Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 68

Milky Way/Ismar Frontier/SSV Normandy SR-2

Earth year: 2185 CE ---November

Callie ordered Joker to take them to Tuchanka before heading to the med bay and Mordin.

"Shepard." He greeted. "How can I help?"

"Just checking in. Wanted to let you know we've set course for Tuchanka."

"Excellent. Thank you Shepard. Also, good that you stopped by. Wanted to talk.Told you before about my work on the genophage, just not full story. Lie of omission."

"I thought you were holding something back."

"STG team discovered krogan adapting to genophage, birth rates increasing. Genophage modifications designed to correct it."

"If the krogan are so volatile, why not just sterilize them? From everything I've heard, the reproductive rate combined with krogan nature is what makes them dangerous."

"Because I'm not a murderer!" Mordin retorted. "Genophage modified to reduce birth rates, not cause extinction!"

"So you worked on this to keep the galaxy in balance?"

"Yes. Krogan nature exploited by salarians during uplift process. We needed them to defeat the rachni. By extension interfered with natural evolution. See this with the Collectors."

"What about the Collectors?" Callie asked.

"Protheans converted into husk form." Mordin began. "Early stages similar to indoctrination. Can guess Prothean victims lost intelligence over several cloned generation. Cybernetic augmentation widespread afterwards. As Protheans failed, Reapers added tech to compensate. Mental capacity gone – now just transmitting data to masters."

"Does this tell us anything useful?"

"Not yet. More useful as effects on motivation, body modifications. No self-preservation instinct. Old injuries not healed, no reproduction, just cloning. Technology overriding biology augmentation. No art, no culture. Closer to husks than slaves. Tools for Reapers. Protheans dead, Collectors just final insult. Must be destroyed."

"What is it about the Collector modifications that bother you so much?"

"Disrupts socio-technological balance. All scientific advancement due to intelligence overcoming, compensating for limitations. Can't carry a load, so invent wheel, can't catch food, so invent spear. Limitations. No limitations, no advancement. Culture stagnates. Works other way too. Advancement before culture is ready – disastrous. Saw it with krogan. Uplifted by salarians. Our fault."

"You blame the salarians for what the krogan did?"

"Yes. Like giving nuclear weapons to cave men. Krogan uprepared for spaceflight, technological advance. Krogan could have evolved alone, worked out aggression's, been ready to use new tech responsibly. Instead, salarians came, disrupted krogan culture to use as blunt instrument against Rachni. Short-sighted. Foolish."

"You said the Collectors had no art. I didn't know you cared about that." Callie observed.

"Personal interest negligible. Sang a little. Multi-species productions for cultural exploration. Gilbert and Sullivan. Always had me do the patter songs, but not about me. Cultural expression reflects philosophical evolution. Interest in growth, perspective, observation, interpretation. Suspect you won't see any art in Collector base. Culturally dead. Tools for Reapers. Worse than the geth."

"I'm sorry. I know that was important, but, you sang?"

"I am the very model of a scientist salarian. I've studied species, turian, asari and batarian. I'm quite good at genetics as a subset of biology, because I am a expert which I know is a tautology. My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a scientist salarian."