"We had to reverse engineer Prothean technology a bit, but it jump started our own by several hundred years in a matter of a few short decades.  The affect this had on the galactic community as a whole was dubbed Mass Effect, since it opened up a very wide range of unforeseen possibilities and problems all at the same time when we made our first jump through a Mass Relay that was located in our own small corner of the galaxy, the 'Local Cluster' as it's called back home.  Element Zero is at the core of our ship's drive engine, and it corresponds with the Mass Relays, allowing us to open a pathway and hit a target the size of a pinhead on the other end.  I don't know the specifics, just the basics."  He shrugged, having noticed Avelo's face a moment before his 'divinity' fell back into place.  He had been affected by what had happened more than he let on after all.