I Loved Him First

Chapter II - A Whole New World

I Loved Him First

Chapter II – A Whole New World

I wake up to a strange metallic-looking ceiling and the smell of sterile equipment. There is a soft beeping noise beside me that quickens in its tempo in synchronisation with my heartbeat as I open my eyes. For a few seconds everything is silent and then a strange looking thing appears above me. It looks like a dinosaur mixed with a bit of bird in its genetic build somewhere. It has something like feathers dipped in cement growing from its forehead and extending a bit behind its head. I can see its teeth from the holes in its mouth and they look sharp.

For some strange reason, I have a feeling that I am looking at a turian. A strange part of my mind lets me know that those cemented feathers are actually called a fringe and that the tear-drop things hanging on both sides of its face are called mandibles. As to how I know this, I have no idea.

It is wearing a blue visor over its left eye, and its right eye is a light blue that reminds me of the blue sky over my house. It has tattoos all over his face and their colour is the same blue as my eyes. It is talking quietly with a red-haired woman that is standing next to the bed I'm lying on. I have no idea what it's talking about. The woman, I can understand – she speaks English. The turian is talking in guttural sounds that make my spine tingle. The woman seems to understand it and replies back. I do not follow their conversation, instead watching the turian's face. Its mandibles twitch sometimes and other times they look frozen against his face.

The woman the turian is talking to has red hair reaching just below her ears and light green eyes. Her English has a slight French accent. It feels like déjà vu. I feel like I should know her, or at least her name, but my mind feels foggy and I have a feeling that I have a lot of painkillers running through my system. I know I would have pumped myself full of them after a car accident like that.

I am surprised that I am still alive.

There is a sudden silence around me and I see that the doctor and the turian are looking at me. For a few seconds everything is silent and then the doctor moves closer to my bed, holding a hand in front of her. I blink as the hand glows orange and an image of a tool blinks around it.

An omni-tool, my tired brain tells me, though how I knew that, I cannot explain.

"The cybernetics seem to have started integrating into your skin with no problems," she informs me as she passes her glowing hand over my left cheek. The cheek that was sliced into ribbons by glass not long ago.

I frown a little, as I don't feel that tugging feeling associated with stitches. My tongue moves of its own accord as it pokes the inside of my left cheek. Soft and pliable tissue meets its tip and I am surprised that, once again, there is no tugging feeling. The only anomaly I can detect is a slight metallic taste in my mouth, though it does not taste like blood.

"It will leave a scar, though," says the doctor apologetically as she moves her glowing hand away and I see it blink out and her hand once again looks normal.

I can't stop myself from saying, "Some men like women with scars..." as though I have heard something like it somewhere before and found it amusing. "Mind you, most of those men are krogan."

Krogan. Another word that I have never heard in my life before and yet it seems as if I've always known what it means. Krogan. An alien species of large reptilian bipeds native to the planet Tuchanka.

I hear something like a laugh coming out from the turian's mouth and see his (I am sure at this point that the turian is indeed, a male) mandibles stretch wide in an amused grin.

My voice surprises me. It is still the same voice I always had, but there is something just underneath it. I frown.

"Yes, I imagine your voice must sound alien to you," the red-headed woman continues, "your voice-box was completely shredded and we had to add some cybernetics to it to make it work again. The subharmonics will take some time to get used to – I am afraid I only had a turian cybernetic voice-box on hand, so I put that in."

I shouldn't feel surprised at this point in time, but I am. Just yesterday I would have no idea what she is talking about and yet, I can understand what she just told me perfectly. I am now aware that the turians communicate more with subharmonics than with words and that I am one of the few humans to have been implanted with a turian implant, and the only one to have survived the operation. All of the humans before me died when the implants they received were rejected.

"I guess I am lucky to be alive then," I say with a wry smile.

The doctor and the turian exchange looks. I can see that the doctor looks surprised, and I guess that the turian, his mandibles tightly against his face, looks the same.

Then the turian turns to me and I hear a string of guttural sounds and a few growls as he talks to me. I have no idea what he just said.

"I am afraid that I don't understand you," I tell him.

I can see the doctor and the turian exchanging glances again. The turian growls something at the doctor. She nods and approaches me with her omni-tool again. This time she touches the right side of my head near my ear and I feel a small twinge of pain as she puts something on me.

"I apologize if this hurt," she says when she pulls her hand away. I shake my head, feeling even dizzier than before. I guess she has upped my painkiller doze again to prevent me from feeling the headache that I would probably have right now if I could feel it.

"Just a small twinge," I say with honesty in my voice.

"Can you understand me now?" the turian asks. And I do. Understand him, I mean. His voice is deep and rough and has a similar undertone that mine has, although mine is a bit lighter. Probably because I am a female. I nod at him and see the doctor walk away to give us some privacy.

"My name is Garrus Vakarian and I work for C-Sec," he introduces himself as he sits down next to me.

C-Sec. Citadel Security, my brain supplies me with information again. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a police officer wants to talk to me. I mean, I know something is different from before, and I don't mean just me dying. I know that I am not where I was only a few hours ago. The air around me feels different somehow. And the technology around me makes me aware that I am not home anymore. I've never seen technology that works like that. I have never heard of cybernetics before, even though I know what they are (but I didn't know that a few hours ago).

There is definitively something strange going on here.

"I'm Aura Coole," I say, trying to concentrate on Garrus Vakarian and not let my mind wonder too much. I will have enough time to think later.