VIDEO

[squadgoals]

Hi all — Shepard here, just a quick couple of questions.

First, I know the mail system can be all over the place, so I wanted to reach out to everyone. Last month, I received this-- [And here, she holds up a hypospray with this label affixed to it. She rotates it slowly, showing off the entire label as she speaks.] --in my mailbox. Not sure what kind of medicine it is, but if you know, or know who it belongs to, please let me know as soon as possible.

Second, I wanted to ask about the Ingress. From what I've read and been told, it opens once every month, at the beginning of that month. Now, I've only been here a month — can anyone with more experience tell me if it's normal or not that it hasn't opened by now?

Comments

2/2

[squadgoals]

Did that make any sense?

[dualtone]

A surprising amount. [ It's slightly dry, but given everything that's happened since he's arrived... yeah, he'll buy it. ]

... the other one is my roommate.

[squadgoals]

Great to hear, because I'm still coming to terms with it myself. [She allows herself a chuckle — all things considered, it's still pretty unbelievable.] So you room with my alternate? You've definitely got me at a disadvantage here. Mind if I ask your name?

[It's listed with all his reply information, but in her experience, naming people before they introduced themselves was a sure-fire way to make them uncomfortable almost immediately.]

[dualtone]

Fushimi. [ he pauses, considering for a second, and then -- ]

If you're both Shepard, what do I call you? [ because he just calls his "Commander", and if things get too confusing, there's a 99% chance he'll just default to that for all Shepards. ]

[squadgoals]

Oh. [Nihlus and her had joked about it, but never actually resolved the issue.] Well, I'm number two, I guess, so... what do you call her? Just "Shepard", as well?

[dualtone]

I just call her "Commander".

[ He's. Pretty used to ranks, so it works out easier, in the long run... ]

[squadgoals]

[Somewhere in the back of her mind, something buzzes her brain.]

That works — then you can call me "Shepard". No need to stand on ceremony, here.

[That's what it was. Her alternate had confessed to being here for half a year — why would she insist on a rank that had no meaning? She brushes it off, internally shrugging. Maybe it was Fushimi's choice, and not hers.

No reason to over-complicate, though. For now, the names worked.]

[dualtone]

Right. Shepard. [ sounds good. he really hopes that he never has to deal with alternate timelines or doubles or any of that; he'd never get rid of the headache. ]

Then, it's nice to meet you, I guess. [ he doesn't sound too sure, but he also is stuck in a state of always sounding pretty bored. it's not an insult. and then, since she did have actual questions she was asking, originally: ]

...I haven't been here that long, but I think it's unusual that the Ingress hasn't opened.

[squadgoals]

You too, Fushimi.

How long have you been around? As long as my alternate?

[dualtone]

Not nearly as long. A couple months. [ give or take a few weeks. ]

Long enough to see the pattern, at least.

[squadgoals]

Right. What do you think? Any theories?

[dualtone]

Nothing helpful or concrete.

Just a lot of suspicion.

[squadgoals]

That's fair enough. Not sure there's anyone on board who isn't suspicious of something that literally plucked them out of their universe into another.

For one, the power usage would be astronomical, even using something like eezo, and that's not even touching on the laws of physics it shatters.