Chapter 4

"As with most of the base stars, this ship was fully equipped as an advanced technology medical facility." Natalie paused and waited for the Quorum members to look around the room. Hovering in the back of the group, Starbuck and Athena tried not to look too much like an emergency security contingent. But they were. Just in case.

Tom Zarek peered down into a large cylindrical chamber. "Forgive me for wondering, but why do cylons need hospitals?"

Natalie grimaced, "Always and only one thing," she said quietly.

Starbuck's face paled. Her voice was flat and cold, "Reproductive technology."

Natalie took in Kara with a tinge of remorse, "Yes, Captain." She turned back to Zarek, "It's been an obsession really. To figure out how to breed."

The Delegate from Virgon gestured toward the cylinder chamber, "What the hell is this?"

Natalie shrugged, "An artificial womb. We've pioneered at least seventy models. None of them have been satisfactory –"

President Roslin choked out a question, "Why? Why are you so obsessed with breeding?"

Natalie exhaled and looked out over the now abandoned clinic. Athena stepped forward, "If I may, Madam President."

President Roslin nodded at her.

"It's because it would allow for diversity. Right now, we are trapped in the same few models. But if cylons could breed, there would be infinite varieties of individuals. Just like humans. Cylons can never really be unique persons, until we can reproduce."

Natalie shrugged and nodded. She watched the delegates spread out through the clinic area half afraid to look too closely. There were scores of macabre hybrid fetuses suspended in liquid containers on one large wall. In the center of the room were stirrup tables and tubing. Starbuck stood beside one suddenly frozen and staring fixedly. She was suddenly back there, hearing the desperate whimpers of the women strapped down, seeing the lights on the panels monitoring their every pulse –

"You, okay?" She snapped out of the past to see Lee's eyes boring into her. His concern and love was more palpable then even the feel of his hand on her arm.

Starbuck nodded, but her voice was unsteady, "I'm good."

Natalie watched them, unconsciously gripping her arms. She needed to move this on. "Ladies and gentlemen, if there are no more questions, shall we?" She gestured towards the passageway.

The visitors moved by her one by one their faces pale and disturbed. Starbuck ducked her head in a small alcove separated from the clinic by a glass paneled wall. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is this thing for?"

Inside the alcove behind a half wall was a large cabinet topped by an obvious control panel. On the other side of the wall, a secure chair on a platform looked out across the small room. Leather straps were fitted on the chair obviously meant to confine the occupant. Suspended in the ceiling across from the chair, a large glass ball turned slightly around with the currents in the air. Across from the chair, the back wall had a complex series of mirrors that reflected back an infinite prism of images of the ball.

Starbuck plunked down in the chair and curiously stared across at the wall. Lee, Roslin and Athena waited for Natalie's explanation. "We figured out early on that we were going to need human subjects to assist us in our breeding efforts. Unfortunately, the humans that we selected as ideal breeding partners, very often were not attracted to one another."

"Imagine that!" sneered Starbuck, "humans not consenting to be programmed."

"Yes, well, it is a curious phenomenon how consistently humans want to mate with others with whom they are psychologically, intellectually or even physically incompatible."

Lee shook his head with disdain, "So sorry the whole love thing was such an inconvenience for you."

"We needed love. That much we figured out. The breeding wouldn't work without it. So, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make our subjects fall in love. For example, our studies have shown that Captain Thrace would be an ideal breeding partner for Gaius Baltar. But clearly, they would need help overcoming their lack of attraction for each other. This room was part of that."

Lee couldn't keep the snarl out of his voice, "Baltar..."

Kara rolled her eyes.

President Roslin was studying the ball suspended from the ceiling, "You mean through some kind of hypnosis? She put her hand up and spun the ball around.

Natalie ran her hands along the control panel. Her voice was tight. "Yes."

From where she was seated Starbuck emitted a sneer. "That's just frakking idiotic! You'd need more than a glass ball and some mirrors to get me to fall for Baltar."

Natalie focused intently on the brash captain, challenging her from across the room. "We're not idiots, Captain." She flipped a switch and the room was suddenly thrown into semi-darkness. The large ball began to spin and shoot out spears of colored lights which were magnified, fragmented and elongated in the mirrors. Starbuck's head immediately fell back against the chair, her eyes going wide and her pupils dilating.

Natalie spoke to her quietly, "Captain Thrace, your right foot will itch for the next hour."

Her eyes still glued to the wall of mirrors, Kara reached down and started to scratch her foot.

Lee didn't like it one bit. "All right that's enough. Turn it off."

Natalie smiled at him. "Should we stop her itch, Mr. Adama?"

Lee growled, "Turn it off. Now!"

Natalie's hand pressed on a switch, and the lights came on. All eyes looked at Kara whose eyes had dropped off the mirrored wall. She looked up at Natalie, "So how does this crazy thing work?"

Natalie looked at the humans and shrugged. She made her way to the door. "The subject will have no recollection of the hypnosis. They couldn't, could they, or they would resist its effects."

President Roslin stared at Starbuck intently. "Captain, you just experienced it."

Starbuck raised her eyebrow, 'What?" She reached down and pulled her boot off. "Gods. I must have gotten bit by something."

Lee groaned. "Oh no."

Athena laughed and followed the President out the door. "You might have to come back and fix that, Mr. Adama." Kara had her boot back on, "Fix what?" She rubbed her foot against her leg. Lee shook his head. "I'll tell you later. If it doesn't wear off."