EarthMan
By ChaosEternus

Chapter 23: Home

Well, I got to say it, Adama has a pair of big brass ones hidden somewhere.

Landing on a world that has no idea he's out there with both Commanders, me and Kara, no heavy back-up just to take a stroll around and see for himself.

Gutsy.

Doubly so when I know Adama is aware of the often paranoid nature of most nations, though I notice he plotted a route which would take us well away from any cities till we landed. Good thing too, because anything unexplained heading towards a city, would get a visit from the local Air Force PDQ.

Still, at least he chose someplace where he would have a native guide.

“"Welcome to England people, local time is... well, actually I don't have a clue except it's late. The weather I do know however, this being England , you can expect rain today, rain tomorrow, rain for the rest of the week in fact. I wouldn't rule out having rain for a full month either”"

“"Frakking brilliant”" Kara cursed, already starting to look a bit bedraggled.

Adama grunted, “"That glow in the distance London ?”"

“"Yep”"

“"We camp here, move into London in the morning”" Adama swiftly dived back into the Raptor , followed by Kara, who was muttering about hopefully it stopping raining by then.

I snorted, and followed them in, "“I wouldn't bet on it Kara"

xxx

I grinned as we walked away from the Raptor, covered as it was by what foliage we had been able to scavenge and didn't bother to resist the urge. Pity Don or Dafydd weren't here, they would have known enough to laugh at the reference and its parallels but...

“"Everybody remember where we parked!”"

Kara snorted, “"Dear Colonial Retrieval Party, sorry we didn't return on schedule, thus necessitating your deployment; however we forgot where we parked the Raptor..." ”

I snorted, Hercules rolled his eyes and Adama's eyes glittered. It was pretty funny, but right now, we had a eight mile or so walk in front of us, across del laden and occasionally flooded fields. It was going to be a long morning.

A very long morning, one that resulted in us walking into the outskirts of London with water in our boots, tired, cold and somewhat miserable. The notebooks were out before we even crossed last field into the city, as the nearby Motorway and its gridlocked condition was noted. Then the notebooks came out again as we walked into the city itself and the litter became evident. I knew right their and then that I was really going to hate those damned notebooks.

First thing on our agenda, buy out a newsagents...

Well, Adama and Hercules didn't quite phrase it that way, but it certainly seemed that way to me. We were getting enough odd looks from the Newsagent as it was as one of every newspaper and magazine was stripped off his racks and bought. Then Came the fun part, carrying the damned things but at least we had brought backpacks just for that. Backpacks which quickly began to dig into our shoulders.

I told them we should have visited the newsagents on the way out, but no, they had to do it their way. Heh, judging by how often those packs got shifted as we moved further into the city; I bet they were really regretting that.

The notebooks and the camera came out as we hit the historic centre of the city and we really began to look like tourists. They seemed pretty impressed by the buildings but that was unsurprising in a way, the Colonies started with a technology level roughly equivalent to Britain at the end of World War Two, based on what they had told me about the technology which survived the loss of the Colony ships and their mainframes. It meant that big imposing stone building were never common on the Colonies; it was artificial materials, concrete and the like in use from Day one. The grandeur present in the old stone buildings scattered around much of the centre of London was new to them.

Still, we spent only an hour gawking. Our time was limited, and it had taken us much of the day to come this far. It was time to head back out again. One day was not really enough to get a true impression of Earth, and certainly not just one city but time was limited, we might not have seen the Cylons in ages, but we knew for certainly that they were looking for us.

Earths distance from the Colonies meant a reprieve, nothing more, and we needed to get her ready for the Coming storm. It was going dark as we walked slowly out of the city, and the notebooks never really left the hands of Adama and Hercules as they observed the homeless becoming far more evident as the masses vanished. As they saw a rare kitchen serving food or just an individual checking up on those on the street. As they saw the pubs close up, tossing drunken revellers out onto the streets.

I didn't try to explain all these things, I could see from the regretful yet understanding expression on the Colonials eyes that whilst they in the military had little contact with the dark underbelly of a city, they were aware of it. This was nothing new to them, despite the advanced levels which their technology had reached.

I estimated it was about 3AM when we arrived back at the Raptor, tired cold and in desperate need of a warm bed for the night but we had to leave, Not only did we have a rendezvous to meet, but everyday the Raptor was here greatly increased the chances of our discovery. It wasn't time for Earth to learn of the Colonials yet, soon maybe, but not yet.

It was Kara I felt sorry for though, as the best pilot, she got the job of trying to fly us out of the atmosphere without being detected, but like the rest of us, she was tired, worn and in need of rest, walking for a full day with heavy packs on your back and soaking wet feet isn't fun. Still, we had to leave.