Monsters stalked the dark spaces between worlds. Every being felt a shiver and fell silent when their vast shadows drew near. Their inexplicable appearances in skies over hundreds of worlds caused panic. Would they strike anew? Then, just when the tension would reach a breaking point, the metal behemoths would depart.

Ever since the blue light flooded the cosmos and ended the war, it had been like this. They came, they hovered with what seemed like palpable menace, then they would leave. The people of the galaxy bucked against the apparent threat lying so close at hand and screamed, "Why?!"

Something had to give soon.

"-IIIIII WANNA RUUUUUUN TO YOU! WON'T YOU HOLD ME IN YOUR AAAAAAR-"

Garrus lunged out of bed as his alarm went off, blaring music right into his ear, bouncing it around the interior of his already aching cranium. He stumbled about the small cabin in a panicked daze and slapped at his visor; the source of the shrieking female's voice. All efforts to hit the reset button failed, so he tore the blasted thing from his face and flung it across the room. Only then did his befuddlement withdraw enough for him to ask, "Whzfauktgh?"

That was no good, so he tried again, squeezing out each word between panting breaths, "What. The. Actual. Fuck?"

"Uuungh. Keep it down, Vakarian," said a low, raspy voice near his feet. Kaidan's face appeared in the jumble of blankets on the floor. "If I'd known you had night terrors, I wouldn't have invited you to share my lodge."

"Sorry . . .. " The turian winced and grabbed a half-empty beer off the night stand. Stale and flat, but it washed the dryness in his throat away. He choked the bitter brew down and prayed that it wouldn't come back up any time soon. A rumbling in his crop informed him that the possibility loomed. Garrus bolted for the door, flung it open and emptied his guts into a convenient snowbank. When he finished, he realized just how fucking cold the winter air was and retreated back inside.

Kaidan shot him a glare as the human got up and dressed. His whole demeanor grumped, Well, I guess I'm up now.

"I'm s-"

"Yeah, you're sorry. I get it." Kaidan's expression softened. The biotic turned his back and started folding blankets.

Garrus retrieved his visor and ran his hands over it, puzzled.

Kaidan grunted. "Fifth time this week, Garrus. Bad dreams?"

"I don't dream. Or at least I haven't since . . .. " The men shared a meaningful glance. Garrus ran his fingers over the familiar contours of the device laying in his palm. "I think my visor's broken."

"What does that have to do with you jumping out of bed every morning like someone shoved a red-hot poker up your ass?"

" . . . Interesting imagery. Tell me, did this happen a lot in Earth history?"

Kaidan laughed. "Enough times for there to be an idiom. And to at least one king that I know of."

"Savages . . .. Anyway, yeah, it's my alarm. It's, well, it's being a bastard."

"How so?"

"I set it for the same time every day, you know, and it's supposed to chime three times. Here, listen." He put it to the human's ear so Kaidan could hear the low, musical tones. The biotic nodded in understanding, a grave expression on his face. Garrus had a feeling it might be hiding a smile or a laugh at his expense. He continued, "Polite little sounds to wake me up. Like someone clearing their throat to get your attention."

"Downright civil, even." A tic appeared in Kaidan's cheek, warning of impending mirth.

"Lately, it's been setting itself to ring using the music files in its memory."

"So a little music and you turians can't resist hobnailing the hardwood?"

" . . . What?" Mystified, Garrus could only stare at the human.

"Shakin' your booty. Boogie-ing. Getting down. Cutting a rug. And to a lesser extent, busting a move." Kaidan couldn't hold a straight face anymore and burst out in laughter. "Oh, your face! Man, priceless."

"Dancing? Spirits, you humans have sayings for everything, don't you?" Garrus shook his head.

"So what is it about this music that makes you jump and jive?" Kaiden clamped his lips shut on what was certain to be another 'witty' remark.

Garrus narrowed his eyes and said, "When it kicks on, it's fucking loud. Like 'shake-all-the-cobwebs-in-my-rafters-loose' loud. One might find that alarming."

"One might."

"Thing is . . . "

"Yeah?"

"This isn't my music. I never downloaded these songs. I don't even know where the hell they come from. Or who this screaming harpy is."

Kaidan frowned. "That is weird. Let me have a listen."

Garrus queued the sound file and hit play. He held the visor out so Kaidan could take it and put it on. He looked a bit funny with the oversize thing hanging off one of those ridiculous ears. The turian stifled a chuckle.

After a few minutes, Kaidan's frown deepened and his brows shot up in surprise. The biotic hummed and said, "I recognize this. It's Terran. Twentieth century. Hmm, maybe Shepard downloaded them before . . .."

At her name, Garrus felt a sharp pain in his heart and flinched, looking away for a moment.

Kaidan squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. "Sorry, bud."

The turian waved it away. "It's been nearly a year. Can't say I'll ever be over it, but we shouldn't be afraid to say her name. That would be the real tragedy."

"True."

After a long pause, Garrus said, "Anyway, that massive burst of energy from the Crucible scrambled every piece of hardware from one end of the galaxy to the other. I had to wipe this thing clean and start from scratch, so there's no way she put them on there and they stayed uncorrupted. No matter how mischievous she was feeling."

"She did love her pranks. Remember when she sent Kasumi off on that wild goose chase after some Incan artifact on Illium?"

"It wasn't Incan. It was a Chachapoyan Fertility Idol and it wasn't real. It was a prop from that vid Joker made us watch. The one with the melting fascists."

"And not only was it not there, but the access panel for the secure 'vault' it was supposed to be in turned out to be the master control switch for every emergency siren in that city block? Kasumi told me she had to take to the sewers to evade capture."

"She didn't talk to Shepard for a week." Such bittersweet remembrance. Garrus' swallowed past the lump in his throat and laughed. "And that time she taught Grunt that human mating dance?"

"Twerking. Poor kid never lived that one down, but I hear Aria still asks after him on occasion." Kaidan grinned, then his face fell into a serious scowl. "So, how did this music get on there then?"

"Beats me. Other than the unlikely conclusion of it just magically popping on there overnight, I can only think of one other possibility: That it's downloading itself from the extranet."

"But there is no extranet. Not yet, anyway." Kaidan snorted and leaned back on the bunk. "They only just got the relays back up."

"No extranet, no QE, barely any communications at all. and only short range, at that. radio and so forth." Mulling over the facts, Garrus ran a hand over his fringe and worried at the problem for a good while. "Liara. She's still on Earth, right?"

"Yeah, she's helping with the negotiations, securing transport and shelter for civilian refugees on untouched worlds until this whole mess is straightened out." Kaidan stood with a groan. "We could take a shuttle out there from Vancouver. Find her and find out what the hell is up with your visor. I'm curious now."

"I have a feeling . . .. Well, we should look into it anyway." Garrus couldn't give voice to the nameless feeling that swamped him then. A nebulous sort of disquiet that clenched his guts into knots. A realization struck him and he groaned. "Does that mean we have to hike back through all that snow?"

"Just wear the hardsuit. It's rated for EVA, right? A little winter chill won't kill you." The biotic started pulling on his own armor and gathering supplies for their nature walk. "Besides, if I have to put up with getting woken up at the ass-crack of dawn again, I might have to murder you out here."

"Missing out on your beauty sleep, are you, Alenko? Can't have that." Garrus paused to put his helmet on, listening to it hiss as it sealed. He shouldered his pack and rifle and followed the biotic out the door and into the woods. They paused at the rim of the valley and looked back. Garrus sighed. "So much for peace and quiet. It's a shame to cut our leave short."

"Shit happens. Probably would have went stir-crazy if we did the whole month anyway. Hunting was good, though, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, fun. Too bad I couldn't eat any of it."

"Elk's mighty tasty, too. Oh, well. C'est la vie."