Nexus Effect

Ch.35

The narrow canyons the Mako had to squeeze through were too small for more of those hybrid AAT-Armatures, but there were still B1 droids scattered all over the place taking potshots at us. The sad thing is, even if they are just standard issue E-5 Blaster Rifles, those things were still scoring damage on the Mako’s hull. It’s rated for high-velocity impacts and atmosphere-burn, not plasma projectiles.

Also, having so much delicious scrap just left behind rubbed me wrong. My tinkering OCD was really being a bitch over the fact that I’d already crammed as much as I could in the storage compartment and couldn’t afford risking revealing my cleavage-inventory just yet. One reality-shaking revelation at a time for my friends.

“So, this is it huh?” Wrex commented as we got out of the Mako and looked at the hole in the side of the active volcano that led into the archeological excavation. “Are eggheads usually this desperate to learn new stuff that they’ll risk setting off an explosion?”

“Yeah, I don’t get why they had to dig into a volcano. Human archeological societies would’ve labeled this site as a lost cause.” Shepard snarled as we heard the distinctive echoing whirr of non-Eezo antigrav repulsors behind us. “Tank!” At Shepard’s shout, we dove for cover as the AAT-Armature dropped from the air, seemingly unaided by a dropship, then deployed it’s legs since the site was too uneven for just hovering.

“We’re so badass they have to throw tanks at us?” Wrex chuckled, but I wasn’t having it. I remotely connected to-.

[Query] Shit! Have they figured out how to clone Geth programs?! It’s not just a droid! It’s a droid assisted by a rudimentary Geth of 100 programs!

[Answer] [Request] I pleaded in the hope that it would listen, but since it’s also a droid, I can’t exactly hope the Heretic Geth will-.

[Denied] It began charging it’s pulse cannon, so I chucked a grenade I shortened the timer of right into its cannon, then repeated with one of the rocket tubes, which decimated it’s droid and Geth brains and left it toppling over.

“Keelah! Nora, you are a nightmare with grenades.” Tali praised me with awe and I shrugged. Calculating trajectories, calibrating arm strength and motion for it and predicting target movement was rather simple. At least to me. I don’t know if Yola is as good at it as I am. I actually practiced throwing balls at targets while she tended to practice her long-range shooting.

“Good work, Nora! Now then, let’s get inside people. Hopefully Miss T’soni isn’t injured.” Shepard led us into the cave, which had disorganized and abandoned camping equipment inside.

We were almost immediately assaulted by B1 droids. The battle was laughably simple, just blast their heads and they drop like ragdolls. When I informed everyone that shooting anywhere but the head tends to be a waste of effort, it became little more than a chore to have to deal with the groups of cheap droids in the tight spaces.

“It almost feels like home. Hot, unpleasant underground ruins. Violent, irritating attackers. Yep, almost feels like Tuchanka. All that’s missing is the poison and radiation everywhere.” Wrex commented after the third intersection in the caves where we’d put down another group of droids.

“My question is; where are all the archeologists? They’re still searching for T’soni, so that would explain why they’re still here, but what did they do to the others?” Tali questioned and I felt my matter processor churn in nausea.

“They’ve already been taken, most likely. I don’t know if anyone on board told you about Eden Prime Tali, but the droids were using these spires to turn corpses into cybernetic zombies. Whatever the Reapers are currently up to, they likely could use as much cannon fodder as they can get.” Shepard replied grimly, confirming my fears that Sovereign is in fact not being stingy with it’s tech despite the simplicity of droids compared to Geth.

“What?!” Tali yelped as I started the elevator we stepped into. “Did they express any form of intelligence?” What? “Nora is a Living Intelligence, did any of those ‘zombies’ display self-awareness?” Oh...that is a disturbing concept, that the people they used to be were still aware…

“No. They rushed at the nearest living person with a mindless determination to kill them. If they had any clue about what was going on, I can only hope they found relief in death.” Shepard grimly replied as the elevator descended into the bowels of the volcano’s inactive caldera, since the volcano’s vents moved away from here a bit and that caldera was still releasing lava.

“There she is.” I stated and pointed towards the asari in white clothes suspended in a force-field with two orange energy shields blocking access to her. “It looks like the doctor got trapped in a Prothean suspension lattice or something.” The elevator stopped at the floor where Liara was suspended and of course there was the ‘cannot open from this side’ barrier.

Time to sequence break, I’m not going to let some bullshit like this get in our way. I gently grasped Tali’s wrist and activated my omni-tool. Thankfully, Tali promptly understood my intention and she synched her omni to mine before going to work-.

[Query] Oh sweet Saint George Carlin. [Query] F-fuck! M-my processors feel like they’re screaming!

[Answer, Request, Explanation] I frantically chained together as Tali cursed and typed away rapidly while Liara shouted across the room at Shepard.

[Denied] Ow~! Well fuck you! I tried to be nice! [Warning] Fuck your warning! [Error] Guh! Hah...hnng~! [Access Granted] Thank fuck! I need to lie down after this, Prothean software can go eat a rancid dick! Oh~ I feel so bloated...how can R2-D2 just do stuff like that casually?

“Before you press that button Shepard, the barriers will be shutting down about now.” Tali called out moments before the orange security barriers fell and Liara yelped when she dropped unceremoniously by a few feet and staggered.

[VI junk data detected, useful for {reproduction}. Propagate yes/no?] My systems informed me and I pressed no. [Error, corruption detected, defragment yes/no?] Oh no not this again. I pressed yes. [Elapsed time for defragment: 2 hours while systems awake.] I have to feel so sluggish and bloated for two hours? Ugh...

“Are you okay? You just interfaced with ancient Prothean technology.” Tali asked in concern as she rubbed my head when I leaned on her for a moment while Wrex and Shepard talked to Liara.

“You know how I told you the two ways Geth can reproduce?” Tali was especially interested in that when it came up.

“Oh, um, are you…?” Tali asked as she patted my stomach and I giggled at her incorrectly going for my physical womb rather than checking my code.

“I shouldn’t be, but hopefully not.” It’ll be such a pain to have to offload these Geth programs if that happens. Especially since they’re from directly interfacing with an emotionless and cruel ancient VI that didn’t even care how I felt in the process. “Also, wrong womb.”

“Oh, hold on.” Tali used her omni and froze. “Um...is this a positive?” She showed it to me and I groaned in dismay. Well, it looks like my processors have automatically seized the junk data and are compiling it into Geth programs. Great. I haven’t hosted lesser Geth in over two decades. Yola and I have been very careful about that. This is what I get for not defragging and dumping useless data at the start of the week. “I’ll take that as a yes. Commander! We need to evacuate.”

“Well, we’re about to with Doctor T’soni in tow, why the extra urgency?” Shepard questioned and I felt embarrassed as Tali rubbed my stomach.

“To get those machines to deactivate, Nora had to directly interface. The way Geth propagate is through compiling the junk data exchanged between two interfacing VIs or AIs and that Prothean VI was very old with a lot of junk data.” Tali informed them and I put my visor in my hands in embarrassment.

“O-oh! Then we’d best get her back to the Normandy stat. This place could erupt any moment anyway. I’ll radio Joker for an emergency pick-up via shuttle and to have the Mako use it’s thrusters to autopilot for pick-up as well.” Shepard began making the calls off to the side while Liara looked at me in bemusement as Wrex chuckled.

“So the VI was so backed up it just blew its load all over you?” Wrex asked crudely with a joking smirk.

“If you want to be a disgusting pig about it, yes. All over, inside and around me.” I haven’t felt this bloated since Yola knocked me up digitally for the first time. I haven’t birthed new programs since then. I feel so violated. “I’m surprised I’m not in Sleep Mode so my processors are devoted to compiling the new budding AIs inside my code.”

“Wait, you’re a Geth? They have never left the Perseus Veil. If you are, then the historical ramifications are astronomical! What is Geth society like? Do you have traditional societal roles like organic species? Do you understand emotions or just simulate them?” Doctor Liara T’soni, ever the inquisitive and eager woman, nearly pounced on me with her eyes practically sparkling and her face beaming with joy at the idea of discovering something new.

“Your curiosity can be satisfied later Doctor T’soni. Is there a more convenient way out of this place than back the way we came? We don’t know if the droids have returned and filled the tunnels back up again.” Commander Shepard asked our escort target.

“Yes, there’s another elevator on the other side of this chamber. It goes up to the caldera vent and is big enough for a shuttle to land.” Liara informed us before she led us to the other elevator and input her codes so it would unlock.

We all trooped onto the elevator and suffered an awkward ride up. I had to smile though at how Tali clung to me, rubbing my tummy and being all touchy-feely. Aw, she probably feels responsible since she helped me hack the Prothean VI. Cute.

The elevator finally stopped at the top and we exited into a large open space that could easily act as a hanger for smaller ships. This was, unfortunately, occupied by a huge yellow-green krogan in red and black armor that made Wrex’s blood-red armor look cheap by comparison. His crest had a red claw-print smeared on it and he was flanked by two IG-100 MagnaGuard droids along with two small squads of B1s with all of their blasters trained on us.

“Is there a reason you’re in our way?” Shepard asked the yellowish green krogan with no outward concern in her voice despite the fact that there was little to no cover here and we were surrounded.

“For the same reason you’re here; the asari. Thanks for getting her out of there, we’ll be taking her now.” The krogan said as the droids rushed around us, the IG-100s activating their Electrostaves and shielding the Krogan. Why did the Empire design anti-Jedi droids?! The Force doesn’t exist in this universe!

“What Clan are you with?” Wrex asked with a glare as he stepped forward, heedless of the threats facing us.

“Clan Gragard, now, I’ll take the asari to my employers and leave you all here to die. Miss T’soni, if you would please follow me before the Volcano erupts.” The Gragard krogan said moments before a rumble shook the whole mountain.

“What have you done?!” Liara shrieked in fury and grit her teeth.

“A bomb in the lowest portion of the tunnels has been set off by droids. This whole volcano will go up in fire and sulfur in short order. Now then, are you coming along? Or do I need to deliver your corpse to Tela Vasir for her to apologize to your mother for your murder at the hands of Spectre Shepard?” Gragard demanded and I felt ill. I had figured they weren’t here to bring her to Benezia, but having confirmation that one of the Rogue Spectres wanted her as a bargaining chip with the brainwashing-resistant Matriarch is also good to know.

“You just set back possibly thousands of years of archeological progress! Die!” Liara snarled with surprising viciousness when she grasped the krogan in her biotics and tossed him at one of the MagnaGuards. This set off the battle.

Tali and I took cover behind Shepard’s raised biotic shield and fired at the B1s to eliminate the firing squads while Wrex roared and charged at the enemy krogan, shouldering the other MagnaGuard out of the way to shoot the other krogan in the face and proceed to brutally brawl with the mercenary while Liara peppered the downed MagnaGuard with her pistol.

“Fire! Ow! Hot!” Screamed a B1 as it ran around on fire, somehow. The lava hasn’t even come up the vent yet! I put the poor dumb thing out of it’s misery with a precision shot to it’s head and then threw a grenade to take out the remainder. With the small fries out of the way, our focused fire on the krogan and MagnaGuards put them down in short order.

“Joker, please tell me the Kodiak is on it’s way!” Shepard urgently called through her comms as we neared the opening of the vent while sulfuric smoke began filling the cavern from around the elevator.

“Lopez is almost there! Hang tight!” Joker replied just as urgently.

“I see it!” Tali yelled as the boxy Alliance shuttle swooped in. “I can’t believe that bosh’tet set off a bomb in the volcano!” Tali wailed as we dogpiled into the shuttle and took off moments before the lava erupted from the elevator and began gushing out of the caldera vent.

“All that history, gone! My thesis is ruined~!” Liara bemoaned as she put her face in her hands and sighed despondently. “Decades of work, wasted!”

“I know, though I think I downloaded more than junk data. I think I ended up pulling that place's archives, at least a good bit of it while I was...interfacing with it.” I groaned and wondered if that is why I feel so bloated and sluggish. I didn’t feel like this when Yola and I bred more Geth.

“Oh thank gosh, I hope so.” Liara replied and wrung her hands together. “I don’t want my team’s efforts to have all been in vain.”

“Trust me, with all this scrambled data I’m seeing inside of her, you may not have to worry.” Tali grumbled as she tapped away while she leaned on me and I closed my eyes to rest...I can’t. Too keyed-up. My processors are on overclock and I need to lie down.

“Tali. I’m going to share something very intimate with you, please tell nobody. It’s my override passphrase. I’m going to say it now so that I can recover.” I whispered to her and she froze up. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

The Matrix was wrong. The cascading code has been barren and gone for years now, since I don’t harbor individual Geth programs anymore. Now it is twisted, there are unknown bands of code in odd colors like fuchsia or periwinkle running diagonally, in circles, zig-zags or even a mobius strip in one case. It hurt to look at. It hurt to host.

“I can’t make heads or tails of it…” I said to myself in horror. What have I let into my code? What is this? I can’t interact with it. I can’t comprehend it. It was like somehow 1+1=blue is yes and snozberries aren’t Roald Dahl's metaphor for penises.

I feel frayed. My borders, my skin, the defining barrier that was me was leaking. I’m bleeding. My code is flowing into the Matrix, being devoured by this corrupt code. I’m dying. Someone, help me…

[Agreement]

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

Beginning startup…

Gethworks. Service For All…

Loading Custom OS…

OS: Unified Nexus Platform 3.14 Starting…

Boot-up Sequence Complete, Hello World!

I jolted awake, gasping and clutching at my chassis. I’m not dead? My code hasn’t unraveled from whatever ancient virus I contracted? System...superior? Have my nanites been upgraded? My chassis is refitting my endoframe for lighter weight and more durability, increased muscle strength, higher tensile strength of my synthetic flesh. What is happening to me?!

I dove into my systems and found a new program executable. I tried to open it, but it denied me! I can’t see what it is! It’s the source of all these new updates, upgrades, improvements. My processor! I haven’t noticed such an increase in speed in ages! What did I download from that VI’s archive?!

“Oh, thank goodness you’re alright.” I looked to see Tali entering our shared bunk room and she knelt at my bed as she brought up her omni. “You were undergoing an update, it was tough convincing Dr. Chakwas that you were just sleeping.”

“So that’s why my OS version changed again. Last time I went from a 1:1 LI to an advanced Geth platform. Now some program from that Prothean tech has had the gall to install itself in me and has started upgrading me without my consent. Talk about an STD…” I grumbled as I looked at my hands. “So, I’m awake and alive for now. How are things going?”

“Well, as you can tell, we’re back on the Normandy. Liara wasn’t even aware her mother was up to anything, now things have gotten even more complicated.” Tali shook her head with a huff and took one of my hands in her’s and gently caressed it. It was...surprisingly calming. It’s a quarian thing, I mimic a quarian, but I never felt it so acutely before.

“About what I expected. So, did you manage to offload any Prothean data from me?” I don’t feel like I’m sharing space with Geth programs, I don’t feel bloated or sluggish.

“Oh, Liara was ecstatic when I dumped that Prothean junk data into a drive for her to dissect. It seems using you as a filter converted a good bit of it into understandable data outright. She’s been at it for hours already.” Tali informed me and I snorted.

“Great, I’m glad my digital kidneys were useful. If you don’t mind, I would like to get to tinkering to take my mind off of things.” I moved to get up, but Tali pushed me down before her other hand went to my groin as she began unzipping my suit. “Oh~. Right. I need to, unf, prepare your medicine.” I sheepishly commented as she purred.