Who knew that Alexa, the Amazon Echo’s virtual assistant, was a Mass Effect fan? When a user asks Alexa: “Does this unit have a soul?” It will reply with a familiar greeting: “Keelah se’lai, my friend.” This is a common phrase that the Quarian race says in the series, most often by crew mate Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, or just Tali to her friends. At one point she attempts her best translation of the phrase, which means, “By the homeworld I hope to see someday.”
“Does this unit have a soul?” Is what the Geth character Legion asks its creator in Mass Effect 3. The Quarians created the Geth, but were not pleased when their machines became sentient, and their attempts to exterminate them led to an all-out war.
Twitter user TheAlbionGirl posted a video today of her posing the question and receiving the response, which you can see for yourself below.
@eurogamer Tried it out for you! (Excuse over-enunciation! It's the only way Alexia will listen to me!) pic.twitter.com/uBtuYtbXju
— Lauran 🦁🍀✨ (@TheAlbionGirl) January 11, 2017
It is unknown how long the Easter egg has been there, or even how it was first discovered. However, Eurogamer was the first to report the reference while browsing the Mass Effect Reddit, and in videos like the one above it has been confirmed to be true.
Mass Effect Andromeda is scheduled for release on March 21st, 2017 on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.