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Marked Effect (AFF Edition)	By : unrealuniverse Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 22185 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Mass Effect characters, species, locations and the universal setting are owned by Bioware and not myself. Any other brand names mentioned are property of their respective owners. This work is and always will be free for anyone to read.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Chapter 12 - Help
27th December 2016
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Sam woke up and looked around the room having no idea what time it was. He felt awake and well slept however and so decided to have a shower and find something to eat. He got up out of bed and made his way to the tiny shower room in the corner of his room. He approached the shower and turned it on to allow it to warm up as he removed his clothes. Sam then carefully put his foot into the spray of water. "Damn no hot water," he mumbled to himself as he wondered whether to risk frostbite or not. Reluctantly he turned off the shower and put is clothes for the day on. With that he walked out of his room and down the hallway to the lounge area. Emala was sat down digging into something, presumably food, but the single coloured mass on the plate was more wallpaper paste and sawdust than a full English.
"Good morning." Sam took a seat near Emala who looked up and nodded in greeting. "Where is everyone else?" Emala put down the spork on her plate.
"Kriana, Fosanta and Shiala are on the top deck trying to fix the communication and sensor arrays. Adastra and Kate are presumably still asleep and we are here." With that she picked up her spork and resumed eating.
"What is there for food around here?"
"I will help you out after I have finished as each person has their own allocation." Emala had seemingly decided to talk whilst eating this time.
"Fair enough. Did you get to talk to Kate last night?" She suddenly seemed to have a fascination with the bland mush on her plate.
"No. I am afraid I might have offended her."
"Emala. I doubt that you have, you just need to talk."
"How would you know?" Emala knew exactly where she was steering this conversation.
"I accidently walked in on Adastra back on Earth." Sam felt his face turning red yet again. "Surely your encounter could not be more awkward than that Emala?"
"Morning. It was not, no apology needed Emala. You did what Sam?" Kate said as she walked towards the tables knowing that something like this was not entirely unexpected.
"Great, this could not get any worse." Sam put his red face in his hands, hoping he would disappear.
"You. You saw Adastra? Her body? With nothing on?" A sense of disbelief and shock seemed to overcome Emala.
"Yes." Sam too embarrassed to say anything else.
"That is a big problem?" Kate asked as if she were trying to kill Sam with the embarrassment. Emala fortunately saved Sam from saying anything.
"Kate." Emala looked around to see if there is anyone else around but there was not. "No other Asari, as far as I can find out, has natural markings anywhere else on their body other than the face. Adastra has some on her hands especially her left. I presume there are also some on her body." Emala shifted a little as if she was under intense scrutiny and lowered her voice slightly. "Rumour has it that no one alive can remember ever seeing the markings on her body. Her parents could not and the last person who did see them disappeared." With that Kate nearly dropped through the floor and Sam suddenly felt like the luckiest and unluckiest person in the whole galaxy. He just held onto the small thread of hope that it was rumour and possibly fabricated.
"Disappeared, I heard it was suicide." A calm voice distinctly like Adastra's came from down the corridor severing the thread of hope Sam was clinging to and sending chills coursing through his body. "Anyway, is it ok to have a shower Sam?"
"Yes," was all that Sam could get out while feeling strangled by dread.
"Thank you." The sound of his bedroom door shutting echoed slightly down the hallway.
"I, I had no idea." Kate's mind began to boggle at how big this problem was. It certainly put yesterday's accident with Emala into the insignificant category. Kate put her arm around Sam for support knowing he was going to need it.
"I think you can see now why I am shocked." Emala added after a long pause where none of them said anything.
"Yes." Sam seemed to be lost in his own world, now that reality felt as if it was collapsing.
It was only five minutes before Adastra, who was looking bluer than ever, probably from the cold shower, walked up to the seating. She leaned over to Sam's ear and whispered in English, "You are safe." Adastra then moved to the empty seat near him and sat down. "Morning everyone."
"Morning Adastra." Emala said in a cheery manner, seemingly trying to stay on her good side.
"As you may have all guessed by now I was listening in on your conversation this morning. Sam, could I have a talk with you privately?" There was no real expression in Adastra's voice or face. Emala and Kate looked up, the look of shock and disbelief on their faces as Sam reluctantly stood and followed Adastra to her room.
-----
Sam sat on Adastra's bed as the door closed locking as it did so. He wondered what was going to happen; on the one hand she had this rumour which had scared them all to death, and to which Adastra played to. On the other hand she said he was safe.
"Sam." Adastra saw no response from Sam as his mind kept spinning the two possibilities around. "Sam!" With that he looked up. Adastra started anxiously pacing the room.
"This should not have happened." Adastra seemed to be conflicted internally and with that Sam could begin to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Adastra sat down after a few more paces in her office chair before taking a deep breath. "I am going to be honest with you Sam." A small pause as if she was still in two minds about whether to talk or not. "The rumours are true, everyone else who knows does not remember and it was suicide for the last." With that a couple of tears rolled down her face. "I did not want to kill her as she was important to the Asari community. I just intended to give her a strong message as an example to others. I think the memory holes drove her insane."
"So that makes me the next unlucky candidate?" Sam stated with a voice of resignation.
Adastra wiped her eyes before moving from her chair to sit next to Sam on the bed before putting an arm around him. "No Sam..." Sam did not move with the touch or the words as he was much too anxious about what may happen. "Having that rumour has made my life both better and worse. It has allowed me for years to not worry about anyone trying to catch a glimpse of my body, but it has also made people scared. This is the first decent job I have had in years, and yet everyone, even Kriana is a little edgy around me."
"Kriana is scared of you?" Sam wondered how deep he could dig the hole before it got filled in.
"Yes, I think she thinks I could not do any damage to her mind, which I know to be untrue, but that Emala would be a likely alternative target. I also have a feeling Shiala has been briefed to shoot me if I try anything."
"Does this count as anything?" Adastra dropped her head.
"I am assuming the worst Sam."
-----
"Mother we have a problem, it is about Adastra." Emala quickly reeled off her tongue as soon as the lift doors opened.
"What about her, no one has..."
"Sam has!" Kriana's face turned slightly greyer than its usual dusty blue.
"Where are they?" She asked as if she was off to arrest a criminal.
"In her room."
"Shiala with me." Shiala joined Kriana and Emala in the lift as it descended a floor.
"Kriana, I personally do not think there is a problem." Shiala stated as a matter of fact.
"How can you say something like that, She has been known to be a ruthless, cold and calculating monster when triggered. I do not want that happening. Got it?" Kriana's voice was a little sharp in response to Shiala.
"Yes Captain." Shiala internally resigned herself to playing the role of captain's doormat for a couple of hours.
The doors of the lift opened and the three occupants exited. "Emala stay on the seats." Emala knew better than to say anything when Kriana was in a mood like this and so just does as Kirana had asked of her. Shiala and Kriana walked down the hallway, Kriana with a sense of purpose, quickly getting to Adastra's room.
"Adastra open the door." Kriana announceed through the door intercom.
"I can only see one way out of this." Sam turned to Adastra who looked worse than he had earlier. "Do you trust me?" Adastra managed a small smile and a small nod before she buried her head in her hands.
"Hello Kriana." Sam replied back through the intercom.
"Let us in Sam, we can help."
"Kriana. It is a friendly talk; you would be of no help."
"Do you know what she did with everyone else? Including her parents?"
"Every detail. What proof would you need to show that it is only me that is in possible danger? As far as I can gather only people who have seen her are at risk. No one on this crew besides myself has done that."
"It is the potential Sam."
"I am assuming that Shiala has said to you that it would not be a problem?" Sam was now banking on the fact that Shiala seemed to have a rough idea what was happening.
"That is not the point." With that Sam banged his head against the door as he may as well had been taking to the wall. The knock to the head did however seem to dislodge an idea from his mind.
"Adastra, can you strip and pull the bed sheets over you? I promise not to look."
"Ok, I hope whatever you are thinking works." With that she did as Sam suggested, all the time Sam looked at the corner of the room. "Done."
"Kriana, I am going to open the door in a few seconds. Just as a warning it will not be what you expect." Sam then set the lock on a disengage timer.
"Adastra, can I get into the bed under the covers with you?" Adastra nodded with a slight confused expression on her face. Sam, without looking back, slid in so that he was between Adastra and the door. He just managed to get the covers over him as the door unlocked. Kriana almost came running in with Shiala less desperate.
"Get out of the bed Sam!" Kriana was clearly in a rage haze. Shiala stood just behind Kriana and a small smile crept on to her face.
"You really want me to do that?" Sam nodded towards the pile of clothes neatly deposited on the chair. Adastra had a dark, upset expression on her face. Shiala's smile grew with this as she knew it was a stalemate. If either of them were moved they were also marked as potential targets.
"They were placed there, Shiala get Sam out of here?" When no movement occurred she turned to face Shiala. "What are you smiling for?"
"They have every reason not to lie. If you are to do anything you have to do it yourself. You are not in danger yet so I will wait outside." With that Shiala turned and began to walk towards the door.
"You cannot do this Shiala, you were brought in exactly for this situation." The stern tone in her voice was not quite enough to get to Shiala who only paused for a second in the doorway.
"Sam is not covered in my contract to be protected." With that she walked out, the door shutting behind her.
"I will have to sort this out myself then." Kriana stated out loud to the door.
-----
Shiala walked to the seating area and sat down opposite Kate and Emala who had their arms around each other. They both looked up when Shiala came back.
"Is Sam going to be ok?" Kate did not bother using the Asari language as she wished to get her feelings out.
"I assume he is ok at the moment given he is lying next to a naked Adastra. The biggest problem is Kriana though." Shiala said as she looked towards the other two.
"He is what?" Emala wondered if Sam had a death wish.
"Adastra was covered by the bed sheets and so I could not tell if she was naked or not, although I assumed so as her clothes were on a chair." Shiala was trying her best to give as much detail as possible. "It does mean, if she is lacking clothes, that if either of them are pulled from the bed that the person pulling gets a good look."
"Kriana is still in there?" Emala seemed to be clearly worrying about her mother now.
"Hopefully she will come to the same conclusion I did and leave them to work it out, however that may end." Shiala knew that she would not drive Sam to suicide but removal of the memory was still a possibility.
"How can you say that?" Kate still using English.
"I think Adastra's trigger is not her markings but... Oh..." Shiala quickly got up from the table before jogging down the corridor.
-----
"Kriana, if you leave me with Sam everything will be fine." Adastra had no hate but no real warmth to her voice.
"You know I cannot let you do this and ruin my reputation Adastra. Sam. Get out of here or I will drag you out." Kriana suddenly seemed to express an evil tone in her rage.
"Kriana, you are not special." Adastra with no emotion stated clearly. With that both of them could see a blue glow which started to gather around her. The door to the room suddenly opened and Kriana was pulled from the room with biotics. The door closed soon after her flying exit.
-----
Kriana was knocked out as she hit the wall on the opposite side of the corridor. Emala and Kate came running up to see what the noise was. They both saw the door lock out of the corner of their eyes but Sam was not the one who was immediately on both of their minds.
"Goddess. What happened?" Emala asked as she knelt down beside Kriana.
"I protected her from doing something she would regret, a bruised ego and a headache is better than inciting violence." Shiala seemed to wish to show her philosophical side. "We should get her to her bed but I am going to keep her in her room until we reach the Citadel."
"Why are you keeping her in her room?" Kate asked, again in English, obviously she had forgotten that Emala could not speak a word of it.
"She is safer there. Fosanta and myself will take turns but I need your and Emala's help to keep her there as I can see her being rather upset when she comes around."
-----
"Sam, lock the door." Adastra whispered in Sam's ear. Sam got up and locked the door; he looked around to see Adastra had sat up on the bed with sheet around her from the neck down. Adastra motioned him to sit next to her.
"Sam, Could I ask something?" Her voice sounded more caring and warm again. Sam noticed this small difference and suddenly felt happier.
"Sure."
"I have to keep the reputation Sam. Sorry." Sam's heart re-sank. "But, I would like to help you create a scrambled memory in your mind, one that is semi-hidden. It would make remembering specifics without concentrating difficult, hence giving the illusion of your memory being wiped but without it being." Adastra looked at Sam with a caring smile and hoped that she would not be forced to wipe his memory.
"I can see why you would like to keep the reputation. It sounds like you are going out of your way to help me though?" Sam wondered why he was so special. Adastra looked pained at that statement before relenting and letting out a sigh.
"There is an Asari on the Citadel who is known for helping people with problems. She was deemed the only one that could help me and so was forced to meet me and help." Adastra paused and Sam put his arm around her. "She took one look through my notes, and realising that she could not meld without seeing me refused to help. Her words were `I feel you are stronger than even I. You will however one day meet someone who can help. I apologise for not being more helpful to you`." With that Sam put two and two together.
"You think???" The confused tone to his question hid his surprise quite effectively. Adastra got up off the bed and dropped the sheet from around her as she walked towards the chair which had her clothes on. Sam was too shocked to turn around or even look away from the wonderful sight in front of him. "Yes. This is not exactly comfortable after decades of hiding, but I do not feel threatened. I just hope that you do not feel disappointed if I do not turn around yet though." Adastra just stood there facing away from Sam waiting for a response.
"I understand Adastra. Take all the time you need." Sam knew all to well how hard it was to recover from yourself even if he was a little disappointed at only getting half a look again.
"Thank you Sam." With that Adastra started putting her clothes back on. Once done, she turned around and sat back down next to him. "I need to mention that you may feel some nervous system instability for a while after this. I will however try and keep any headaches to a minimum. Is that ok Sam?" Sam did not see a whole lot of choice but he did trust Adastra in an odd way.
"Yes. It is the headaches that bother me more." Adastra gave him a smile before hugging him for a few moments.
"Get yourself comfortable and relax." Sam shuffled up into the corner of the bed so his back was against the corner of the room. "Close your eyes. Find that link you have held previously that exists between you and I. Pull it towards you. Embrace eternity."
-----
Adastra walked into the now familiar library but it seemed less dingy than it had been previously. "Hello Adastra." The voice was definitely Sam but it was not immediately obvious where from given the room allowed quite an echo. Adastra looked around, and then up to see Sam at the top of some ladders changing the bulb in a light fitting. "I thought it was time I replaced the bulbs given I seem to be spending time in here now."
Adastra laughed, "Sorry about making you aware of yourself Sam. Do you have a space around here that I can drop things into?" Sam climbed down the ladder.
"Follow me." The pair of them went down several isles to stumble across an empty shelf in the middle of rows and rows of full ones. "I have not yet found a use for this shelf as everything already has somewhere else to go and I have never felt it right to move anything here. It is yours if it would suffice." Adastra studied it for a few seconds. It was only a small space but would not be suspicious if someone went searching as there were plenty of gaps elsewhere.
"It would be perfect for the job. Could you take me to where you have stored me?" Sam smiled.
"That didn't quite sound right did it? This way." Adastra followed laughing a little.
"Not really, but you could not think of a better way to say it." Sam nodded but was curious as to why Adastra was not doing all the running around.
"Is there a reason that I'm running around this time and not you?"
"It gives you less of a headache if you do the work." The pair walked around a couple more corners.
"This is everything from Christmas day and today Adastra." Sam pointed to a set of shelves.
"Could you hand me the one that covers when I got undressed Sam?" Sam was a little puzzled as to why but he quickly plucked the book out of the shelf and handed it to Adastra who quickly read through it. "You can keep that one here, along with the explanations that I gave. Only the ones with my markings I would like you to move." Sam carefully worked through all the books that could contain Adastra's markings and ended up with only four books.
"This is all of them. Back to the shelves?"
"No, to the desk first." They were not too far from there but Sam was feeling a little left out.
"Are you being deliberately vague Adastra?" She paused and then continued.
"No I need to do something with these books." Sam seemed a little confused.
"Like?" They had got to the front desk by now.
"Could I take the books off you for a minute, I'll be right back." With that Adastra took the books out of the door.
The fire was a warming flicker and actually added a bit of warmth back into the room after the dim lighting had been replaced. "I need to put a wooden floor in here, would make it feel warmer than this stone one." Sam mused to himself to pass the time. Adastra however overheard what he said.
"I agree wood would be better. Anyway here are your new books." Adastra handed four of the eight books that were in her arms to Sam before tossing the rest on the fire. The fire changed from a gentle orange flicker to a roaring yellow as the books burned vigorously.
"What have you just done?"
"If you look inside the books you will notice that that the pages are out of order even though the page numbers are sequential. Since we experienced the event then we know the correct order the pages should be in but anyone else wouldn't. Short of copying your whole mind it would be too difficult to work out the correct order quickly."
"That sort of makes sense." Adastra gave Sam a hug which was a little awkward around the books in his arms.
"I will leave you to put these on that shelf we picked. I cannot thank you enough for this." With that Adastra left the library and Sam's mind.
-----
Sam opened his eyes to find Adastra cross legged in front of him. "How do you feel Sam?" Sam looked around as if his eyes were looking inside his head trying to find something.
"The headache is much better than previous melds." Sam's stomach rumbled in agreement. "Want to get some breakfast?" Adastra nodded as she got up off the bed. She then approached the sheet that was on the bedroom floor before picking it up and throwing it back where it belonged. Sam shuffled to the edge of the bed and tried to stand but he found his legs are not quite doing what he thought.
"I did warn you about that Sam. You might be like this for an hour or two." With that Adastra put her arm under Sam's and helped him up. He was not quite dead weight but he was not exactly helping himself along. Adastra with her free hand unlocked the door and then opened it.
"What have you done Adastra?" The slight fear in Shiala's stomach just about showed through her usually friendly expression on her face.
"I believe you already know." Adastra's voice was one of warmth and wisdom which only made everything seem worse than it was.
"Sam!" Kate saw Sam and looked at Adastra with a cold stare. "What did you do to him?"
"You have seen Sam like this before remember." Adastra deftly avoided the question but she felt that it was rhetorical anyway.
"Kate, I am fine other than this neural instability, honest. I just want breakfast."
"Goddess. The rumours were true then." Fosanta seemed shocked as she stood in the hallway, half way between Sam and the seating area. The pair started walking towards her and she started walking backwards as if they had some kind of disease.
"Fosanta, there is absolutely nothing for you to be scared of." Sam amused at the actions of the Asari.
"Look what has happened to you Sam." Fosanta was still walking backwards.
"A bit of temporary neural instability, to be fair it is quite an improvement over the bad headaches I got previously." Fosanta was a bit puzzled by that given a headache would be worse if a memory had been taken forcefully. She did not dare ask how she had made Sam remove his own thoughts. With that she turned around and at a quick pace went to the toilets.
Adastra carefully placed Sam on a seat before preparing a meal for them both. As the pair of them started digging in to their meal, Sam missing his mouth a few times before figuring out how to control his arm, Emala came out of Kriana's room and saw the two of them.
"Did it happen?" Emala asked Kate and Shiala who were in the corridor with a dread in the pit of her stomach. The two of them just turned their heads and nodded.
Sam was not particularly bothered that the food looked like mashed up cardboard, its sweet Weetabix taste wasn't bad and he probably would have eaten anything since he was hungry.
Shiala, Kate and Emala just watched on as Adastra cleared both of their plates away before helping Sam up to walk to the lift. Kate just put her head in her hands, the fear and the confusion all hitting at once now the threat was reduced. Shiala put an arm around Kate.
"Kate, go and have a sit down. It has been a long morning. I am sure Fosanta will get you something to eat when she gets back." Kate looked to Shiala and nodded before going to her room.
-----
Adastra and Sam spent the next three hours re-wiring the main plasma thruster and electrolysis system with the cable Sam had brought along. He was struggling with dexterity at first so he cut the cable to length and Adastra fitted it.
"This is the last piece Sam; it looks like Fosanta had to vent engineering last night to stop this old wire from burning up." Adastra held up a single mass of grey plastic covered cable which had large amounts of black charring on. Sam looked up at the cable but he had something on his mind.
"Would you mind if I went back up for a drink and to try and smooth things over with everyone." Adastra threw the cable to one side and smiled at Sam.
"I will give you twenty minutes to talk and then I will join you for a drink. Just be careful when you are walking." Sam nodded as Adastra went back to pulling all the burnt cable out of the ducting. Sam headed gingerly towards the lift trying not to fall or walk into anything.
-----
"She does not say much does she?" Fosanta voiced her observations to Emala after she had exited Kate's room from dropping off her breakfast.
"I think she is uncomfortable with our language as I have heard her talking, seemingly at length in her own language." Emala looked towards Shiala for a confirmation.
"Yes, although I just think she needs a little help."
"Who needs help?" Sam was approaching the two Asari and seemed to be trying hard to walk in a reasonably straight line down the hallway.
"Sam. What are you doing up here?" Emala did not seem all too pleased for some reason.
"You have fifteen minutes to ask any questions you wish before Adastra comes back up. I am guessing that you both have some?" Sam stated as if he had been told what to say prior to his arrival. It was however just that he was concentrating on walking rather than talking.
"Was she really naked in the bed Sam?" Shiala wanted to ensure that she had done the right thing by dragging Kriana out of the room.
"Yes Shiala." Sam leaned up against the wall to hold himself up. "It was my idea; she seriously thought you would kill her."
"I am on a contract to protect the crew and one of the clauses is about Adastra. It says nothing about visitors to the ship though, so I would not unless she was going to hurt one of the crew." Shiala tried her best to explain without making Sam feel unprotected.
"You suggested her to strip in the same room as yourself?" Emala still seemed to have doubts as to whether Sam was an idiot or not.
"Yes Emala. She must have got dressed too." Sam looked towards the ceiling as he attempted to remember anything and coming up with nothing solid.
"You cannot remember?" Fosanta jumped in before Emala and got a glare from the younger Asari for steeling her words.
"I am not sure Fosanta. All I know for definite is that she had a bed sheet around her while she was sat next to me. The next thing I can remember is her sitting clothed next to me. The sheet was on the floor in the middle of the room just before we left." Sam wondered if it was because the memory was scrambled that he had no solid recollection.
"Sam, why are you taking all these risks?" Kate had now heard the commotion outside and come to see what was happening. Of course she had used English yet again.
"They do not feel like risks Kate." Sam looked at everyone. "Since the only person that is not here is Kriana then I may as well say what I have on my mind. Adastra is really feeling the mistrust from you all. If everyone could show her that there are no hard feelings and treat her as you always have she would be happier." Sam looked at the sea of faces all of which seemed to be more interested in an invisible ant on the floor. "Does anyone want to join me for a drink?"
"No Sam, I am going to sit with Kriana." Emala looked slightly worried as she remembered her mother. She therefore quickly went back into their room.
"Sorry Sam, perhaps later." Shiala seemed to still be determined to try and keep Kriana in her room.
"I think I will." Sam was a little intrigued at Fosanta accepting but he guessed she only knew half of what happened.
"Kate?" Sam hoped that she would make an effort, if not for Adastra for him. Kate sighed.
"Ok." Sam turned around before collapsing on to the floor as he forgot about having to concentrate to stay stood up.
"Great. Could some one kindly help me up?" Fosanta helped him to his feet as Kate seemed to freeze; she also gave him someone to lean on as the three of them made their way to the seats. Sam sat down on one side of the table, Fosanta and Kate on the other.
"I get the feeling both of you still have questions. I will do my best to answer them." Fosanta dug up for the courage to ask her burning question.
"Sam, forceful melding gives great pain and yet you say you have none, how?"
"I let her remove it." Fosanta rose what would account for eyebrows. Sam saw that she needed a longer explanation to be satisfied. "The situation was an accident with no malicious intent behind it. We agreed neither of us needed to get hurt." Fosanta wondered if Adastra was as bad a person as the rumours suggested.
"You willingly let Adastra mess with your mind?" Kate seemed to be feeling more comfortable now she was back in full English mode.
"She told me what to do and under her guidance I did it. So no it is not really messing." Sam tried his best to answer but he got the feeling that he could be making more questions than he could provide answers for.
"Kate. If you are uncomfortable speaking Asari then could I at least learn your language? It is a bit uncomfortable not knowing what you are saying." Sam saw this as a perfect time to get his oar in.
"You could do with being comfortable speaking Asari Kate. I will drop the bet this time as it will be helpful to you."
"I could teach you Kate, if you did not want Fosanta to do so." Adastra said aloud as she walked across to the kitchen area from the toilets. Sam had no idea how long she had been on this deck.
"I think it is a bit unfair to take advantage of people fearing you Adastra." Sam shouted over as Kate turned to Fosanta
"After a drink?" Fosanta smiled
"That is fine Kate."
-----
It was only a couple of minutes before Adastra brought four drinks to the table and sat next to Sam. Kate and Fosanta suddenly became a touch uncomfortable, shifting in their seats, which made Adastra's smile dissipate as she started studying the table top. Sam put his arm around Adastra. "Adastra and I have this morning been working on repairing the ship. I was not exactly in a good state but I still helped. We are trying to make an effort to be normal, could you two do the same, at least until we have the ship repaired?"
"I will try Sam. Sorry Adastra, the fear tears at me even though I know I have nothing to worry about."
The three of them then turn to Kate who felt as if she was being put on the spot a little. "You scare me with your potential Adastra but I will trust you to use it only when you absolutely have to." Adastra nodded to Kate as a slight smile returned to her face.
"Could you two carry on fixing the communications array after you are finished with everything else?" Sam wanted to try to get the ship back to something approaching normal so that they could eventually leave. Both of individuals opposite him nodded as Adastra helped Sam up and the two of them head to the lift. Kate finished her drink before becoming a little apprehensive about what that signalled.
"Kate, I am guessing from you looking a little nervous that Adastra and Shiala have frightened you a little."
"You all frighten me."
"I would ask why but I know you are uncomfortable with the language. I am guessing you would rather be somewhere a little private?"
"Yes." The two of them got up from the table and Fosanta followed Kate to her room. The pair of them gave a nod to Shiala before they entered Kate's room. Fosanta locked the door to the room after she had entered.
"I would recommend that you find somewhere comfortable to sit Kate." Kate decided to sit down cross legged on the bed. "I am guessing you have done this before?" Kate nodded but tried not to remember the pain from last time. Fosanta sat down on the edge of the bed near Kate but gave her plenty of personal space. "It will be easier this time Kate. Are you happy to carry on?" Kate reluctantly nodded. "Close your eyes and try to clear your head Kate. When you have a blank void try to imagine a cluster of billions of dots, each one connected to every other. Instinctively try and pull one of those dots closer. Embrace eternity."
-----
Kate shook her head as the corridor reappeared in front of her like last time. "This is your mind Kate." Kate turned around to find the source of the voice only to find Fosanta standing behind her. "Yes I am in your mind. Could you show me where the Asari language is kept?"
'I would say follow me but you do not know English.' Kate thought to herself.
"I will happily follow you Kate." Fosanta said with a smile on her face.
"You can read my mind?" Kate seemed a little bemused at that thought.
"Kate it would be pointless if I could not. I must point out that I can only understand English until we break the connection as it is your mind that is processing the data. Could you show me where Asari is kept?" Kate seemed a little shaken but was happy enough to walk down the corridor to the fifth door on the right. She stood outside and gestured Fosanta to enter. Fosanta walked in before opening a drawer on the first filing cabinet nearest the door. She then began to dig through all the papers contained within. "Well this is why you are struggling." Fosanta pulled most of the drawer's contents out as one large pile and places it on top of the filing cabinet. She then looks inside the next drawer down and does the same to that drawer's contents.
"What are you doing?"
"Most people move and separate the information to suit their natural layout. You have seemingly ignored doing that and just have it as a giant block of data which is not easy to find anything in. Could I ask if it was just Asari that you were given or did you get lots of other information?"
"I got more than just the language; it has taken me a long time to work out what though. Why do you ask?"
"I was just confused as to why there has been so little effort applied to trying to understand the data. Having a lot of other information to process would account for that. Your mind was overloaded if you will." Fosanta spoke as she filed away the papers in roughly the right logical order. "I do apologise if some of this is not in the correct place but you should naturally sort out any mistakes quite quickly."
"Sam said he taught Adastra and Shiala English. How that works I do not know but would you like to do the same?" Fosanta stopped before looking around to Kate standing in the doorway, a warm smile on her face.
"I would greatly appreciate that Kate." Fosanta after a couple of moments got back to finishing off filing the last of the papers. "I am assuming that English is in a separate room?" Fosanta put the last of the papers back before closing the drawer with a thud and looking towards the human.
"It is next door." Fosanta gave Kate a smile before she followed her next door. The two of them walked into the room and Fosanta began to logically work through the filling cabinets one at a time. "So this is it?" Kate seemed surprised by the lack of much happening
"Well this gives me the information I need to process the language Kate. If I take my time I can also work out the grammatical rules. Unfortunately this gives me very little idea how to pronounce any of the words, as you no doubt know from trying to speak Asari. I do apologise in advance for mistakes but I am hoping not to use it as you really need to use Asari almost exclusively."
"So it is basically giving you a dictionary and the grammatical rules then letting you get on with working out the rest?"
"There are a few other bits of information but what you say is essentially true. It is not a way to learn something in five minutes. You still need to do some work yourself and get plenty of practice."
"How will you get the practice if you want me to concentrate on speaking Asari?"
"I sleep with Shiala Kate. I am sure that she would appreciate having a bit of a talk before bed." Fosanta closed the last drawer. "I really appreciate you letting me learn English Kate. I also hope you find Asari easier to use now. You may find you have a headache when I break the connection as that is mostly from me moving data around. Think of it as the brain complaining about being confused."
"As long as the headache is not as bad as was last time." Fosanta left the side room before Kate to make her way towards the door at the end of the corridor.
"There is only one way to find out." Fosanta walked through the door and Kate's mind faded to black.
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"Kate. I would recommend you lying down for a while if your headache is bad." Kate opened her eyes with the revelation that the headache was not light sensitive this time but it was still a fairly annoying, numb pain.
"I am sure that I will be fine, as long as you do not need me to think too much. What did Sam and Adastra tell us to do?" Kate asked in Asari at least as she rubbed her head.
"We need to attempt to fix the communications array fully, or at least enough to get us back to the Citadel anyway. If you are well enough to pass me things that I may need then I would appreciate your help."
"I think I can manage that." Fosanta stood up from the bed with a smile on her face. Kate carefully shuffled to the side of the bed before pushing herself upright. She manages to stay upright even if she looked rather imbalanced. Fosanta then put her arm around Kate to help her to walk down the corridor and into the lift.
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Notes.
Certainly an interesting start to the first day on-board a slightly broken spaceship.
Yes another fairly lengthy chapter (for now) but no more cliff-hangers I promise.
I hope everyone is enjoying this story up to now. Keep checking back as new chapters are going to keep being added quickly.
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Marked Effect (AFF Edition)