Rebirth The Mass Effect is old. part 21

Lady Benezia. The Asari matriarch. A woman with enormous political and religious power. A powerful biotic with many loyal followers. Saren's only ally, who tried to pull him out from under the Lord's control... In general, she is an ambiguous and extremely powerful person, but she turned out to be a pretty, fragile young lady with very curvy forms and a chiseled figure. Interestingly, there was no sign of the black nightmare that the prototype was wearing. A simple, formal darck blue dress with a plunging neckline and a thigh-high neckline accentuated her perfect figure, and the matriarch looked really good... luxurious, charming, and downright seductive. And, most importantly, no ugly black cap! Only a small silver hoop on his head.

When I saw this lady conjuring over the control console on the platform next to Queen Rachni, at first I thought that this short girl was one of the Azari escorts. But liarino * Mom!* quickly put everything in its place.

Benezia noticed us almost instantly, but she was in no hurry to attack, and she also restrained the three paratroopers. And everything was fine until this lady opened her mouth... and then it poured... pathos and philosophical thought... Yeah... I wonder if this is a professional injury or just a desire to chat and lower us mentally? Benezia didn't even ask who we were. Apparently, she already understood, although the sight of a living and healthy Nihlus caused a surge of amazement bordering on shock. Didn't she get it, did she think he died on Eden Prime? The surprise was even stronger than the sight of Liara standing behind me.

I do not know exactly why the brain of this obviously intelligent woman was so wired, but the first words I heard caused her to turn off her vocal cords, since the matriarch, without realizing it, went through the sore calluses of almost any reborn:

"You don't know what it means to be a mother." Benezia came down from the platform and stood in the stairwell, looking at me with obvious arrogance. "There is the power of creation. The formation of life. Turning her to joy or despair..."

Benesia, Benesia... How wrong you are... Unfortunately, I know. You know what it's like to leave your child and go into another reality, knowing that you'll NEVER see him again. Even if you REALLY want to...

Sooner or later, everyone comes to a turning point, when the gift of rebirth turns into a curse, and the soul begins to disintegrate into bleeding pieces. We don't forget anyone. Never. Absolute memory is our scourge. We remember everyone: friends, colleagues, relatives, loved ones... we remember it after dozens of lives and hundreds of years. We remember everything. Feelings do not lose their power and brightness. Over time, or you adapt... Or you're going crazy. Sometimes you find yourself in another reflection of the reality in which your dear reasonable was. When you meet him or her again... and you realize that in front of you is a complete stranger... It's just a matter of luck.

However, you can get used to everything. Even to such a lifestyle. Everyone copes as best they can. Someone finds a loved one again and again, filling the void in their soul, someone repeatedly fills their grief with booze at the Crossroads of Worlds, someone locks up and muffles emotions, someone freezes their heart and soul, denying themselves feelings... However, the latter option never gives salvation for a long time... Sooner or later, the control crumbles, and the result — a powerful imprinting — leads such a rebirth to a personal Hell.

Shaking my head, I swept away the unnecessary memories and thoughts. I'll reflect on it when I come back to my new world and lose everything I can get in this reality. And now it's worth dealing with current issues, one of which talks about things she doesn't know about with an exalted mien!

At this distance, visual contact will not give an advantage, but it is not necessary, except that it facilitates penetration into the mind and makes it invisible. But there are other ways!

"Her children were supposed to be ours!" Asari grandly pointed to the queen of rachni, frozen in a huge transparent flask. "Grow up to seek out and kill enemies... Saren." a short pause, a flash of emotion at the name of the Turian gave me the opportunity to slip past her natural shield.

I saw the mental channel instantly: a powerful, sturdy probe extending to the very core of the personality, roughly piercing a surprisingly strong natural shield. Fortunately, the channel is inactive now: the mentalist who set it up was out of reach, and could not directly control the matriarch. I can't completely clean up this mess right now. It will take time. No, it takes a lot of time and, most importantly, peace. However, this was not necessary now. Putting the plugs on the probe, I passed it at the point of penetration through the shield, tying it to protect the mind. Meanwhile, Benezia continued to broadcast:

"Sympathy won't touch me! It doesn't matter who you took with you."

I wonder if she's telling me this, or is she trying to convince herself? It makes no sense to me, because I'm an ungrateful listener, and she clearly couldn't convince herself. Especially after the constipation on the emotional sphere came off and the maternal instinct turned into full force, completely demolishing the remnants of the bookmark that suppressed affection for her daughter. And then Liara herself intervened in the monologue, only intensifying the storm of conflicting emotions:

"I'm here of my own free will, Mom! No one forced me!"

The girl's bitter cry swept through Benezia's mind like a wave of pain, undermining the bookmarks and tearing off the shackles.

"Really?" Benezia was literally petrified. "And what did you tell them about me, Liara?"

"What could I say, Mom?!" The girl shouted, not noticing how a tear was running down her cheek. But Benezia noticed! "That you're crazy? Evil? Explain how to kill you?" Liara's voice broke. "What could I say?!!"

While Benezia was trying to take control of my feelings, I finally found what I was looking for. What followed was a matter of technique: the substitution of signals coming from the mind to the body, and so the carcass of the matriarch slid limply onto the metal ramp. The paratroopers got nervous, but I rudely broke into their minds, and the three ladies instantly switched from a state of "ready for battle" to "having my tenth dream".

Liara stared in horror at her virtually paralyzed mother. Nihlus frowned, but endured.

"Liara, calm down. Your mother is fine. As far as this can be said about someone whose mind was plowed over by the Lord." I shook my whole body and ran lightly up the stairs. "Garrus, help me get the Lady to the platform. Nihlus. I'm going to fall out of reality for a while. Make sure that NO ONE bothers me, even if this laboratory decides to take off into space on jet propulsion along with the glacier."

Garrus silently put away the rifle and, picking up the blinking Benezia in his arms, carried her to the platform and, at my direction, sat her against the wall. The paratroopers were disarmed and laid down in a row.

"What will you do?"

"Gut her brains!" I snapped, squatting down and peering into the matriarch's wide-eyed eyes. Garrus grunted, took off his rifle and settled down next to him, placing the ready-to-use pistol on the console at his right hand. "And I fell into the Asari's mind, easily suppressing an attempt at resistance."

The probe looked just monstrous! This filth was making its way to the core of the personality, and it was hideously close to its goal, resting on the last veil. It will take a lot of effort to remove this monster from your mind, but you can stop its destructive effect and move towards the core now.

What is a mental probe in its essence? It is a kind of drill that penetrates through the protection of the mind and strives for the core of the personality in order to make some changes. Which ones it is depends on the mentalist who put together and launched this dirty trick. In the case of Benezia, the probe tied the emotional sphere to the image of an Anchor, achieving almost deification with a complete rejection of critical thinking and logic. The victim accepts any words of the Anchor creature as the ultimate truth and is simply unable to disobey. Such a crude version of full imprinting. Saren played the role of Anchor.

Apart from the probe itself, Benezia's whole mind was full of bookmarks and limiters. The emotional sphere was blocked, clearly delineating emotions and anchoring them. Under the influence of these matriarch lock tabs, all sentients were divided into two parts: allies and enemies of the Anchor. Liara, as expected, belonged to the *enemy* category and was to be destroyed. The realization of this fact caused a conflict of instinct and a bookmark-lock. The lord greatly underestimated the power of maternal love and the instinct to protect his child. I wouldn't risk putting such a bookmark: they almost always fly off, regardless of the strength and quality of the installation.

Most of all, I was confused by the whole network of small mental strands that regulate the sphere of associative connections. There was no time to deal with their peculiarities now, but to pick at random... there is a high risk of causing any of the many mental illnesses. From mild schizophrenia and psychosis to amnesia or complete personality breakdown.

"Lady Benezia." my voice, tinged with a slight hypnotic effect, attracted the attention of a frankly panicked Asari. "Do you know where Saren Arterius is NOW?"

Benezia couldn't speak: her vocal cords were blocked along with her entire body, but I didn't need words, I needed images and memories that involuntarily popped up in her mind when she realized my question. Another bastard feature of the mentalist.

As I had expected, Saren was currently on Vermire.

"Where is his base on Vermaire located?"

A brief memory: a view of the station, a kaleidoscope of brief pictures of the interior, and... here it is: a map of the planet in an instrumentron indicating both the base itself and its protection system, glimpsed by Benezia. The Lady herself may never be able to recall this image, but this fleeting memory is enough for me.

"His ship, the Lord, where is it located while Saren is on the planet?"

Flash: The moon of Vermire and the Reaper, drifting lazily on the gravitational fields of the satellite.

"How does Saren connect with the Overlord?"

Memory: a holographic terminal. Is there a mental impact from the terminal? I don't think so. And that's great!

"Base access protocols?"

That's where I had to push a little, but the necessary information came up: access codes for the automatic defense system and data on Geth patrols. True, it is unlikely that we will be able to make a friend-or-foe system, but at least I will know what to expect.

"What were you doing on this planet?"

In response, a series of memories brought me the information I needed: the rachni queen and the coordinates of the mu repeater, which I safely pulled out of my weakly resisting mind.

"Has the report been sent?"

A brief regret and anger at the Rachni, who broke free at the wrong time and provoked the quarantine. Benezia didn't have time to send the coordinates to Saren! The satellite connection went down earlier. So... Why didn't you send it after we turned everything on? Ah... I see... bookmarks started to fail and doubts appeared. Successfully.

"When is Saren expecting a report from you?"

Immediately! Bad, but not critical.

"How much time do you have until your silence and absence causes alarm?"

Three days of silence. Absence — twelve to fifteen days. Great, that's enough for us. Four days to the Citadel, a day at the station, five days to Vermaer. The route goes through the Citadel anyway. That means Benezia will need to contact Saren before we leave Noveria. She will contact him, even if me have to use full subordination to do so.

"Has the report been generated and is ready to be sent?"

Consent and a chain of associations with information about where to look for this report.

"Where are your fighters?"

Oh... we're resisting... Wow... And I thought she didn't give a damn about the lives of the paratroopers. It turns out — no. How lovely...

"If you meet me halfway, we won't hurt them. If they attack us, we will destroy them."

Benezia understood me correctly. I restored her ability to speak and partially regained control of her body.

"Not... We need them... kill."

"It all depends on you. To live or to die." for a visual demonstration, I pointed to three quietly snoring carcasses at the edge of the platform. And then something happened that I did not expect: a complex associative connection, in some completely perverse logical way, connected me and Nazara! Don't you understand? AM I WHAT? Oh! Such... I haven't had any questionable compliments for a long time! Wow...

Benezia's eyes widened, and Asari flashed with panic.

"Lady Benezia!" My sarcastic voice somewhat cooled her ardor. "Of course, I am sincerely flattered that you have equated me with a powerful mentalist with hundreds of thousands of years of experience... But no, I have nothing to do with the Reapers." surprise, shock, apprehension. "What are you... Although I'm a mentalist with a pretty good education and some experience, I'm definitely not up to it." regret, despair, and slowly fading hope. "And don't get upset right away! Sheer power doesn't always give you an advantage. Even like this... creatures like the Reaper. suspicion and understanding. Yes, you're absolutely right, I can."

I gave her back partial control of her body and the power of speech.

"I suggest you... a kind of contract. You are helping us to solve our common problem," I deliberately didn't say Saren's name out loud, but Benezia understood me perfectly, "and I am removing the Lord's influence and the results of his activities from my mind." again, I didn't specify from whose mind, just showing a three-dimensional image. "Mental channel, bookmarks, coercion, distortion of associative connections, substitution of concepts, anchoring and other charms that the Reaper has so generously endowed you with. Mm-hmm? What do you say?"

The matriarch's eyes widened in surprise, and panic and suspicion slowly gave way to vague hope.

"Can you do it?"

"I can. But it takes time. A lot of time. There are certain rules for working with consciousness. Especially when you need to remove the effects of a mental attack or coercion. You can't take all this wealth at once. The brain may not be able to stand it. You must understand how fragile the mind and consciousness are."

Benezia nodded slowly.