"Drew Karpyshyn - Mass Effect 01 - Revelation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Karpyshyn Drew)

to destinations beyond their own solar system—had only been made possible in the last decade. Less
than a decade, in fact.

It was in 2148, a mere nine years ago, that the mining team on Mars had unearthed the remains of a long-
abandoned alien research station deep beneath the planet’s surface. It was heralded as the most

file:///K|/bitlord/Downloads/Karpyshyn,%20Drew%20-%20...Effect%2001]%20-%20Revelation%20(v2.0)%20[Undead].htm (2 of 202)1-8-2007 9:53:51
 [Mass Effect 01] - Revelation

significant discovery in human history, a singular event that changed everything forever.

For the first time, humanity was faced with indisputable, incontrovertible proof that they were not alone
in the universe. Every media outlet across the world had jumped on the story. Who were these
mysterious aliens? Where were they now? Were they extinct? Would they return? What impact did they
have on humanity’s past evolution? What impact would they have on humanity’s future? In those first
few months, philosophers, scientists, and self-appointed experts endlessly debated the significance of the
discovery on the news vids and across the info nets, vehemently and sometimes even violently.

Every major religion on Earth was rocked to its core. Dozens of new belief systems sprang up overnight,
most of them based on the tenets of the Interventionary Evolutionists, who zealously proclaimed the
discovery as proof that all human history had been directed and controlled by alien forces. Many
existing faiths tried to incorporate the reality of alien species into their existing mythologies, others
scrambled to rewrite their history, creeds, and beliefs in light of the new discovery. A stubborn few
refused to acknowledge the truth, proclaiming the Mars bunker a secular hoax intended to deceive and
mislead believers from the true path. Even now, nearly a decade later, most religions were still trying to
reassemble the pieces.

The intercom crackled again, interrupting Grissom’s thoughts and drawing his focus away from the
offending viewport and back to the shipboard speaker in the ceiling. “We are cleared for docking at
Arcturus. ETA approximately twelve minutes.”

It had taken them nearly six hours to travel from Earth to Arcturus, the largest Alliance base outside
humanity’s own solar system. Grissom had spent most of that time hunched over a data screen, looking
through status reports and reviewing personnel files.

The journey had been planned months ago as a public relations event. The Alliance wanted Grissom to
address the first class of recruits to graduate from the Academy at Arcturus, a symbolic passing of the
torch from a legend of the past to the leaders of the future. But a few hours before they were about to
depart, the message from Shanxi had radically altered the primary purpose of his trip.

The last decade had been a golden age for humanity, like some glorious dream. Now he was about to
bring a grim reality crashing down on them.

The New Delhi was almost at its destination; it was time for him to leave the peace and solitude of the
private cabin. He transferred the personnel files from the data terminal to a tiny optical storage disk,
which he slipped into the breast pocket of his Alliance uniform. Then he logged off, pushing himself
away from his chair and stiffly standing up.

His quarters were small and cramped, and the data station he’d been working at was far from
comfortable. Space on Alliance vessels was limited, private cabins were typically reserved exclusively