Random testrun, possible Mass Effect 2 spoilers, haven't played ME3 yet

[very_model_of]

-1-

[After moving in, Mordin is attempting to set up a new lab in whatever game he's been sent to.]

Primitive technology. Nothing resembling standard omni-tool interface. No high resolution scanners. No synthesizer.

[sigh]

Will have to make do.

-2-

[Things went poorly recently last time you were working with Mordin, especially for the Salarian himself. Some sort of disastrous adventure and personal tragedy. You were going to go cheer him up, but he seems in oddly high spirits.]

Ah, hello. How can I help?

-3-

[Mordin seems nervous, though its hard to tell.]

Glad I caught you. Something about past you should know. Need to clear the air.

Comments

1

[trustycrowbar]

Yup, welcome to the Labs! Where you're lucky if you don't have to jab cardboard into the electron microscope to keep the stage from sagging!

[The other, a bearded, bespectacled and apparently sarcastic human, trudges in behind him and drops a box of stuff--probably more of Mordin's equipment--onto the lab counter.]

Though to be fair, they've got pretty much everything we're going to need. Sometimes you just hafta get a little, you know... creative.

[very_model_of]

Have an electron microscope? Perhaps situation not quite as dire as had previously imagined.

[trustycrowbar]

[He snorts, leaning on the counter.] These people aren't savages, y'know. I was even able to get my hands on a laser cooling array, but it's, uh... not as big as I'd liked.

[Well, okay, he can only hold one atom at a time. HOW IS HE SUPPOSED TO WORK LIKE THIS I ASK YOU.]

Oh, you talk to Dr. Van Richden yet? He's already started work on a monster cataloging system. I don't know if you'd call it a true taxonomy, really. More of a... survival guide. But he and Hiroshi would go nuts at the chance for a xenobiologist's review of the thing.

[very_model_of]

Had noticed remarkable hostility in local indigenous life. Worried of unusual appetite for Salarian flesh. Good to know problems are wide spread.

[trustycrowbar]

[Okay, he can't help but snicker at that.]

Yeah, luckily for you humans are just as tasty to those things. Humans and every other species you see in the city. We're just not at the top of the food chain anymore... Weird. That should probably sound stranger to me than it does...

Anyway, you got any more stuff to move in? I've got some data compiling from my last gamma scatter test--[which is physicist speak for "I'm pretending to do something useful and goofing off instead."] so I've got the time.

3

[championofthesun]

[Gawain stops whatever he had been doing. He looks curious.]

Will this take much time?

[very_model_of]

Arrived unemcumbered with anything useful. Lucky to have omni-tool.

[very_model_of]

Possibly. Could depend on your reaction.

[championofthesun]

...Very well. Resolving this sooner rather than later may prove fortuitous.

[trustycrowbar]

So, what IS an omni-tool?

[very_model_of]

About life from before we arrived here. Was involved in project viewed by some as morally objectionable.

[championofthesun]

...And why should that have any bearing on me? That should not affect life here.

1

[he_come_to_town]

[Heard: gibberish.]


Uh... if "omni-tool interface" means how you store all your tools, I just use my pockets.

[very_model_of]

Multipurpose, haptic, rapid manufacturing and interfacing tool. Most likely more technologically advanced than available here, based on examples currently present.

[very_model_of]

May change what you think of me if you know the things I have done. Only fair that you know.

[championofthesun]

Do you regret what you did? Would you partake in it again were you given the chance?

[very_model_of]

Omni-tool: multipurpose, haptic, rapid manufacturing and interfacing tool.

[trustycrowbar]

Manufactoring, huh? What does it make? And what kind of haptic response are we talking here?

[The very mention of something being more advanced makes him one curious human indeed. Mordin may as well have DARED him to figure out how it works.]

[very_model_of]

Regret nothing. Every action I made was necessary, just distasteful. Maintained genetic plague on a sentient species that kept their population in check.

[championofthesun]

...And why was such a means necessary?

[very_model_of]

Birth rates evolved to maintain species through incredibly hostile environment. Krogan could flourish and spread on nearly any other world. Without genophage, likelihood of Krogan population explosion combined with incredibly violent, territorial impulses, would have led to galactic war with death rate in trillions.

This way, population maintained to pre-industrial levels. Much safer for everyone.

[very_model_of]

Haptic in the sense of interactive holographic interface.

[He turns it on, sheathing his left forearm in orange diagnostic screens.]

Intended for making light weight replacement parts for field repairs. Mine is...altered.

[trustycrowbar]

[Gordon pushes himself away from the suspended countertop and moves closer, peering at the device. Something about the monochrome holograms that make it up look... oddly familiar somehow. Has he seen something like his before...?]

Izzat... wait... does that thing use some kind of zero-point probability stacking or a brane puncture function for the manufacturing source?

[very_model_of]

Not sure how that would work. No, uses small sample of element zero to generate mass effect fields, pulling matter from a predesignated outside source.

[trustycrowbar]

Sounds like a brane hybrid system then. Element... zero? What is that? Are we talking... [He paces a little, running a hand over his hair thoughtfully.]

A pure neutron-gluon mass maybe? No wait, I wanna say... I wanna to say that dark matter has to be involved somewhere. Yeah... Maybe a form of radiation-strained dark matter just after symmetrical reversion. Christ, no WONDER you don't need that much. The energy output there would be incredible...

[Maybe there IS intelligent life on this planet after all, right Mordin?]

[very_model_of]

Perhaps. Don't know the details. Theoretical physics not my specialty.

[trustycrowbar]

[He smirks over at the salarian and gives him a companionable whap on the shoulder before making his way towards the door.]

I'll let you work. Let me know if you need any help finding anything. Oh, and if you find yourself in the optical relay chamber, watch out; I've got it calibrated for a Cherenkov bombardment test on some anemoi later on... come to think of it you miiiight wanna just stay out of that wing of the labs to be on the safe side.

3

[nomen_est_numen]

"Hm? Your past or mine?" Shen may have met this fellow before, because he's at least learnt to try and get him to clarify his abbreviated speech pattern once in a while.

[very_model_of]

[The smile he gives in response to the whap seems to imply that he's thinking "We are engaging in human male bonding rituals, ergo I must respond with friendly body language, as is culturally expected of me."]

Good to know. Will avoid optical relay chamber for time being.

Hmm, would be interesting to see how cherenkov radiation could be created with this level of technology.

Re: 3

[very_model_of]

Fair enough clarification. "Mine."

[nomen_est_numen]

Birdish headtilt. "You have seemed a bit uncomfortable, lately. Is something wrong?"

Shen is not exactly the kind of being one would usually confess things to, but there's an advantage to having a listener who doesn't immediately jump to gushy, emotional conclusions....

[very_model_of]

"Worried stories of my past may get out. Several telepaths present, other exotic means of spying. Want to set the record straight on my own terms."

Deep breath, "Responsible for modifying genetic plague causing vast majority of children born to a specific species to be stillborn. Modifications meant to account for Krogan growing to resist genophage, maintain current rate of population growth.

[nomen_est_numen]

This is a lot to hear on one breath, and it actually takes Shen a moment to parse all of it. That or he's just standing there waiting for his player to just pick something on the dialogue wheel already, damnit.

"And who are the, er, Krogan? Most likely there was a reason for doing this, I'd wager?"

[he_come_to_town]

Uh... okay, I think I understand most of that... what's "haptic?"

[very_model_of]

"Too much background information. Explaining everything impractical. Krogan very dangerous species. Necessary once for galactic stability, but a threat if their numbers were allowed to grow unchecked. Dramatic action was necessary."

[nomen_est_numen]

That is... well, that... yes. Shen has been having twinges in his memory for the last thirty seconds. He rubs his brow with one wing and lets out a deep breath. "That... does seen dramatic. Still, I...think I understand. I've no experience with things on a galactic scale, mind you, but... yes, if any group overpopulates, the entire nation is strapped for resources. Things become chaotic and violent."

[very_model_of]

"Still...unpleasant. Can never allow myself to forget all of the effects of genophage. Culture irreversibly changed, thousands driven to desperate, meaningless measures. Not a god. Shouldn't play with lives."

[nomen_est_numen]

Shen nods. It sounds like what a lot of people have been going through. "Still.... It sounds, to me, as though you've learnt rather a lot from it; professionally, yes, but maybe personally as well."

[trustycrowbar]

I told you; creativity. Let's just say there's a reason there aren't any microwaves anywhere in the building right now. [He follows that up with a brief, triumphant grin and ducks out of the room.]