Rebirth The Mass Effect is old. part 19

"The ghost ray."

"Almost doesn't count." I chuckled, carefully unclenching his armored fingers. "Garrus, how bad is the wound?"

"The beam pierced through his shoulder." he replied, slowly calming down. "I smeared it with panacelin."

Panacelin in the form of an ointment was much more concentrated than in the form of an injection, but it acted only at the site of application. I took out the injector and handed it to our only sniper. Garrus squinted at my kind face and didn't dare to argue, but just used it for its intended purpose.

"Tali, start the reactor. Ashley, Rex, cover her. You never know what..."

The Quarian ran across the bridge to the massive column of the reactor unit, Ashley and Rex followed. Liara looked at me strangely, looking from me to Garrus and back again. There is a belated fear in emotions. Is he afraid for us? It's so late.

Nearby, armor clips clicked softly, metal rustled and creaked, and something wet touched his temple. I turned my gaze to Nihlus, surprised to see him silently smearing my burn with panacelin under Garrus' gaze.

"It's just a slight burn." In response, there is a heavy gaze of green eyes and a complete disregard for my words, which, coupled with a suspicious silence in my mind, is somewhat... scarecrow. Nihlus finished smearing the clear ointment, swirled the jar, rubbed the remnants over his palm and pulled on an armored glove.

* And what does that mean?* I sent a question, looking into the green eyes.

* Back to the ship, I'll tell you.* an immediate and promising response came. * I guess Garrus will add if I forget about something.*

Uh... I have some vague doubts... I didn't pry into his mind, but the Turian turned away, breaking eye contact and walked over to the VI terminal.

The reactor hummed sharply, the lamps glowed brighter, and the previously inactive equipment started working. Nihlus touched the terminal, bringing up a pink hologram of VI. I wonder who was senile enough to make a PINK woman as an avatar of virtual intelligence?

This electronic beast of the World, having confirmed the launch of the reactor, informed us in the same sweet voice:

"There is an infection in the monorail cars." Holy shit! Can we just get to this fucking Crevasse without taking on all the problems of this complex?

"What does it mean * there is an infection*?" Nihlus asked dryly, squinting at my kind face.

"Dangerous biological substances have entered the monorail cleaning chamber." Mira explained willingly. "For the safety of the staff, the station has been blocked."

Nihlus silently closed his eyes, inhaled slowly, and exhaled just as slowly with a low growl.

"Unlock the cleaning chamber." The Turian ordered.

"To the attention of users! There is contamination in the cleaning chamber. Entry to the camera is not recommended."

Garrus shook his head, glaring at the pink hologram with distaste.

"How to get rid of pollution?"

"The camera is equipped with an emergency system that supplies plasma at a temperature of 5,000 degrees Kelvin. It is able to eliminate any possible contamination." VI explained, and relief flashed through Nihlus' emotions.

"How do I activate the system?"

"The control of the emergency system is located at the security post next to the cleaning chamber." Mira explained. Pause, blink of the hologram, and... "To the attention of users! The emergency system is out of order."

I heard Nihlus gritting his teeth. Garrus gave a muffled, rumbling laugh. Rex shook his head.

"Like. Her. Fix it?" The slowly beastly Turian asked clearly.

"There was a hardware failure in the system management." Mira replied, and Nihlus flared up with anger. "Repairs are possible on site using standard omny-tool tools."

"At least something good." The Krogan growled.

"We don't have time!" Nihlus growled. "Lift the ban and open the doors!"

"Acknowledged, Spectr. Protection is disabled. Your safety does not fall under my jurisdiction."

"The session is over!"

Mira obediently went out. Nihlus rubbed his comb, slowly calming down.

"This is not an emergency security system, but a system of *get a minor repair team*! Specter grumbled."

"Sometimes it seems to me that VI won't let us on the monorail until we fix this fucking complex and do a general cleaning." I added. "Tali, look at the map where this cleaning chamber is."

"The entrance is opposite through the technical room of the VI core." the Quarian replied after a short delay.

"We're going back."

On the way back, a Rahni soldier fell out of the ventilation on us, but was knocked into the wall with a generous kick from Rex and shot with a shotgun. Judging by the simmering discontent, the Krogan still hadn't let off steam. It's not enough for him, damn it! Nihlus walked to my right, glancing with displeasure at my singed face. Garrus walked between Ashley and Kayden, wincing painfully from the bullet holes in his shoulder, which was hastily regenerating under the influence of panacelin. Bad. Garrus is the only sniper in the squad. I'm not up to his level, and I never will be. Nihlus has never been a sniper. Rex... Rex is a Stormtrooper, and that says it all. Ashley is with sniper rifles on *you*, preferring a shotgun and an assault rifle. Liara and Kayden are biotics. Tali is only good with a pistol and explosives.

"Here?" Nihlus pointed the muzzle at the door.

Tali nodded.

A short straight corridor led us to another elevator, which took us down a level. Another short corridor of the same type led to the desired cleaning chamber and checkpoint. Where we found two corpses of Salarians and a crowd of Rachni behind glass.

"Tali, turn on the cleaning."

The beep of an instrumentron, the girl's finger touched a pair of buttons, and a fiery hell opened up behind the glass, blinding us for a moment. The bugs burned up instantly.

"Cool..." Kayden glanced suspiciously at the terminal. "Maybe it's worth disabling this cleaning. Somehow..."

"Don't you want to share Rachni's fate?" I smiled knowingly. "It's a sound idea. Tali, block those flamethrowers out of harm's way. And then, who knows how they can be shortened."

Tali's fingers fluttered over the keyboard.

"Ready!"

"Are the doors unlocked?"

"Yes."

Despite the confidence in the Quarian's voice, we passed through this red-hot vestibule with caution and VERY quickly! It's a creepy feeling... Like in a crematorium... from inside the furnace. We greeted the icy, frozen corridor with a collective sigh of relief and stomped to the monorail platform. VI didn't bother us anymore, and thank all the gods! We've had enough of minor repairs in combat conditions!

A pot-bellied monorail trailer was waiting for us on the platform, which was slowly being swept away by snow, silence and no problems. Of all the control levers in the car, there was only one small terminal with one single function: to run a pre-programmed program and send the trailer along a single route. The fighters settled comfortably on the wide benches, and Nihlus started the train. The lock on the door turned red, the monorail moved smoothly and raced through the blizzard to the final station, the risk laboratory *Cleft*.