Jenkins

“Why exactly are you wasting time shopping for a biotic amp you do not require.”

For an AI that resented organics and had little interest in dealing with us, Beta sure seemed to never shut up. It had only been 5 minutes since he was installed in my omni tool, and in that time his chattering in my ear has been non-stop. I was interested in having open communications with him initially, but his insistent posturing at all times was beginning to get old fast. It was only so many times he could insist how little interest he had in my affairs before immediately questioning what I was doing and why. Damn Tsundere robot.

“Because, It isn’t for me to use, it's for research purposes. Kaidan is stuck with an L2 implant that gives him migraines. I’ve been trying to find a solution.” I answered him out loud, shopping while on a comm call wasn’t unusual in any society. Even if a loud conversation could be considered rude to some, the alien Hanar that ran the shop was not included in that list.

“Ah I see, and you wish to improve your allies combat effectiveness to better ensure your own survival capabilities. This does make some sense then, yes.” I shook my head as the practical, and dickish, AI completely misunderstands my motivations once again.

“No. Kaidan is my friend, and he’s in pain. It’s normal to try and alleviate a friend's pain if possible. It’s not because he’ll be better at fighting, frankly the studies I’ve done haven’t shown a solution that wouldn’t make him weaker, or be any safer than the standard retrofit surgery. Which he made clear he wouldn’t accept if that were the case.”

“Ah, so organics frame their own motivations as selfless while the subject responsible for the arrangement is obligated to ensure the deal is still mutually beneficial through the nebulous concept of friendship? Sounds convoluted, would it not be simpler to engage all transactions without these ideas clouding perceptions? It’s far easier if the terms and benefits of the arrangement are clear from the outset.”

“Beta, I’m not going to spend 30 minutes trying to explain to you the concept of friendship and generosity okay. Humans, along with many organics, are social animals. The point of the transaction called friendship is companionship. Think of it like the Geth’s AI systems, they are better at processing information and functioning in groups. Humans are happier and healthier when they are able to gather in groups with their peers.” Giving Beta something to think about was usually enough to shut him up for a small length of time. I took the opportunity to purchase a Solaris amp, they were made by Aldrin labs, a human company that supplied certain products to the Alliance military. It would serve as a good baseline to take apart. Seeing how the amp behaved alongside and in contrast to the implant would be beneficial to my studies.

“Ah, so the transaction is done in benefit of maintaining the ‘friendship’ as opposed to prioritizing more direct benefits. The benefits are merely a mutual bonus to the initial agreement.” Oh Beta, he actually sounded proud of coming to that conclusion. I’d admit it was closer, but still missed the point of the situation at hand. I finished paying and paid a small fee to have my purchased goods shipped by drone to the Normandy. Convenience at its peak. I kept talking with Beta as I walked away from the markets following the path to the left and away from the direction I came. If this Commander Shepard followed the plot like a completionist the were likely at the Asari Consort* currently, they would swing through the shop before making their way to the Tower elevator, and I’d rather get there before them.

“Beta you're getting closer, but It’s flawed to think of friendship as a transaction. It’s likely the closest comparison you have, but the idea is you simply enjoy the person's company, and as a consequence you want to help and be close to them. You don’t even think of things like personal benefit, and sometimes the things you do for them could be a detriment to yourself. But you do it because in the end they would do the same for you.”

“It sounds like you are just describing a bad transaction to me.”

“Then I don’t know man, think of it like the thing you said if that’s easier. I’m going to give myself a migraine trying to explain it to you.”

“And yet you try explaining it anyway. In spite of the personal annoyance or frustration it causes you… Is this an act of friendship Jenkins?” Holy shit. He’s actually getting there. 5 minutes of concentrated effort and he’s actually making progress in understanding.

“Yes! Yes exactly that it’s an act of friendship. I would like us to be friends, so I’m making an effort to explain human thinking and understanding to you, even if it can be frustrating.”

“I see.”

“...”

“...”

“Aren’t you going to say thank you?”

“Why?”

“Because I said and have been doing something kind, it’s polite to thank someone when they do something kind for you.”

“But you were doing it because you wish to develop a friendship with me. That’s an entirely selfish motivation, and one I do not share. Why would I thank you for it?” And we were back to square one. God damn this robot.

“Right. Whatever man. Why don’t you run personal diagnostics or something and quit asking me 800 questions if that's the case then. I’d love to actually take in the view of the Citadel for a bit.” I did my best to not be annoyed, and found a seat at a bench.

“As you wish.”

It was on the large open patio in front of the elevator to the Tower. Looking at the surroundings there were many flower pots placed around, filled with green shrubbery that reminded me of earth, but also a half dozen alien plants that stood out. Looking ahead I could see the river that flowed through the entire center of the Presidium, watching as it flowed up the curve of the ring and out of sight was a little trippy, but beautiful. It was almost 10 minutes I just sat in the quiet, thinking to myself, Beta was silent for pretty much the whole time, only interrupting towards the end to ask a question.

“Jenkins. You mentioned earlier you were traveling with a soon to be Spectre. Spectre selection progress is secretive, and often only known to the individuals that make the recommendation and the council themselves. How do you know they are going to be a Spectre?”

“The same way I know that there is a threat coming that will nearly destroy the galaxy.”

“Ah, the way you refuse to elaborate on or explain?” His voice sounded annoyed, a lack of information was probably extremely frustrating to the machine.

“That’s the one.”

“Why exactly do you refuse to elaborate?” More annoyance at my uncaring response.

“Because. I have no current way to provide you with evidence that any of what I say is true, and my reason how I know would sound insane to anyone who heard it. Even more so to someone of your more… scientific nature.” I looked around carefully, not wanting to say the word synthetic or AI outloud.

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“So I am supposed to take you at your word that you are not just a crazy man who got lucky discovering me and made up an excuse to get his hands on a personal, illegal AI.”

“For the moment, although I will be able to prove it to you given time. Once you believe I do know what’s coming, then I will explain how I know it. From there you can make your own decision on if you want to continue traveling with me. I’m sure by now you noticed a file saved to my omni tool, probably read it?”

“...” His silence was damning, of course I expected him to go through every single file and piece of information he had access to. Likely looking if there was a way off of the device he could use, but also to satiate curiosity once he realized he was properly isolated.

“That’s my proof.”

“It’s just a bunch of descriptions of events. A C-Sec Turian named Garrus Vakarian will be frustrated that he’s being told to stop investigating into Saren, and will tell the group he found nothing, but believes he’s hiding something. He will wish the group luck, before eventually quitting to join the Crew on their journey to stop Saren. It’s just dozens of entries describing different people and events. A Quarian, Tali’Zorah. A Krogan, Urdnot Wrex. An Asari, Liara T’soni. Just dozens of names and events surrounding the individuals mentioned. How is that proof of anything.” It’s hard to say the robot ‘sounded’ like anything. A mechanical tone and voice, with online simulated emotional variations could make it tough to know what Beta was thinking. Still in the case it was pretty easy to hear that he was dismissive of my log, not that I could blame him.

“Beta, give it time, and you will understand. The people described there we haven’t met yet, and the events around them haven’t occurred. When you see things written well in advance occur for real, you’ll understand that I do in fact know what’s coming. And then I’ll explain to you how. Just have some faith, you’ll see.”

“Whatever you say Jenkins. I calculate a 96% probability you are insane, with a 3.9% chance you are actively deceptive.”

“.1% chance I’m telling the truth? Higher than I expected.” I smirk a little laughing at the little robot's calculations. Of course I appear insane. Just wait, the next couple hours were going to switch those numbers in my favor.

“I rounded up since you humans seem to enjoy round numbers. The odds are much, much lower.”

“Noted.” I shook my head as the machine was seemingly finished with its speech. While it was a little annoying to have this debbie downer in my ear constantly, I was hoping it would be worth the annoyance. Looking at my surroundings I noticed a familiar sight as I could see Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan, approaching from the same path I had taken. They passed the markets, possibly shopping, possibly because they visited the Consort. Only asking would confirm I suppose.

“Beta, I’m taking out my ear piece, those three are my companions, you can keep scanning and listening but no talking until we are alone. And when we meet with the council stop scanning. It’s likely they would detect anything active like that.” I don’t bother waiting for a response, removing and sliding the earpiece into the storage space on the back of my armor.

“Hey Jenkins, find anything interesting while shopping?” Ashley spoke first as the group approached.

“Yeah actually, I found a biotic amp I wanted to take apart so I had that sent back to the ship. Imagine if I could find an upgrade similar to what I pulled off with the omni tool.” I gave wink to Shepard on that line, getting a smirk in response, although Ashley still looked confused.

“Omni tool upgrade? What do you mean?” Oh shit. In the panic that was getting Shepard back aboard the Normandy, and the stress of hoping she’d pull through I totally forgot about hooking Ashley up with one of the upgraded combat modals. Thankfully I had a spare in my pack thanks to having to install Beta on my personal model.

“Oh man sorry Ashley, we totally forgot to set you up with everything going on. Here this is what we are talking about.” I handed her the upgrade I had been using before, and pointed out where to plug it into her device.

“I don’t notice any changes.” She still looked confused, but thankful to be included.

“That’s intentional, I didn’t want to change any of the UI or its operating mechanics since the idea is it's a plug and go upgrade.” We began moving towards the elevator, and as we rode it up into the Tower I explained the various features the device could use. She seemed appreciative, but I needed Kaidan to speak up on occasion and simplify the more techy explanations I was giving. Shepard simply listened quietly as we spoke, watching the view of the Presidium vanish from the elevator as we pass through its upper layer and sail upwards towards the peak of the tower itself.

The elevator ride wasn’t short per say, maybe a minute and a half at most, but given the distance it had to travel to the peak of the Citadel Tower it was still alarmingly quick. As we felt the elevator slow we realized we were approaching the top and quieted ourselves. The meeting with the Council would be a big deal, and needed to go well. We were quiet out of a mixture of nervousness and respect for Shepard, who would be doing most of the speaking. Letting her concentrate and decide how she wanted to approach this.

Me? Well I of course had perfect faith in Shepard to do the absolute best she could, and for the Council to ignore every single piece of evidence in favor of protecting Saren. Because they suck. Maybe I would be pleasantly surprised, and they would take that audio log as enough evidence to revoke Saren’s Spectre status. As we leave the elevator we come into a massive chamber, a hundred meters tall, possibly more, with clear windows that let in the faint purple light from the nebula outside. The palace was adorned with gorgeous pink trees, resembling cherry trees although with a much darker almost black trunk. It was without question an insanely beautiful location. Even Kaidan and Ashley took a moment to take it in, before we picked up the pace to match Shepard, who had been marching forward without slowing.

Rising up a short set of stairs, we came to an interesting sight. Two Turians adorned in C-Sec armor, arguing. We were only close enough to catch the tail end of the discussion though, picking up on only the general tone of the arguments' origins.

“Saren’s hiding something! Give me more time. Stall them.” The Turian had a pale beige hide with faint blue markings across the face, and was adorned in heavy blue and black armor. The Turian he was arguing with had a darker tone of hide and thick white markings covering the entirety of his face.

“Stall the Council? Don’t be ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus.” The darker Turian turned and walked off, seemingly having ended the conversation. The Turian left behind, Garrus, took a moment to be frustrated, before turning and noticing our group. He approached and spoke cautiously but directly to Shepard.

“Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren.”

“Who was that you were talking to?” Ever the pragmatist Shepard gathered information first and foremost.

“That was Executor Pallin, head of Citadel Security. My boss. He’ll be presenting my findings on Saren to the Council.” He looked frustrated by the turn of events, the mandibles on his face plate quivering slightly in agitation.

“Sounds like you really want to bring him down.” Shepard sounded relieved that at the very least the investigator appeared to be on our side. Not that it mattered much.

“I don’t trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. But he’s a Spectre; everything he touches is classified. I can’t find any hard evidence.” He crossed his arms, the look of frustration never truly fading. Looking past the Turian and across the room I could see Anderson and Udina standing next to a large opening where the council would meet with us.

“Shepard. Looks like the council is ready for us.” Kaidan speaks up, noticing the same thing I did. She gives him a nod and walks ahead side stepping Garrus who turned to watch us go.

“Good luck, Shepard. Maybe they’ll listen to you.” We crossed the space up a small flight of stairs into a rather busy courtyard. A place active with military personal and politicians all basking in the coattails of the power and authority the council possessed. Looking down I could see the upgrade to my omni tool, Beta’s housing unit still glowing showing it’s passive scanning was still active. I tapped it’s case twice, and the lights turned off, and I nodded. At least he wasn’t trying to actively get us in shit.

Crossing the entirety of the space we could see Anderson standing alone, Udina seemingly having gone ahead. He gives us a look on approach and waves us to walk up.

“The hearings begun, come on.” He turned and marched alongside Shepard up the last steps to the open space that serves as the Councils meeting chambers. Each of the councilors stood in person, opposite a pit in the floor that held a terrarium of some sorts. They each had their own pedestal with access to a console. And to the left of the Councilors was a large hologram, one that depicted the man of the hour himself, Saren. Except something was wrong. I knew what Saren was supposed to look like, a large mechanical arm, tubes running to the back of his head, glowing robotic like eyes. Except that wasn’t what was in front of me. No, instead all I saw was a standard Turian, fully organic. Something I couldn’t have changed, was different from the games. That was contradictory to the rules I had been assuming, and meant that things as whole were only going to get more complicated.