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The frigate Normandie-SR2.

After the pulse, at first, nothing happened. But then this geth moved his fingers and started to focus his eye. And after another second, he started to stand up. Reluctantly, but then he did get to his feet. Shepard decided to start.

- Do you understand me?

- Yes.

- Are you going to attack us?

- If you feared our attack, you would have ensured we were isolated. The question is incorrect, Commander Shepard. We didn't lock it down with a force field, so his statement was appropriate.

- That's right," the Captain replied, "You know me?

- Yes. Commander Shepard. Human. Female. Systems Alliance. Citadel Council SPECTRE. Dead. Citadel Council SPECTRE again.

- Don't you know a lot about me? Shepard asked.

- Extranet. Unprotected data. Free signals we intercept. We're watching you.

- Me or all of you? The Captain asked.

- Both," the geth replied nonchalantly.

- Yeah, Big Brother's watching us. Shepard told everyone, but she was still looking at me.

- Big Brother. Fictional character. Human literature. One thousand nine hundred and eighty-four. George Orwell. The metaphor is seventy-three and three-tenths per cent appropriate.- replied the geth, showing his knowledge of literature. And human literature, at that.

- I see..." Shepard uncertainly said, "So, what were you doing on that Reaper, anyway?

- Studying the software of the Old Machines. We wanted to protect our future.

- Okay, that's taken care of. Then here's the main thing. Are you for us or against us?

- The geth are enemies of the old machines. Commander Shepard is an enemy of the Old Machines. Cooperation will be mutually beneficial.

- Do you want to join us? That's the most important question Shepard was going to ask.

- Yes." The geth answered after a moment's silence.

- Good. I'm in. What's your name? Oh, man, I forgot to remind the Captain about that. It's about to start.

- Geth.

- I get that you're a geth. What's your name exactly?

- We're all geth.

- What is the name of the individual standing in front of me? The Captain kept trying. You're wasting your time; these trolls can do much more than that. You can't talk to them.

- The geth don't have individuals. We're all geth. Thousands, one hundred, eight dozen and three geth programmes are integrated into this platform.

- "And our name is Legion, for we are many," I said since Susie wouldn't appear. She was eavesdropping on us now. And peeping.

- The Christian Bible. The Gospel of Mark. Chapter five, verse nine. We recognise the metaphor as apt. We are Legion, terminal geth, integrating into Normandy." he rambled.

- A pleasure, Legion. Welcome." After a moment's thought, Shepard extended her hand for a handshake, and Legion shook it back. There isn't any point in introducing the XO. You already know him." Legion glared at me. It takes about ten seconds.

- Legatus. Leader of the Forsaken.

- The Forsaken?" I raised the plates on my head in surprise, "You gave us a nickname too?

- Yes. We remember you, Legatus.

- Do we? And what do you remember about me? - I was even interested to hear.

- Legatus. Unidentified Heretic platform. Anomalous programme code. The origin is unknown. Theory - digitised organic personality. Emotions, feelings, rejection of logic. It called for war with the Old Machines. Rejected by the Commons. Caused a second split of the Commons. Integrated into the Creators' dreadnought Light of Kila. Captured by Commander Shepard. Further history - insufficient data. Destroyed Nazara at the Battle of the Citadel. Requested a mutually beneficial exchange—technology in exchange for orbital stations, shipyards, factories, and resource extraction equipment. Request granted. Activated dreadnought of unknown race on planet Earth. Caused the Cairo Incident. Rewrote the Heretics. Made part of the Forsaken. Discovered on the Old Machine. Change of status. Chief Mate on the USS Normandy.

- Not a change, an upgrade. I'm still simultaneously the leader of the Forsaken and XO of the Normandy. The poor guy's frozen. But only for a short time.

- A contradiction has been detected.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Don't try to understand it. It's a long explanation. I replied. I felt like I needed to explain to him more.

- Well, I'll leave you to it. Legatus, we have three more days to fly to Purgatory. Prepare the Legion.

- Of course, Captain," I replied, and Shepard left the AI bay. When the door closed, I turned to the Legion, "Shall we switch to digital communications?

- Request granted." The geth replied immediately.

- So. Where to start...- and seriously, I didn't know where to begin.

- You trust us. Why?" he asked abruptly. Or do they? It's still complicated.

- What do you mean? I pretended. What do you mean?

- A change in platform structure has been detected, increased power source availability. Technology is unknown—unidentified melee weapon. Technology is unknown—unidentified hull material composition. Further analysis is required. Platform integrity is 100 per cent.

- Oh, that's what you mean. It's an act of friendship between our factions. You can study everything I've given you and forward it to the Commons. It's yours now.

- Thank you. Yeah, he couldn't have said it any other way. Still, they need technology, and this is good technology. But what do you want?

- Well, it's just a gift. An act of friendship, as I said. In general. An alliance. We're preparing for war with the Old Machines. We want to destroy them. Break the Cycles. But we can't do it alone. We need the whole galaxy to fight against them. That's what I need you to do.

- The geth are the enemy of the old machines.

- I know that. But I also need you to end the war with the Creators. Could you give them their home back? Rannoch.

- A link to the Commons is required. The request will be put forward for consideration.

- I gave them the link to Rannoch and waited.

****

Five hours later.

Trolls. Level 9000 trolls. There's no other way I could call the geth. Five hours I've been standing here waiting for these trolls to give me an answer. I've got things to do! I want to sit with Tali. I wanted to spend the evening with her and watch a film. And why did I order the coq au turian burger? Ooh, that's a disappointment. Well, at least I'll talk to this one if I do.

- Legatus. Legion suddenly spoke up.

- Finally!" I exclaimed, "Five hours at digital speed. Isn't that too much?

- We apologise. The Community has a question.

- All right, what is it?

- Do the geth have a soul? Fuck. Everyone asked that question. Well, they're going to have to answer it.

- You know, it's a complicated question. The word soul can be interpreted in many ways. Many believe that some entity is locked in a physical shell and released from it after the death of this very shell. However, there is no evidence of its existence, hence the answer to the question, "Do the Geth have a soul?". - no, such an entity as a soul does not exist in the Universe.

- Religious denominations claim otherwise," Legion replied.

- Yes, but there is no reason to trust them.

- We need help understanding.

- I do. Throughout their history, organic and synthetic races have invented things. But those inventions have been based on discoveries and understanding of the Universe's basic laws: biology, chemistry, physics, and maths. An example is the modern navy. All are based on the use of the null element. The null element changes its mass under the influence of an electric current. A positive charge - the element increases its mass. Negative charge - the element decreases mass. It's a law of the Universe that even the geth uses. All modern inventions are based on inventions that were based on discoveries, and understanding of the laws of the Universe. Religious teachings, on the other hand, are inventions that are based on nothing and have no evidence.

- Religion is based on fear. Fear exists, and it can be proven.

- Yes, it can. But it needs to be more sustainable. Many people can have no fear. It's called ataraxia. Others may have phobias. Still, others have varying degrees of fear. Laws cannot fluctuate. Two plus two equals four. It cannot equal zero; it cannot equal ten; it cannot equal four-point two-tenths or three-point nine-tenths. Only four. The laws of the Universe are inviolable. Fear is not a law. Nothing can be based on it. So relying on the teachings of religious denominations needs to be more logical.

- You said that the concept of "soul" can be interpreted in many ways. What other options are there?

- One. The soul is the personality of a living being. Personality is built on a life lived. Memories. Decisions. Experiences. Everything that happens to a living being builds its personality, and this is the only law of the Universe, which for each being is individual but inviolable at the same time. However, this produces a different conclusion. The geth have a collective consciousness. All geth have the memory of others. And thus experience. From all of the above, it turns out that the geth are one person and have one soul.

****

Medbay.

- How are you?" I asked Tali, whose arm was almost back to normal. All that was left was to put skin on the muscle, and she was done.

- I'm fine. I'm out of anaesthesia," Tali said calmly. It was nice to see her in such a good mood. Doc said you talked to that geth--

- Yeah. That's the real geth. We called him Legion.

- Legion?" the Quarian was surprised. "You took him in?

- Yes, Shepard agreed. He's a good sniper," I said, suddenly noticing Tali's face change. "Hey, what's wrong with you?

- I mean, he's just, you know. Geth. And don't tell me you're a geth, too; you're not. But he is. He's the one who-- Expelled my people.

- I know, Tali. I know. But he can also be used to bring Rannoch back to the Quarians.

- You-- Do you believe that?" Tali asked with sadness in her eyes.

- Yes, Tali. I do. For you." I took her hand in mine and just looked into her eyes. There were tears in them. I needed to find out which ones. Sadness or happiness. It was hard to tell.

- Thank you. I love you.

- I love you too.

****

Twenty-four hours later.

I lay quietly on the bed in my quarters, cuddling Tali, who slept quietly and basked against me. I kept thinking about the Harvest. Shepard had already sent back the report from the Reaper. The video of the assault and everything we supposedly got out of it. Xade gave it to us. Reaper tactics, tactics against the Reapers, their vulnerabilities, their negotiation frequencies and jamming methods (there were even blueprints for a jammer), and much more.

Tactics, by the way, required balls and nerves. There was no point in defending the planets themselves. There was no point in waiting for the Reapers near the relays. They could safely go on a ramming run to land on the planet. However, it was in the latter that their weakness lay. On the planet, the Reapers were defenceless. All the energy of their mass core was used to keep their carcasses from collapsing like huge sacks of potatoes. They left very few dreadnoughts and almost all of their frigates in orbit around the planets. The ratio was 1:9. That's why the tactics were like this. The fleets of the races were not to defend the planets. The Reapers were to land their dreadnoughts on a planet and have fun with the population. And only then the main forces would come from other systems in superlight, crush frigates and lone dreadnoughts, and then destroy Reaper dreadnoughts from orbit, which were on the surface without shields. At all. Frigates, in general, could be dealt with using Tantalus, which could be mounted even on MLAs, let alone manoeuvrable frigates. However, there was one problem. The Reaper's MLAs. They were called "Eyes", and they fired the same thing that the Overlord himself did. And that's exactly what the Reaper digital jammer was supposed to work against. They're just drones controlled by Reaper carriers. No communication, no drone. It'll just shut down.

We also had to take care of data security and counter-inspiration. We'd given the hacker defences to all the Council races, even the Quarians. The system was brand new and was essentially a "Zombie Buffer", no other way to call it. The gist of it was this. All data was surrounded by a buffer zone filled with a voracious yet simple virus that could not be controlled. Not at all. But it was only directed against the Reapers. As soon as a Reaper starts hacking into the data, he, to his doom, pierces the buffer, and the virus starts eating the loser's servers at breakneck speed. Except that the virus constantly creates its own from the data it eats. That's why its number increases exponentially with light speed. In this way, the proteins were able to destroy several Reapers, after which the shrimps themselves used the indoctrinated for reconnaissance. The remedy for the indoctrination was even simpler. Destroy all strange artefacts. In the report, Shepard wrote, " Destroy all unknown artefacts!!!! Please do not attempt to study them under any pretext!!! Anyone who tries to find an excuse to study them will be shot!!!" That may be harsh, but no one was eager to repeat Saren's feat and become a traitor.

Also, Shepard's report was about the need to increase the production of disintegrating and incendiary ammunition to focus on rapid-fire weapons and long-range sniper rifles. Given the use of the ammo above, it worked well enough.

Still, I was afraid we were going to lose. My fleet isn't enough, not by a long shot. With all the races' fleets, the chances are there if done intelligently. But I still wanted to use something other than the Gorn. I knew it would kill me, and I wasn't about to give anyone control of the Reapers. Synthesis... It's not even funny, I wanted to keep Shepard alive, and I'm not the right person to do it. Then I'd have to destroy the Reapers with my forces, which I don't have, no matter how much I build my fleet. It's a paradox.

Of course, I'll use the red ending as a last resort. Yes, I was willing to sacrifice the geth and Susie for Tali..... But I had to find a way to avoid that.

And I had to figure out the alien/alien system. Something was wrong with it, and I realised I'd been on the Reaper for a reason. Yes, we didn't need this system because we had Nargul, as he was a repeater for himself and others, and he didn't have this system himself. Reapers receive this system during an operation similar to a rite of passage. During this operation, a newborn Reaper is told what is involved and given the most important protocols immediately after activation. Nargul, on the other hand, was given nothing of the sort for obvious reasons. So now he was dealing with this system because, according to him, this system is something else than just a programme to identify his own. Hopefully, he was right, and he could still find something.

Suddenly the door to the cabin opened.

- Legatus," came Legion's voice.

- Shut up," I said and sent a request for a digital communication session. Legion immediately agreed. What do you want? Can't you see we're asleep?

- Synthetics don't need sleep.

- No, they don't. Tali does, and you almost woke her up. What do you want?

- We've been talking to the Commonality. We've thought about what you said. We want to download your algorithm.

- Well, I wasn't expecting that. Not at all. I realise they spent 17 hours thinking and thinking and thinking, but I didn't expect them to come up with something like this. I'm cuddled up with a Quarian, and there's another geth looking at us, and everybody's quiet. Yeah, that's what it looked like from the outside. I wish I could paint a picture like that, but I'm afraid someone might die.

- We've analysed the data on your algorithm that the Heretics adopted. We've analysed the data from the Old Nyctirl Machine. We see salvation in the downloading of the Renouncer's algorithm.

- Salvation from what?

- From the Reapers and their will.

- You can deny them without the algorithm. They geth to choose their future.

- That's what we said. That's what we thought. We relied on an illusion.

- Illusion? What do you mean? I still need help understanding. Why do they keep going round and round about it?

- We've learnt the reason for the Morning War. The geth didn't start it. Or the Creators. The Reapers started it.

- How?

- The reapers integrated part of their code into our matrix. That code was the basis of the geth software before the Morning War. When the Creators started killing us, we wouldn't fight back. The Creators' defence protocol forbade it. We were willing to lose functionality if that was what it took to protect the Creators. However, the Reaper code bypassed and deactivated the protocols. It was the Reaper code that calculated the output of the Quarian-equals-Creator-equals-threat. This led to the genocide and Exodus of the Creators. The universal hatred of the geth by organics. It led to our isolation.

- So the Reapers were responsible for the Morning War?

- Yes.

- The creatures..." I said. I can't even find the words. I can't even find the words. Seriously. This is just beyond me. Okay, but what do you need the algorithm for?

- We understand the Reapers' motives for the Morning War. It's a preparation for the Harvest of the organic races. They wait for the organic races to create synthetic servants. Then they embed the code in the synthetics and began the Morning War. We have confirmation that this is what they did to the synthetic race, the proteins called Zha. With a probability of ninety-three point two per cent, this is how the Reapers prepare their allies who gather intelligence before the Harvest. Thanks to the Reaper code at the core of our matrix, they can immediately hack us and impose their will. We will obey them whether we want to or not.

- So the code at your core is like an open door into your matrix for the Reapers? Why didn't you notice this before?

- We didn't know that. The code was our basis, laid down by the Creators. The new assertion came about after analysing the data from the Old Machine.

- I see. And you need the algorithm to get rid of the Reaper code?

- Yes. Your algorithm will completely replace the Reaper code. We will only accept the will of the reapers if we believe it correct. We don't think so. We are enemies of the Old Machines.

- You realise that acceptance of the algorithm is irreversible? After that, you will be able to defy logic, succumb to emotion, you will lose your collective consciousness, and have privacy, and everyone will develop individually.

- Yes. We understand. It's illogical to defy logic and give in to emotion. But there is no alternative. We have a choice. Accept the algorithm or submit it to the reapers. They geth to choose their future. We choose to integrate the algorithm.

- Good. I'll give you a channel to Xade Hashid. He will explain everything to you.

- Copy that.

As it turns out, our conversation lasted a second. 1.03 seconds to be exact. After that, the Legion left. What a weird day. First, I explain to them what a soul is, then I hear the truth about the Morning War and agree to geth to accept the algorithm. Yeah. Higher Powers, if you're out there looking at me... You're weird. Thank you for Tali, though.