Peebee

The massive temple had emerged out of the Sea of Ataraxia on Elaaden following the Initiative’s defense of Meridian. It was Remnant, naturally, but in a completely unfamiliar configuration, matching no other structure found in the Heleus Cluster. Most promisingly, the site showed no sign of the usual locks, puzzles, and traps that usually littered these places. The only obstacle to entrance was the usual swarm of Breachers, Creepers, Nullifiers, and all the other **** bots crawling all over the place. Thus far, that had been enough; no one had been able to get close.

Yet.

Naturally, Peebee was delighted when they came to investigate. She was like a kid in a candy store as they strode across an open battlefield, smoldering hunks of alien metal strewn around them. “Oh, I can’t wait to see what’s inside! There’s so much Remnant to play with here.”

Jaal, on the other hand, was more cautious. “I would advise against playing with anything until we know what it is. Remnant technology can be... temperamental, as you well know.”

“Don’t listen to him, Rem,” the asari said cheerfully to none of the smashed constructs in particular. “He wouldn’t know fun if it bit him on the ass.”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy being bitten on the ass, either.” He took aim with his rifle and shot a charging Breacher. “Why do you suppose it just rose up out of the ground all of a sudden? This cannot be a coincidence.” He stroked his chin, a habit he had seen some of the others do while they were thinking. “I wonder... Ryder, do you suppose this could have been the Jardaan’s doing?”

Ryder didn’t answer. Instead she examined the outside of the building. There were a pair of large doors, covered in the same sort of glyphs that usually preceded Remnant shields, but as they’d noted before, none were active.

“Let’s go inside!” Peebee insisted. “Oh, wait! Let me get my scanner. I don’t want to forget anything.”

“Are you certain this is safe?” Jaal asked. “It’s very unusual for Remnant technology to just let you in.”

“Yeah, well, we won’t find out by standing out here,” she said. “Come on, Ryder, you’re not scared, are you?”

“Scared? No. Cautious? Yes,” Sara replied. “We need to be careful. We have no idea what’s in there.”

“Yeah, that’s why we need to look!” Peebee grinned and walked up to the door. As she reached it, a holographic interface appeared, glowing faintly blue. “See? No locks or anything.”

Ryder approached the door. The interface had a large, unmistakable button in the middle. She reached out her hand and tapped it.

The massive doors rumbled like thunder as they slowly pulled aside, revealing a dark interior undisturbed by time as they pulled apart. A low, cool wind poured out as the door opened, and as it dissipated, the lights in the corridor beyond struggled to flicker on after centuries of disuse.

Peebee eagerly stepped through the doorway, and Ryder and Jaal followed. The interior of the building looked very much like any other Remnant facility, but without any of the interior robots, and no obvious purpose. Their footsteps echoed in the still, stale air, and dust motes danced in the sunlight streaming in behind them. The walls glowed slightly, and the lights seemed to activate as they got closer; PeeBee tapped her scanner to the walls, making excited noises as her data came in. Jaal looked around nervously, rifle at the ready, watching for traps and defenses.

“Relax!” Peebee said to him. “This place is completely dead. Well, except for the walls, of course. They’re very alive, but inert. Not sure what they’re waiting for honestly,” she paused, and then pounded her fist on the wall. “Hey! Rem! Wake up! You have guests!” No reaction. She turned to her companions, who were glaring at her, and shrugged. “Eh. Worth a shot.”

“Do tell me Peebee, what would you have done had that actually worked?” Jaal asked.

“Make friends, of course!” she said with a grin. She continued to collect data with her scanner as they made their way down the ring corridor as it gently curved, finding the doors leading inward to the next ring. As they approached, these, too, slid aside.

Peebee was first through the door, practically skipping past. Ryder proceeded at a steady pace while Jaal continued to glance around as if the walls were going to suddenly grow limbs. Peebee was more focused on her data than anything else; she would stop, scan something, and then resume her walk. “According to my calculations,” Peebee said, “judging from the width of these two rings and the observed size of the overall structure, there should be seven in total, counting the central chamber.”

“What makes you think there’s a central chamber?” Asked Ryder.

“Come on, you’ve seen this movie. There’s always a central chamber Ryder… Also the length of each ring gets progressively smaller until it reaches a central point. Usually a good place to put something important.”

“Hmm,” Jaal nodded. “Makes sense to me. What’s the movie she was talking about? I’m afraid I missed that reference.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jaal. She’s just being... herself.”

They continued around the second ring. The walls were just as inert and lifeless, the air still and dusty. Peebee was still giddy at the prospect of being the first to investigate a Remnant site, and even Ryder’s cautious optimism was growing as they proceeded unmolested to the third ring. Again, the door opened, and they were free to walk through. Same with the next. Then the next.

It was only as Peebee crossed the door into ring six that a problem occurred.

Ryder and Jaal had not yet stepped through. Before they could, the massive door slammed shut.

“Huh,” Peebee said, as she turned around. She walked back to the door and tapped at the interface. The door remained firmly shut.

“Uh... guys?”

***

“Dammit!” Ryder pounded her fist on the door. “I knew we should have been more careful.”

“Do you think you can hack the door?”

Ryder nodded. She tapped her omni-tool to the door interface, and her fingers began dancing over the holo-interface with SAM’s aid. She might’ve gotten through had the door not started shaking, then rudely uplifted itself and moved away.

“Ryder!” Jaal cried. “The walls are moving!”

It was true. The walls in front of and behind them were now rotating. The ground remained still but it was as if the walls of the rings had suddenly become turning wheels.

“Well… Shit.”

***

Peebee watched as the door in front of her picked up sticks and left. She wondered if she had done something to offend it; maybe taunting the walls earlier had been unwise. Either way, Ryder and Jaal were likely stuck until she or they figured something out. She turned around to start examining things when she discovered the inner wall of the sixth ring hadn’t moved. If she could find the door in this relatively small area, she could enter the central chamber, maybe find an override switch.

Or ****. **** was also a possibility.

She walked quickly, and it didn’t take long before the door revealed itself. It was still open, and she entered. The central chamber looked like some kind of large centrifuge, with an altar of some kind at the center. She approached, scanning with her omni-tool, and looked at the altar. It was a large pedestal, covered in glyphs and flashing lights. In the center was a small, glowing pyramid. It hummed and throbbed in a soothing pattern.

“Well, what’s this?” She wondered. “Hey! Hello! You want to tell me what you are?”

The pyramid responded by growing in intensity, the pulsations quickening and the humming growing louder.

“Easy there, big guy,” she said. “I’m just here to learn, not hurt anything. But my friends are stuck out there. Maybe you could help me with that?”

It continued to hum and throb, waxing and waning in intensity. Peebee leaned forward, fascinated, and reached out her hand to touch it. Her fingers had just grazed the surface when it burst to life. Peebee stumbled back, tripped over her own feet, and landed on her ass, as she was wont to do in these situations. She pushed herself to her feet and looked back to the pyramid, which was now glowing radiantly. It was no longer simply pleasant, it was majestic, it was…

EMPTY.

The word leapt into Peebee’s mind unprompted. It was empty? But how did she know that? And if it was empty, what was meant to fill it?

“Wait... you want me to fill you? Like, with something?”

The pyramid continued to glow, and the pulse had grown into a steady, soothing hum. It was oddly... calming, to look at, like it was beckoning to her.

“Well... okay. I guess I can do that for you.”

Peebee was not entirely sure what was happening. It felt like a dream, or perhaps a waking dream. She knew, in the back of her mind, that she was in danger. She knew that she should be very, very careful. Yet at the same time, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to walk up to this alien object, strip off all of her clothes, and stand before it, completely naked. It was only when she was next to the pedestal that the pyramid spoke to her, not in so many words, but more in feelings. She knew what it wanted her to do. It was empty, and it needed to be filled. With her.

Behind her, a slab rose out of the ground, and she felt herself guided towards it. These were no longer her impulses guiding her, she recognized that, but at the same time she was too curious to even attempt to resist.

Besides, it felt so good…

She climbed onto the slab and lay down, and as soon as she did, something came up and gripped her ankles, holding her legs spread wide. Another set of grips took hold of her wrists, and pulled them above her head. She was trapped, held firmly, and completely exposed. Yet she was so calm. It was odd. She had never felt so calm before in her life. The slab tilted vertically towards the pyramid and slid towards it, which was now extended out on a long arm, unfolding into a flower of light and metal as the altar expanded to reveal a swirling nexus of maelstrom beneath. She felt the light drawing her in, not just her thoughts but something deeper was being coaxed out of her. She felt her mind begin to unravel, as if her entire being was being unwound like a skein of thread. She had no idea what was happening, but the light was warm and welcoming and she was so calm. It beckoned to her. Come closer.

Then, with an audible snap, the last strand holding her conscious mind to her body broke, and she was drawn into the light. She did not notice how her body remained behind, how she exited herself into the open air, how her physical form, now devoid of consciousness, fell limp, dangling from the restraints that held her. She was too busy feeling the wonderful bliss as she filled the pyramid. She had a purpose now. A meaning. A reason to exist. She was part of something greater, something more, and she was content. She was so happy. She was...

Gone.

The essence of the being formerly known as Peebee was sucked into the machine and transformed into energy, which quickly disseminated throughout the facility. Everything Peebee was disappeared in an instant. Everything she had known, everything she had felt, every experience, every memory, every thought, every emotion, everything that made her who she was... was no more. It was as if she had been deleted, wiped from existence. The body that had once held her was now a hollow shell.

A vacancy.

The light subsided. The pyramid folded itself back up, but then it reconfigured itself into what looked like a spear tip, and it began to glow again. This time, it was sending, not receiving. Energy surged forth into the body that been occupied by Peebee. It wasn’t her, not exactly. Not anymore. The energy that was flowing into her was new, alien, and it was not Peebee. Yet it was her, at least, it was now.

The energy flowed, and the body that had been Peebee began to stir.

***

Ryder was getting annoyed at the door. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t get it to open. Everything had stopped spinning but the door remained stubbornly closed. It wasn’t a hacking problem, the door itself was just refusing to budge. “Jaal, any luck on your side?”

Jaal was similarly engaged with the other door, and he was just as frustrated. “No. I am not having any luck. The door is sealed, and this interface is unresponsive. Maybe we should try to **** it open.”

Ryder nodded. “Good idea. We’ll try mine first. Ready?”

As if on cue, all the doors slid open, and a moment later, Peebee walked out of the center of the temple.

“Hey guys,” she said, “what’d I miss?”

Ryder stood there, her jaw agape, staring at Peebee, who had apparently just strolled out of a Remnant trap that had had them both stumped for hours, as if she had just wandered out of her apartment on the Tempest. “What... how did you get out?”

Peebee shrugged. “I found an override switch, and voila! Doors open. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that we couldn’t get through. Not even SAM could break in. How did you manage it?”

“I told you, I found a switch. Remnant technology likes me, remember?”

Ryder stared at the asari for a long moment, then shook her head. “Well... good. We should probably get going, unless you want to stay and study this place?”

Peebee shook her head. “Nah, not really my cup of tea. There’s some cool stuff, but a lot of it looks broken. We should probably go, come back later. I could use a shower. Or a bath. A bath sounds nice right now. I can’t remember the last time I had a bath.”

“I am not sure you have ever bathed once since I met you,” Jaal said. Peebee looked at him, and for once, said nothing. She seemed to study him for a moment, not inquisitively, more like an engineer admiring her handiwork.

“I’ve rubbed off on you,” she finally grinned. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I want some fresh air.”

***

The trip back to the Tempest was uneventful. The Remnant had all gone quiet. Peebee was mostly silent too, unusually so, and when they arrived, she headed for the showers without saying a word. Ryder and Jaal sat down on the bridge and began going over the data they had collected, and while it was all interesting, none of it was especially illuminating. The main focus of the site was still a mystery, and Peebee had provided little in the way of clues. If she had found anything, she was keeping it for herself, which wouldn’t be too unusual. They knew she could be relied upon to share once she had time to savor it.

In the showers, Peebee felt the water rush over her skin, and was invigorated. As she dried herself off with the towel, she walked over to the full body mirror, and took a good long look at herself.

It was the first time she was getting to see what she looked like now.

The previous occupant of this body, going by the memories stored in her vacant grey matter, had not quite appreciated her own beauty. Then again, the transference had enhanced it in a few ways. The woman’s comrades hadn’t noticed the way her bust had swelled or how her muscles were more toned than they had been before. She barely fit in the woman’s clothing anymore, though she managed. It made assuming her identity all the easier.

“Peebee,” she said the woman’s name experimentally. It was the name that belonged to this body. To her body, which she supposed meant it was her name now. It would do. It wasn’t like she remembered her own name anymore. She had spent so long in that energized abyss, her consciousness indistinct amidst all the others she shared it with. Maybe she hadn’t even existed before today, maybe she was just some amalgamated spirit, stitched together from the disembodied minds of the thousands of Jardaan and inserted into this vacated skin. They had stored themselves away when the Scourge hit, hoping to return to bodies of their own kind, even if their originals had turned to dust. It seemed, however, fate had decided otherwise.

Unfortunate, but not unmanageable. It seemed that in addition to their Angaran pets, the Heleus Cluster now had plenty of other wonderfully warm bodies just waiting to be put on.

Well, once their current occupants were evicted of course.

That would be no problem. Peebee would need to do some work, but she had all the time in the world. And the best part, she had access to the ship, and to Ryder, and to all of the Initiative’s secrets. Even this SAM she felt in the back of her mind was none the wiser as to her true nature. After all, why would he be bothered? She was just being herself.

She smiled in the mirror. “Hello, Peebee. I am so glad to be you.” She winked at her reflection, and then walked away. She had so much to do.