Аннотация: John helps Karin with Saren and Benezica.
Chapter 17. The Azari and the Turian. Restoring the psychosphere
Entering the medical bay, Shepards walked over to the cot where the Turian was lying on his back. Chakwas handed him a reader's summary of the fortune. The senior assistant spent several minutes studying the short text, once again making sure how masterfully Karin is able to present medical "wilds" in a simple and understandable language for a layman:
"Does Naylus know?" The XO asked quietly.
"No. I didn't tell him anything. The medical bay is isolated. He has never left his cabin, the communication lines are blocked, and VI recently checked that the isolation is complete." Chakwas replied. "John, what are we going to do?" The two Spectr's of the Citadel Council on our ship are clearly overkill."
"It's more than enough, Karin." Shepard typed a short text on the reader and showed it to the doctor. "They know each other very well."
"Yeah. And if something happened, this young man would come to me to get his license and find out why I couldn't get his mentor out?"
"I'll explain it to him in a popular way, Karin," the XO objected. "And he will leave you alone quickly and for a long time. It will be enough for him to know that you, Doctor, are not a narrow specialist in psychology and psychiatry, as well as in the rehabilitation of the alien psychosphere. He's able to understand that in any case, in almost any condition," Shepard replied.
"I hope so, John. Let's go to her." She glanced at Asari, who was sprawled on her back on the next bed. "You were right to quickly splint the fractures and lubricate the wounds with several layers of panacelin medigel. I also wanted to thank you for her gentle transportation."
"Don't worry, Karin." Shepard took another reader, handed to him by the frigate's doctor, and began to study the texts of the diagram with tables. There was more information here: the Asari had suffered to a greater extent. "Karin, did you even manage to determine that he was the first to fall under programming and external control," a glance at the Turian, "and then she became the victim of this ship and its pilot?!" a glance at the Asari. "I take off my hat. Few teachers of the Medical Faculty of the En-Seven Academy could compete with you."
"I still feel powerless, John." Chakwas replied. "If I can still somehow cope with physiology and anatomy, then it's with the psyche after this... Here, my skills and knowledge with skills are clearly not enough. This is the first time I have encountered such a deep distortion of the psychosphere."
"All right, Karin." Shepard straightened up, regaining the "String" tuning, this time - not the combat one. "I'll need to spend up to five minutes on each of them, maybe not much more. I must say right away: I will remove only the deepest, most basic, important damage so that the Turian and Asari psychospheres can regenerate. In the future, the psychospheres of both will cope with the remaining problems themselves. And don't worry. There will be no shamanism here."
"I know, John." Chakwas moved away from the first mate. "I'll be right there. Get started."
Shepard glanced at the body of the elderly Asari lying on her back and concentrated on her face. In the human mind, basic data on the physiology and anatomy of the representatives of this race flashed on the already familiar "screen", and indicators were taken directly from the information field of the injured Asari.
The XO, restraining his understandable amazement and surprise, understood: A new part of his unusual newfound abilities became active. Some of the indicators immediately turned red, obediently unfolding into diagrams and tables indicating blockages in the psychosphere. After making sure that the identified blocks were unnatural, Shepard carefully began to scan their surroundings so as not to miss traps and hidden surprises.
The anchors reliably pointed to the ship's pilot and the ship itself. The double "anchor" hook guaranteed sufficient obedience and loyalty to the Asari, even if the prisoner of the Reaper somehow managed to harm either the cuttlefish or its control center.
After removing the main "blocks", Shepard went through the connections in both directions, carefully examining the surroundings, looking for "sleeping guards". Finally, having made sure that there were no surprises in the entire volume of the victim's body, Shepard began to carefully free the mind and essence of the Asari from all identified secondary and third-rate clues that provided direct control over the personality and body of the rescued.
The work did not take long, and exactly six minutes later, Shepard "emerged" from the mode of extreme concentration, finding relaxation in his body and allowing his brain to switch to normal mode.
"Karin, look at the stats. I'm done with her", Shepard said in a low voice, taking a few steps towards the Turian's bed and allowing the ship's doctor to come closer to the Asari's bed. "Keep her asleep as long as possible," the XO added. "This will allow her to self-recover. The rest is at your discretion."
"Okay, Shepard," the doctor turned on her monitoring instrument, checked the indicators taken by the automation of the Medical Bay before and after the manipulations of the senior assistant. "You've made my task much easier."
"I hope it helps her." Shepard bent over the Turian. "But here I have to work more deeply. Karin, tell the commander to request the archaeologists to delay the exit to the new area. I'll need an extra half hour. Plus the twenty minutes mentioned earlier."
"I'll do it, John." Karin stepped away from Azari, who was lying on her back on the hospital bed, returned to her desk and typed a short text on the laptop keyboard. "The commander has received your message, and he will pass it on to the head of the archaeological party. I think the scientists won't mind. I'm glad you can pay attention to both of them, Captain."
Shepard didn't pay much attention to the doctor's last words. He plunged back into scanning the Turian's psychosphere.
The requested half hour was the minimum required time. Spektr, who was the first to be directly programmed, had implants in his body that gave a truly monstrous cocktail of effects on his body and psyche. These implants had nothing in common with those that the captain of the special forces had already seen, so Shepard tried to reliably isolate them from affecting the main body and brain systems of an intelligent organic.
Cutting the interconnections was hard. The implants dotted almost the entire body of the Turian, creating a kind of skeleton that duplicated the natural backbone. I had to first focus on those that were as close as possible to the brain of the sleeping patient with medication, and after eliminating their influence, he slowly dealt with the rest, which were securely implanted in the limbs, torso and head of the Turian.
He knew that Chakwas was detecting positive changes with the help of sensitive devices, but he preferred not to react to this knowledge, disabling more and more new relationships.
Finally, the Turian's brain and spinal cord were completely freed from the influence of the implants. Disabling the wires that controlled the main systems and organs of the Turian's torso, Shepard scanned the patient's head, face and body, looking for hidden bookmarks. There weren't many of them. Repeated scanning revealed several more "guards" and traps.
Shepard knew that time, that half hour of reserve, was running out fast. This was always the case when he was completely devoted to his work. But it was impossible to stop now: any pause could activate a bookmark that was not noticed in time and destroy an important organ of the patient's body.
After freeing the Turian's torso from the influence of bookmarks and a multitude of alien implants, Shepard slid a "scanning" gaze over the powerful legs of the Spectr. Bookmarks and implants were also found here.
The Cuttlefish, led by a ruthless pilot, did everything so that the Turian could not put up the slightest resistance, and on occasion, could not even move either his upper or lower limbs. Turning off the interconnections and conduits with precisely dosed pulses, Shepard gradually approached the Turian's feet with his gaze. After disabling the last two "bookmarks", the captain scanned the body of the Spectr several times again and, finding no surprises, allowed himself to relax.
"John..." Karin's quiet voice was heard. "You have no idea what you own."
"Maybe, Karin, maybe," saying this softly, Shepard slowly turned around, seeing the eyes of the frigate's doctor radiating kindness and concern. "But I don't need any stimulant injections," The marine captain's hand found the shoulder-mounted speaker. "Commander, I'm done. I need a few minutes to... come to my senses and I'll go down to the hangar. Ask Steve and my drop team with Corporal Jenkins to be there as well. Let the archaeologists guide their column through the lighthouse of our shuttle. I will transmit the exact coordinates via the audio channel."
"Okay, John," Anderson's voice was unusually quiet and soft. "Thank you. You have intelligent people who owe you their lives. And freedom," With that, the captain turned off the channel.
Chakwas's omny-tool beeped.
"John," the doctor said after reviewing the text of the incoming message. "Anderson informed the archaeologists. They agree to wait for the shuttle to leave. They understand that you are busy. Let me at least give you a decoction of herbs. These are not tonics, they are restorative. You're exhausted, John," Chakwas added.
"Karin, has anyone ever told you that you are always extremely convincing?" Shepard asked without a smile, taking a vessel with a decoction from the hands of the ship's doctor.
"After such a miracle, which I recently witnessed, no one," Chakvas answered honestly, watching as the commander of the landing crew slowly sipped the decoction, as he carefully placed the vessel on the bedside table. "I think we can remove most of the implants from his body now," she pointed at the Turian with a glance.
"Yes, Karin. I can't help you here," Shepard grinned from the corners of his lips, feeling the warmth of the decoction spreading through his body. "You have the upper hand here, Doctor. He is perhaps the most difficult... patient. With her," a glance in the direction of the Asari, "it will be easier."
"You're right, John," the doctor looked at Shepard carefully. "The decoction will take effect in a few minutes", She pressed a key on the wall remote and looked at a small information screen that lit up. Ingvar is free now. He'll escort you to the shuttle, Captain. I can't let you out of the Infirmary alone."
"I understand, Doctor." Shepard playfully slowly raised both hands to shoulder level. "I obey."
"That's good." Chakwas stepped aside, allowing the incoming electronic warfare specialist to offer his shoulder to the captain. "Good luck to you, John," she said softly.
She was answered by a deep nod from the captain, who stepped over the threshold of the Medical Bay. The door slowly slid into place. A red light flashed on it, forbidding access.
"If it wasn't for him, I'd have two bodies in the infirmary. And the interplanetary scandal afterwards," the doctor said softly, sorting through the instruments in the surgical stack. Well. He did his job. Now it's my turn to work. Chakwas pulled on fresh sterile gloves and covered her face with a mask. "But as soon as he's back on board, he'll be my patient. He needs to rest and sleep it off. It would be good if he could take a nap while flying to the excavation site", The doctor adjusted the light above the Turian's bed and picked up a thermal scalpel. - Let's get started.