Years 2543–2544.
Khaela, through the forces of The Possessed, observed the construction on Project Daisy. A sweet name for a human colony being built by robotic forces on The Ark. Cities, factories, hydroponics, parks, and transport arteries for billions of people.
The Ark, a massive Forerunner mechanism hanging in dark space. 127,530 kilometers in diameter, eight petals, and a vast amount of space onto which one could easily relocate the population of Earth, for example. In the center of this titanic "flower" sits a structure capable of building anything. Planet processing, synthesis, construction of Halo rings, ships. And, with some desire, vehicles and armor. Building cities and infrastructure for such a complex is not difficult at all, as is maintaining them in working order without any human participation whatsoever.
Should it be surprising that upon gaining a portal and a mass of Covenant technology, humans immediately began shipping personnel to The Ark on an industrial scale? Primarily loyal scientists and ONI specialists, of course. After the most rigorous screening—corporates as well. Since building up and settling such an area requires a great many hands. And to study it—a colossal number of scientists.
Separately, the training complex of The Beacon was moved to The Ark. The Prothean information upload system proved extremely useful for training specialists. The only problem is that recording requires a host, a source of information. Also, the younger the target and the less experience they have, the better the information is absorbed. Therefore, it is easier to prepare new specialists than to retrain old ones. And even so, there is an objective shortage of them. There is too much of everything, and the rather harsh ONI checks do not speed up the process.
Naturally, AIs joined the effort as well. Both the locals, Mendicant Bias and Tragic Solitude—two Forerunner AIs for whom The Ark is home—and humans from among those modified and free from the threat of Rampancy. Naturally, under the control of other AIs and specialists of Dr. Catherine Halsey's level.
The Doc participated in Project Indigo, in which children with high intelligence undergo soft modification, and then, over a couple of years, the memory of the doctor herself is sequentially uploaded. The idea is to obtain super-specialists tailored for civilian activities. Simultaneously, corporates on Earth, with ONI permission, started Project Children of Sakura. Essentially the same, but softer. And suitable for justification. It is too early to talk about results, but Mendicant Bias noted that the process resembles the primary modifications that Forerunners underwent. Which, naturally, interests both the military and scientists. The creation of super-specialist castes. Of course, there are failures and deaths. But the project may be successful; that is enough.
Admiral Margaret Parangosky announced the project "Ark of the Covenant." In case of danger to humanity, a large number of people will be relocated specifically to The Ark, which is undergoing refitting for this purpose. Portals will open in the orbits of Earth, Reach, and other major colonies (The Ark can do that), and ships will deliver pre-selected people and simply those who make it in time to the cities on the station's surface. There, they can survive anything.
The nuance of the situation lies in the level of secrecy. No, everyone on Earth saw the portal; it and the portal platform are visible from space. So ONI didn't play games and told the public a small part of the truth. Yes, a Forerunner installation, cool and useful, provides a mass of technologies. But what exactly? Secret.
The number of agents catching everyone trying to sneak onto The Ark without permission and feeding off it is simply off the charts. As is the number of curious individuals, mercenaries, and simple thrill-seekers. There are plenty of them; prisons are packed; they've even started being sent to forced labor in colonies just to put them somewhere.
Who is truly lacking in this situation are specialists. Scientists are racking their brains trying to master the Covenant and Forerunner trophies; the military, who initially salivated over the spoils, also quickly realized the scale of the headache. And now they, too, are studying intensely. The Beacon is a half-measure.
No, some Covenant ships were put into service as they were, with control handed over to AIs. After all, human worlds need protection. Yes, the Covenant Empire collapsed, but its fragments are still extremely dangerous. Sects, raiders, and pirates universally loathe humans and perceive them as slaves, food, or a problem. The war did not end. It simply moved into a phase of low-intensity conflict. The same situation applies to the Citadel; they have problems after the Halo firing. They are still deciding what to do and dealing with the flared-up crisis. The Batarians have a civil war that is predicted to last another five years. None of them have time for humans right now. In fact, all sides have cocooned themselves and gone about their own business.
This includes humans, who have begun to see problems with rebels. All because everyone noticed a certain relaxation in the conflict with the Covenant. After all, two years and only two small colonies destroyed. The question of the transfer of power arose, since the UNSC, as they themselves declared, took power only for the duration of the crisis. And now the civilian government is reminding them that this is not the norm.
"The crisis has passed," politicians say, "when will the civilian government regain its powers? It's time for people to live not just with thoughts of war, of which everyone is tired. But also of peace."
And what can one answer here? Never? Even among the military, the idea is gradually spreading that the pressure needs to be eased a bit, to give people more air. And it's not just thoughts; rebels are gaining new recruits on this basis, including in the army, and that is already a problem. ONI is working overtime, but even our reports say this is a general trend.
Furthermore, that part of the Rebels who previously feared the Covenant and actually tried to help (not many, but they existed) has taken up their old ways again. Disagreements are beginning to smolder, which over time will grow into internal conflicts.
As a result, victory brought Earth nothing but new crises (and a mass of weapons and technology that still need to be processed). Admiral Margaret Parangosky is angry. Serin Osman, the coordinator of Kilo-Five, and I are rushing through the colonies, plugging holes where possible. All my The Possessed and even my Avatar are busy searching for and liquidating traitors and their sympathizers. They are still few in number for now, but the further the colonies are from the metropole, the more of this filth there is. And also arrogant local bosses, corrupt officials living on their own impunity. And even ONI personnel using martial law to their advantage, thereby cultivating negativity. This also has to be dealt with.
Seriously, these idiots tried to sell a Covenant ship to the rebels. A small raider, but the fact itself! A secret operation, yeah. Judging by the number of zeros, very secret and very profitable. Everyone was put on trial.
And then there is the rest of the galaxy. Things are very lively there too. And while in the Batarian Hegemony ONI themselves staged a civil war—the process having long since become self-sustaining—Citadel Space is in hysterics. Literally.
The reason is more than valid: within a significant radius, all higher life has died. The question of who is to blame and what to do suddenly became extremely relevant. They even contacted ONI and showed a recording from the Halo system. And politely but insistently demanded explanations.
And the Council received them. Recordings of the sermons of the Prophet of Truth and Prophet of Regret from the Covenant ship systems, recordings of the battles for the Control Center, ONI conclusions presented in the right light, and technical evidence. In the end, it turned out that humans were simply sitting on the Halo, just as the Salarians had done previously (a fact that was brought up to them), but then an absolutely indecent Covenant armada arrived, and BOOM happened. Preventing it with such a difference in forces was absolutely impossible. And what happened next, no one knows. Humans arrived after the fact and found only ships without crews. Naturally, they took them for themselves—who wouldn't?
And they certainly didn't get upset that Citadel forces, taking advantage of the amount of Covenant technology, managed to hijack several ships for themselves using their advanced VI. At least they didn't get upset openly. It was unpleasant, but we had other problems. Including attempts by Covenant scout teams to break through to the Halo and find answers. They even tried to get onto High Charity. They were also sold information from the internal San'Shyuum networks. They backed off.
In the end, the Council officially took the side of humans and supported our version of events.
And no, this didn't solve the situation; the one-time destruction of many colonies, including major ones, became a shock to their society that their media could not suppress. The number of versions and conspiracy theories on this topic is hitting records. And we are only playing along, tossing in more and more new ideas. The Geth are too; they find it interesting.
And no, humans and the Citadel do not live in peace. There are isolated contacts through the Contact system, and that's it. The war of intelligence services continues.
In essence, humans and the Citadel have fenced themselves off from each other, and only intelligence services fly to visit one another. They have economic and social upheavals from the Halo firing, including episodes of outright panic and riots. We have political instability; the Admiral is buried in work trying to clear this heap. And we, her hands, help in this.
***
Liara T'Soni.
The shuttle descended onto the planet Feros with a steady hum. What brought the Shadow Broker and, concurrently, the head of the Cerberus organization to this Prothean tomb-planet? The Thorian, an ancient semi-intelligent plant. And questions that needed answers, which could not be entrusted to those around her. It had to be investigated personally.
Liara decided not to hope that everything in this galaxy would be the same as in the last, and to check their entire path. Everything, one by one. Some projects could be handed over for development to members of her organization, Cerberus. But in the case of the Thorian, an ancient and intelligent plant, it had to be investigated personally, using "Embrace Eternity" to contact it. Fortunately, she had the maps from the SSV Normandy, as well as Joker. Repeating the flight was not a problem.
The problem was excavating the creature. According to information from the corporation and the colonists of Zhu's Hope, the Thorian was not found immediately. Judging by the fact that the corporates settled in the upper part of the building and "Species 37" was in the lower part of the same building, there was initially no access to it. So, initially, a team of researchers was sent to the planet with specific orders: find it, dig it out, do not go in personally. All while observing biohazard protocols and regular check-ups. This plant had already noted itself for subjugating sapients; there was no need to play into its hands.
The diggers managed. A week ago, they sent photos of halls overgrown with thick stalks, visible through a hole in the floor. Liara took a shuttle, Joker, and flew out immediately. Ordering them not to go inside, naturally.
And now the shuttle descends among the black-and-white towers of Prothean construction, connected by numerous bridge-highways. The planet's surface is hidden by a layer of dense fog, making the towers and bridges seem to float in the sky. Beautiful. Near the building on one of the tracks stands a transport ship; further on the ramp—a flight of fighters. The bridge itself has been turned into a landing pad, where the shuttle touched down. At the entrance, she was met by Jalim, in a hardsuit.
"Welcome to Feros, Agent," the Matron said and smirked.
Liara herself, without guards (an agent isn't supposed to have them) and also in a hazmat suit, nodded.
"Hello, Jalim. How is the progress?"
She pointed to the nearest building, where a multi-level tower poked through the clouds, combining white vertical surfaces and black horizontal ones—the floors.
"We found it. It's definitely here, at the bottom. And we had an incident here. An STG agent tried to infiltrate downstairs."
Liara sighed. It was expected that intelligence agents would end up in her organization as well. Unpleasant, but inevitable.
"How much did he manage to transmit?"
"More than we would like," the Matron replied, "they know Cerberus is looking for something here. They won't attack head-on, but complications are inevitable. I told them to speed up the work."
Liara nodded, thinking as they walked toward the building. The STG's persistence is annoying. They are literally everywhere. For the Shadow Broker, this is a problem; information is leaking out. Well, risk is part of a spy's life, right?
"Take me to him, Jalim. It's time to finish this."
The Asari went into the tower. Inside, the ancient structure had been noticeably improved. Lined with plastic, standard doors and lighting installed. Furniture had been added too. If you didn't look closely, you might not even realize you were in a truly ancient skyscraper. Until you walked to the window. There, a completely different view opened up—dense fog creeping along the surface, with numerous skyscraper towers poking out, connected by bridges. Dozens of towers.
If you descended in a shuttle below the fog, you could find traces of ruin and desolation. No, the buildings were generally intact, but it seemed the Reapers, when destroying this world, acted with landing forces. The result: intact buildings and total abandonment.
In one of the residential blocks, a prison had been set up, to which Liara was led. Well, "set up." Essentially an empty room with a door and guards. At the entrance—Huntresses.
Although the Shadow Broker does not rely solely on Asari, her entire personal guard, left over from Benezia, consists of Huntresses and a few newcomers. They are always present at the most important sites.
In white armor without insignia. The style of this armor itself has already become a calling card. It's not great, but it works for recognition. Therefore, let it be.
But the Salarian sitting in the corner doesn't look particularly good. Though, how else can a sapient look after undergoing an enhanced interrogation? Not that Liara has much experience, but when creating a large and illegal organization, she had to learn.
"Pick him up," Liara ordered, and two Huntresses in white obeyed.
The Salarian noticed this too, focusing his gaze on her.
"An agent? No, she carries herself differently. Accustomed to giving orders. An officer. For interrogation?"
Liara silently approached, taking a syringe from her colleague's hands.
"I will get answers. Immediately."
The Salarian did not resist. He simply couldn't. Upon closer inspection, signs of exhaustion were visible; he hadn't just been interrogated, but was clearly underfed. He drifted off as the drug began to relax his mind. Excellent, next step.
"Embrace eternity."
The slumped Salarian's mind swung open, revealing his secrets. He truly was an STG agent. He was looking for the Shadow Broker or at least promising projects that the STG could acquire. After all, both the Broker and Cerberus are outlaws. Unpleasant, but she expected something like this. But the fact that the Salarians know about Feros is bad. They could catch a drop-pod on their heads.
She spent some more time in the agent's mind, learning about his service record and memorizing officers and Dalatresses. It would come in handy. And then she slipped out of his mind.
The Salarian hung in the Asari's arms, staring forward with a hollow gaze. Liara sighed.
"No longer required," she drew her pistol and shot the generator of her new problems, "remove the body. I'm going down; we shouldn't stay here longer than necessary."
Who knows how soon the STG will arrive following their hound's trail and how many more of them are here. With the growth of the organization come growing risks. No, in the Broker's block everything is fine with this, but Cerberus is another matter. Active recruitment of personnel is taking its toll.
Those who come to the organization are those who are certain: most of the problems of recent years come from humanity. They clearly counteract human influence, seeking resources and tools. Or they simply join for their own reasons. The opportunity to fight, to be part of something bigger. Or to monitor the organization for their masters. It doesn't matter much right now.
What matters is that Liara, in the company of several other Asari, headed lower. Much lower. Here, there were no longer plastic-lined floors, exposing the ancient walls of the Prothean skyscraper. Descending by stairs was not required; the researchers had installed a winch lift. And while they descended floor after floor, only the creaking of the cable and the wind blowing through the structure were their companions. The journey took several minutes of continuous descent, during which Liara quietly rejoiced that she hadn't forgotten to wear a proper hardsuit. The wind must be bone-chilling.
"We are here, Agent," the Asari pointed out as the platform hovered dozens of floors below.
Essentially the same standard floors as above. But unlike those, there were far more traces of destruction here. Three floors had partially collapsed, making it impossible to descend further; the slabs blocked the way, becoming an obstacle. Previously. Now, cutters and drills stand here, and in the center of a relatively intact slab, a hole has been cut vertically down. Above it is a tripod with a cable lowered.
Approaching and peering into the hole, Liara saw a rather dark room. Her flashlight illuminated thick stalks biting into the walls. The Thorian. Excellent.
"Descending. Do not remove hardsuits; destroy everything that moves toward us. There are no allies down there," Liara ordered.
One by one, the Huntresses went down, descending the cable.
"Clear. Except for this, huge... whatever it is. A plant?" one of the Huntresses asked, slightly bewildered.
"Yes. But why do I feel like it's watching?" the second asked quietly into the space.
Liara, descending on the cable, replied:
"The Thorian is sapient."
"Goddess..." the Huntress exhaled, "amazing! A new life form..."
Passing through the hole, Liara could see the Thorian herself. The giant plant had filled the elevator shaft. Only...
"That is not the Thorian!"
The creature before her resembled a very thick Prothean more than anything. A typically Prothean head, though the size of a shuttle. And at the same time, a huge, rounded, barrel-shaped body ten or even twenty meters high with many limbs sticking out in all directions. They cling to the walls, everywhere. Perhaps that's how it collapsed the floors above. And this body is covered... It doesn't look like meat, more like hardened bark. Numerous limbs keep the creature suspended in the middle of the elevator shaft, around the destroyed level, with blocked windows. Because of this, there is no wind here, and the system shows a high level of nitrogen. It, this creature, doesn't even try to move, and the absence of clearly visible eyes on its head, like Javik's, makes one lose their bearings. All the time it feels like it... is looking right at you. That fleeting sense of danger.
But first, it's not the Thorian. And second, it means Liara has no idea what they've encountered.
Suddenly, the world jerked.
"M̋o͟rė o͜f ̐t͠h͝e͠m̑ h́ave͝ c͌o̕me͝."
Liara tried to scream, but her body was squeezed in a vice; even breathing became difficult. Her eyes went dark. Several shots rang out, then a scream turning into a wheeze. Liara was yanked off the cable she had grabbed at a height of ten meters and pulled toward the creature. Without the characteristic flashes of biotics. Just yanked, squeezing her so hard she couldn't move. What kind of biotics is this? What are you?
The world jerked slightly, like static. And the Asari screamed as a wave of knowledge flooded her mind. Knowledge of how the mind, through the control of energy, literally rewrites the laws of the universe. Formulas, rules, laws so colossal that the Asari could not fully comprehend them. She saw only a tiny part; the rest flooded her mind with an endless noise of information, overlapping one another. Thousands of sensations that she simply couldn't keep up with. The world swam, flooded with new feelings that the Asari had never suspected before, couldn't even accurately describe what exactly she was feeling. What is the feeling of water curling along the tangent of the fifth dimension, in an orange dance of wagging a leash. Attempts to format all this into an understandable format were extremely exhausting; her head exploded with pain, searching for anything familiar.
In an attempt to escape this surge of information, Liara grabbed onto the only definition:
"N̚e͆u͗rͅa͗l ͗Pͅh͗yͅs͗iͅc͗s."
The surge of information stopped as suddenly as it had begun. The creature realized that the interlocutor's mind could not cope, and the flows of formulas, causes, and effects began to simplify, leaving only the visual component and images. Incomplete—it was clear the creature did not rely on such things, preferring to see the world differently. But for the Asari, considering her frankly splitting head and the inclusions of incomprehensible feelings, terms, and sensations, it was still too much.
"A͝c͌c̕e͝p͌t̕a͝b͌l̕e."
The Asari, trembling from shock, tried to pull her thoughts together, trying to separate the informational chaos from what she was. After some time, she realized she was on the planet Feros to check how much the galaxy had changed. And she had entered into contact with a creature she thought was the Thorian. But it wasn't the Thorian at all. Who are you? And immediately she cringed, anticipating a wave of mind-filling information and incredible pain. Но этого не произошло. The information was too much, but now it was at least relatively structured. And from the pictures, memories, and fragments of the past, she was able to distinguish a tall, pale creature, devoid of any hair or nose. And it said:
"T͊h̿e ̆wͅr̃e̒t̀c̒h̀e͑s ͑cͅa͗lͅl͗e͗d ͗uͅs ͗P͗r͗e͗c͗u͗r͗s͗o͗r."
This time the creature acted more carefully, showing itself and giving a short explanation. At this, the Asari exhaled, experiencing a sense of gratitude, and the creature noted it. Somehow Liara understood this. Just as she understood that her thoughts were being read. Но в текущей ситуации… How are the others?
The Precursor, instead of answering, turned her body, allowing her to see the Huntresses sitting on their knees and unable to move. Near one lay the fragments of an automatic rifle. Then the creature turned the Asari back to itself.
"W͘h͐ỷ a͠r̾e ̏y͟oͅu ̏h͟eͅr̾e?" — again a wave of images, sounds, and pictures from which Liara had to extract the question.
Why? Understanding why she was here didn't happen immediately. Memories of the previous galaxy came, then the current one. And the difference: the humans. And all that they had done. And at the very end, an image of an empty Illium. It wasn't enough for the creature, and it pulled and pulled more and more new memories, making her mind swim again. Until at one point the Asari realized that she hadn't been touched for some time, allowing her to rest.
The Precursor objected with an image. Tall, noseless humanoid creatures, resembling hairless, noseless, and earless Asari or humans with pale gray skin and a strange rounded thickening around the head. There were many of them; they were attacking creatures resembling the Precursor. There were quite a few creatures, but there were many attackers too. From the ground, sky, and orbit, beams flew.
There were many of them; space bent unimaginably; creatures were crushed, torn, and sent into space by anomalies; ships exploded and were turned inside out by the hundreds. But they kept advancing. And advancing. And advancing. They attacked the Precursors, sacrificing millions of soldiers for each one; because of the anomalies, the geography around them changed rapidly, but they kept advancing. Volcanoes erupted under their feet, turning into icy wastes; gravity jumped arbitrarily; radiations hit that Liara could see. Time slowed down and sped up; space compressed into a point, into a thread, and expanded. Her mind was again clouded by formations, formulas, alien, incomprehensible sensations. The creature was doing something to reality, showing how, but Liara did not understand; she physically could not comprehend. All she could do was fence herself off from all this knowledge, clinging to the term. Neural Physics. The clearly dissatisfied Precursor simply cut off everything extra, and it became easier. Then the Asari focused on the new information. The creatures, no, the Forerunners...
"W̽e͡a͑k ͑w͡r͡e͑t͡c͡h͡e͑s!"
Liara flinched from the pain when her mind was again filled for an entire eternity with information alien to her perception. But then the creature stopped the mental attack, and the Asari realized it was in a rage. Forerunners. The gods of the Covenant mentioned by Vorhess, Khaela. So that's how it is. And were humans there?
The Precursor showed her. It showed ships resembling river boats, closed at the top, elongated square forms. Somewhat distantly resembling current ones, but infinitely different ships. And humans in black-and-red armor. They fought the Forerunners. With difficulty, but they were losing. The Forerunners were strong and there were more of them. But they continued to fight. The world began to swim again, and the Asari had to fence herself off from this thought too, but focusing on the creature's unusual reaction.
And, for some reason, when showing humans, the Precursor was much more loyally inclined. No rage, only a certain disappointment. That the humans had lost. He found it logical, but disappointing. And even here she couldn't look deep; the creature's perception was too alien. Too large. It was as if she were trying to drink a barrel of liquid. Because of this, reality seemed fragmentary; she had to fill in the blanks. But it was better than nothing.
Liara feverishly thought over what she had seen and wondered what else she could ask. The archaeologist's brain already understood what she had found. And how much could potentially be learned from this creature. The main thing was that it didn't take offense and kill them for it.
After thinking, the Asari formed two requests. The creature fulfilled the first with a short delay. The Huntresses jumped up, grabbing their weapons, but Liara ordered:
"Stand down! We are talking!"
But Jalim didn't believe it:
"Prove it!"
The creature fulfilled the request, with a single thought destabilizing the Element Zero in the weapons, causing the Huntresses' rifles to explode.
"If the Precursor wanted to kill us, we wouldn't be talking. Wait outside. This creature has lived for hundreds of thousands of years and it is answering my questions! Just don't interfere; he is not our enemy!"
Jalim sighed.
"I believe you; the archaeologist found a new toy. We'll wait above. If you don't return within twenty-four hours, we'll blow the whole building."
Liara nodded, turning away. Regardless, the creature easily blocks all attempts to kill it by rewriting the physics of explosives and the density of projectiles. It was above the laws of the universe. And it was ready to speak, even if the Asari had to guess and fill in the blanks, trying to combine two completely different perceptions. But even so, the archaeologist does not retreat from the mysteries of the universe. Liara was flooded with an almost childish delight, and the creature responded with a satisfied thought, as simple as possible, like a smirk from Garrus Vakarian.
"Tell me, please, I want to know everything."
And the creature answered.
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan