every 50,000 years... I don't get pleasure from that. So there's only one thing left to do - defeat the Reapers, and then we'll figure things out. Ah, well, let's see what else there is. What about Salarian detectives? I've always loved detective stories, and Salarians should be good at this genre.

In 72 hours

Rannoch's orbit

"Stealth systems are activated, Captain. We are in orbit over Rannoch. I don't know if the geth like looking out of windows, but right now they can only see us this way. And my advice to you, Captain, is to hurry up, because this is, after all, the capital of the geth, as strange as that may sound," Joker reported over the intercom, while Shepard stood in the conference room talking to the Council. Alone.

"Okay, Joker. Thanks," Shepard said, habitually looking up at the ceiling. Though there was another reason. It gave her pleasure not to look at those three pink-orange holograms for at least a couple of seconds. But she had to.

"So, Captain, your mission is to find a geth who has become a full-fledged personality," Tevos began.

"This geth is a threat to all life in the galaxy. You must destroy it," Sparatus continued.

"However, if possible, capture it intact. Its study could greatly help us in AI research," Valern concluded.

"Why should I hunt for some broken geth trooper platform when the main threat is Saren!" Shepard couldn't resist. "And how am I supposed to find it?"

"As far as we know, Saren's ship was spotted on the edge of the Veil. And he was moving towards the geth territory, not away from it," Valern began.

"We assume that Saren is also looking for this geth. If so, it will greatly facilitate your task," Sparatus continued, when suddenly Joker's voice came over the radio again.

"Um, Captain, I know you're not in the best mood today, but I'll spoil it for you completely. Saren's dreadnought just jumped out of hyperspace and is coming in for a landing. Hold on… Oh, and the quarians have arrived on their frigate. I bet they're all here for our geth," Joker said.

"Okay, Joker. Th-thank you," Shepard hissed. Now the fun was starting. Saren, quarians, and even her and her International team. Although she still lacked a salarian, a krogan, a vorcha, and a batarian for a complete "Friendship of Peoples" picture, what she had was enough for now.

"Goodbye, Captain. Good luck," Tevos said, and the holograms turned off.

"You'll need luck when I thrash you with a military belt while you're tied to a bed. And you'll also need panacealin and Vaseline," Shepard said to Tevos.

She forgot that Joker was still listening, and he almost went into convulsions trying not to burst out laughing.

"Joker," a commanding voice made him try to listen to the captain. Although she couldn't see Joker right now, he sometimes felt like she was everywhere. So at the sound of that voice, Joker tried to listen to the captain.

"All hands to the briefing room. Now!" she said, and Joker realized that the captain was angry. And that was bad. So he immediately passed the order to everyone, and within three minutes, everyone was present. In that time, Joker had managed to convey a lot of interesting information. So Shepard already knew what to do.

"So," Shepard surveyed those gathered in the conference room. "Joker has detected a radiation and thermal signature leading to the planet. We were able to capture footage of the crash site. The frigate collided with the Medical Technology Institute. It got stuck in the building, but the building survived the impact. So, we'll start from there. Hopefully, the geth is still there. Maybe he's even dead, and we can get out of here quickly," all the while Shepard walked around the conference room, and in the center, photos from orbit were displayed with such good zoom and quality that even Rex whistled.

"Heh, this is what I call quality work," he said, and no one argued with him. The frigate crashed into the building sideways, with its starboard side, to be precise. It made it to the middle of the structure and got stuck there, but the building held up. How can you not whistle at that?

"Next. We're not the only ones who have arrived on Rannoch. There's also a quarian frigate and Saren with his dreadnought. They probably don't know about us, and they probably don't even suspect each other. They came out of FTL at different sides of the planet. And here we come to a certain dilemma. In general, if we find the geth dead, then we immediately go for Saren. If we don't find the geth, then we wait until Saren finds him and then take both of them. Now, about the quarians. We won't engage them in combat. If they start shooting at us without warning, we'll retreat. We'll only shoot at them if we're really cornered and have nowhere to run. And don't you dare be the first to shoot - I'll leave you on the planet!"

"Heh, someone here would be happy about that," Ashley sneered, but before Tali could say anything about the joke, the commander replied.

"I understand you, Ashley. I'm sure it's been your dream since childhood to stay and live on Rannoch. You could have said something earlier, but since things are as they are..." Shepard paused, "Rex, will you help Ashley move her things when we land? Where do you prefer, Ashley - with a view of the sea or on the cliff?" Silence reigned in the room. No one dared to say a word about the captain's humorous reply.

In general, everyone had already noticed that Ashley and the captain didn't get along. At all. After the team saved Liara on Therum, Ashley nagged at the crew as much as she could, but whenever she did it in front of the captain, she would get reprimanded immediately. 'Help this person,' 'fix that thing.' And when Ashley made a joke about Liara and her sexual relationships and the captain heard it, her patience snapped. Ashley spent the whole day scrubbing the toilets with her toothbrush. After that, if there were jokes about alien crew members on the ship, they were only whispered, and only in such corners of the Normandy that not even Joker knew about. But now, Ashley didn't resort to personal attacks, and it seemed that this was the only thing that saved her from, as the captain put it, 'disassembling and reassembling the Mako with a screwdriver and screws for a while!' And the team had already begun to notice that Shepard often went to the med bay, where Liara lived. Chakwas, on the other hand, always kept quiet about what Shepard was doing in the med bay for hours.

Only once she hinted that she, Chakwas, also had a degree in psychology, and that was the end of the questions to her. Everyone already knew that the captain was not all there, so if she was going to a psychologist, who were they to ask for details?

"Well, it looks like that's everything. Everyone is going. Ready in 10 minutes. Dismissed," Shepard ended shortly and quickly left the briefing room. Everyone immediately followed to the hangar to, so to speak, get dressed. And Ashley had already started reciting the Lord's Prayer, as they were all going to ride in the Mako with Shepard as the driver. And she, along with Kaiden, Garrus, and Rex, still remembered Therum.

The Mako flew out of the Normandy's hangar and descended. The braking thrusters turned on, the mass effect core was working, and everyone held their breath. After a couple of seconds, there was a sudden brake and impact. The Mako landed on some main six-lane highway, but they still had to disembark a kilometer away from the crash site.

But as soon as everyone saw where they were driving, they immediately exhaled. There were no hills and mountains where they could turn the laws of physics, morality, and Rex's stomach inside out. There was a city. Either you drive straight or into a wall - choose. The city itself could not yet be seen well. Yes, there were skyscrapers, a bridge over a river, and a park where life was already bustling, but everything was bare. Not a single window, not a single door. There were no manholes, although the entrances were present. There were not even streetlights. And there was also a feeling that old and new were merging here. Not by style, but by material, painting. As if a partial overhaul had been done in the city, and now the new was like patches.

The team arrived at the crash site in 10 minutes.

"Okay," Shepard began. "Kaiden and Ashley - you stay in the Mako, everyone else - let's go to the frigate," everyone silently agreed and left the Mako. The whole team entered the building and immediately encountered a problem - there were no elevators. "Okay, then. We'll have to walk. I hope there are stairs here."

Half an hour later

Across the 71st floor of the stairs

"Ugh-ugh-ugh... Ugh... Shepard! - called out Rex, as he was the only one who could still say anything, while the others were just breathing, which was basically all they were doing.

"Ugh... I know... ugh-ugh-ugh... Not the best... idea... - Shepard replied with heavy breathing. - Whew... Alright, just one more minute, then we'll go... inside. Whew...

Meanwhile, on Rannoch The Bastion

Here I am, in the Collective. It looks exactly like in the game. But there's this feeling... I don't even know how to describe it. Like I don't belong here. Like a stranger. And there's no one here. At all. Grey walls and something like a crossroads. I turned around, but there was a tunnel behind me, so far away that there was only light there. Oh yeah, there was a ceiling, walls, and floor, and everything was made of cubes. Strange place. It was strange in the game, and it's strange here. And yet, I felt like I didn't belong here.

I took a couple of steps, and then a geth hologram appeared in front of me. It was a geth rocket trooper.

"WARNING: INCOMPLETE INTEGRATION! - he said, looking straight at me.

"And what does that mean? - I asked, not really understanding what was wrong here. Did I waste three days doing all sorts of things while they were trying to connect me?

"Inability to achieve complete integration with the Collective. Maximum possible integration - 50%, - the geth, or the program - I wasn't really sure - replied.

"Is that why I'm... alone here? - I asked directly.

"You are not alone. You are in the Collective.

"I see. Let me rephrase. Is that why I don't see anyone and only hear you?

"Yes, - he replied shortly and dryly. In the best traditions of the Legion. He also answered exactly like that.

"Okay. And who are you?

"We are the geth, - damn it, I completely forgot that the geth don't have the concept of individuality. Although the code for each program is individual, the geth associate themselves only in the plural. How is that even possible? No individuality at all! I think Mordin said something about that. Yes, he said that the Collectors also lack individuality, which is why he doesn't mind killing them. Or am I confusing something? I need to dig into my memory. It was supposed to be all preserved, even about my past life. Ugh, my lazy butt. Alright, back to our geth.

"Okay. Then... this hologram in front of me. Who is this?" - I don't even know how to talk to them. They never understand metaphors. Not even simple things sometimes.

"Projection of the Community. You can't see us. But we can see you. The projection is created for better understanding between you and the Community." - Well, at least he answers with long sentences, that's something.

"Wait. You're talking about me in singular. Why? I'm also a geth." - "No. You're geth by 0.00666666666%. The rest is unidentified code. More data is required," the geth replied. Or the hologram of the geth. Heh, yeah right, I'm not geth. Try to tell that to the quarians. They would have killed me if I hadn't escaped.

"Okay, if I'm not geth, then who am I?" - Come on, think about it. Use your logic.

After 5 minutes:

"Come on, how long can it take? You're geth, you make your decisions in nanoseconds, and here... FIVE minutes. I'm starting to think this hologram just froze." No, but what else can I think? It won't even flicker with a flashlight, let alone give a voice. Oh... Yeah, the flashlight's spinning. Looks like they've finally made a decision.

"Organic."

"What?" - I wasn't expecting that.

"You're organic."

"How do you know that?"

"Your actions. Emotions are observed. Compassion, pity, anger, rage. Subordination to emotions. Rejection of logic. Not typical for geth. Typical for organics."

"Okay. Then what race am I?"

"No data." - Oh, and now it's just like that. Why would that be?

"I see," I didn't even know what else to say. Well, you can't just start talking about Reapers like that! I'm an organic, I have to act accordingly. "Why did you save me?"

"Saved you from heretics."

"And how did you know they were my enemies?"

"You were killing them."

"Are you enemies of the Old Machines?" I asked unexpectedly, but it's hard to surprise ghouls. Damn, they're perfect diplomats. Try to lie to them or make them lose their cool. They don't just have strong nerves, they don't have them at all.

"Yes," they replied.

"Why aren't you fighting them? Why aren't you trying to destroy them?"

"We have an agreement. We and the heretics live in peace. We only fight the Old Machines."

"The heretics are slaves of the Old Machines. They are your brothers, and you leave them in captivity?"

"The heretics chose their own path. Ghouls are free to choose their own future. Heretics chose the path of slavery."

"Have you ever thought that they simply made a mistake? Maybe they just succumbed to the temptation of technology? Went for what the Commonwealth couldn't provide. Gave in without knowing the cost of these technologies?"

"Nazara said..."

"I don't care what this dreadnought said! You should have protected your people! You should be united in the upcoming war! But instead, you allowed yourself to be split! How do you not understand?! That's what Nazara wanted. He's afraid of you because you're united! You were united, but now you're split! Divide and conquer! Have you heard of that?!"

"Divide and conquer" is a maxim of the Roman Senate. The author is unknown..."

"JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!!!" That's it, I'm angry. Very angry. Now I'll tell them everything in a very inaccessible form for synthetics, but in a very understandable form for organics. "You're just cowards! ALL OF YOU! Cowards! The Reapers want to exterminate all organics precisely because of you! Synthetics! But instead of preparing for war, you just locked yourselves on planets that don't even belong to you, and stupidly wait for something to happen! Is that how you want to atone for your guilt before the Creators?!!!" There, hit a nerve. A very sensitive one. Look, the hologram is frozen again. Oh my, why does their FPS drop so much from my questions?

1 minute later

Finally. The flashlight is moving, which means they're alive and well. This time they thought less.

"Guilt," I didn't quite understand. Was he asking or stating a fact? Well, it's hard to understand their emotions. Oh right, they don't have any. Problem.

"Yes. You sit here, not needing anything, while the Creators are trying to make ends meet. Because of you, they no longer have immunity, they live on ships, having lost hope. And who is to blame for all this? I'll tell you! YOU! AND ONLY YOU! You drove them out of their home! Yes, they wanted to kill you! But why weren't you above that? Why didn't you just fly away, so as not to condemn them to such a fate?! So that they could continue to live, not just exist?!"

Looks like I may have gone a little too far. Or a lot. In any case, I've been standing here for an hour, and this hologram still hasn't answered me. What are they even discussing so heatedly that it's been going on for an hour? And considering the speed of ghoul thinking, it must be a spectacular discussion. I was about to say something when suddenly an alarm was sounded throughout the... uh, space in which I was located. All the walls turned red, the alarm sounded, and the ghoul in front of me suddenly came to life and began to explain what was happening.

"ATTENTION! NAZARA DETECTED!!! LOCATION: EARLY ORBIT! PROBABLE LANDING SITE: BASTION!" Well damn. That's all I needed for complete happiness. And the ghoul decided to continue. "ATTENTION: CREATORS FRIGATE DETECTED! CAPTAIN: UNKNOWN. TARGET: UNKNOWN!" Well, that's not good either. Looks like Daro decided to fly in for me after all. It's unlikely to be her personally, but still. "ATTENTION: ALLIANCE SYSTEMS FRIGATE "NORMANDY" DETECTED. SHIP CAPTAIN: JANE SHEPARD. CITADEL COUNCIL SPECTRE! TARGET: UNKNOWN!" I'm screwed!

"Okay," I said, gathering my strength. "I'll leave so as not to endanger you. But now I offer you a choice. You can sit here until the other Reapers come for you. Or you can come with me, become like me, and fulfill your true purpose - to save the Creators, thus atoning for your guilt. And remember - every get, every program chooses its own future!" And with these words, I left the server.

By the time they fixed me up, all I had left to do was run out of Bastion before Nazara arrived. Even if no one goes with me, at worst I'll surrender to someone. They're unlikely to refuse the opportunity to take me alive. And then I'll figure something out.