Аннотация: The awakening of mentalism. A visit from sleepy Garrus. Delicious food.
Chapter 14: Household Chores
The awakening of mentalism occurred at night during a deep sleep: the psychedelic images of Udine chasing fat and nimble Reapers shouting "This is outrageous!", winking at me with red eyes and blue lights on the body and vying to offer something delicious, were replaced by awareness of the reality surrounding me. I automatically scanned the space, noted intelligent beings busy working or sleeping nearby, read emotions without bothering to understand them, just passing through my mind as background noise that did not require attention. My mind was working on the verge of drowsiness: I was making primary adjustments to my own perception in order not to go crazy from other people's underlying desires. I don't want to feel it, much less know it!
Many people naively believe that having the gift of a mentalist is great. This is not entirely true. Mentalism, like any gift, has a downside that is not so easy to deal with. It is dangerous primarily for its owner. For me. Now that the gift has been activated, it is working at full capacity, but the body's resources are still not enough. Until the aura fully unfolds and a qualitative restructuring of the body takes place.
The initial adjustment of mentalism was completed, and after it, empathy began to work with full force. I was overwhelmed by other people's emotions. Powerful, multifaceted, diverse, generated by dozens of intelligent beings. I hastily reduced the sensitivity, narrowing the coverage area to a couple of meters and began to put an emotional block - the first line of defense. I feel better.
The intensity of emotions subsided, my mind floated out of slumber, and I was able to identify the feelings of the sentient ones nearby: Nihlus was fast asleep and barely noticeably filled with confused emotions generated by dreams, Darg and Dylan were a couple of meters away behind the wall, in the cafeteria, angry and hungry. His stomach croaked piteously, reminding him that he wouldn't mind getting something inside himself. Someone else's hunger only increased my own. So... and who is this who is very close to flaring up with embarrassment, confusion and fatigue? And he wants to eat, too.
I opened my eyes a crack. Garrus, in black armor, stood at the door, looking at the sleeping Nihlus and then at me in confusion. It took a while for my sleepy brain to realize that Vakarian had nothing to do in my cabin. Yawning, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. If he's here, then something must have happened. He showed up for a reason. He's too polite and considerate to just barge into someone else's cabin.
"Garrus. What happened?"
"Nothing." The Turian blinked guiltily.
The overwhelming fatigue weighed heavily on his heightened senses, drowning out even hunger. Why is Garrus in such a state? Didn't he get some rest?
"Have you been awake yet?"
"no."
"why?"
"Nowhere."
An extremely honest answer. It did not even occur to him to lie or somehow brighten up the truth.
So. Moment. What do you mean, "nowhere"?
"I ordered the butler to settle everyone!"
Garrus hesitated, but answered:
"He settled it. In Nihlus cabin."
"And?" I did not bring up the essence of the problem.
"It's locked and sealed."
I closed my eyes. Pakti! You bastard! No, theoretically, he did the right thing by settling Garrus with a kinsman, but you have to have brains! The middle of the night, a sealed cabin... perfect!
"And you've been... all this time?"
"I was sitting in the dining room." Garrus answered honestly.
Anger made my vision go dark. It's just am-az-ing! Instead of resting, Garrus stayed in the cafeteria all night because of this jerk. He didn't wake me up.: He let me rest and recover.
"I'll throw him overboard someday."
Surprise flashed nearby: Nihlus woke up as soon as the flow of borrowed energy increased.
"Who are you going to throw out?"
"The butler."
Nihlus took one look at the sleepy Garrus to assess the situation.
"You hooked up with me?"
"yes."
"Don't tell me you couldn't pick the lock and remove the seal from the door without damaging it."
"Could."
"Why didn't you?"
"Without permission?"
Nihlus looked at his kinsman skeptically.
"It should have been hacked. You know what I would allow."
Garrus shrugged his shoulders.
"What are you doing here?" Kraik asked with a sigh.
"I came to ask permission. The man, Darg, said you were here."
I covered my eyes with my palms and growled faintly. Are they kidding me? The bataler, the brute, put the guy in the sealed cabin of the wounded Spectr, knowing that the cabin would not be opened without the permission of the wounded Spectr or the captain of the ship. And the Spectrum, one or the other, he is the captain of the ship, is asleep. Garrus, as I understand it, is quite capable of picking the lock, but he did not do it. And because of his excessive honesty and decency, he hasn't slept for thirty hours. Charmingly simple! And then there's Darg, the idiot, who decided to set up a social experiment! He knows how Imrir, and I myself, react nervously to unauthorized intruders on my territory! I wonder if they're betting with Dylan over there, when will Vakarian fly out of the cabin and with what kind of parting acceleration?
"What are these idiots doing?"
"They're trying to eat some kind of white pasta. Garrus replied with a slight squeamishness in his voice. I don't understand how it can be eaten. It stinks of spent thermoclips!"
"No way!" My stomach gave a pitiful squawk. "I've been hungry for twenty-four hours, but I'm just not able to eat this filth anymore."
Garrus looked at me strangely, thought for a moment, and then pulled over a metal trunk, opened it, and took out a small box. Is he the one who's been dragging his stuff around the ship all this time? Beautifully simple.
"Hold. It's hard to call it a full meal, but it should be delicious."
The Turian came over and handed me a dark blue box with some intricate fancy lettering. The box smelled delicious.
"What's it?"
"Azarian marmalade."
Nihlus blinked in surprise.
"Why did you need it?"
"Yes, he promised to treat a colleague, but at the right moment he forgot at home and just bought another box." The guy answered with a shrug. "I still carry it with me. I don't know what it tastes like, but it's considered a delicacy."
Just think about it. Garrus is feeding me on my own ship! She lived to see it. But it's still nice, damn it, that at least someone cares! I opened the box and took off the lid. Inside, in shallow molds, there were large round candies that looked very much like marzipan. And the taste... I took one of the green candies and took a careful bite. Really delicious! However, Azari marmalade had nothing to do with sweets. I would call it some kind of cheese. Very, very tasty.
"Thank you. Delicious."
My stomach quacked and churned in agreement. Garrus smiled a little.
"Vakarian, don't you have any proper food?" Nihlus asked a sacramental question.
"You can't."
"That's not the answer." The Spectr waved away. "You kept all your clothes in the C-SEC. I can't believe you don't have any grub there."
"You won't believe it, but no," Garrus spread his hands.
"Oh, yes... Naradi fed you." Nihlus was upset.
"I never would have thought that there would be nothing to eat on the ship." I chewed on a ball of "marmalade", I said. "Except for the nutritious paste."
"Do you always eat this?"
"Normandy ships have a cook and a full-fledged galley, but the Normandy is a prototype, and the food is also experimental. The new type of ration is a nutritious paste, a balanced product with all the elements necessary for the human body." I grimaced. "We won't have time to find a cook and refit the kitchen before departure."
"Are there any normal products on board?"
"No. Just a nutritious paste."
"Why don't you order self-heating rations through the Special Corps?" Garrus asked with a bit of perplexity.
I froze, biting into another ball. And really, why not order it? It cannot be that there are no long-term food supplies in the warehouses of the Special Corps!
"You can also calculate how much you need for a flight. Flight time, number of reasonable meals of both types, number of meals per day..." Garrus stammered, blinking in surprise as I swallowed the balloon, quickly pulled on my shoes, picked up my uniform jacket, and scooped up the box.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"To the XO." We'll count it.
Garrus shrugged and stood up without a single word of objection.
***
Darg's face fell when he saw my spirited, completely satisfied face and, most importantly, a box of marmalade cheese in my hands, which I happily chewed on the move. The fighters glanced at me, at the sleepy Turian following, and quickly put one and one together.
"I told you, he'll find an approach."Dylan said, pleased, and snatched a card from under Darg's nose. "He cajoled her."
"Who knew that he would have normal food with him?" Derg muttered resentfully.
Those assholes!
Garrus just looked at the two fighters in surprise, then looked questioningly at me.
"Do not pay attention." I waved away and pulled out the last balloon from the box, this time a lilac one. "They have a habit of probing my character with someone else's hands. To know where and under what conditions it will explode."
"Does it help?" Garrus asked cautiously.
"No." Dylan replied with a grin.
"Darling, what are you chewing?" Derg asked with interest.
"Azarian marmalade." I replied, happily chewing a ball. "It's delicious, by the way."
"Rir, fuck it..." Derg stammered.
"I've already fucked you." I finished the last ball, uncivilely licked my fingers and put the empty box on the table. "Where's Pressley?"
"Yes, in the same place as usual: on the CIC. I saw him there about fifteen minutes ago."
"Darling." Dylan pushed his plate away from him with a martyr's gesture. "Can the special corps spare enough for a normal galley?"
"Maybe. But they won't have time to deliver it before departure."
Dylan cursed and, with one precise, practiced movement, tossed the disposable plate with the remnants of the nutrient mixture into the recycling bin.
"Imrir, we were going to place an order for self-heating rations." Garrus said with a bit of perplexity, looking from the upset gloomy Dylan to me and back again. The fighters froze for a moment, digested what was said, looked at each other.
"And he really knows how to find an approach to his brother in mind." Darg stretched out, getting to his feet with a jerk.
Garrus looked at the fighters strangely and shrugged his shoulders. From his point of view, there was nothing unusual about what had happened. After all, someone had to take responsibility and insist on purchasing normal products, right? Since no one on this ship has thought of such a simple solution to the power problem.