HPDBC [Book Three] Chapter 12: New body, new experiences
[Book Three] Chapter 12: New body, new experiences
[Book Three] Chapter 12: New body, new experiencesChapter 12: New body, new experiences
They finally landed on Noveria, a planet they didn’t have fond memories of between the geths and the rachnis. It took the crew less time than their last visit to reach the lab containing EDI’s organic body as there was no blizzard to force them to go through a tedious mako ride. To the delight of Liara, Garrus and Ashley. When James asked why they were so giddy, Jane got burned by their remarks on her driving skills.
At the lab EDI opened secured door after secured door until the group reached the one room they needed to go. Things didn’t go well when one of the scientists present that worked on her body didn’t want to give it to them. Apparently he wanted to continue experimentation on it, already having downloaded a VI in it without the AI’s approval. One shot in the head later, courtesy of the synthetic woman, and there was no more problem. That resulted in the other scientist running away from the room.
“Was that necessary?” Jane asked.
“I disliked him and his actions.” replied EDI.
“You can’t go and kill every person you don’t like.”
“He experimented on me against my will, thought of me as his property and even put a VI in me. Commander, what would you do to a person who violated your own body?”
Her argument shut Jane up as her answer would have been the same. A few years ago before becoming a spectre, before Saren and Eden Prime she would have just arrested the man but now she thought differently. Besides, they didn’t have the time to arrest the man and put him on trial, not with the war going on.
Walking towards the tank, EDI looked in silence at her design. Liking what she saw, she looked at the latest test results and was satisfied by what she read. Connecting herself to her organic body, she deleted the VI and made the transfer of her own self to it. When it was complete the body opened its eyes and looked at his synthetic counterpart.
“That’s peculiar.” The AI voice aloud.
“What is?” Jane asked.
“On the ship I see through sensors and cameras but here, I see myself through my own two eyes.”
“Wait, you’re both here and in her?”
“Too much food. We’ll have to determine the average amount your body needs. Can’t have you getting fat, you already have enough curves as it is.” he joked.
“I think I’m thirsty now, I have this itch in the back of my throat.”
“Yeah, definitely thirst.” he commented as he went to his bathroom with a glass of water. “It’s the salt in the bacon. That makes me think, are you aware of your bodily needs?”
“Which one?”
“Going to the bathroom.”
“Yes, that’s actually something I studied. I think I would be able to recognize the symptoms.”
“If you’re in doubt...”
“I will not hesitate to ask you.”
“Or someone else. Especially the women.”
“You’re referring to menstruations.”stated EDI.
“Yes. Can’t help you much with that. Ashley or Gingerbread would, that is if you’re capable of having them.”
“I can, I designed the body to be 100% functional, I just added on it.”
“You want babies?”
“No. Or at least, I do not at the moment but I gave myself the ability to do so if one day I change my mind.”
“You know, the purpose of organics is not to transmit genes if that’s why you were thinking.”
“Is it not?”
“No. There is no purpose to organic life, and in some manner neither to synthetic life. We’re just insignificant specks of dust in the universe. What does it matter to it that we have children or that we complete the task we’ve been built for? But just because there is none doesn’t mean we can’t find one. Look at Bubble, she can’t have children and spread her genes so instead chose to dedicate her life to her sister’s protection and well being. In the grand scheme of things it still doesn’t matter but to her and to her sister it’s everything. For some their purpose is to take care of others, others to have fun, others it’s to do their duty. Your purpose is whatever you want it to be, EDI, doesn’t really matter if you’re organic or synthetic as long as you have free will to choose.”
“That’s a very nihilistic point of view but at the same time it puts forward freedom.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” he said, chuckling. “Plenty of philosophers talked and wrote about such things. Came to different conclusions. There is no correct answer but the one you’re comfortable with.”
“I will check this.”
“Later, now it’s movie time. What are we watching by the way?”
“Fear city: A family-style comedy”
“A comedy for once, nice.”
____________________________________________________________
The morning after movie night Rick woke up feeling hot and constricted. He knew that feeling but he wondered why he felt someone hugging him and why they were two. Opening his eyes he looked right and left to see Jane and EDI respectively.
How did that come to be?
He understood why EDI was there. The both of them must have fallen asleep or she stayed after he did. It’s not like there was any room unoccupied left. Some students were in the Life support room and the ones who didn’t have any space were in the starboard observation area using the couches with Jennifer and Kahlee. That only left her with Liara’s room which she wasn’t familiar with much, Jane’s cabin which wouldn’t do as it was her commander/ captain private area and Rick’s quarters which had a nice big bed.
She was already here anyway.
Looking at the time on his omni-tool, he tried to get himself out of the two ladies’ grip as training would begin soon. Easier said than done as Jane was hugging his arm as her life depended on it and EDI’s while not as thigh just refused to budge. Getting really tired quickly of being entrapped and with his personal space invaded he called out the AI.
“EDI, I need to get up.”
“I’m sorry, it seems that I have no control over my body when I’m asleep.”
“Wonderful. Well... I suppose there is only one way. Please sound the trumpet.”
“It’s drastic. I don’t know how I will react.”
“At best you wake up in a jump, at worst you rip my arm out. I’m fine with that.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, please.”
The AI did as asked and blared the familiar sound of the military morning call into the room. The effect was instantaneous as Jane immediately raised herself from the bed while EDI... just opened her eyes with a frown and cut the sound.
“Really?” Rick asked his synthetic friend in a flat tone.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t like the sound when I woke up so I stopped it.” she began through the speaker before her organic body took over.
“I just want to close my eyes and go back to sleep.”
“Then do so but release me before .” he instructed then turned to his sister. “Why are you here?”
“Well I’m your sitter during the night remember?”
“I don’t...”
“That’s not for you to decide if you need one or not. Anyway, as it was time to pick you up, I found you already asleep with EDI.”
“And?” he asked as she didn’t add anything else.
“And that’s it, I just joined the both of you instead of waking you up and dragging you to my cabin.”
“And you’re wearing another one of my shirts because...”
“I wasn’t going up to take mine then go down. It was that or sleeping naked.”
He’s been awake less than five minutes and he was already done with his day.
“I swear, once we’re on the citadel, I’m bailing out.” he muttered.
“Keep dreaming. I’ll put a tracker somewhere under your skin.” the redhead replied in an amused manner but something told him she wasn’t joking at all.
“If you don't mind, I would like to go back to sleep.” said the third member on the bed.
“I’m sorry but I’m really tired.”
“Never thought I would hear you say that.” Jane said as she got up and went to Rick’s shower.
“Why are you using my shower?!”
“It’s the closest!” the redhead answered as she reached her destination.
Rick sighed in both frustration and defeat. Getting out of bed himself as Edi didn’t hug his arms anymore he simply went out of the room towards the Cargo Bay, deciding that a shower and a change of clothes would come when it was time for breakfast. The elevator stopped at the Crew Deck where Jennifer and some of her students got on.
“You know it amazes me that you’re up this early. I remember the times where you were ready to murder someone if you woke before 10.” he joked.
“I’m still ready to murder you if you don’t shut up.” she grumbled.
“Up early but still not a morning person, I can respect that.”
“Do you always wake up for training at five or is it just for us, sir?” asked one of the students.
“As if I would wake at five for grasshoppers.” he replied in an amused tone. “It depends, I’m a night owl and sleep five to six hours on average. If I go to bed early I’m up earlier. If I go to bed late I’m up later, though my biological clock doesn’t let me sleep past nine.”
“Five to six hours? Are you a machine?”
“Sometimes I wonder. I wish I was, I wouldn’t be so tired sometimes with my brain always thinking and over thinking.” he confessed.
“What are you thinking of?” asked another student this time.
“Ideas, new inventions and... Well, you’ll find out once you’ve been in the field for some time.”
The elevator finally stopped at their destination and Rick quickly began to scan the students presents as the others and Jane arrived.
“Before you start we’ll see how far you’ve come power wise. Go get the weights and we’ll see how much you can lift.”
The students did as tasked and Rick recorded the results of each. He was impressed once again. Both by them and Jennifer as she had laid out a curriculum that gave them some really solid foundations, better than he thought at first. Their progress ranged from 5% to 13% in the increase of their power. They exceeded his expectations a bit.
“Alright. From your first results five days ago. I estimated that you’ll have a 2% increase in power at worst and a 8% at best... I’m pleased to say that clearly you didn’t slack off.”
“As if we would!”
“What’s our results then?”
“The lowest increase is 5%, highest is 13%. Congratulations, you exceeded my expectations.”
His declaration was met with cheers from the students, as some high five each other while some just jumped in joy. Jenneifer had a small smile on her face, barely concealing her own happiness at their progress.
“Now don’t get a big head, training is never really over.”
“Who reached 13 ?” asked one of the students
“Doesn’t really matter, it’s a percentage.”
“Come on! We want to know!”
“Fine, fine. Rodriguez did.”
“Me?!” she exclaimed in shock.
“Yes. Though not to rain on your parade, your progress was so big because your nodules were the smallest. As you couldn’t draw more power you unconsciously focused more on control which made it easier for you to circulate your biotic and grow your nodules faster. For example, Presley, who had the biggest nodules out of all of you had the smallest gain, but 5% of his is more than 5% most of any of you. So take your progress as a good thing but don’t go deluding yourself with those numbers, alright?”
“““Yes, sir!”””
“Good, now go observe gingerbread over there and get your reward.”
“Sir?” the one named Seanne asked not understanding.
“What she’s trying to do is what I promised you.”
They looked at Jane to see her sitting in the lotus position having a small barrier around her. It seemed like she did nothing.
“Is it only me that doesn’t get it?” Rodriguez said.
“No.” replied Jennifer. “What are we supposed to see?”
“Well if Gingey was succeeding better, you’ll see this.” He said as he cast his own barrier surrounding the entire group.
“You just made it bigger, sir.” Seanne’s brother, Micheal said.
“No... Something is... HOLY SHIT!” Presley exclaimed as he looked closely at the barrier. “HOW?!”
His classmates were confused as he kept on looking at the barrier, his nose almost touching it. Not seeing anything, they thought that what he found could only be seen at close range.
“Sir, how did you... I never heard of someone being able to do that.”
“Well, duh, I’m the one who created that method.”
Jennifer let her curiosity take over and joined the rest of her students looking at the barrier. With her experience in creating one she immediately saw what Presley saw too.
“You’re making it spin?!” she shouted in surprise as the student finally caught on and had their jaw dropped.
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“The same way you do it inside your body. It’s both simpler and harder. Simpler because it’s just one direction continuously. Harder because there are no nodules to help you pave the way and it’s outside your own body.”
“Okay, it’s super hard to do but how does it help us with costing less stamina?” Rodriguez asked.
“Does anyone know the answer?”
The one named Octavia, one of David’s friends, raised her hand and at Rick’s nod began to explain. A demonstration later and the students were convinced of how useful that skill was.
____________________________________________________________
This was their last day of travel before reaching the Citadel. One would think that the Mass Relay would allow instantaneous travel to another but that wasn’t quite true. It took time to reach the exit point of the corridor the Relays created, depending on the distance merely a few hours or a few days. Three weeks at the minimum to reach one side of the galaxy to the other. The only exception to that is the prothean Relay on Ilos which was nearly instantaneous. Rick had wondered why the difference for years but now that the Reapers were here, he theorized that it was to limit the speed at which the species they were set to harvest could flee.
But that topic wasn’t here and there. No, currently the topic of conversation at the table, between six women and a turian, was why the probably most insane member of the crew was cooking topless. The oldest of them all, not counting Liara, wondered how her new found little brother got all the scars he was sporting. There weren’t a hundred of them but still a good dozen which didn’t sit well with her. The times they had spent talking the last few days revolved around her and their father, mostly. Once in a blue moon he spoke about doing something trivial, like a job he did when he was a teen or simply his mundane life on Eden Prime. Any real personal subjects were avoided. It was quite frustrating for her as she wanted to get to know him.
“How did he get those scars?” she asked no one in particular.
“The one on his side was from Cerberus back on Mars.” Ashley started.
“The one on his upper back was from fighting Saren. The rest I guess he got them during his bounty hunter years.” explained Jane further.
“He was a bounty hunter?!”
“Not an official one but yes. Didn’t he tell you about it?” the redhead asked, confused.
“He seldom speaks of himself.” Kahlee answered with a sigh.
“Really? None of you are wondering why he’s topless?” questioned Garrus.
“Shhh. Let me ogle in peace.” Jennifer said, her head resting on her hand.
“That's because he has no more shirts to wear. He complained that someone or someones kept on stealing them. Of the four he had left I took one to cover myself, Shepard stole one and the remaining two were dirty.” announced EDI.
“Why doesn’t he wear his coat instead of you, then?”
“Because of my height his shirt barely covers everything, so he lent me his coat.” the AI replied as indeed, she was wearing his long leather coat, buttoned as much as she could to not expose herself too much.
When Rick came back and served everyone, he didn’t sit at the table and instead tried to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jane asked.
“Raid Ashley, Liara and your quarters to get my belongings back while you’re all busy eating.”
“““No.””” the three women replied in unison.
“I’m buying a lock on my closet once we’re on the Citadel.” he replied flatly and left. Or tried to.
“You’re not getting away. Now sit down and eat.” the redhead said.
“It’s bad manners to eat half naked at a table.”
As he reached the elevator a hurrying Liara entered it before it closed.
“My turn to babysit you.” she said with a knowing smile.
“First off, you’re the baby. Second, I’m getting really tired of this shit.”
“After what you did, can you blame any of us?” she accused.
“Yes. It’s over. Done. But you, emotional people, insist on reminding me every day.”
“That’s not why...”
“That’s the effect it has. I feel caged, trapped which, since I’m claustrophobic, is dangerous. I feel like I’m in a tiny space and my instinct is yelling at me to get out by any means necessary. Keep rubbing my mistake, my moment of weakness into my face and someone will probably get hurt at some point and we both know who that someone is.”
“It will be difficult to change her mind, she’s as stubborn as you are and in her right to be worried.” she said looking down at the floor.
“She asked me to give her a chance, you know?” he said as he exited the elevator and walked towards his quarters.
“I do, she was ecstatic.”
“Well, so far I’m regretting it.”
“You do?” she asked, a bit surprised. From how Jane had said everything was going in the right direction between the two of them.
“She’s asking for a chance but is not giving me one.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“Why should I?”
“Because your relationship will fail and never recover?”
“She’s the one who wants to fix our relationship. It’s up to her to do the work. What would be the point if I do all the work for her? How would it fix anything?
“You’re saying that like you don’t want to get along better.”
“I don’t.” he said to her utter shock. “I don’t know what I want. Well that’s not entirely true. Right now I want my little Asari to writhe under me.” He said as he suddenly picked up Liara, threw her on his bed and joined her, the asari letting out a little yelp.
Nobody saw any of them for the rest of the day.