Rebirth The Mass Effect is old

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.

"I want to warn you in advance so that there won't be any misunderstandings later. Sometimes I will have to dive into your consciousness VERY deeply, to analyze the memory and structure of the formation of requests and responses. I hope you realize that there will be no secrets from me?

The Asari nodded slowly.

"I won't disturb your memories unnecessarily. But a certain frankness is the downside of being a mentalist."

"What have you already done?" Benezia demanded, apparently not having already waited for the usual detached state of mental zombification.

"I blocked the mental feeler drill and direct coercion. You're able to think straight, but any attempt to go against the bookmarks you've already installed will trigger them. Lady Benezia, I'm going to have to put you to sleep until these bookmarks are removed."

"This is appropriate." the Asari nodded slowly, looking at me with an incomprehensible thoughtfulness. "You can guarantee what you can do... What was promised?" A vivid image of Saren rushing around the laboratory, furiously smashing everything that came to hand, appeared on the surface of consciousness.

"If the core of the personality is intact, yes. If it is damaged... There's no guarantee, but there are chances. But if the core was destroyed... This is where the work is already on the verge of the impossible."

"When can you find out for sure?"

"After the first scan."

"I agree."

"Fine. Now, could you send Saren a report indicating that the work on removing the coordinates of the mu repeater has not yet been completed, but is close to success?"

"How much time do you need?" Benezia asked calmly.

"As long as it takes to get to Vermaer."

Agreement and determination came from the Asari. Apparently, Saren is not just an acquaintance, but also a friend. There was no hint of sexual interest in Benezia's emotional response, rather, some kind of strange attachment, completely devoid of romantic feelings. It was as if this Lady perceived Saren as... As a friend? No, that's not quite it. There is a strong connotation of patronage and guardianship. Okay, not now. Then I'll figure out who Benezia thinks this scumbag is.

While the matriarch was correcting and sending the report, her marines pulled up. The girls really didn't show any aggression, but they looked at us very cautiously, squinting at their sweetly sleeping colleagues. And I did something that people like me, to put it mildly, don't like.: I've put subtle mental bookmarks on Kayden and Ashley. Now they won'T be able to tell me exactly HOW I got the information from the matriarch. Just at the right moment... They won't remember. Who doesn't? It slipped out of my head, although there it is, the memory is there, no one deleted anything, but for some reason it did not come up in the conversation at the right moment. Tiny changes that do not harm the mind or personality in any way, but ensure that these two do not blurt out things that should not be said. There is no need for the Alliance leadership to know that Commander Shepard is a mentalist and can... influence the mind. If the bookmarks don't come in handy, I'll take them down. If they work...

One of the sleeping Asari marines suddenly stirred, awkwardly trying to get up. The people were alarmed.

"Put down your weapon!" I shouted.

"What's wrong with her?" Garrus wasn't in a hurry to put the gun away, but he pulled it aside a little.

"External control. Consciousness is asleep."

"Who controls it?" Benezia stared intently at the clumsily shuffling figure.

"Queen Rachni." I was watching the peculiar avatar with interest. "It's not fatal or even particularly harmful. I will correct the results of the intervention."

Benezia nodded slowly and motioned for the marines to put away their weapons.

Meanwhile, the avatar walked to the edge of the platform, leaned her back against the durable transparent material and, without opening her eyes, said in a flat, emotionless voice:

"She will be our voice. We cannot sing in your low worlds. Your music is colorless."

The intelligent ones exchanged glances, watching the avatar intently. I got up and came closer, peering with interest into an extremely curious mental channel. A very interesting structure: connecting to the body bypassing the mind and consciousness. Impulses and images are fed directly to the brain, and the body itself, relying on the subconscious, reflexes and long-term memory, performs what is required. Interestingly, such a connection does not really harm the body itself. Unless the owner gets a severe migraine for a couple of days, when the subordination is lifted, and maybe some information will settle in memory.

"I'm listening to you." looking at the elongated faces of Asari and some of my fighters, I asked a stupid question: "Who are you?"

"We are the mother. We sing to those who are left behind. The children you thought were silenced." Pause. "We are Rachni."

"Queen." I went up to the thick "glass", intently examining the curious creature. "There was no need to use Asari. I can hear the song of your thought. But... So be it. Others want to hear from you too." I felt an attempt at mental touch and responded to it, allowing the Rachni queen to tune into my mind. "What do you want to tell us?"

The answer came through Azari:

"The children we had were taken away before they could sing or hear our music. They are lost in silence. They cannot be saved. Stop their suffering. As they are, they can only be harmful."

"Who took them?"

"People of needles. They stole our eggs. They wanted to turn our children into war animals. Into the mandibles, devoid of their own songs!"

That's how it is... In principle, I thought something like this, but for the rest of the queen's revelations were a surprise.

"Could she be lying?" Garrus asked an interesting question, examining the massive purple creature in a sealed flask with some unhealthy interest.

"No. Rachni communicate mentally. With this kind of speech, lying is impossible in principle. They just don't know such a thing. For them, lying is unnatural and beyond comprehension."

The Turians exchanged glances and stared at the queen with exactly the same expression! Okay, Nihlus knows what my plans are for this creature, but why is Garrus looking at a nervous queen like a kobold at an ancient treasure? Meanwhile, the queen continued to express her thoughts in an attempt to convey to others the things that were obvious to her:

"Our elders feel good in silence. But children only know fear if no one sings to them. Fear overwhelmed their minds."

"In other words, do young Rachni who sit in silence and solitude lose their minds?" Kayden asked skeptically.

"A child who grew up in silence and complete solitude cannot be normal." Liara shrugged her shoulders. "I can understand that."

"Your "lost" children... They'll put you out of your misery." I said, not going against the truth at all: rachni would be killed one way or another. "Question... in the other one. What's to be done with you, Queen?"

"Your song will decide. Will you let us go? Or should we calm down again? You have the power to free us or return us to the silence of memory."

Oh yeah... That's it! Queen Rachni agrees to cooperate. She REALLY wants to live, but she is well aware of her situation. And now... a couple of interesting questions:

"If we give you a chance to continue singing... Will you attack our peoples?"

"No!" The queen replied instantly. "We... I do not know what happened during the war! All we heard was dissonance, a song the color of oily shadows!"

"In other words, did someone influence you? Suppressed your song with his own? Muddled your mind?"

"There is a memory of dissonance in the song of your mind."

I dug out the mental imprint of the Reaper and pushed it to the queen.

"Is it?"

"Yes! This color is weak. An echo."

"Rather, it's a mental imprint." I glanced with interest at Benezia, who was listening attentively to our interesting conversation. "I know who it belongs to. Those who sing in this color come back to interrupt the music of our peoples. The way it was once in the past. You must remember when the songs of our predecessors ended."

"We remember." the queen confirmed.

Of course she doesn't remember! The Reapers used Rachni to the fullest, knocking out the Protheans. It couldn't help but settle in the genetic memory!

"Are you talking about the protheans?" Benezia asked.

"About them, the relatives. Rachni existed back in those days. The Protheans contributed to their development, and the Reapers then used the biological weapons so kindly provided, subjugating the queens' minds."

"Are you sure?"

"The Protean information buoy has clearly shown this." I snapped.

"But why did they attack US?"

It's a legitimate question, Liara. But do you want to hear the answer?

"Who says the Reapers haven't been watching over us all this time? Or is there little left of them, like the Ark Monoliths, capable of subjugating the mind and partially transforming into huskies?"

Benezia flinched as if she had been hit. Oh, does the Lady know about Desolas' fate? However, why shouldn't she know? She's been alive for hundreds of years, and the orbital bombing of the Temple on Palaven is not an event that you can not know about. Moreover, if she had been in contact with Saren for quite a long time, he could have told her about his brother.

"If we give you the opportunity to live..." Nihlus approached, peering intently at the huge creature. Are you ready to become a part of our civilization? To fight with us against those who... Does she sing the color of oily shadows? You will be ready... sing so that the music of others won't stop?"

"We are ready to sing for you. If you find us... a place where we can teach our children harmony."

"We'll give you a chance..." Nihlus stammered, choosing his words, "Compose new music of your race."

"We will remember." Pause. "What should we do now?"

And here we are... They were puzzled. I still haven't figured out how to get Queen Rachni off the planet. Although....

"The matriarch of Benezia?"

The lovely Asari raised her head and smiled knowingly. We will resolve this issue. The issue has really been resolved. All the fuss around Queen rachni in no way affected the mental bookmarks in the mind of the matriarch, and therefore the Lady approached this problem with frightening excitement. Whether the removal of the state of mental zombification affected her so much, or the promise to clear her mind and save her friend, or something else, I don't know, and I don't particularly want to find out where this state of euphoria originated from. In general, the solution turned out to be as simple as the corner of a barn.: The queen was tamped into a suitable-sized container and pulled out of the laboratory with the help of biotics.

You should have seen the expression on Captain Ventralis' face! The way he looked at the Asari marines, who were pumping biotics into a huge box under the strict guidance of the evil Nihlus and the patronizing gaze of the matriarch... It's just a song! Especially when you consider that the box creaked through the door and was almost right next to it, which caused the pretty young ladies to swear in SUCH words that Liara blushed and turned pale, and the omny-tool tactfully remained silent. The fucked-up guy watched our procession with a deeply amazed look, but somehow did not dare to be outraged. He didn't make a sound at all. I just choked on the air when I saw our faces and the mess we were making.

How we shoved the box into the carriage is a separate song! As a result, the monorail broke up with a piece of wall, and we lost a lot of nerves. The queen generally shrank into a ball and hid, afraid to make another move, but a powerful wave of apprehension and hope prevented me from concentrating. Nihlus, on the other hand, examined the worn and scratched box with the gaze of a dragon who saw an ancient artifact.

But we did it! We dragged the box with the rachni queen to the garage of the main complex of Vershka-15! While the Asari paratroopers were resting, Lady Benezia and Nihlus took out the brains of the panicked Anoleis, but they obtained permission for "Normandy" to leave the port and fly to the laboratory complex, citing the inability to drive along an avalanche-strewn and collapsed road. Twenty minutes later, "Normandy" landed safely in front of the gates of the Vershina-15 garage, the box with the queen was on board, the happy cattle-bataler walked through the warehouses with a flock of locusts, sometimes leaving only bare walls with the feasible help of our biotics. And we have finally left this deeply boring complex...

Chapter 22: Profile Work

A heavy hand landed on my shoulder, interrupting my heavy thoughts and bringing me back to the real world. I tore my gaze away from the sleeping Benezia and squinted at a wide palm with long, strong fingers ending in massive claws.