CHAPTER 39

AEROTECH HEADQUARTERS, NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, 23 JULY 2064

Dr. Gaius Baltar was alone in the small office he had been assigned after accepting a position with Aerotech Industries, slightly more than three weeks previously. Baltar often found himself alone these days. He did not "mesh" well with the human scientists here at Aerotech, who Baltar considered to be largely plodding bureaucrats operating under a stifling corporate regime. He did sometimes associate with the few other Kobolian scientists and some of the Cylons from Terra who worked here, but he didn't spend a lot of time with them, either.

Today, however, he was more alone than was usual even for him. He had been assigned to work with Tory Foster and Galen Tyrol on the computer program whose purpose was to predict where the Cylon Resurrection Hub would be located at any particular time. They had recently made some breakthroughs which might eventually lead to such a program, but success was still quite some way off. But right now, Earth was on planetary alert as a result of the apparent defection to the Cylons of Sharon Agathon, who had evidently killed several Colonial officers and then stolen a Raptor, jumping out of the Sol System before anyone could stop her. Foster and Tyrol and the other Cylons of Terra were under detention until the Earth authorities were sure that they posed no risk of defection to the enemy.

But even when Gaius Baltar was alone, he was never truly alone. The beautiful blonde Cylon who inhabited his mind was there with him, wearing that skin-tight red dress that simply drove him wild when she wore it. The dress hung down only to her upper thighs, leaving her long, sensuous legs exposed to his view. She sat on the corner of his desk with her legs crossed, whispering to him, cajoling him, always tormenting him. He tried to ignore her, but found he could not. She has legs that go on forever, he thought to himself as he looked at her. So beautiful…

"You know this is all useless," she said. "They're coming. Sharon is going to bring them here. You'll never finish your work in time."

"No," Baltar protested. "She can't. She won't."

The Cylon laughed at him. "Do you really think she won't bring them here? They killed her baby!"

"No!" Baltar said firmly. "I've seen the news reports. It was an accident."

"Do you really think so?" the Cylon asked, laughing as she did so. "You're an even bigger fool than I thought." Seeing the hurt look in his eyes, she got up and moved behind him and began gently massaging his neck and shoulders as she whispered in his year. He could feel her hot breath as she spoke.

"You may be right," she said. "But do you really think Sharon cares about that? All she wants is revenge. Mark my words. She'll bring them here. And then God's plan will be fulfilled."

"No!" Baltar said forcefully. "If He is the only true God, He must be God over mankind as well as the Cylons. We're all His children. This can't be God's plan."

"You presume to speak for God?" the Cylon asked. Then she laughed. "You pathetic fool."

"No!" he exclaimed. "YOU have presumed to speak for God!" A tear rolled down Baltar's cheek, and he angrily brushed it away. "YOU told me that God is a loving God. A loving God wouldn't condone the butchery of his own children. Don't you see that?"

The beautiful Cylon said nothing. A thoughtful look came over her face, and, standing up straight, she stopped massaging Baltar's neck. Then to Baltar's amazement, she was gone. He looked around his office in bewilderment.

"Don't leave me now, damn you," he hissed. "Talk to me. Answer me."

But he heard only silence. And his blood ran cold. He was sure now…they were coming. Unless he and the other scientists could find that damned Resurrection Hub first. He got up from his seat. I've got to talk to Mr. Sewell, he thought. They've got to release the Terrans. I can't do this alone.

Then he heard her voice behind him. "No, you can't do it alone," she said softly. He turned and saw her, the beautiful blonde Cylon who tortured him and mocked him, but whose touch he craved more than he craved any other. She stepped forward and slipped her arms around him. Her lips found his, and he could feel her tongue darting in and out of his mouth. Their lips parted, and as she looked into his eyes, Baltar saw a look of respect there for, perhaps, the first time. "No, not alone," she said. "I will help you."