Mass Effect: Transcendence

Transcendence

Transcendence 

by writeowl

There were of all things, trees inside the main entrance to Huerta Memorial Hospital. Mammoth poplars manicured in such a way that they appeared to reach up and around the Boettcher Atrium. As if shielding everyone inside from being seen by the rest of the universe. Lush greens sprawled around the room, camouflaging the stark lines of steel which corralled you throughout the rest of the hospital. The only way you knew you hadn't accidentally walked into Eden was the existence of the main desk in the middle of the oasis of foliage. That and the unwavering murmur that filled the room. It came in waves, like ocean tides, swelling and then receding back down again. But it was always a constant. White noise that became a small comfort to the doctors and nurses who worked inside; they were still needed. Shepard wandered past a group of people clustered in the corner of the room. She watched as a man sat on the floor, his back against the chairs. He was holding a woman in his lap, her white hair tied neatly in a bun. He pleaded, begged a nearby nurse to help her as blood seeped into his pants.

Shepard stopped the nurse as he brushed past her. "Hey," she said, pointing to the couple, "Can't you help them? Leaving her to suffer on the floor like that? She's not a stray animal. She needs help."

The nurse frowned and shook his head. "We've already looked at her. There's nothing we can do."

"Can't you at least make her comfortable? Dress her wounds?"

The nurse pointed behind himself. "Look around! Can't you see all the other bloodstains on the floors back there? Our supplies are limited and what dressings, or beds, or morphine that we do have, we need for the ones that have some kind of chance."

"That's cruel," she snarled at him.

"That's reality," he shot back.

"You can't leave her there like this."

"Where do you get off your high horse, lady, telling me what to do? And what in the world do you suggest I dress her with? Find me a spare dressing and I'd be happy to do it."

Shepard gritted her teeth and looked around. "You know what? You're right."

She pulled a knife out and flipped it open. The nurse shrieked. "Hey! You can't use that in here!"

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Relax," she said as she grabbed the man's arm and ripped his sleeve off with the knife. She presented it to him on her open palm. "What do you know, a dressing," she said.

Shepard grabbed the man's hand, and then slammed the fabric into it. "Can't you spare her some final shred of decency for a few hours? At least let her have that."

The man thought for a moment. "At least there's that, huh?" He looked back at the old man whose tears fell in his wife's blood.

Shepard gripped the nurse's now sleeveless arm. "We can't let the war strip us of our compassion," she said, her voice low.

The nurse nodded. He balled the sleeve in his fist and walked toward the couple.

Thane was standing by the panel of glass windows that overlooked the Presidium. Shepard approached, but he didn't move. She reached out, but he turned and grabbed her wrist before she could touch his jacket. He dropped her wrist immediately, as if it was suddenly painful to touch her.

"Siha...you're...alive," he sighed, " Thank the gods."

"Thane. It feels like it's been forever. I missed you."

He nodded. "I had sent many messages while you were...detained. I assumed when I heard nothing back that they didn't get through. And yet here you are."