Eyes part 1. chapter 19

Chakwas didn't want to look at the information on how the case with these very strange excavations was progressing on the desktop screen right now. She was used to being completely alone, freezing, unfocusing her eyes and relaxing. So time passed quickly and imperceptibly.

There was no signal from the equipment, neither sound nor light. Karin felt that, strangely enough, it was not Saren who would wake up first, but Benezia. Maybe Earthlings are really right in believing that Asari are women?

"It could very well be," Chakwas thought, getting up and walking over to the Asari, who was lying on her back, already trying to open her eyes.

Benezia's gaze, cloudy, unstable, unfocused, nevertheless focused on the face of Chakvas, who was leaning towards her. Approaching the bed, Karin managed to take readings from the instruments: waking up was standard.

"W-where am I?" the matriarch exhaled, trying to focus her eyes somehow, trying to see the surrounding objects in more detail.

"You are on board a warship, in the medical bay." Karin replied softly.

"Nazara"...

"He... let you go." Chakwas did not want to go into details now, clearly feeling that the Asari was not yet able to perceive them normatively.

"I... feel weird. I remember the impact, the floor suddenly changed places with the wall and I... lost consciousness," Asari whispered. "Who are you?"

"Doctor. My name is Karin," Chakvas replied simply and clearly, reading the readings placed on the bedside decks out of the corner of her eye, but still paying more attention to examining the patient.

"I... I don't feel any underwear or clothes on me. You..."

"You were seriously injured when the ship hit the ground, Benezia. I operated on you. Therefore, you are now covered by this canopy." Chakwas touched the light and durable fabric of the bedspread with her hand.

"I'm inside... The Reaper wasn't alone..."

"Saren Arterius is also here, in the medical bay." Chakwas held a mirror up to the Asari's eyes. "Don't turn your head, just look..."

"He's..." the Asari glanced in the mirror at the sleeping Turian and looked away, "too..."

"Yes, he was hurt," Chakvas confirmed, "he fell too. I had to operate on him too. Now he's fast asleep and can't hear you...."

"I... feel strange, Karin," the matriarch's gaze finally became clear and tenacious. "My eyesight is... back. At least I can see you clearly enough now."

"I'm glad," Chakwas replied. "And about how you feel... You're out of the Reaper's influence, Benezia. And very soon you will regain your former freedom and integrity."

"But... I was convinced that..." the Asari said timidly.

"It is impossible to escape from the indoctrination effect of the Reaper." Chakwas said calmly and quietly. "Everything is relative, Benezia."

"How do you know me, Karin?" The Asari's gaze was clearly filled with amazement and surprise.

"I am an officer of the Medical Service of the Alliance of Systems Air Force, and you are on a military combat reconnaissance ship. It wasn't difficult for us to make inquiries."

"And you know now..." the matriarch continued.

"A lot," the doctor did not deny. "And about you. And about him." Karin glanced at Saren.

"Can I ask you something, Karin? I would like to..." Benezia, as the doctor realized, was predictably shy. This embarrassment was understandable — both men and women of different races and Asari who considered themselves asexual did not want to be seen as "half-disassembled" and "disassembled," and such "disassembly" and "half-disassembled" is so common for patients in hospitals.

"He's fast asleep, Benezia. But if you want." Chakwas pressed several sensors on her omny-tool, and Saren's bed was separated from the rest of the medical bay by a screen.

The Asari calmed down a bit.

"He... he almost strangled me several times..." Benezia said softly. "And now I remember it... especially clearly. He... he almost killed me.... He tried to kill me several times. And I knew, and I know now, that's what this terrible giant ship demanded of him. Saren... became a slave to this ship. And then... I became his slave..." the Asari matriarch closed her eyes, falling silent for a few minutes. Chakwas was a little surprised that an elderly Asari, even by the standards of her race, not only woke up quickly enough, but also said so many words out loud. As soon as she woke up, she came to her senses, and Karin was not only sure of that, she was convinced. Benezia opened her eyes, her gaze touched the doctor's face. "You... operated on me?"

"Yes," Chakwas nodded. "Our ship is small, I am a trauma surgeon."

"I don't understand. What happened?" The Asari's gaze traveled around the medical bay. "We've both been here... have we been here long enough?"

"Yes," Chakwas confirmed. "You were unconscious for a long time. Both."

"So, is he... also free from the Reaper's influence?" Asari asked in a barely audible voice.

"Yes. Just like you, Benezia," Chakvas replied.

"But..." the Asari hesitated. "It means..."

"This means that you could not have been aware of yourself and cannot be responsible for your actions committed under such" here the ship's doctor made a special emphasis, noticeable to the patient "pressure. And we have no desire to turn you over to the law enforcement agencies of the Azarian Republic or the Turian Hierarchy. There is no reason for this, and there is no possibility — you are in treatment. And it's going to be... long enough."

"So what exactly happened?" the matriarch is seriously determined to get an answer to this question.

Chakwas sighed slightly. She really didn't want to tell the matriarch right away about what had just happened on Eden Prime. Benezia did not take her eyes off the doctor's face and realized that she was hesitating.

"I remember, Karin, that we had to pick up the Lighthouse from the planet. That's what the ship's pilot wanted, and we... had to obey. We... witnessed the ship sailing through the Galaxy towards the planet. The pilot called the planet something, either a code or a cipher, but... we had no real way to understand what kind of planet it was and where it was located.

"This is Eden Prime. One of the first human colonies. An agricultural planet. With Prothean artifacts," Chakwas said honestly.

The Asari froze.

"Have we... been brought to territories subordinate to humanity?!" she gasped.

"You could say that," Chakwas confirmed. "As far as I understand, you two couldn't have done anything together, or even alone, either to resist or to help, so consider that both of you were just disenfranchised, forced passengers of this ship. Everything was decided by the pilot."

"But why... why did we get here..." the asari tried to formulate her question, and Chakwas did not rush her. "Why are we suddenly here..."

"The ship's pilot was collecting Prothean Beacons, most likely all over the galaxy. The lighthouses contained a warning. About the great danger." Chakwas recalled the images sent to her by the frigate's electronic warfare service. The same pictures that the archaeologists and the Marines who guarded the scientists had already seen. The doctor remembered her conviction that this was far from all the information contained in the Lighthouse. It may be possible to extract more. Eventually, of course. "The pilot of the ship did not want this warning to be received and understood. Therefore, he secretly approached Eden Prime. We managed to detect his progress through the area of responsibility of humanity, managed to note his approach to Eden Prime and managed to prevent the removal of the lighthouse." Glancing at the patient and at the displays of the instrument bedside complex, Chakwas was convinced that azari was amazingly fast, if not recovering, then returning to a certain, very significant norm, so she continued her story.

"And..." the elderly Asari's voice was clearly impatient.

"We had to stop the ship's attempt to leave the planet with the help of onboard -and not only — weapons. The result was the fall of the ship to the surface of Eden. You were both extracted from the depths of the shrimp."

"The reaper," the matriarch clarified.

Karin nodded:

"Yes. They were transported aboard our ship. You were both unconscious...."

"I was... completely overwhelmed," the matriarch whispered. "And now... I don't understand. I feel as if these days spent under the yoke of the ship's pilot's will... have never happened in my life. I feel free. I used to be absolutely convinced that it was impossible to get rid of dependence on the Reaper. And now... I feel like I've never met Saren or the Reaper."

"We were able to get you out, Benezia," Chakvas said. She really didn't want to tell the barely awake Asari about Shepard and his abilities right now.

"You... pulled me out... and Saren... wasn't alone?" The matriarch carefully looked into Chakwas' eyes.

"Yes, I was mainly dealing with your... physical problems." She didn't lie to Patient Chakvas. — Mental problems, including the problem of your complete dependence on the will of the pilot of the Reaper ship... were eliminated by another member of our crew.

"I felt... the presence of... a man, a human next to me." The matriarch whispered softly. "So it's true. He was here."

"He was," the doctor confirmed. "He helped me a lot. And you. Both of them."

"I have no doubt," the Asari once again looked around the available space of the Medical Bay. "Are we... just the three of us here?"

"Our ship has not yet left the planet. We have more tasks here. And so far, the commander of the ship has not ordered the launch", Chakwas clarified. "As for the Medical Bay, I, as the chief physician, am its absolute mistress. Both the crew of the ship know that I never make any kind of show out of the process of treating patients. As for the fact that it's just the three of us here... I don't feel lonely, Benezia. It's just... it's my job. Both of you are the most difficult patients in recent days. Therefore, naturally, we have tried to ensure that you recover in peace and quiet.

"That's probably... right. What you, Karin, did," The matriarch spoke. "I just can't get used to my... free state."

"Benezia, you've only recently woken up", Chakwas said, glancing at the indicators on the bedside instrument decks. "So what..."

"I can't believe I'm... free," the matriarch gasped. "So many days... What's the date today?"

Chakwas named not only the day, but also the month and year, causing the patient's face to express the expected expression of sincere amazement.

"The goddess! Have I spent so much time under the Reaper?!... I can't believe it. Although... I understand that this is... quite possible. When you're trapped in such a... shell... time moves in a completely different way," the matriarch said thoughtfully.

"You're free now, Benezia." Chakwas sat down on a chair next to the bed where the elderly Asari was lying. "And you have to get used to your free position."

"You're right, Karin", The matriarch closed her eyes for a few seconds. "You said it was a warship?"

"Yes. "Normandy"."

"Remember. The Turians sometimes mentioned its design on the Extranet. A two-century gap. And..."

"They built it, handed it over to us, and now we're mastering it." Chakwas said. The first long-range flight and such, she did not particularly hide her feelings and emotions from the interlocutor.

"And... what should I do with him now?" The matriarch turned her head with an effort and looked at the screen separating her bed from the bed Saren was lying on.

"He's free, too, and now he won't have any complaints about you, Benezia. You're both mature, intelligent organics, so... Everyone, both you and him, will have to settle into this world as individuals free from external influence. It's... a long process."

"And..." the impatience, or maybe curiosity, in the Asari's voice continued to grow.

"In the meantime, you will be in the Medical Bay. Both. Then, when you get stronger, you can go back to wherever you want." Chakwas did not continue, realizing that Azari must decide for herself where she wants to live after such a "return."

"Frankly, I'm scared, Karin." The matriarch did not hide her fears and outright fear. "I've committed so many crimes... without meaning to. I'm afraid..."

"You did these things under external influence, Benezia." Chakwas replied to the interlocutor. "The strongest, inescapable external influence. You were in no way free in your actions, you had no other choice, no other opportunity. So that..."

"But they won't believe me." Benezia tried to start a story about who she was, but Chakwas stopped her with a short gesture and Asari fell silent, realizing that she should not continue to insist. Have you... found out almost everything about me?"

"We're intelligence, Benezia," Chakvas said. "And, if necessary, we have plenty of opportunities to learn a lot about every reasonable person. We are aware that you are a member of the core membership of the "Council of Asari Matriarchs," colloquially known as the Matriarchy, and we also know that you are one of the religious leaders of the race."

"And you know what I have..." the matriarch whispered timidly.

"you have an only daughter, who is currently over a hundred years old. Her name is Liara," Chakvas confirmed.

"I haven't talked to her for a long time. By your count, that's fifty years. Half of her life, Karin," the matriarch said softly. "I'm sorry, but I'm... surprised, amazed, and, frankly, delighted that I can talk to you so freely, calmly, and a lot. I understand that you operated on me, that I am lying on a medical hospital bed, that you have almost completely restored my body, but... I would like to learn more about the person who was able to give me back... myself." Embarrassed, the matriarch closed her eyes. "Will he be able to come to me soon?"

"He's very busy right now, Benezia." Chakwas replied. "We have a job to complete here. So far, the ship's command has not made many important decisions, and without them we will not be able to safely and quickly leave the planet." Chakwas stood up, turning one of the screens to Asari, who was lying on her back and switching his image from medical indicators to a neutral static screensaver. "I'll tell you about this man. I think he will not fail to come to you when you are sufficiently strong."

"My clothes. She was undoubtedly injured in the fall. And..."

"I won't hide it, Benezia," the doctor replied. "I had to cut your dress. I tried to cut at the seams, so that if necessary it can be restored. Your headdress..."

"Some kind of ritual and ceremonial decoration, Karin. I know he's... not familiar to people, but... I got used to him, and on the Reaper, when I wasn't me, I didn't really think much about my appearance. So now I understand that all this time I practically did not change into anything else and, accordingly, did not change my headdress. Was he hurt?" The matriarch asked.