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ATTENTION: THREAT TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE PLATFORM

ATTENTION: ATTEMPTED UNAUTHORISED INTRUSION INTO THE PLATFORM

ATTENTION: ATTEMPTED UNAUTHORISED INTRUSION INTO THE NEURAL NETWORK

That's exactly what I saw right in front of me. I didn't understand much of what was going on, but I knew one thing - it wasn't good. I did not understand why, but I was definitely, absolutely certain that I was in danger. Immediately, however, I noticed another oddity. I couldn't feel anything. There was no pain, not even a sense that I was lying on something. When you lie on a bed, you feel a pillow, a blanket, a mattress... But there was nothing here. I can't even tell what position I'm in. Lying, standing, flying? I don't understand. I couldn't hear or see anything either. There was only darkness in front of my eyes and in the background there were letters telling me of danger. But there was a "BUT", both capital letters. The language was not Russian! I mean, I didn't know what the language was, but I understood it. I understood what it said. But what was the name of the language? That's something I didn't know. Yeah, well... not knowing what the language was, but understanding it as a native great and powerful... Okay, calm down, maybe it's just a dream. No, it's not a dream. Something makes me know it's not a dream. That's all I know! Okay, I have to pull myself together and try to...

- Daro`Zen! Can you explain to me what is going on here? - at first there was a sound that sounded like a hiss, and then a male voice was heard, but it was distorted, as if through a voice filter.

- What did it sound like, Zaal'Khoris? - There was definitely a female voice in reply, but it too was distorted by the same interference.

- You brought a Geth into the Fleet that our landing party had tungsten-packed, then repaired it, and now you're trying to turn it on? Are you out of your mind? - Heh, the man's clearly got a bomb scare. That's weird. I feel like I know those two names. And then there's the word "get." Where have I heard that word?

- Believe me, Zaal, I am acting solely in the interests of the Fleet and the Quarian people in general. If this works out, we can return to our planet without spilling a drop of blood," at first the voice was even imbued with some venom, but then you could hear a kind of sadness.

- What are you up to? - More seriously asked the man. The Quarians... Something familiar. Something in my head, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Who are they?

- I'm going to reprogram this Geth. If it works, we can create an algorithm and then... Then we can reprogram all the Geth without exception. Do it quickly and at once. The Geth will become our servants again...

- Do you even hear yourself? It was our desire to make ourselves slaves that robbed us of our home, and now you want to repeat the mistakes of the past? You want to deprive us of the Fleet as well. You must be out of your mind.

- Listen to me, Zaal. Answer me a question. Aren't you tired of living like this? Trapped in your own spacesuits, eating that tasteless protein paste, living on those 300-year-old vessels, knowing you're only a metre of iron separating you from the eternal void! Haven't you ever wanted to walk on the ground instead of on a metal floor? Zaal, have you ever seen the rain? - There was silence after that. The man was probably thinking too much and was not expecting the question.

- N-No... No, I haven't," the man replied dryly and bitterly.

- I did. 20 years ago, when I was a junior engineer. I was assigned to an expedition to an unknown planet. It was covered in jungle. Suddenly it started raining. A huge, torrential downpour. The whole camp just flooded, and I was... I was 20 at the time, curious. I took my mask off and just stood in the rain, enjoying the water just falling from the sky and hitting my face. It felt so good... And then I was in the infirmary for a month. Kila, I've never felt so bad. Zaal, I can't take it anymore. I can't hang on to death anymore, I can't live in this spacesuit. I want a normal life, you know, a NORMAL life! Hell, I just want to live, not exist on this fucking ship! - Immediately there was some sort of thumping on the metal that went along with the words that were already just shouted out.

- Daro! Calm down! You, you're just tired. How long have you been awake? - quite seriously said the man, and I could have sworn he was hugging her now. Well, considering that the lady with the weird name I thought she had, she was really hysterical, I'm not surprised. I mean, everybody needs a hug.

- Three, maybe four days. The day-night system on Moreh broke down and we still can't get it fixed. Kila, I'm so sick of this. I can't take it anymore. And now all our lives depend on this Geta alone," the woman said firmly, then walked around, judging by the sounds, and then there was the sound of clacking. Probably on a keyboard.

- Eh, do the other admirals know about it? - He asked Zaal calmly and hopefully.

- No. I... I forgot. I didn't have time.

- Kila, you're completely... What if they find out?

- So are you with me? - The lady suddenly asked, which must have taken the man by surprise.

- Aaaarg, okay, yeah, I'm with you. Better that than Han's plan. At least we'll save the men," the man said, growling something incomprehensible at first, and the alarm in front of me was already blaring. The letters were already red, some kind of alarm was beeping, and suddenly, finally, the darkness was replaced by interference, which got stronger and stronger, and finally I could see... walls? Yes, it was definitely a wall, or rather the ceiling, because there was still a lamp on it, though broken. To the right stood a female figure, whose face was concealed by gray-blue glass, her head was covered with a black or dark-dark blue hood, and her whole body was covered by a tight suit of blue and gray. The lady (I knew it was SHE, after all) was typing something fast on the computer. Behind her stood a man (I could see that immediately). His suit was white, the suit was black with pink lines around his chest. There was some kind of round thing on that black part. His face was also covered by a lilac coloured mask and there was no hood. Where on earth had I seen them both? And the names, and the looks, and some of the words... All familiar, but what were they anyway. Who were they?

Suddenly the alarm went bonkers in the extreme and small disturbances started appearing in front of me.

WARNING: THREAT TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROGRAMME!

Now I was beginning to panic. I don't know what they're trying to do, but it's clearly no good.

- It's activated," the man started. - But he's not doing anything.

- And he can't. As long as he's alone, and as long as he has a limiter attached to him, he can't do anything.

What kind of restraining device did you put on me? All right, let's get out of here. Okay, there's just one problem. I'm kind of handcuffed to the table. All right, on three. One. Two. Three!

My right hand jerked violently and the handcuff just split open. The hand immediately flew into the lady and landed right in her stomach. She didn't even have time to cry out - she bent over and fell to the floor.

- HELL! - the man shouted and immediately grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and tried to kill me with it. I managed to free my right foot, however, and instantly punched the man in the stomach. He flew backwards and slammed into the wall, then slid to the floor and never moved again. Shit, I hope I didn't kill him. Nah, I don't think so, more like passed out. The lady's a little fragile, though. Beeping something, snorting, writhing on the floor, but she can't even straighten up. I put too much pressure on her, but who knew I was so strong? I wonder what that's about. Although... I feel like that's just the way it is. Right, that's it, time to go.

Releasing my other arm and leg, I stood up, and immediately something yanked me back behind my head. I immediately touched the back of that something and immediately realised three things. One, I had a wire connected to my head. Two, I have three fingers. Third and most importantly, I'm made of metal. Oh, man, okay. It happens. Grabbing the wire tighter, I pulled it out of my head sharply, and immediately millions of images started popping up before my eyes, and I managed to look through each one of them. My whole life. Here's the kindergarten, here's the first bell with the accuracy of a second, here's the last bell. There's all those trips to the cinema, to the countryside... God, there's... That's me... That's... Quarians. Geths. The migrating fleet. Mass Effect.