"Alien Ghost Ship Encounter"

And again the answer is not given , even metaphorically.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_August_2010#08.2F11.2F2010_-_Alien_AI-Controlled_Ship_Makes_Contact_in_Salarian_Space

This is an intriguing storyline on Cerberus Daily News. Intriguing because it includes many of my ideas, which I formed independently and by deduction, because I never read this storyline before today.

Beware -- crazy speculations follow. I've marked certain peculiar choices of words.

The story takes place in a salarian system called "Antilin," which considering the themes of the story is likely taken from "antilinear," a term from quantum physics relating to time reversal, or the nonlinear passage of time.

An unknown ship is detected, emitting strong AI signatures. Therefore the salarians initially fear the ship is a vanguard of a geth invasion. (Exactly what happens at the start of ME1.)

Then the AI makes contact with the salarians, asking them to calculate Pi. (Remember Archer from Overlord DLC? And Joker's independent comment in the main game about "having to calculate Pi because I plugged in the Overlord?")

More questions follow, which are "beyond our realm of expertise." (A realm beyond our understanding...?)

Then a human researcher named Detweiler enters the stage. In real life, Detweiler is a US author known for his attempts to find signs of God in art and media, including video games.

Detweiler gains access to the ship because he correctly answers the AI's questions, which relate to quantum string theory, of which my previously discussed holographic principle is a component.

He then discovers that the AI consists of a massive array of quantum computers, to which a dying alien race uploaded their minds so as to avoid extinction. This is an idea brought up by Legion in ME2. These people are now living in a giant virtual world. Detweiler calls the AI a caretaker of these people, "or even a God"... (Reapers... Salvation through destruction...)

More religion is thrown at it, what else can we expect from Mass Effect, right? A Buddhist scholar says: "I'm struck by the parallels to ancient human beliefs in reincarnation. Clearly, life does not end for these aliens when they 'die.' Their souls, if you will, simply re-inhabit other virtual personalities and continue living." (Underworld Theory...)

While Detweiler tries to acquire a new energy source for the AI, some people manage to hack into the virtual world. When they return, it appears time runs much faster there than in the real world, with these hackers having spent 180 virtual years and just 6 hours of real time. Like in the movie Inception. Anyway, the hackers are currently in deep comas and doctors doubt they will ever recover. Despite their physical bodies being all okay, they question whether their minds can be reconnected after being "away" so long. (What specific scene from ME does this invoke for you?)

The Citadel Council then proves willing to help the AI, after it offered scientific advancements "far beyond anything we have," but the Council also erects a veil of secrecy from that moment on. Top-secret business. (Like the geth's Perseus Veil?)

Detweiler enters the virtual world to finish the diplomatic deal for the Council. It is said his body is held in an artificial coma while his mind wanders the virtual reality. In the meantime, however, people report having seen Detweiler on the Citadel. So... a doppelganger. A clone? Again, the Council remains silent on the issue. His daughter worries and meets her dad on the Citadel, but she notices something's wrong with him...

Things turn sketchy, but it is assumed Detweiler was profoundly changed by his visiting of the virtual world. A columnist comments: "The public doesn't know much, but it knows that anything relating to AI or synthetic life is something to fear." (Indeed, ME players still know very little...)

The Council then announces Detweiler swapped minds with an alien from the VR. So his physical body on the Citadel is now inhabited by one such alien, who is using it as a "conduit" to interact with the physical universe. It is stressed it's a matter of two universes: one physical, the other virtual, but no details are divulged concerning the exact nature of the latter.

The alien impostor then announces that despite previously seeking "refuge" in a virtual world, to escape the ills of creatures of solid flesh, it now doesn't want to return. "We realize that distress can sometimes provide a catalyst for evolution. We miss the turmoil of physical existence."

The situation is resolved by having a volunteer grant his body to the alien, so that Detweiler can return to this own body. Then more volunteers show up, willing to trade their existence with other VR aliens. An asari volunteer calls it "an amazing opportunity to explore a new realm of existence." (Far beyond our understanding...?)

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Btw, there's an ad on the Silversun Strip for a car named the Blackout 2187. It looks like it's gliding in a dark underwater environment. But... blackout crimes? 2187, the year after ME3? Hmm...