Road to nowhere, Arc 4 of "Gone with the Sun" - follows Arc 3, "Grave to cradle"

Chapter 35 Genesis Revelations



Dura pater

They left the man with his mother for a few minutes. The doctors had shoo'd out Lawson and Chambers – "He's still groggy, come back in ten."

Miranda was a little put out. What were they going to give him, adrenaline? Kelly thought it wiser not to ask.

"I suppose they had to chase us off." Miranda had a catch in her voice. Kelly turned, and was about to say something, but stopped:

"Whoa, wait up –", reached out, wiped the corner of Miranda's left eye; the tissue was moist. Then Miranda returned the favor, whispering: "Can't see Hackett looking like this."

"We're going to see Hackett?"

Miranda sighed. "Betcha he's in the corridor."

Oh dear. The boss? Right now?

"Damn it. He's not a cybernetic superman anymore."

Miranda had echoed Kelly's exact thoughts; introducing the world slowly to Shepard seemed like a better plan. But the devil was driving. "Anything can happen in the next half an hour. The Admiralty will want to know what went down."

"His mother could ask!"

"Hannah will have other things to debrief." Kelly had seen that coming. Miranda never had a mother; she hardly knew her dad. Odd, how Miranda had blind spots. But then, so many people did. You just had to make allowances and keep antennae fluttering.

Outside the door, no Hackett. Miranda tugged at Kelly's elbow. "Commissary." Indeed, the Admiral of the Fleet was taking coffee from the service VI. The place was deserted; suddenly Kelly realized there would be guards at a perimeter.

"Ladies, please take a seat, I won't keep you long." Miranda squeezed her elbow briefly. Told you.

"Admiral, the patient is awake and, so far, appears as well as might be expected."

Hackett simply nodded. He did not ask what Shepard had to say about any particular matter.

"That's a relief. Can I ask two things. In your professional opinion… Ms Lawson, first, will he recover a normal level of fitness?"

"Admiral, I'm not a qualified doctor."

"Ms Lawson, give Liara some credit. You've had years of medical, neurological, and biophysical training in various schools around the Galaxy. I've had the benefit of input from Chakwas and Michel about you. Your opinion, please."

"He will recover preliminary fitness, given a decent exercise regime, in three to eight months, depending on the progress of bone stimulation and reinforcement."

"So at that time he will be up to N7 standards?"

"Yes, Admiral, but if you want Alliance or Cerberus commando implants, that will take longer. The visual taps are in place for a grey box, but the spinal links have not so far made contact. I don't expect them to for another two months. Even then, the implant tech isn't available on Earth any more."

"Perhaps the Citadel? We also have Jana's cooperation, now."

"That's a possibility… actually, could I have her on Overlord? I've only got Zabaleta."

"I don't see why not, but she hasn't been formally pardoned. The council would choke on it at this point. She's in Limbo."

Kelly had heard of Limbo. It was on the moon somewhere. She'd thought she'd wind up there. Mikhailovich had described it as a sharashka.

"That doesn't matter, sir. I've raided your brig for a third of my crew. Brooks can stew for a while longer, by the way, I want Chambers on her case first. I think I know what happened with Jana, and I'll take the risk. If she turns out well…"

"Then we'll see."

"That's the best I could ask for. The only persons outside Cerberus who I know could help with actually setting implants to the taps were on Sur'kesh. I can't call on Mordin any more."

"Fair enough. I don't actually want him back in the saddle, you realize. He's done enough. It'll be good to have his input at the Nest, but only a dozen people in the fleet know he's here, and they're all on this ship, including Coats. John wouldn't be able to help Mikhailovich significantly."

Miranda's exhalation of relief was quite audible. Now Kelly felt Hackett's full attention on her.

"So, missy. Does he know yet?"

Christmas presents

Propped up it was possible to see he still had the full complement of arms and legs. Proprioception and a feeling of touch weren't always reliable indicators of that.

He'd experimented a little, tilting his head, bringing his hands together, conscious of three pairs of softly focused, brightly colored eyes also evaluating his performance. He'd had five perfunctory welcome-back kisses. No-one seemed able to trust themselves to speak. He himself could barely croak names to start, but a little water had helped.

Hackett had "passed by." Uh huh. There were more questions than there was time to ask, never mind get answers, but apparently they'd 'won' for a given value of victory. Well, the catalyst had warned him about tech. The worst bit was the geth… and EDI, because that was more personal, though she was only one person.

By now Karin Chakwas had left, bearing confidential reports of resurrection (said his mom) to "Jeff." Moreau was here? Where was here? And apparently Ash was in charge of Normandy now. He should feel outraged, but that took too much energy. They'd removed the last of the bandages and lines. All he had on was some loose papery overtunic, open at the back. It had been a bit chilly. Chakwas had given him something with water and pulled up blankets. He felt fine now.

Apparently Kelly really was a nurse, though they could have found a better-fitting uniform. She had taken a sterile tray to a cleaning bench in the adjacent theater, but Michel took it from her and whispered something in her ear. She came and sat in the chair to his left, took his hand, and checked his pulse. Didn't let go of his hand.

Miranda was at the foot of the bed, now, telling tales. She and Garrus had newer versions of Normandy. She'd called hers Overlord. He'd laughed so hard it hurt, Chloe Michel (clearing away equipment tables) had looked daggers, but had no support. His mom had got the joke. "Nurse" had intuited that there was a joke.

"Well… maybe I haven't died and gone to heaven. But this is a pretty good substitute."

Hannah didn't openly react to that, but took his other hand. In the other room, Michel quietly finished policing the sterile trays and closed an autoclave.

His mother was on a high stool to his right. "Liara doesn't know it yet, but she's getting a present too. Tevos has said the asari republics will pay an extraordinary sum for just one frigate."

"What brought that on?"

"Sitting in the co-pilot's seat when Joker's in a hurry. Let's just say Moreau's been posted here and we all had one last wild ride."

"He cheated," said Miranda, making a moue. "He's been tuning a VI with some of EDI's hardware. I did my best but he just had finer control of balancing mass effect and thrusters around the difficult gates. He pipped me at the last relay. I had to go around again. Still beat Vakarian, though."

"Can it talk? The VI, I mean."

"Yes, but it… has no soul. It's not the same. I have some ideas about that."

No-one had said much about Reapers, even Hackett. This was probably good. They were all apparently happy to have him there, though surely not as happy as he was to have them, but there didn't appear to be any spinal cybernetics active at all, never mind working implants. Just as well… unless there was something to that last nightmare. Shepard cleared his throat.

"Miranda. I owe you. Again." Lawson shook her head, but she was smiling. "I can't repay, but if there's something I can do…" She still seemed to have some trouble speaking.

"Okay. Nurse…" – he peered at the name badge; "…oops. Mom, this–"

"Yes, I know."

"Look, I might not be in my right mind. There was the old nightmare, or something like it, when I came to… the boy… it's a long story, I'll tell you later, but the upshot is the catalyst said it's still here."

Kelly gave him an old-fashioned look. "John. You're you. I'd know, otherwise." Hannah nodded. Hmm.

Miranda did give it some consideration. "It's probably just a coma nightmare, Shepard. Quite common, exiting induced comas." Chloe, leaning against the door, agreed. Hannah had no interest in the possibility of psychosis. She fastened on the boy.

"The Catalyst. It's a person? You spoke to it? Is it on the side of the Reapers?"

Shepard looked thoughtful. "No. It had its own agenda. The Reapers were only a means to that end."

"It didn't care about who died, or how, or how many?"

"Hard to say. It said the Crucible changed things, including itself. It really wanted to live, I think. There was only one outcome that would do that, but I wasn't having any. It did tell me what had to be done to kill the Reapers. I'd already worked it out, but…"

"Never mind, John. My gut says we won. If there are any alive where this little fleet is going, we'll deal with it. Look, we're getting into difficult territory. We'll think about this again after dinner."

"I quite agree," said Dr Michel in a no-nonsense voice. "Everybody out except… Kelly. Shepard, you need rest. Nurse will stay to monitor… things."

Shepard wasn't the world's best people person, but he could tell he was in trouble when the bloody women exchanged looks.

Pia mater

"So… nurse, huh?" He accepted a plastic cup to go with pills.

"Er… yes. I sat my RN exams two weeks ago. Chakwas says she'll pay my tuition for med school, but…"

"You don't want to go."

"I don't think I'm smart enough."

Shepard nearly spat out his meds. When he had his diaphragm under control again, he looked up. She actually looked cross.

"Sweet heart… come here."

She sat on the high stool, with a mutinous expression on her extraordinarily beautiful face. It was sexy as hell.

"Even I can tell… look, don't mind me. Pay attention to Chakwas. What does Chloe say?"

"She says I'd be wasted as an ordinary doctor. Don't know what that's all about."

"I think I get her drift. Look, you should do it anyway. You don't have to be an ordinary doctor."

Kelly sighed. "That's all a bit academic, anyway."

"Why?"

Shepard watched in fascination as some sort of internal struggle came to a decision. Kelly slowly stepped off the high stool, and removed her cloak. Then her uniform tunic. And her shoes. blouse… it gradually dawned on Shepard that this was not a prelude to the normal sort of dance. He reached, took her hand, and pulled her to his side. Kissed her expanded belly.

"Still hot, as ever."

"Oh, you."

"Is it a boy, or a girl?"

"I've been careful not to ask."

He kissed her again, and let go her hand. She picked up her clothes, paused, put them down again. Took off her bra, and her panties, standing beside his bed, almost nude.

"What are you doing?"

"What Chloe said. Monitoring things."

She got on the bed and snuggled in beside him.

"You forgot the cap."

"I'm kinky. And on duty."

– Next chapter will be #36, "The bartered…"–

Thursday, July 23, 2015