"My name is Lee Adama and I love Kara Thrace!"
He shouted the words to the stars, to a sky so clear that it made his heart ache.
"My name is Lee Adama and I love Kara Thrace!"
There was no one to listen, no one to care but Lee had made a promise...
Sometimes he wished he had a way to write it all down, to commit her life to memorial. He'd done what he could until his supplies had run out, but he was painfully aware that future generations were unlikely to understand . Now he hoped that someone, somewhere would hear her name and remember. He clung to the belief that he would see her again, just once, at the end.
"My name is Lee Adama and I love Kara Thrace!"
The only words he had spoken in what felt like a lifetime. A wild man, dirty, unkempt ... animal skins covered the tattered remains of his uniform.
At first he'd tried to stay with the survivors, to build a life for himself but the need to explore this new world had proved too strong. Yet he refused to give in to regret and despair. Her life was one worth celebrating and this was the only way he knew how. He loved her, always had, always would. Sometimes he'd wake in the night, sure that she was close beside him... his own guardian angel. Someone was certainly watching out for him. His journey had been long yet he'd never failed to find food or water. When the snow fell, he'd managed to clothe himself against the bitter cold.
Was he mad? Probably.
It had taken him weeks to cross the mountains. Climbing higher, growing weaker... always another peak to conquer... and at every summit he shouted their names to this new world. Below him lay the coastal plain, a river winding its way to the ocean. Starting down the slope he imagined she was walking before him, always young, always beautiful. Her blonde hair shining softly in the starlight. She grinned up at him, teasing his slow pace. Lee Adama smiled back.
"It's almost time, Lee," she said, holding out her hand.
He shook his head, suddenly scared of giving into the inevitable. Then Lee stumbled and her arms were about him, holding him so tightly that he found it difficult to breathe.
"I've missed you," she whispered.
And he knew that this was where his journey would end. Old, tired, he would lay his body to rest in this beautiful place. And she... she wouldn't be forgotten.
150 000 years later
"Concentric circles, yellow, blue, red, yellow... the symbol repeats here, here and here."
The bright colours of the cave painting had captured her attention from the start. It was almost worth sitting through several hours of boring lectures now she had the opportunity to study it in more detail. Her professor was supposed to be some kind of expert but it was clear from the start that he didn't really care.
"The locations...?" she asked.
The same design had been found all over the continent.
"We assume that some kind of mass migration occurred," he explained as if he were talking to a child.
"And these ?"
She pointed to the black markings surrounding the painting.
"Words we believe were added at a much later date. You have to remember that Man had no written language at this time. The translation makes little sense ... methodically smoking my cigarette... nonsense!"
"And this? It looks like a single word."
"Yes... I have it here somewhere."
The professor shuffled through his notes. She caught her breath as he drew out a single piece of paper and handed it to her. Slowly she traced the letters,
K...A...R...A.