Mass Effect - New Path

New Path

Part 1: Discovery.

2177 year: Mars.

'It will be soon, Axel. You will see the source of humanity's explosive growth,' said a woman of mid-thirties with auburn hair and bright azure eyes, to a teenaged boy behind her.

He wasn't the only child on this fieldtrip. Jon Grissom Academy organised this trip for their students for the first time since the opening of the institution. Twenty boys and girls of varied ages were following Doctor Sarah Arturus through corridors of archaeological complex of famous Mars archives. And the boy she addressed to was none other than her son, Axel Arturus. He was thinner and paler than other teenagers of his age; he had his mother's blue eyes and her pointy straight nose; his hair was almost non-existent, showing the white skin of his head.

The group was sent here to see Prothean artefacts, which were discovered in 2148, as part of their educational program.

'Have you discovered something new in these artefacts?' asked Axel.

'Not yet, but we are working,' answered his mother, who was an archaeologist in this facility.

'Can I have the copies of the extracted data?' wondered Axel.

'And what do you need them for?' suspiciously enquired Sarah.

'Well,' said Axel, averting his gaze, 'I'm interested in Prothean culture, and I want to learn their language and writings and many other things.'

'Really now? You haven't shown interest in Protheans until now, what changed?' she knew, her son was hiding something, apparently her son was bad at lying.

'Nothing, just got interested, we teenagers are impulsive after all,' said Axel in innocent tone.

The reason, why Axel is bad at lying was caused by the fact that until now he spent his entire childhood in medical facilities, thus having minimal social experience. In 2163, when he was not yet born, Sarah was exposed to a high density of dust-form element zero. The amount she received was deadly for unborn child and all the doctors said that he will die, but by some kind of miracle the child pulled through and survived. Although he became very weak and got easily sick. Thanks to the influence of Sarah's father, Ex-admiral Arturus, her son was assigned to one of the best medical facilities on Earth. Countless high-end surgical operations and instalment of more than a dozen implants finally enabled Axel to become a normal boy at his 14th birthday. Sarah and her father spent almost entire fortune of their family, but she didn't regret it, watching as her son curiously gazes around the Mars facility.

Then Axel was sent to Jon Grissom Academy for learning and training. Biotic implants significantly amplified Axel's natural biotic prowess and quickly made him the strongest Biotic in his group. Advisers think that he even can be the strongest human biotic as for now. Sarah didn't care about all of that, she simply was happy that her son can live a normal life now.

The group finally arrived at the central block of the facility, where Prothean artefacts were found. Greenish monoliths were slightly illuminating in the dim space of their glass capsule. All the students came closer to the glass, trying to see the glyphs on the monoliths.

'Cool!' said Axel, his nose squashed against the window.

Sarah pushed something on the control panel and monoliths lit up with holographic displays.

'OOO!' cheered students.

Sarah went on with telling the history of Mars facility.

At the end of the fieldtrip she searched for Axel. She found him watching how research-drone is conducting analysis on one of the monoliths.