With the strawberry experiment done, Glen's bedroom was back to its old messy self. Clothes identical for all save the stains lay on the floor and furniture, schematics of inventions and house expansions formed a wallpaper in and of itself, and most of the desk was covered with half-finished cans of cola. It was once again Glen's sanctuary.
Unfortunately, it didn't work quite as well when Garrus, now joined by his wife, cornered her, forcing her to sit on her bed and explain the entire strawberry affair like a student explaining a bout of mischief to the principal.
"So you see," Glen said, trying her best not to fidget under both Garrus's and Chloe's stern gazes, "The odds of it being dangerous were next to nothing."
"Next to nothing." Chloe said, her arms crossed. "And if it had sent my husband into anaphalactic shock?"
"Well, to be fair, we do have a doctor living here-" Glen cut herself off; it was clear from the look on Chloe's face that she was not amused.
"Look," Glen said, "I wouldn't have let Garrus get hurt. If it got that far, I'd have bent the rules."
Chloe and Garrus exchanged glances at this. Glen kept the use of her Dreamer abilities to a minimum to avoid attracting unwanted attention, but after serving together for so many years, they knew she was definitely no normal human.
"The strawberries work." Glen said, gesturing to the container sitting on her desk. "Think about it; fruit and vegetables that anyone can eat! Haven't you ever wanted to share a favorite dish with Chloe, Garrus? Some traditional Palavan cooking? Or how about you, Chloe? In my day, France was the home of fine dining. Surely you'd like to share some of that with Garrus."
"Okay, okay!" Garrus said, raising his hands. "We get the point."
Glen offered the container to them. "Then accept this first harvest as a sincere apology from me. Don't worry; I gave John a fresh batch."
"They are quite tasty." Garrus said as he and his wife helped themselves to the fruit.
"Perhaps the juice could be fermented?" Chloe said hopefully.
Glen snapped her fingers and pointed at Chloe. "Definitely a thought. I'll see about 0digging us out a wine cellar. For the meantime, I'm going to be trying to omni-convert what produce we're already growing; could be useful, now that we've got Tali and Garrus here."
"And Tara and Madeline." Chloe smiled at Glen's curious glance. "We received the news this morning; the adoption agency accepted our application."
"Really? Congratulations!" Glen hugged Chloe and gave Garrus a hearty slap on the back.
"We were worried there might be problems with us moving here; it's why we wanted to wait originally," Garrus said. "But apparently, someone not only sent a full video showcasing our new quarters, but also gave us a lengthy recommendation."
"Really?" Glen paused at the looks they gave her. "What? Wasn't me. Not that I wouldn't have, but I've been busy with this whole strawberry thing."
A long moment of silence passed before Chloe laughed and hugged Garrus's side. "Well, whoever did it, we'll be leaving tomorrow to pick up little Tara and Madeline."
"Speaking of which," Garrus said, putting an arm around his wife, "We'd better get back to unpacking. We've still got a lot of furniture to put together."
Glen walked them to the door before giving them the container of strawberries. "Don't hesitate to call if you need any help. Oh, and feel free to order any seeds you'd like greenlit into my little omni-program. Could always try and make some Vakarian apples."
"Vakarian apples." Garrus said as he and Chloe walked away from Glen's quarters. "I like the sound of that."
Glen shook her head, a grin on her face as her door closed. The success of the strawberries had her feeling on top of the world. Already, she was considering the possibilities if she could reproduce the effect: omni-hops for beer, omni-grain for bread, omni-sugar for sweets. She was even wondering if perhaps the effects could be spread to farm animals: omni-eggs and omni-milk? They might be able to make birthday cakes for little Tara and Madeline.
She was still thinking about the possibilities when her door opened, this time revealing Screep.
"Hey there, little guy!" Glen said, sitting up in her bed to greet the skriever. "I've been meaning to congratulate you! The strawberries came out perfectly."
The skriever let out a series of muted beeps that seemed oddly sheepish.
Glen stared at it for a moment before asking, "Is something wrong?"
The exchange that followed is hard to put to paper. The skriever language, while based on that of the Glyche, was made for communications between synthetic life forms, not bio-forms such as Glen. It was only her nature as a Dreamer that allowed her to understand. If one were to attempt to translate Screep however, the exchange would've sounded something like this:
"Friend Glen, I believe it is my duty to report an issue that has arisen."
"That sounds ominous." Glen said, hands on her hips. "Should I get Headache?"
"Clarification: not that kind of issue. You might consider requesting medical expertise."
"That's pretty serious. What's up?"
"I believe I may have made a slight error in my efforts to convert the strawberries."
Glen was silent for a few moments. "But they're fine. I'm fine, and so is Garrus."
"Clarification: the process was a success; the strawberries contain both levo and dextro amino acids."
"Whew. Good." Glen said, wiping her brow. "Thought I was gonna have to leg it to Tali's place in a second."
"That might still be a prudent course of action."
Glen frowned at the skriever. "Why? What did you do, Screep?"
Screep rubbed its front pincers nervously. "It was the delivery method that was the problem. I should have stuck with altering the genetic structure of the seeds directly, but there simply wasn't enough time. I came up with the idea of using a spray that was twenty-parts transversion cells, and eighty-parts nutrient solution formulated from the genetic samples of-"
"Screep."
"Look, I made it into a spray; the transversion cells would spread quickly, altering the DNA structure as the plant itself grew, allowing the cells to quickly adapt as needed."
"How is that an …" Glen stopped. "A spray? As in the sprinklers?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Glen swore under her breath. "Tali and I've been in that mess at least a dozen times already!"
"I know. For what it is worth, I don't believe the transversion cells have harmed either of you."
"Yeah, we'll see about that." Glen hurried from her room and entered the workshop. It took her a while to find her medical kit (she regenerated naturally, making such things useless to her), but once she did, she used the hypospray to take a measure of her blood. She then put the vial of blood on the cushion of the constructor.
"All right," She said, tapping at the controls. "Let's take a look at-"
A holographic helix appeared. It took Glen a moment to realize just what she was looking at, but when she did, she whispered, "Son of a bitch."
Her helix contained both a dextro and a levo pattern, just like the Zorah Sweets. The spray hadn't just converted the DNA of the strawberries; it converted hers as well.
"Huh." Glen said, looking at herself. "Well … I feel okay. Hey, does this mean I could totally eat normal dextro food?"
"I believe so." Screep said, "But there's something else. The transversion cells were designed specifically to convert whatever they came into contact with into a form compatible with the two samples you provided."
"John and Tali." Glen said, nodding. "And since it affected us, I'm guessing that means it's made Tali and I compatible with both quarians and hum-"
Glen stopped suddenly, the implications hitting her like a brick to the face. She left the workshop without another word, leaving Screep behind to chitter uncomfortably to itself.
Glen rushed through the house, up the stairs, and straight to Tali and John's room. She knocked a little louder and faster than she intended.
John opened the door, looking quite smart in his old uniform. "Ah, hello, Glen. We were just getting ready to leave for dinner."
"I need to see Tali for a sec." Glen stepped forward, paused as the scrubber passed over her, and hurried into the bathroom to find Tali wearing a lovely two-piece blue dress that exposed her midriff. Her friend spun about, a half-eaten strawberry clutched in her fingers.
"Glen?" Tali asked, a look of surprise on her face. "Is everything all right?"
Glen didn't respond at first, her eyes were on Tali's stomach, smooth and poking out just a little, as though she'd put on a little weight recently. Now Glen knew why.
"How did I not notice?" Glen whispered, running a hand through her hair. "How did I miss something like this?"
"Like what?" John asked, coming up behind Glen. "What's wrong?"
Cheeks flushed, Tali put a hand on her stomach. "I know I haven't been getting as much exercise lately."
John chuckled and stepped around Glen to pull his wife into his arms. "I don't care if you blow up into a blimp. I still love you."
They kissed, Glen still staring at Tali … or rather, the light within Tali's belly, courtesy of her Dreamer-enhanced eyes.
Some people would've found a way to say it gracefully, to weave it into conversation. Others might have insisted on making an occasion of it, pompously making as big an announcement as possible. Being neither pompous or graceful, Glen simply blurted out, "You're pregnant, Tali."
