Mass Effect Revelation - Drew Karpyshyn, ebook, ebook.1400, Temp 2
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//-->Drew K arpyshyn[Mass Effect 01] - RevelationPROLOGUE“Approaching Arcturus. Disengaging FTL drive core.”Rear Admiral Jon Grissom of the Alliance, the most famous man on Earth and its three fledglinginterstellar colonies, glanced up briefly as the voice of the SSVNew Delhi’shelmsman came over theshipboard intercom. A second later he felt the unmistakable deceleration surge as the vessel’s masseffect field generators wound down and theNew Delhidropped from faster-than-light travel into speedsmore acceptable to an Einsteinian universe.The ghostly illumination of the familiar red-shifted universe spilled in through the cabin’s tiny viewport,gradually cooling to more normal hues as they decelerated. Grissom hated the viewports; Alliance shipswere purely instrument driven—they required no visual references of any kind. But all vessels weredesigned with several tiny ports and at least one main viewing window, typically on the bridge, as aconcession to antiquated romantic ideals of space travel.The Alliance worked hard to maintain these romantic ideals—they were good for recruitment. To peopleback on Earth, the unexplored vastness of space was still a wonder. Humanity’s expansion across thestars was a glorious adventure of discovery, and the mysteries of the galaxy were just waiting to berevealed.Grissom knew the truth was much more complex. He had seen firsthand just how beautifully cold thegalaxy could be. It was both magnificent and terrifying, and he knew there were some things humanitywas not yet ready to face. The classified transmission he had received that morning from the base atShanxi was proof of that.In many ways humanity was like a child: naïve and sheltered. Not that this was surprising. In the wholeof humanity’s long history it was only in the last two centuries that they had broken the bonds of Earthand ventured into the cold vacuum of space beyond. And true interstellar travel—the ability to journeyto destinations beyond their own solar system—had only been made possible in the last decade. Lessthan a decade, in fact.It was in 2148, a mere nine years ago, that the mining team on Mars had unearthed the remains of a long-abandoned alien research station deep beneath the planet’s surface. It was heralded as the mostfile:///K|/bitlord/Downloads/Karpyshyn,%20Drew%20-%20...Effect%2001]%20-%20Revelation%20(v2.0)%20[Undead].htm (2 of 202)1-8-2007 9:53:51[Mass Effect 01] - Revelationsignificant discovery in human history, a singular event that changed everything forever.For the first time, humanity was faced with indisputable, incontrovertible proof that they were not alonein the universe. Every media outlet across the world had jumped on the story. Who were thesemysterious aliens? Where were they now? Were they extinct? Would they return? What impact did theyhave on humanity’s past evolution? What impact would they have on humanity’s future? In those firstfew months, philosophers, scientists, and self-appointed experts endlessly debated the significance of thediscovery on the news vids and across the info nets, vehemently and sometimes even violently.Every major religion on Earth was rocked to its core. Dozens of new belief systems sprang up overnight,most of them based on the tenets of the Interventionary Evolutionists, who zealously proclaimed thediscovery as proof that all human history had been directed and controlled by alien forces. Manyexisting faiths tried to incorporate the reality of alien species into their existing mythologies, othersscrambled to rewrite their history, creeds, and beliefs in light of the new discovery. A stubborn fewrefused to acknowledge the truth, proclaiming the Mars bunker a secular hoax intended to deceive andmislead believers from the true path. Even now, nearly a decade later, most religions were still trying toreassemble the pieces.The intercom crackled again, interrupting Grissom’s thoughts and drawing his focus away from theoffending viewport and back to the shipboard speaker in the ceiling. “We are cleared for docking atArcturus. ETA approximately twelve minutes.”It had taken them nearly six hours to travel from Earth to Arcturus, the largest Alliance base outsidehumanity’s own solar system. Grissom had spent most of that time hunched over a data screen, lookingthrough status reports and reviewing personnel files.The journey had been planned months ago as a public relations event. The Alliance wanted Grissom toaddress the first class of recruits to graduate from the Academy at Arcturus, a symbolic passing of thetorch from a legend of the past to the leaders of the future. But a few hours before they were about todepart, the message from Shanxi had radically altered the primary purpose of his trip.The last decade had been a golden age for humanity, like some glorious dream. Now he was about tobring a grim reality crashing down on them.TheNew Delhiwas almost at its destination; it was time for him to leave the peace and solitude of theprivate cabin. He transferred the personnel files from the data terminal to a tiny optical storage disk,which he slipped into the breast pocket of his Alliance uniform. Then he logged off, pushing himselfaway from his chair and stiffly standing up.His quarters were small and cramped, and the data station he’d been working at was far fromcomfortable. Space on Alliance vessels was limited, private cabins were typically reserved exclusivelyfor the commanding officer of the ship. On most missions even VIPs were expected to use the commonfile:///K|/bitlord/Downloads/Karpyshyn,%20Drew%20-%20...Effect%2001]%20-%20Revelation%20(v2.0)%20[Undead].htm (3 of 202)1-8-2007 9:53:51[Mass Effect 01] - Revelationmess or the communal sleeping pods. But Grissom was a living legend, and for him exceptions could bemade. In this case the captain had generously offered his own quarters for the relatively short trip toArcturus.Grissom stretched, trying to work the knots out of his neck and shoulders. The admiral rolled his headfrom side to side until he was rewarded with a satisfying crack of the vertebrae. He made a quick checkof his uniform in the mirror—keeping up appearances was one of the burdens of fame—before steppingout the door to make his way to the bridge in the bow of the starship.Various members of the crew paused in their duties to stand at attention and salute as he marched pasttheir stations. He responded in kind, barely aware that he was doing so. In the eight years since he hadbecome a hero of the human race, he’d developed an instinctive ability to acknowledge the gestures ofrespect and admiration without any conscious awareness.Grissom’s mind was still distracted with thoughts of how much everything had changed with thediscovery of the alien bunker on Mars … a line of thinking that was not surprising given the unsettlingreports from Shanxi.The revelation that humanity was not alone in the universe hadn’t just impacted Earth’s religions, it hadfar-reaching effects across the political spectrum as well. But where religion had descended into thechaos of schisms and extremist splinter groups, politically the discovery had actually drawn humanitycloser together. It had fundamentally united the inhabitants of Earth, the swift and sudden culmination ofthe pan-global cultural identity that had been slowly but steadily developing over the last century.Within a year the charter for the human Systems Alliance—the first all-encompassing global coalition—had been written and ratified by Earth’s eighteen largest nation-states. For the first time in recordedhistory the inhabitants of Earth began to see themselves as a single, collective group: human as opposedto alien.The Systems Alliance Military—a force dedicated to the protection and defense of Earth and its citizensagainst non-Terran threats—was formed soon after, drawing resources, soldiers, and officers from nearlyevery military organization on the planet.There were some who insisted the sudden unification of Earth’s various governments into a singlepolitical entity had happened a little too quickly and conveniently. The info nets were swarming withtheories claiming the Mars bunker had actually been discovered long before it was publicly announced;the report of the mining team unearthing it was just a well-timed cover story. The formation of theAlliance, they asserted, was in fact the final stage of a long and complicated series of secret internationaltreaties and clandestine backroom deals that had taken years or even decades to negotiate.Public opinion generally dismissed such talk as conspiracy theory paranoia. Most people preferred theidealistic notion that the revelation was a catalyst that energized the governments and citizens of thefile:///K|/bitlord/Downloads/Karpyshyn,%20Drew%20-%20...Effect%2001]%20-%20Revelation%20(v2.0)%20[Undead].htm (4 of 202)1-8-2007 9:53:51
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