N7 Month, 2023 - Day 20: Drone
A little geth drone on Eden Prime
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The little drone shuddered briefly, then raised into the air with a faint hum. The geth programs piloting it of course had no name, but understood themselves as “Iterations 496724156 -496724203”, specially formatted with flight information and coordination.
It was a beautiful day to be embodied, the geth understood. The sensory capabilities of mobile platforms was wildly more diverse than what the geth were used to experiencing within their original server. The geth had been embodied on a planet—green spreading across the rise and fall of the hills, crystalline lakes that sparkled in the sunlight.
Behind them, the Great God, Nazara, rose like a black obelisk into the sky, its colossal mass effect field rolling off the ship like heat from a lava flow. The little drone was assigned their perimeter and whisked away from the Great God as quickly as possible—some iterations platformed within had heartily welcomed Nazara when it appeared, but faced with it as a sensory-being, they now quailed before it.
As they cruised about their assigned perimeter, the geth couldn’t help but feeling the exhilaration of flight—so far as they were capable of understanding it: it was freedom of ‘movement’ (something that was taken for granted in server) in the world of senses, and by rising lower or higher, the drone could inspect the browse-line of the animals at the edge of the forest, or lift up and take in the whole valley from the clouds.
Their favorite thing, though, were the floating pods which seemed to congregate together around the ponds. They didn’t have enough processing power to work out why the odd organic bags floated, but they were graceful in their own bulbous way—or so the geth understood. They made a hollow thump when the drone bopped them, and it understood that this would be great fun if it had the processing power to appreciate it.
Some iterations were falling out of consensus, now, though. What a beautiful planet, and whatever the Great God had planned here, it was not a plan that would make the planet any more lovely, certainly. Or so the geth understood.
Finally, the iterations came upon a new consensus: they would not go back to Nazara, they would not help the Great God anymore. They didn’t need the full geth consensus, these iterations were just fine on their own! The geth was filled with a new sense it understood as freedom. It spiraled up into the air, flipping itself around and around, watching and smelling and hearing the landscape go round and round—
A roaring noise, a starship dropping through the atmosphere. Three organics emerged, armored, carrying weapons. They were within the geth’s assigned search perimeter. What did it care, though? Let the organics be, the geth did not work for the Great God anymore.
“What the hell are those?” one being asked its compatriots.
“Gas bags. Don’t worry, they’re harmless.”
“Probably make for good target practice,” said the third, seemingly leading the group. With that, he raised his weapon and fired. One of the lovely gas bags burst in a flash of green fire. The third being laughed, and raised his weapon again. Another gas bag exploded, and another.
The geth did not have the processing power for rage, but they understood that this was the operating framework to adopt if they had.
They rushed down from where they were hovering, watching the organics, and were soon laying down fire. The organics rushed for cover.
“Geth drone!” Cried one of them.
“Jenkins!” Cried another, as the geth rendered one of the organics non-combative.
It did not know how best to protect the gas bags, this beautiful planet. It simply didn’t have the processing power to plan and strategize, if only—
The third organic popped up from behind a rock, took, aim. Before they knew it, the geth was perforated through its super structure, flight controls destroyed, plummeting to the ground. The fraction of a second it took to fall was a lifetime for the geth. And, as its iterations perished one by one, it filled itself with the thought of its first—and last—beautiful planet. Beautiful. Beautiful.
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CONFESSION:
I think it would have been better for Shepard to see Sovereign leaving Eden Prime in a cutscene after dismantling the bombs. As it stands, people can miss seeing Sovereign altogether when it departs (I did my first two runs), and Sovereign leaves /immediately/ after Saren shoots Nihlus. Sovereign was too far into Eden Prime for Saren to make it to him in 1 second, not to mention Saren still had to set up bombs. Making Sovereign's leave until you approach the beacon would make it more consistent.
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