Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel. The 'maturation chamber' was from the Borg and the other device was used on Chief O'Brien in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode, "Hard Time." "When September Ends" is by Green Day, from the montage by Roslin14.
Chapter 2: Bittersweet
What was even more perplexing about the little girl were her eyes. Looking into her eyes, Adama saw what could have been his own eyes looking back. "What… how… who…" was all that he articulated.
Roslin situated the little girl on her lap and then faced him. "This is Evelyn, or Evie." She turned her attention back to the girl. "Sweetie, can you say 'hi' to Admiral Adama?"
"Bill," he told her.
She nodded and said, "Hi Bill," before curling up more on Roslin's lap.
Evie then looked over at him again and smiled. "What's 'admiral?'" she asked him.
"What's 'an' admiral," Roslin gently corrected.
He smiled back. "It means that I watch over a bunch of ships," he simplified.
"Oh," Evie responded.
Tory returned not a minute later. "I found what she keeps calling her 'bear.' Madame Pr- Laura, it's Evie's naptime," she mentioned to Roslin. It was a crudely sewn stuffed animal made out of what was once a pillow case.
The older woman nodded. "Yes, of course."
After Tory had left the room with the girl, Adama spoke. "I'm sure you're going to explain this, since you can't use the presidential excuse again just yet."
ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when September ends
Roslin crossed her knees and folded her hands before speaking. "I'll admit that the bear wasn't my best sewing job, but I used what was on hand," she paused, knowing that he was not referring to the bear. "I was in one of their detention facilities, to which several of us were taken, I learned about a top-secret cloning experiment. Not even most of the Cylons knew about it. There was a laboratory that contained every bit of research and only three Cylons were working on it: a Brother Cavil, a Doral, and a Number Six," she began.
"Then how did you find out about it?" he questioned.
here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
"I sneaked into the facility on a reconnaissance mission and found a false wall by accident. I ended up in the lab, but they caught me. I suspect that these new experiments in cloning were to make copies of us with programmed instructions so that we would not know who was really a Cylon," she told him.
His brow furrowed skeptically. "How did they intent to age these clones?"
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends
She sat back in her chair, grimacing with discomfort. "They had some sort of mechanical box, called a 'maturation chamber,' or something like that. But they were still researching how to speed up the process. They were even experimenting with artificial wombs to aid the development."
"And the clones' mental capacity?" he pursued.
"It was an ingenious piece of technology, really. I think that the plans to this device as well as the invention itself were all restricted to the lab. As for how the device worked, when pressed to the skin of the temple, it generated and linked to impulses of the brain that stimulate and induce dreaming. The device could implant a few years of memories in a few days," she explained.
"Where is all this technology now?" he inquired.
"Saul and I saw to it that the whole place was blown to rubble. Letting the Cylons have the ability to clone us was far too dangerous. You're probably wondering how I got out of there. Evie was one of only three samples that they had taken from three different people. She managed to survive the other two and I couldn't just let her be killed. The resistance had distracted the Cylons from outside. The ones in the lab left to see what the commotion was and forgot about me," she relayed.
"She called you 'Mommy.' Shouldn't she have your childhood memories?" he continued.
"The whole process was in the beginning stages. They were testing it with memories that they could invent, using me as her mother. Then they were going to layer my memories on top of those so that she would think that she was me. Everything was still an experiment," she relayed.
He folded his hands and studied her as he processed all that she had told him. "Why was she the one who survived, and if she's your clone why aren't her eyes green?"
Roslin looked down at her hands for a moment. "The Cylons were playing with genetics on a sub-microscopic level before they had the embryos ready for development. Her eye color actually belonged to my grandfather. I think they still don't fully understand human genetics and it was an accident on their part. She survived probably because her development was not in one of the artificial wombs," Roslin paused and slowly faced him. "They found a way to accelerate the pregnancy and used me as their guinea pig."
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
The realization of what horrors she must have been through flashed in his eyes and he was quiet for a while. "So technically she really is your daughter," he stated.
She nodded. "Yes, aged and given the mental capacity fitting her age."
"And what do you intend to do now?" he asked.
Running a hand through her hair, her eyes took on a blank look. "I don't know."
like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
(My thanks to anastasia1583, Mariel3, carolann, TV1524, and Lavender Kate for reviewing :D)