EXTREMITIES
Author's note: Sorry for the long delay on this chapter, but I was dealing with a major case of writer's block. Thanks to Padawanmage for bouncing ideas around with me and helping me get past my block. And for helping to keep this chapter (hopefully) from becoming some kind of bad Indiana Jones rip-off. –S.
Chapter 5
I celebrate the powers of Pallas Athena, the protectress of the city:
Dread, as Ares, She busies Herself with the works of war,
With the sack of cities, with the battle-cry and with the combats.
It is She also who saves the fighters that go to war and come back alive.
Hail, Goddess, give us good fortune and happiness!
Homeric Hymn 11 to Athena
translated by Roy George
Laura felt as if she was walking through a long recurrent dream or, perhaps, a half-forgotten memory. The terrain around her was familiar, and yet, not, as though she was visiting a city she had once known intimately, but had been away from for a very long time. She kept seeing landmarks and ruins that she knew she should recognize, but time and subsequent decay had wrought such changes that she wasn't sure. At the same time, she kept seeing flashes at the corners of her eyes, of things as they had been. She would catch brief glimpses of buildings erect and intact, but when she turned her head to look at them fully, she would see only more ruins. Eventually she gave in and simply allowed her peripheral vision to guide her.
She and the two pilots had been walking for nearly an hour and, so far, neither of the two younger people had questioned her directions. Laura was touched by their faith in her, particularly Lee's, as he had not shown himself to be especially religiously inclined. She was determined not to let these two down. They had both risked their lives and their careers to back her up, she would not fail them.
The sun was beginning to sink toward the horizon off to their right, casting long, distorted shadows across their path. As the light faded the overlaying 'memories' became stronger and more distinct. Laura became more confident of her sense of direction. She picked up their pace.
Abruptly she came to a halt. Directly in front of them, glowing in the dying light with an almost otherworldly brilliance was the white, domed Forum of the Opera House. They had reached the heart of the ancient City of the Gods. Standing and staring at the ghostly building, Laura thought she caught a wisp of music coming from within. This brief tendril was soft and slow, a waltz perhaps, and seemed to contain an infinite sadness. She thought she recognized the fragment, but just couldn't quite seem to remember the rest of the melody. It continued to haunt her thoughts long after it had died in her ears.
"Madam President?"
She was pulled from her reverie by Capt. Apollo's gentle inquiry. She glanced at him for a moment and when she looked back at the Opera House, it was silent and ruined once more. The vision was gone. She gave her head a slight shake, bringing herself back fully to the present.
"Yes, Captain?" she asked.
"Are we there? Is this what we're looking for?" he asked, gesturing to the ruins before them.
"No, but we're very close."
As the small group moved on toward the north, a shadowy figure emerged stealthily from behind a large section of a collapsed column. Dr. Gaius Baltar watched as his three fellow travelers moved on down the cracked and weed covered roadway. He turned his head to quietly address his ever-present blonde companion.
"Is there a reason why you wanted me to hide from them?"
"Yes, you need to follow them, but we don't want them to know," the blonde replied.
"Why?"
"We don't want you to be in any danger later on."
"Danger? I see... And why must I follow them?"
"They're about to find the way to Earth. We need to be there when they do."
"Why, are you going to try and stop them from finding it?" Baltar asked, slightly apprehensive.
"No, of course not, we want you to find Earth."
"Y-you do? Why?"
"We want to establish ourselves as the dominate species in the entire universe. How can we do that knowing there are more Humans on this Earth?"
"So, you want us to lead you to Earth, so that you can destroy it just like you did the Colonies."
She gazed at him with a fond and beautiful smile. She lightly stroked his cheek with an elegant hand. "This time, the life that begins on Kobol will not be Human."
They walked for another 15 minutes or so and found themselves in a large, open area that was probably some kind of a square. In the center of this square was a large tree, which stood some 50 feet tall. It had obviously died centuries ago and was now completely petrified. Its bare, twisted and gnarled branches reached out like claws to rake at the darkening sky.
As Laura stood looking at it, it seemed to suddenly come back to life. Green shoots sprouted on the limbs and rapidly grew before her eyes into thin, feather-shaped leaves of a grayish-green color. Tiny, cream-colored flowers burst forth, filling the square with their sweet fragrance. Small, dark green fruits began to grow. When they had grown to about the size of a grape, they began to darken in color to a deep, purplish-black... It was an olive tree.
Allowing her gaze to drift past the tree, she saw a large, squat, square, stone building, with rows of columns supporting a triangular-shaped roof. Her vision wavered for a moment and blinking rapidly a few times, she saw the structure as it was now, its roof partially collapsed and most of the columns crumbling.
Gesturing to these ruins, she said, "That's it, the Tomb of Athena."
They glanced at each other for a moment before heading around the tree, toward the ruin Laura had indicated. They carefully picked their way up the steep, broken steps which led to the columned porch. When Laura stumbled momentarily in her low-heeled, but still inappropriate, pumps, Lee quickly dropped back to give her a hand. Already waiting at the top, Kara watched this with impatient irritation.
"Thank you, Captain," Laura whispered, out of breath and leaning slightly on his supporting arm, as they too, reached the top of the stairs.
"Do you need to rest for a minute?" he asked, in some concern.
"No, no, I'm fine. Let's just keep moving."
Turning back to the building, they found a wide, gaping doorway. Whatever had once served as a door was long gone, either rotted away completely, or crumbled to dust. They stepped over the threshold carefully. Inside, huge chunks of stone from the ceiling blocked their path and it took several minutes before they found a way around them. And even then, once again, Lee had to help Laura over some of the larger stones.
On the far side of this heap of stones, they found a stone stairway leading downward into deep shadow. As none of them had thought to bring a flashlight, they had no choice but to proceed in the dark. Drawing his sidearm, Lee gestured for Kara to do the same. He felt his way cautiously down the steps in the lead. Kara brought up the rear, with the unarmed president between the two pilots.
After several tense minutes, Lee reached the bottom of the stairs. Calling over his shoulder to the women behind him, he let them know. There was nothing but blackness all around him. Ordering the two women to remain motionless at the bottom of the stairs, he extended his empty left hand out in front of him and inched to the side, groping blindly for a wall. He felt his fingertips brush against metal. Reaching more confidently, he pressed his palm against the smooth, cool surface and slid it forward.
As his hand moved along the wall, he became aware of a soft humming sound. He quickly jerked his hand back. But along with the humming sound, light began to filter slowly in around them, gradually strengthening to illuminate a long corridor. The light seemed to be coming from nowhere in particular. There was no visible source of the light, as if the walls themselves were glowing with a soft, white light.
"Whoa," Kara exclaimed softly, looking around her. "What did you do?"
"I have no idea," Lee answered, equally awed. Peering at the wall, he could find no switch or button which would seem to activate the light.
Only Laura did not seem particularly impressed. "Let's keep moving," she urged.
They continued down the long corridor to where it dead-ended into another. They now had to make a choice, right or left. Both pilots turned to the president. She had led them accurately so far, neither saw any need to change things now. Very much aware of their eyes upon her, Laura looked down both branches of the new corridor. Both looked very much the same.
"This way," she said, at last, gesturing to the left. She wasn't sure why she had chosen this direction. It had just seemed... right.
They had only walked down this new corridor for a few minutes before it turned sharply to the left again. The passage they now faced was unlit and dark with shadows. All three stopped.
"Okay, Lee, do your thing," Kara said.
"What?"
"You know, make the lights come on."
"I didn't really do anything. I just touched the wall." As he spoke, he ran his left hand along the nearest wall.
Once again, at his touch, light began to slowly fill the passage. But this time, it did not illuminate blank walls. The walls of this corridor were covered with intricate murals, which, lit from within by the mysterious light, seemed almost as vividly alive as photographs.
"Wow," Kara whispered.
As the three moved slowly down the corridor, they examined the incredibly life-like paintings. The subject matter seemed to be a pictorial history of the planet Kobol. They saw the arrival of the Gods on the planet as they descended from the Heavens within shining 'chariots' to dwell among the people of Kobol. Lee moved closer to the wall, examining the strange conveyances of the Gods. He had never seen this event from the Scriptures depicted in this manner. The vehicles of the Gods were usually drawn to look more like amorphous, glittering clouds. Here, they were painted to look like huge, floating, crystalline structures.
"I think these are spaceships," he said softly, indicating the crystal shapes.
"No," Kara said. "I've heard that theory before too. Those are just a representation of how the Gods traveled. It's metaphoric. They're not ships."
"Look, they're coming from the stars," Lee insisted. "I think they are spaceships... Could this be showing that the Lords of Kobol... were aliens?"
"Lee, that's blasphemy!"
"Or truth..."
"That's enough!" Laura said quickly before Kara could voice her outrage. The president had an uncomfortable feeling that Lee was closer to the truth than any of them realized and she truly didn't want to dwell on that thought too much at this time. "We don't have time for this. We need to keep moving."
They continued down the corridor in silence. The paintings continued as well, now showing images of the Lords among the people, sharing their divine gifts and raising the people from their ignorance. The Gods were easily identifiable by their tall stature and pale, flowing robes. This was how they were often shown in the Scriptures, as tall, beautiful Humans. But in these paintings they seemed to look... somehow less Human.
Further down the passage, the paintings began to focus more and more on the figure of Athena, showing her leading the people in some just conflict, which were sometimes inevitable in any culture's history. She was shown standing in judgment of some trial and teaching domestic arts to the people. But always she was shown as the beautiful, but stern, Goddess in her glory.
Abruptly the images stopped. They had been so absorbed with the murals that, without even realizing it, they had come to the end of the passage. A large door, made of the same softly glowing metal as the walls stood closed, blocking any further progress. The image of a large owl was engraved on the door.
"There's no handle on the door," Lee pointed out, as they moved closer. "How do we get in?"
"Maybe it works the same way as the lights," Kara suggested. "Lee, put your hand on it."
The captain stepped forward and pressed his palm against the door, at about the spot where a handle should be. Nothing happened. He glanced back at the two women with a shrug.
"Why don't you try, Madam President?" Kara said. "After all, you're the prophet."
Feeling a little apprehensive, Laura duplicated Lee's movements. With a soft rush of escaping air, the door slid silently back into an invisible pocket of the door jamb. Laura led the way across the threshold. As she stepped into the darkness beyond, like the previous passages, light began to slowly fill the room.
The room was very large, hexagonally-shaped, with a domed ceiling, painted black. The floor was covered with numbers carved into the metal in disconcertingly familiar patterns. But no one really dwelled on this as their eyes were drawn to the back of the room, opposite the door, where an elaborately carved marble sarcophagus rested on a stone slab. Beside the coffin was a series of shelves set into the wall. Scrolls, books, and various other items filled these shelves.
While Laura went to examine the bookcase, the two pilots moved to stand beside the sarcophagus. The lid was made of a thick, transparent material and the body within the coffin was clearly visible. Despite having lain here for centuries, it was amazingly well preserved. The skin was a pale, grayish color and the cheeks were quite sunken, but the facial features were still distinguishable, as was the pale blonde hair color. The dead female lay quite composed on a bed of white silk, her surprisingly fully fleshed body, artfully draped in more white silk. Her hands lay folded neatly on her stomach. She almost appeared to be sleeping. Engraved in ancient script across the stone slab, was the name 'Pallas Athena'.
"So, how does a God die, Kara?" Lee asked pointedly. "Aren't the Lords supposed to be immortal?"
"This is only Her physical shell. Her spirit has returned to the Heavens... Look at Her, Lee. It's been centuries. She should be dust by now. At the very least, She should look a lot worse than this..."
"So? Maybe the Lords of Kobol, whoever they were, just had better embalming techniques."
"Or maybe Her body is incorruptible. How do you explain The Prophecies, Lee? 'Everything has happened before and will happen again', and is. How do you explain the fact that we found Kobol? How do you explain the president's visions?"
The captain had no response for any of these questions. Deliberately turning away from Lee, Kara knelt beside the coffin, bowed her head and began to pray quietly.
"Hear me, O Goddess, when to thee I pray,
With supplicating voice, both night and day,
And in my latest hour give peace and health,
Propitious times and necessary wealth,
And ever present be thy votaries aid,
O much implored, art's parent, blue-eyed maid."
"Captain," Laura called softly, not wishing to disturb the other woman's prayers. "I think I found something."
Lee stepped around Kara and went to join the president in front of the shelves. She was holding an object which looked something like a child's snowglobe. The base, which held the globe, was made of several hexagonal rings stacked together. The globe part was about three inches in diameter and held what looked like tiny, pinpoints of light, swirling around in some thick, dark liquid.
"What do you suppose it is?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"Well, there's also this." She indicated a large, hexagonal, flat disc, about 10 inches in diameter. It was made of a strange material with a faint, iridescent pattern which looked vaguely like fish scales. Engraved around the outer edge was a design of serpents. In the center of the disc was a gruesome engraving of a woman's severed head. Her mouth was gaping in a hideous, silent scream and the top of her head was crowned with snakes instead of hair. But most disturbing of all, was her eyes. They were wide, vacant orbs that somehow seemed to convey complete malevolence, even in their lifeless state.
"I know what that is," Kara whispered in awe, coming to stand beside the president. "That's the Aegis."
"The what?" Lee asked.
"The Aegis. The Scriptures only describe it as some sort of protective device which was given to Athena by her father Zeus. They don't say how it's supposed to be used or even what exactly it does."
"Okay, well, that's all very nice, but it doesn't help us figure out what to do with the Arrow or how to find Earth," Lee pointed out.
The three spread out, examining the room for any clue as to what they should do with the Arrow. Kara moved back to the sarcophagus, vaguely remembering that while she had knelt in her prayers, she had felt something quite rough under her knees. Looking at the spot again, she now noticed that there was a slot in the floor which appeared to be the exact same shape as the Arrow of Apollo.
"Madam President!" the pilot called out. "Over here."
Lee and Laura both moved quickly to Kara's side. Seeing the slot, which the younger woman pointed to, Laura knelt and placed the Arrow into it. It fit perfectly... but nothing happened. They all looked at each other. Lee gave an exasperated sigh. Looking at the Arrow in its slot, he noticed that it was pointing toward the center of the room. Turning to see where it was pointing, he saw a small, shallow indentation in the floor. Its hexagonal shape struck a familiar chord. Turning back to the president, he saw that she was still holding the globe device.
"May I see that?" he asked her.
Eyebrows raised with curiosity, she handed it to him. He took it to the indentation, knelt and fit the base into the depression... again, nothing happened. He stood and gave a shrug to the two women.
Moving to join him, a curious look on her face, Laura crouched and picked up the globe. Examining the base closer, she discovered that the different rings, which made up the base, each had a small notch on its side. Grasping the globe in one hand and the base in the other, she twisted. The rings each turned independently. Twisting each of them in turn, she arranged the notches so that they were all lined up vertically.
The strange liquid inside the globe began to glow, faintly at first, but growing rapidly in intensity. Taking the globe from Laura, Lee placed it back into the depression in the floor. The two were forced to step back from the brilliance of the light. All at once, all the light was projected upward, toward the black, domed ceiling and suddenly it was as if they stood in the middle of space. Stars sparkled all around them like diamonds and tiny planets seemed to hang within their reach. The three stood staring, transfixed, for several minutes, at the three-dimensional images which filled the entire room.
"Look, there are The Colonies," Kara said softly, pointing towards a section of the room, where they saw the familiar cluster of twelve planets. "And there's Kobol." She pointed to another section which showed their current position.
When Lee had placed the starglobe into the depression, the floor had also begun to gradually glow, just as the walls in the corridors did, and now it had come up to full strength. The Arrow sat dark and shadowy in its slot, contrasting sharply with the glowing floor. It still seemed to be pointing toward something... but what? It was positioned directly below the image of Kobol and was pointing away from Kobol, and away from The Colonies...
"That must be the direction the Thirteenth Colony headed when they departed from Kobol," Laura said, gesturing to the Arrow.
"Yeah, but how do we know exactly what direction that is?" Kara asked.
"Kara, look at the numbers," Lee said softly.
She did and gasped. Not only was the floor softly glowing, but so were the numbers engraved in it and now Kara could see why they had seemed so familiar. "Plotting numbers! It's a three-dimensional star chart! Quick, we need to plot the coordinates and write them down!"
She began fumbling frantically in the numerous pockets of her flight suit, looking for some scrap of paper and something to write with. Lee did the same.
"Damn, I've got nothing!" she swore.
"Same here," Lee said.
"I've got a pen," Laura said, producing it from the pocket of her suit jacket.
With a grateful smile, Lee took it and began the calculations in his head to plot the coordinates. Without the proper tools, it would only be a rough estimate, but it would give them the right direction. They didn't need anything more specific at this point anyway. Pushing the left sleeve of his flight suit up, he wrote the numbers on the inner part of his forearm.
"Okay, so we know what direction they headed in, but where did they go from there?" Kara asked.
As though it had somehow heard her question and was responding to it, the images the starglobe was projecting changed. The stars seemed to move around them, as if they were actually traveling through space incredibly fast. It was a disorienting sensation and Laura began to feel dizzy. For a moment, she thought she might stumble, but she felt Apollo's strong arm wrap around her waist and steady her. The two pilots didn't seem to be as affected by the motion as she was.
When the stars finally became stationary once again, it was as if they had traveled innumerable light years. They were now in an entirely different and unfamiliar solar system. There was a cluster of nine planets rotating around a single sun. Glancing down at the floor, they saw that the Arrow was pointing at one of the planets closer toward the sun. It was a hazy, blue and white M-class. As though drawn by invisible wires, all three moved closer to stare at the 3-D image.
"Earth," Laura whispered reverently.
"See Lee," Kara said with a mischievous grin, "it's all true."
"Okay, so there's an Earth. That doesn't prove that the Lords were gods. They still could have been aliens."
She sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation, but she was in entirely too good a mood right now, to be truly annoyed with her skeptical fellow pilot. They had found Earth. They would one day rejoin their lost brothers on the other side of the universe.
The sound of a hastily suppressed gasp intruded into the moment and all three turned to see Gaius Baltar standing in the doorway of the room, looking like a rat caught in a trap. "Uh... h-hello," he stammered nervously.
"Dr. Baltar, where have you been?" Laura asked.
"That's everybody, isn't it, Chief?" Crashdown asked. He and Tyrol had just finished getting the last of the wounded loaded onto the waiting Raptor.
"Well, Dr. Baltar is still missing, sir," Tyrol said. "And shouldn't we wait for Apollo, Starbuck and the president?"
"Did Apollo say we should wait for them?"
"Well, no sir, but we can't leave without finding Dr. Baltar."
"Aren't they looking for him right now?"
"Apollo said they would keep an eye out for him, but they're not actually looking for him. I'm not sure what they're doing."
At this news, the young junior grade lieutenant sighed and glanced around, as though expecting that he might just happen to spot the elusive scientist simply wandering around in plain sight of the Raptor. Every line of his body screamed of his desire to get off this planet. After a moment he turned back to Tyrol.
"You know, we really need to get the wounded back to the Galactica," he said.
"Yes sir," the Chief said diplomatically. The worst of the wounded, Specialist Socinus, had already been sent up in the first Raptor. The rest had only minor injuries and could wait until the doctor had been located. "Tell you what, sir, why don't you escort the wounded back to the ship. I'll stay here and look for the doc. I can catch a ride back with Apollo and Starbuck."
"Uh, I don't know, Chief. If anyone stays behind, it ought to be me. Besides I can't leave you here alone," Crashdown said.
"Oh, don't worry about it, sir. I'll be fine. I've got my sidearm."
"I'll stay with him, sir," Cally said, walking up to join the men. She had been standing nearby and had overheard the discussion.
"You sure about that, Cally?" the chief asked.
"Yes sir, not a problem."
Previously Tyrol might have questioned the girl's suitability for this, but Cally had more than proven her true mettle on board the Astral Queen and the chief was not about to belittle that by not allowing her to make up her own mind. If she wanted to stay, then as far as he was concerned, she could stay. Crashdown, on the other hand, was very much aware that he was being shown up by a girl who was probably still in her late teens.
"I don't know," he said, visibly irritated. "I think I should stay."
The chief knew there wasn't anything he could do to stop the lieutenant if he insisted on staying, but Tyrol really didn't want the younger man around. He had not proven himself to be particularly practical or resourceful in dealing with their earlier crisis. Tyrol would much prefer to get him off the planet and out of his hair.
As they stood, still discussing who should stay behind, Tyrol's eyes were drawn toward the horizon by a flash of movement. Turning, he saw two Cylon Raiders heading in their direction.
"Go!" he yelled at the pilot. "Take off now, while you still can!"
He pushed Crashdown toward the Raptor, turned and grabbed Cally's arm, dragging her off toward the Caprican transport. They took cover just inside the open doorway and peered out at the oncoming Raiders. The two Cylon ships streaked overhead, completely ignoring the two ships on the ground. The two mechanics continued to watch as the ships sped toward the north. Moments later, they dropped the bombs that had sat under their wings. The ground shook slightly as the bombs exploded.
Moments after the Cylons had disappeared from sight, the Raptor rose gracefully from the ground and headed back to the Galactica.
"I, uh, w-wandered away from the landing party and, I'm afraid, I... got lost," Baltar stammered. He looked around nervously, as though seeking someone.
Before the others could question him any further, there was a sound like very loud thunder and the structure around them shuttered violently as if there had been an earthquake. If Capt. Apollo's arm had not already been supporting her, Laura would have been pitched over. As it was, she and the pilot both still stumbled heavily. Lt. Thrace was not so lucky and she went down hard. Dr. Baltar, standing near the doorway, was just able to grab onto the frame and managed to stay upright.
"What the fra-?" Baltar started to ask, looking panicked.
"Raiders!" Lee said. "We need to get the hell out of here."
Nodding, Laura bent to retrieve the starglobe. Twisting the rings on the base, she deactivated the hologram projection. Lee quickly went to get the Arrow of Apollo. Picking herself up from the floor, Kara glanced around to see if there was anything else they should take with them. Her eyes fell on the mysterious Aegis device still sitting on the shelf. Immediately, she crossed the room and picked it up. It was heavier than she had expected it to be, but she tucked it under her arm and turned back to the others.
"Okay, come on, let's go," Lee said impatiently.
Taking the president's arm, he began hustling her out of the room. Kara followed quickly behind. Baltar stood indecisively in the doorway, clearly torn.
"But we can't just leave all of this," he protested, gesturing to the sarcophagus and the remaining items on the shelf. "Think of all the lost knowledge contained here."
"Doc, we can't bring it all with us. Now, come on," Lee said, starting down the corridor.
When Baltar continued to hesitate, Kara grabbed his arm and pulled him along.
To be continued...
Author's note: Kara's 'prayer' to Athena was taken from 'Orphic Hymn 32 to Athena' as translated by Thomas Taylor.
