The Illusive Man is pleased with the outcome of Project Overlord and thanks Shepard for a job well done.
To me, the whole Cerberus business is fucked up as hell, but what's at stake here...is worth more than the cost. Human experiments, brothers using brothers, father abusing his rank, a test tube babies, TWO of them, an assassin making amends with his son, a daughter exiled by her own people over some shit her father started, a robot capable of 'intelligence', a merc and a vigilante who killed their double crossers, zombie-hero brought back from the dead, the list goes on.
So who'll be surprised if at this point, Shepard is actually...half machine? That somehow Cerberus implanted a chip in his head, forcing him to obey the Illusive Man. A kill-switch to stop him from defecting?
We'll deal with whatever happens come November 2011.
But let's get back to the matter at hand, first.
Of course, Shepard. Join me.
Still talking to Kolyat?
Yes. It's still difficult. But he seems less angry. Will you hear my confession, Shepard?
Well. Fuck me.
I wouldn't talk to you if I didn't want to hear what you have to say.
When I married Irikah, the hanar let me leave their service to raise a family. But I had no other skills, so I freelanced. When Irikah was killed, I pursued those responsible. Once I'd eliminated him, I had no goal. I accepted the Dantius' commission because I didn't know what else to do.
Let's see. My wife is dead. I killed her killers...now ...I'm going to kill someone evil. OK. Continue, Frank Castle.
I guess you're lucky we came along when we did.
It was an intervention by the gods, I would have died in that penthouse.
Instead, you get to die a horrible death in a suicide mission against giant bugs. Ooops, spoilers.
I would've fulfilled my contract. If Nassana's guards caught me afterwards - it would have been a good death. But someone else was pushing to reach the target. Forcing me to move faster. Challenging me. I had to reach her first.
You're alive because I wounded your pride?
Pride is the line between a professional and a thug.
Thane is happy to go out with a bang, I guess.
That smile. Like a suicide bomber knowing he'll reach paradise upon death, surrounded by eighty virgins, bathing in the eternal sweet fountains.
I was able to speak with my son again.
When he put it like that, it made me feel kinda sad inside.
We've got a long way to go before you can rest.
I know. I'm prepared for whatever comes.
Speaking of whatever comes, the crew's pretty upbeat about the mission so far.
I still need to secure one squad-mate's loyalty first. If only for character completion's sake.
We have completed our analysis of the Reaper's data core.
Did you find anything useful?
We were sent to the Old Machine to preserve the Geth's future. We are prepared to reveal how. The heretics have developed a weapon to use against the geth. You would call it a 'virus.' It is stored on a data core provided by Sovereign. Over time, the virus will change us. Make us conclude that worshiping the Old Machine is correct.
Heh. That's a pretty low-blow to Project Overlord's goal. Or is it just recycled material?
So why did you need to go to the Reaper corpse?
The heretics store the code in a quantum storage device Sovereign provided. To find and destroy the virus, we needed to understand its code and data storage structures.
So the virus would give all the geth the heretic's logic. And all the geth would then go to war with organics.
Yes. Geth believe all intelligent life should self-determinate. The heretics no longer share this belief. They judge that forcing an invalid conclusion on us is preferable to a continued schism.
I thought the Geth couldn't be hacked or get viruses? At least for more than a few seconds.
Altered programs are restored from the archives, new installations are deleted. This heretic weapon introduces a subtle operating error in our most basic runtime. The equivalent of your nervous system. An equation with a result of 1.33382 returns as 1.33381. This changes the result of all higher processes. We will reach different conclusions.
So the reason they worship the Reapers is...
.......wait for it......
A math error?
It is difficult to express. Your brain exists as chemistry, electricity. Like AIs, you are shaped by both hardware and software. We are purely software. Mathematics. The heretic's conclusion is valid for them. Our conclusion is valid for us. Neither result is an error. An analogy. Heretics say DA 1 is less than 2. Geth say DA 2 less than ME 3.
If it were released, how quickly this virus spread through your people?
We are networked via FTL comm buoys. Most would change within a day. Isolated platforms would remain unaffected until they rejoin the network.
Let's blow it up then.
You know where this thing is?
The heretics' headquarters station, on the edge of Terminus. We will provide coordinates. Normandy's stealth systems are necessary to safely approach.
What's the plan once we get on board?
The geth will disrupt their network. Prevent the station's defenses from focusing on us. The Reaper data core is physically isolated from the network. We will need to be escorted to it to access and destroy the data.
What defenses should we expect.
In space, none. Within, mobile platforms of various configuration, and non-sentient defense turrets.
How many geth?
\
There may be billions of individual programs. Fortunately, most will be uploaded to the central computer. Only a few mobile platforms are maintained at any time. Others are manufactured when needed.
Heretic headquarters. Sounds like we could end their raids once and for all. Let's do it.
Total victory is possibility. We cannot judge the odds during this time. Regardless, we will begin preparations.
Here we go!
Joker starts to mock and herp the derp.
I pity da foo'
We're in.
So we wear our gas helmets. But I gotta love Zaeed's headwear. Fucking post-apoc.
Won't we be detected? Don't they have intrusion alarms?
Sensors have been reduced. We have infiltrated their wireless network and filled the data storage with random bits.
And that helps us how?
The heretics must scrub this 'junk' data. They have partitioned themselves into local networks, working in parallel. Any alarm that we trigger will not go beyond the room we are in. Only accessing the main core will trigger a station-wide alert.
Alright, we've got a job to do. Let's get to it.
Shepard-Commander. We concluded that destruction of this station was the only resolution to the heretic question. There is now a second option. Their virus can be re-purposed. If released into the station's network, the heretics will be rewritten to accept our truth.
Zaeed might have a point. I still don't trust Legion's motives in this. Converting these guys aren't exactly turning it to Shepard's side, merely giving them back to the geth. Fuck that shit.
Why didn't you mention this before we came aboard?
We did not know the virus was complete. It is. It can be used against the true geth at any time. Our arrival was timely.
They're your people, Legion. You must have an opinion.
This is new data. We have not yet reached consensus. We will process as the mission proceeds.
If this were an organic race, it might be an ethical problem. Geth aren't like organic life. Don't apply our morality to them.
That is (EXTREME-ly) logical.
The geth says to kill the geth. That's all I need to hear.
No to species are identical. All must be judged on their own merits. Treating every species like one's own is racist. Even benign anthropomorphism.
The minds of both forms of life can be shaped. Organics require time and effort. With synthetics, replacement of a data file is the only requirement.
Right. Let's go.
Interrupting data streams will alert local network. We recommend preemptive strike against hardlink routers.
Yeah, what Legion means is if I step on the green lines, the whole pacified geths will activate and go hostile. What are they doing when they're not active?
They are plugged into a hub, just like a Borg.
Blow 'em up.
We should salvage these geth hubs. Looks like some good resources here.
Worth 3k a pop.
These are mobile platforms. Hardware. The crew is software. They are communing through the station's central computer.
I'm not sure I follow.
I can hear the Legion's barely audible digitized sigh.
The heretics connect to the main computer to exchange data memories and program updates. We gain complexity by linking together. To be isolated within a single platform is to be reduced. We see less. Comprehend less. It is quieter.
So if you exchange data - memories - how do you keep track of which ones are yours? How do you stay "you"?
There is only "we." We were created to share data among ourselves. The difference between geth is perspective. We are many eyes looking at the same things. One platform will see things another does not and will make different judgment.
If that's the case, is rewriting the heretics that big a deal? They're like a rogue limb of your own body. Rewriting them would be like reattaching a severed arm.
They decided to worship Sovereign. I don't think you're missing much.
Every point of view is useful, even those that are wrong - if we can judge why a wrong view was accepted. For example we have found the casual self-deceptions of organics useful in analyzing your thought processes.
Legion went into great details of the geth fooling an entire galaxy with a star cluster depicting a goddess when the dots are connected. The geth later observed that organics start to believe that there is a god. All skeptics were shot down and shunned, until the believers attempted a pilgrimage to investigate the star up close - the geth deactivated their optical illusion, the belief was instantly shattered, the tables turned on the believers instead.
Let's keep moving.
This research data only boost geth shield, and therefore affect Legion only. Useless.
Processors. Each contains thousands of geth.
You sure they can't see us?
They are no more aware of us than you are of cells in your bloodstreams.
This isn't like the other hubs we've seen here.
This is a database. It contains a portion of the heretics' accumulated memories. Wait. We discovered copies of our current patrol routes in this database. This suggests the heretics have runtimes within our networks.
We wouldn't be here if the heretics wanted to be friends with the geth. Why wouldn't they spy on you?
You do not understand. Organics do not know each other's minds Geth do. We are not suspicious. We accept each other. The heretics desired to leave. We understood their reasons. We allowed it. There was peace between us.
The heretics were biding their time. Waiting for an opportunity to attack you.
If they reached this judgment before they left us, we would have heard it in their thoughts. How could we have become so different? Why can we no longer understand each other?
The flip side of freedom is responsibility. They made a bad choice. Let them own it. You're not responsible for their decisions.
That argument is logical for an individual mind. We are not fully individuals. There are pieces of us in the heretics. One of those may be at fault. This topic is irrelevant. We must return to the mission.
Have you reached a decision about whether to rewrite the heretics or not?
We are still trying to build consensus. Some processes judge destruction preferable. Others rewrite.
Let's keep moving.
Yes. We will upload a copy of our runtime into the core. It will delete all copies of the virus. When complete, it will notify us.
We can override some of the station's internal systems to defend us. Are you ready to begin?
Start your upload, Legion. We'll defend this position.
The heretics will start pouring in all shapes and sizes. Thankfully there's plenty of turrents to override and help out. They'll converge on the two side stairways leading to our positions.
Zaeed's disruptor ammo is tearing them to bits.
Why are you letting me make this decision? They're your people.
We are conflicted. There is no consensus among our higher-order runtimess: 573 favor rewrite, and 571 favor destruction.
Right. Ask the guy who spent half of his life being shot by the geths, and even losing his comrades to the geth to decide the fate of the geth. Processing error. Reason 404, buddy.
There's no guarantee they won't come to the same conclusions again, is there? To worship the Reapers, and attack organics?
There is a non-zero probability of error.
Then blow them up. We have a chance to end this. I won't waste it.
Acknowledged.
Even the official missions have time limits. Fuck DLCs!
A geth prime lies at the end of the long corridor shootouts.
Strip the shield, then switch to pistols for better penetration.
Mission accomplished.
Now, wasn't that more interesting and content-wise, much better than Overlord?
Tell you what, Bioware, why don't you just get Shepard VA and Legion's VA into a DLC production. Have all geths speak in their own language and use Legion as translator? Let us explore their territory a bit, won't you?
That's it for companion's loyalty. We're heading to the finale on next update.