| Предыдущая глава |
↓ Содержание ↓
↑ Свернуть ↑
| Следующая глава |
The terminal was not working. When we tried to turn it on, a soft female voice pleased us with the news:
"A critical launch error. The virtual intelligence interface is disabled. Manual loading is required."
"Why is it that when we need something, it either doesn't work, or we don't have access, or it needs to be repaired?" I grumbled, turning off the holographic interface.
Nihlus chuckled softly.
"This is fate."
"Very funny. You do realize that you'll have to run it manually, right?"
His partner nodded, keeping his eyes on the turn in the corridor.
The fighters entered the room, spread out and quickly checked the room. Drones screamed shrilly somewhere around the bend, and Rex cursed, taking down three green creatures hiding behind the access block to the VI in a couple of shots.
"A little dirty trick... Why is it so dark in here?"
Garrus waved the massive pistol vaguely, pointing somewhere at the ceiling.
Backup power system. The main reactor was apparently shut down when the alarm was sounded at the complex. I have a suspicion that we will have to go and turn it on." I grumbled. "Manually. Rex, what is it?"
"A locked door and a core."
"Tali, close this door and see what's wrong with the core."
The Quarian nodded and clacked her instruments. The indicator on the front door turned red, and we all fell into a fairly spacious room in the building: a circular hall covered with narrow black panels, in the center of which stood the core block and a small technical elevator platform.
While Tali was fixing VI's brain, we were frankly bored. I didn't feel any fever, it was quiet and cold in the complex. Only the beeping of the instrumentron and the barely audible cursing of the Quarian dispersed the deathly silence, and a lamp crackled somewhere near the ceiling.
"Ready!"
Tali went up to our level and turned on the VI. A pink hologram of a human woman appeared on the elevator platform, painfully reminiscent of Avina Citadel.
"Virtual intelligence is reactivated."
I stepped aside, gesturing for my colleague to chat with the computer. Nihlus grimaced, but stood in front of the pink hologram.
"Are you VI, the manager of the complex?" The Turian asked dryly.
"Right. The system responds to the name of *Mira*. Let me ask yours."
"The spectr of Nihlus Krayk."
"One moment, please." There was a brief pause as VI scanned the sentient in front of her and checked his credentials. "The powers of the Council's spectr have been confirmed. You are allowed special access to all systems. Please note that privileged access is required to access corporate secrets."
"Who has this access?" Nihlus asked calmly.
"Employees of the Bayneri Helix company who hold senior positions. As well as scientific staff of category *A* and *E*." VI kindly explained. "This system is ready to process requests. You can contact Mira through any of the Vertex-15's holographic interfaces."
"We need to find Matriarch Benezia. Where is it located?"
"Lady Benezia took the monorail to the auxiliary laboratory of the station *Cleft*." VI responded immediately.
The hologram blinked, and VI's voice said:
"To the attention of users! Currently, the monorail system is not in operation!"
"What is the situation in the complex?" Nihlus asked.
"One moment, please. Diagnostics are underway." a pause and an expressionless reply: "Critical failure: The main reactor is shut down due to emergency safety measures. A manual restart is required." Pause. "Critical failure: ground lines of communication are disconnected. The monorail has been discontinued. End of the message." VI's voice perked up. "Would you like to enter an additional query?"
"Why is the main reactor shut down?"
"Accidental contamination of the laboratory." The pink lady politely pleased us.
"Why does the main reactor shut down during an emergency contamination of the laboratory?" Nihlus patiently asked the question in an even, calm voice, although his fingers twitched nervously.
"It is assumed that biological pollutants will die or lose their activity due to a drop in temperature." VI said.
Nihlus took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, venting anger and irritation into his mind. Ashley snorted:
"Do we turn off the heating and wait for what escaped to freeze and die on its own?"
"Somewhere like that." Garrus shook his head.
"What needs to be done to restore the power supply?" Nihlus asked patiently.
"It is necessary to open the helium-3 supply valves. This can be done using the controls of the reactor itself."
"What are the landlines?"
"Ground lines connect the main Vershina-15 complex and my central block with auxiliary sub-complexes and risk laboratories. This provides employees with remote access to databases and my functionality without having to leave the lab. If an emergency occurs in the risk laboratories, the cables are automatically disconnected."
"How do I connect it back?"
"The router is located on the roof of the operating building. Turn it on and the system will reboot automatically."
"It's clear. What kind of creatures are these?"
"I'm sorry, Spectr. This information requires privileged access." Mira said sweetly.
Nihlus spat.
"End of the session."
VI politely said goodbye and hung up.
"Which was exactly what had to be proved. Turn everything on manually." I sighed. "Let's go to the roof first. It's supposed to be cold out there, and there shouldn't be any bugs. Theoretically. Tali, which way is the roof?"
Instead of answering, the console on the door behind us blinked and turned green.
On the way to the roof, we really didn't meet anyone, and the temperature dropped significantly. The router was located in a part of the roof protected from wind and snow, right at the base of the node subsystems, which looked like floor-to-ceiling cast metal cylinders extending into hexagonal sockets. There were no wires, boxes, unnecessary terminals, or anything else. There are only six groups of three subsystems, and there's a control terminal on the far wall.
On the frozen site, one stiffened corpse of a drone was found, climbing in a futile attempt to keep warm under a massive metal cylinder, and it just died there. Tali quickly rebooted the system, and the huge metal cylinders lit up with lights and hummed low. Mira appeared over the activated terminal and immediately reported:
"The connection has been restored. Processing new data. To the attention of users! Connection to laboratory services is not possible!"
Ignoring the pink lady with the good news, we drove back. Turn on the reactor. As far as I remember, there were Geth, and a lot of them! What will happen in reality... We'll find out now.
"Damn it..." Garrus shivered. "It's so cold in here..."
Nihlus nodded in agreement and pointed at the elevator activation plate. The doors closed, and the booth slid down.
"Hah! You've relaxed, Vakarian, in the warmth and comfort of the Citadel."
The sniper glanced sideways at the pleased Krogan and shivered.
"Turians don't like the cold, Rex."
"And people, too," Ashley added faintly, agreeing with Garrus completely for the first time.
The elevator stopped and let us out into a corridor of the same type. After checking the map, we drove to the reactor. Turn it on faster, get off this planet faster! Apparently, similar thoughts were wandering in the minds of my fighters, as we ran through the hall with the VI core, casually shooting the rachni soldier who fell out of the technical manhole at us. In the complex, the temperature confidently exceeded minus two and successfully dropped further.
The first sign of the Geth presence greeted us at the exit of the next elevator: static cut off the tactical locator in the armor, the connection was filled with a crackle. The fighters switched their weapons to armor-piercing bullets.
Ahead of us was a short straight corridor and the entrance to the control room of the reactor unit. According to the map, this is a huge sixty-meter room with four levels: a common control room on the third level and two technical rooms on the fourth. The second level is the technical ramps that give engineers access to the reactor units. The first is the base of the reactor array, and access to it is possible only through a special gateway system. However, our goal is the control room on the third level, from which you can access the platform to the manual control panel.
"Tali, lock all the doors in the reactor room." I said softly. "Ready?"
About fifteen seconds later, the Quarian nodded sharply.
"Block it."
The indicator flashed red.
"Is everything blocked?"
A short nod.
"Let us into the control room."
The door hissed open. In a small rectangular room, a geth-stormtrooper was waiting for us, who caught a single volley from a shotgun and two rifles.
"Clear."
Rex entered first, followed by the others. They didn't block the doors. You never know how the battle will go, the escape routes should be clear.
"Is there something?"
Garrus stared intently at the huge room through the sturdy armored glass. Tali connected to the terminal.
"I see the Geth." Garrus's vibrant voice sounded dry. Hunters. There's one on the wall opposite. Another one is just above the ramp. Stormtroopers on the left ramp. Trio."
"The juggernaut is on the right." added Nihlus. "The ghost. I'm not sure, he left quickly in disguise."
"If there is one hunter, then there is more. Knock out the ghost as soon as it appears. He is a priority target. Are there snipers?"
The fighters shrugged, and the Krogan spread his arms.
"Tali, open the right door."
The indicator blinked and the door obediently swung open. The Geth creaked. I poked my head out and barely had time to dive back in when the familiar red death ray flashed over my head.
"The ghost on the wall." Garrus dropped to one knee, raised his rifle, peered through the scope and swung sharply to the right, peering out from behind the door and immediately fired. Rex yanked it back. Bullets and a red ray hit the wall.
"Three ghosts, four hunters." Garrus reported calmly, fiddling with something in the scope. "The juggernaut is coming."
Standing up, the Turian abruptly surfaced and fired two shots with a doublet and immediately dived back into the room. A moment later, a bright scarlet ray pierced the place where his head had been.
"Two ghosts and four hunters." The sniper stated dispassionately, changing the type of bullet.
Damn it! My hands were shaking. Shields won't absorb the ghost's shot, some of it will pass anyway. Garrus is without a helmet. One hit and...
The footsteps of the running juggernaut sounded. We raised our weapons. A moment of waiting, and then the synthetic appeared in the doorway to catch the combined volley of a shotgun and five rifles. The shields were blown away instantly, and the geth only managed to creak something before falling to the floor.
"Tali, open the left door."
The indicator has changed color. I raised my rifle. The doors slid up and down, revealing the Geth milling around the door. Touching the trigger plate, the rifle jerked, spitting out a short burst. A singularity flew past me, making my hair stand on end. The stormtroopers were lifted into the air. A moment of pause, a queue. A shotgun rumbled nearby, rifles rattled. The singularity worked out, the Geth fell to the floor. The roar of a shotgun, the last functioning Geth collapsed backwards and did not get up. A harpoon boomed loudly behind him. The whistling of the beam, Garrus's muffled cursing.
"One ghost, four hunters." a short report.
I leaned against the wall and peered around the doorjamb. Quiet? A sudden movement somewhere to the right. The hunter! A short burst of fire slashed at the nimble creature, knocking it off the ceiling, and *Krayz* Nihlusa chattered nearby. The hunter fell silent.
"Minus the hunter." I said.
"A ghost jumped towards you." Garrus's vibrant voice sounded strangely muffled.
As if to confirm his words, a scarlet ray flashed over my head. That's a well-aimed brute! A black shadow darted somewhere to the right.
"He jumped back."
Two shots from the harpoon boomed loudly.
"Minus the hunter."
I moved away from the left door, letting Nihlus and Kayden pass. Rex stood next to Garrus and somehow looked hard at the Turian changing the thermal clip in the rifle. A viscous blue drop fell onto the metal floor, sliding from the right elbow of the kneeling Turian.
"Garrus, are you hurt?"
"He grazed my shoulder." he replied indifferently, raising his weapon.
"Treat the wound." I took the Harpoon out of his hands, cutting off his attempt to argue with a gesture.
Garrus blinked, nodded slowly, and took a step back. I leaned into the scope, quickly peeked over the edge. Ghost... Where are you? The red flash is slightly to the right and higher. I raise the rifle sharply and shoot at the movement and immediately fall down, adjust the scope, shoot. A deadly ray flies over his head, and the ghost leaps away with one ragged leap. The quiet hiss of reloading, catching a vague black shadow flashing red, shot, shot. The ghost falls down somewhere, and I barely manage to stagger back. The beam passes close to the head, incinerating the hair.
"Minus the ghost."
There was silence in response. I turn around and meet the heavy gaze of bright blue eyes. There is a frightening silence in emotions. Rex is standing next to the tense Turian, staring at me just as intently. What are they doing? Without getting up, I silently hand the rifle to Garrus. He picks it up, folds it and puts it in the clips.
"Never! So! Don't! Do it!" Garrus growled clearly, typing out every word.
A short queue, a high-pitched squeal from geth, and the long-awaited:
"Clear!"
The interference disappeared, and the armor's locator started working. Ashley and Kayden slipped out onto the ramp and ran to check the area. Liara followed them a little late. A minute and Ashley's voice:
"Clear."
Nihlus came up, jerked me to my feet, shamelessly grabbed my chin with his fingers and turned my head slightly to one side, examining the slight ray burn on my temple and singed hair.
Kayden and Ashley returned to the control room. They saw our silent composition. Surprise flooded my mind generously, clogging up even the seething emotions of the Turians, which I didn't even try to sort out and analyze.
"Something happened?" The man asked cautiously, looking suspiciously at the evil Nihlus.
Instead of answering, the Spectr just moved away a little, showing biotic my singed face. And he pressed it dryly.
| Предыдущая глава |
↓ Содержание ↓
↑ Свернуть ↑
| Следующая глава |
