CH 26

Getting ready to depart, everyone made sure The ship was ready to go, everyone had arrived and had gotten settled in their rooms. John was taking a tour around the outside of the ship with Cameron to be sure there were clear for takeoff. Coming around the front to the passenger stairs, he saw Ed Billings standing at the bottom of the stairs with a bag over his shoulder. He was wearing civilian clothes, not his pressed suit.

Wearing a look of defeat, Ed said, "Mr. Connor, I have been directed to do whatever job you deem necessary. Even cleaning toilets, if that's what you say. I must go on this mission."

Cameron eyed him. "That must be a grand fall for you to be made to do manual labor."

Ed glowered at her. "I do what I must do."

"Good to hear it," John said with a grin. "There are a couple bedrooms left. Get on, pick the one you want. Lena, she's an Atlantian, will put your name on the door. Get settled in your room, then after we lift off and we're on our way, come to the cafeteria for lessons in Piconese. It's so close to Latin it's scary, but that's what these people speak." John then motioned him on.

"Don't we all belt into chairs for liftoff?" Ed asked.

"No, this is more like a plane ride. The ship has good gravity compensation," John explained.

.

Ed went up into the ship. John pointed him the way back to the bedrooms, then headed with Cameron up to the front of the ship. He heard an announcement.

"Flight crew take stations for liftoff."

From doorway up ahead, he heard a woman say," Come on, it's time to ZOOM!"

A young busty brunette in a new looking blue jumpsuit ran out into the hall, barely missing him. He caught sight of her name tag. Joan.

"Excuse me!" he said pointedly.

"That's Ok," she called back with a wave of her hand and hurried on. Others filed out behind her, a few headed back the way he was going, but walked faster. He noted one woman had white hair.

Ed hurried up to her. "Excuse me, miss? Are you Lena?"

She beamed him a smile. "I'm Gale. You are?"

"Ed Billings, ma'am. I was told Lena was going to show me to my room."

"I can do that. Follow me."

Gale took Ed to a room that had the door open. She went in first waving him in. On a small desk, she showed a stiff paper and said, "There's a slot on the door for this. Write your name on it and put it in the slot. That claims this room as yours."

For a room on a spaceship, this room was nice. It had a big bed, it's own shower, a deck and drawers and storage for his clothes. "This is one of the better rooms?" he asked.

"No, they are all the same. I think Bob and his wives have a little bigger bed so they all fit," Gale explained.

"Wives? As in more than one?" he asked.

Gale grinned. "Three, Joan, Allison and Malinara. They're nearly Atlantians. Though they don't intermingle with other family groups."

"Family groups?" he asked.

"Yes, we're just starting ours, so it's just me, Lena and Rogan. My parents have a full family group, three fathers, five mothers. Get settled then come to the cafeteria after. We all need Piconese training." Gale said, then left.

This wasn't what he was expecting at all! A ship that didn't look anything like what he thought a spaceship would be like and polygamy seemed rampant here. John Connor had two wives, and from what he was seeing, that was normal. Subdued maybe, one guy had three wives and he wasn't sure what to call the gaggle Atlantian families had.

Other than a dull hum, Ed figured was warming the engines up, he didn't get any indication they were moving yet. He put his things away. Stepping out in the hallway, he saw this Bob walking beside a red head. Yeah, she was cute, and had a generous set of puppies on her chest. He couldn't help but ask, "Is this your wife?"

The red head frowned at him. "Joan and Allison are Robert's wives. I'm his slave."

Robert winced. "Mal, please stop telling people that."

"It's true," she replied.

Waving Robert said, "Robert Tanner, this is Malinara."

Edward Billings," Ed replied. He walked with them. "What's your job in this ship?"

"Engineer. Making sure a problem with the engines doesn't turn into a disaster."

Malinara snorted. "Like that pulse waved that knocked out over half the crew and shot us out into the middle of nowhere?"

"Yup, like that," Bob stated.

"What kind of pulse?" Ed asked.

"It was from number three engine. That engine died, terminators thought they fixed it, but when they restarted that and number four, both went to full thrust, and sent out this massive electromagnetic wave. Knocked all the terminators out. We didn't get stopped until we went like 1700 light years."

"It was one of the 'oop's' we had," Malinara offered.

"Lighting yourself on fire was another one, "Bob said with a grin.

Malinara stuck her tongue out at him. She then asked, "You know, we should have brought Hanna's breasts with us."

"No, they are fine where they are," Bob told her.

Ed eyed them. "Her breasts?"

Malinara nodded. "Yes, it's a sign of total love and devotion for a woman to ensure her man keeps her breasts when she dies so part of her is with him forever."

Bob face planted with a groan.

Ed stopped asking questions. He decided these people were out there and he really didn't want to know any more.

Going into the cafeteria, Ed noted laptops were set up around the table. Some people had a drink or a snack as they watched their screens. Ear buds let them hear what was going on with their laptop without bothering their neighbor.

Bob sat Malinara down, then sat beside her. "Cameron got us all laptops for learning. This is a big improvement."

"It is," Allison said as she got up, taking her laptop with her. "I'm heading up to the control room. I can listen to this and watch the sensors too."

Ed saw her name tag. Her name was Allison. He'd sworn for a moment that was Cameron. He asked, "Is Cameron your sister?" They looked identical.

Allison grinned at him. "Cameron is older me. It's a time displacement thing." She then bent to Bob and kissed him and said, "Behave yourselves."

"Joan driving?" Bob asked.

"She is, she'd getting nice and smooth too. Up through the atmosphere and out into space without a single bump."

"We launched?" Ed asked, surprised to hear that.

"Come up and see for yourself."

Ed did. Since Allison had her laptop with her, he took the one he was using also.

The half circular control room was something Ed expected to see on a TV show. John sat in the middle towards the back, he noted people and terminators at their stations. What caught his attention was the large screen that showed starts drifting by. "Damn," he blurted out.

John turned to see him. "Hey Ed, wanted to see where we're going?"

"We are really moving that fast?" Ed asked weakly.

Beside a terminator, Joan laughed. "You ain't seen nothing yet! We're still increasing speed. We're only up to a half Zillion miles a second."

"Zillion?" Ed asked, wondering how much that was.

From her console, Cameron said, "Joan speak for 80 light years every hour, local time. Also called, Ludicrous speed."

Yeah, don't you know what the speeds are?" Joan asked. "We have Light speed, Ridiculous speed and Ludicrous speed!"

"She got that from the movie Spaceballs," John explained. "Though that does fairly accurately describe how fast this ship can go."

'And these people were out here with the most advanced ship and representing Earth to aliens,' Ed thought. They should have been grounded and had a real crew take this ship out. "Light speed is the fastest anything can go in the universe." he stated.

"We're not in the universe right now," John explained. "This ship makes a bubble around it that pushes the universe to the sides. The universe is around us, but we're not part of it. Hence, why we can travel so fast."

"Time dilation is also about 7.4 to one," Cameron told him. "For every month we are traveling outside the universe, normal time proceeds 7 and a half months. We felt a passing of 44 days, while on Earth we were gone 8 months. I haven't calculated it accurately yet, for when we were out, we were not always zooming around at top speed."

"Yes, Einstein said the fastr te travel, the more time slows down," Ed agreed.

"Right, so in the six days it's going to take us to get to Kobol that we experience, time there will have proceeded 44.4 days, approximately. Again, we will not get an accurate computation on how long it will be their local time, for we don't know what day it was there when we left Earth," Cameron explained.

"Plus this time we're going balls out all the way there," Joan added.

"Joan," John said with a sigh. "Language?"

"What?"

Yes, this ship did need a proper crew. There was one thing Ed was very curious about. "How far from Earth is this Kobol?"

Delilah spoke up. "11,500 light years, by the direction we're traveling. We're not following the curve of the galaxy, we'll be cutting the corner, so to speak, heading directly to where Kobol will be when we arrive. If we miss, it won't be by much. A light year or two."

"You've been to this planet?' Ed asked.

"No, that is where Jennifer Six said both they and the Colonial humans know a habitable planet is. They can both get to it."

"There is much we don't know yet about both these races," John said. "Indications are planet side is the best place for this meeting. That will give them room to be there, yet not right next to each other. We can get a chance to talk to each of them separately and find out more about them before we get them together."

"And understand the underlying causes of the war they are having," Ed said.

"Right. We got the basics, but before we meet with them together, we want to get as much information as possible so we know what we're talking about." John agreed.

Lena came into the control room. Happy she found Ed, she towed him off for laundry duty.

.

For how uncouth and unethical the whole crew seemed to be, Ed found they worked well together. Terminators did their jobs and had a room to rest in. They were more to the point. Of course, they were AI machines. Although not his cup of tea conversation wise, he found John, Cameron and Delilah were very smart. Allison and Joan were also, though they tended to be a little more on the mischievous side. Robert Tanner (Bob) was also a smart man though more into how things worked and making sure he had his share of sex with three different women. The big shock he got was meek and obedient Malinara had the ability to cast fire straight out of her hand or cool a fire down and make it go out. Whatever she was, she wasn't human.

Cameron and Delilah were both terminators like the metal skeletal ones, but with a living biological sheath that looked as human as they acted. The Atlantians he'd gotten a brief on. They were aliens from another planet. Yes, they looked different, but were basically just like humans.

Thinking about this rather odd mix of the crew John Connor had, it hit him that the races they were going to visit had one race of nothing but humans. The other was a race of sentient machines. Knowing this, he was sure John Connor had a mixed crew for a reason.

After Six days of doing menial chores, Ed heard an announcement. "We have the Kobol system in sight. 1.23 light years away. After a complete scan of the area in the normal universe, we will be proceeding into that system. For the next couple hours we will not be within the warp bubble. That means if there's anything out there coming at us, it will hit us. All sensor operators stay sharp."

Good, they were finally getting to their destination. It still amazed Ed they had gone so far in such a short time. Especially with such an odd crew that managed to work well together.

It was still another whole day - as Ed knew by their sleep cycle. Before they approached the planet.

Delilah had pictures of Kobol up on the screen. There were two letters on either side of the ruins of a spoke shaped city. On one side was an 'H', where the humans were camped. On the other a 'C' where the cylons had made their camp. Delilah contacted each side and assured them they were on their way down. Before John broke orbit, he had them scan the whole plane for any others of either side that may be waiting to strike.

Once John was satisfied no obvious traps had been set, He gave his orders and they set down in the middle of the city. He got his landing crews together.

Facing the group, John said, "To begin with, myself, Ed Billings, Bob Tanner and Malinara are going to visit the human camp. Delilah, two terminators and Allison are going to visit the Cylons. Joan, you're staying on board to pilot, Cameron, you're acting Captain. After we leave, launch up into the atmosphere and watch us."

"Mr. Connor, as representatives we should hold an open hand," Ed said.

"We're holding an open hand and a tight fist," John told him firmly. "Neither of these races like each other in the slightest. We are going to hold them as hostiles until they prove differently. If they want to get violent. We'll show them violence. I am hoping it won't come to that."

Right after they left the ship, it rose back up into the air.

Walking towards the Cylon camp, Delilah noted one of their tall terminators called a centurion was wtching them from beside the ruins of a wall. She waved to him.

"Hello, we've come to speak with your Cylons."

The centurion came out, waved a hand for them to follow and marched away.

"I take it they don't speak," Allison noted.

"Is there a malfunction in them?" one of the terminators asked.

Possible. We'll find out," Delilah assured him.

They walked on to a mostly there bulding where a couple more centurions were near a few bio-cylons. Upon seeing them, the blonde haired Six got up wearing a smile to meet Delilah.

"Delilah!" the Six said happily. "I am so glad you came."

Delilah hugged her, "Hi Jennifer, have you been well?"

"We've been waiting and worrying. You took a long time getting here," Jennifer said with a frown.

"Sorry, we came as fast as possible." Delilah scrunched her nose up. "Human politics were involved. This is my friend, Allison Tanner. Her family came with us."

"Hello Allison, I understand you can have children?" Jennifer said eagerly.

"I can. Haven't had any yet, but my sister Cameron has two, Joan and John Junior." nodded at Delilah, she said, Delilah has one. Jackie has her own family so she couldn't come."

"I am very curious," a dark haired man asked as he approached. "You are all machines?"

Delilah replied, "I am, as are these other two terminators. Allison is part machine, part human. We have quite a few of those around also. And you are?"

"Excuse my manners, I am John Cavil." he said. "You are machines, but you live with humans? How is such a thing possible?"

"It's possible when you understand the differences between us and live with tolerance in mind instead of intolerance," Delilah said. "Let me give you a perfect example. Allison here was born completely human. Joan, Cameron's daughter was born, shall we say, as half centurion, half human. The same with my daughter Jackie. While they grew up, no distinction was made between them as to what they were. Joan and Allison grew up from babies being close. They still are the best of friends. Sonya, who is a terminator we adopted after we found her in very rough shape, is as big as one of your centurions here. Yet again, no distinction was made as to what she was. Our concern was for her, to get her repaired and teach her. She is one of our family, period. We all have some mechanics in us, as well as some biological organs. I take it you do not?"

Cavil let out a dry chuckle. "I can't see how that's possible. You, a machine, gave birth to a baby?"

"I see you are truly surprised by that. You do not procreate?"

"We tried, we have had no success so far. We're all constructed." Jennifer said. "If our body dies, we're resurrected into new bodies."

Delilah tipped her head slightly. "That is different."

Allison asked, "Is there a limit to this resurrection capability? I mean, do you have to be take to a machine or something for it to work?"

"Making a body is easy," Cavil told her, "What isn't easy is making the intellect that goes into the body. Since we cannot procreate, that is how we sustain ourselves."

"I think I see," Allison said. "Delilah, Cylons are really different from us. They have bodies that can die easier, so they made a way to come back. With no nanites, they can't heal serious injuries." "Can you?" she asked Cavil.

"What are nanites?" an Asian looking woman asked.

"Think of them as micro machines we produce in our bodies," Delilah explained. "They heal us if we are injured."

"Like when that asshole who kidnapped me shot me," Allison said. "Yeah it really hurt, but I healed."

"You were shot and didn't die?" Jennifer asked.

"Many times." Allison agreed. "But I think the big bullet sponge is Cameron. She's been tore up pretty bad, and one time she ate a rocket, but she's always come back."

Delilah grinned. "I remember that. Cameron was so ripped up, her mother screamed upon seeing her."

"Can we see this Cameron?" Cavil asked.

Delilah motioned to Allison. "She looks identical to Allison here. The only different between them is Allison is part human and Cameron is full terminator."

"We would very much like to get to know how you can do these things." Jennifer said.

"We would very much like to help you also," Delilah replied. "To do so, you must stop this aggression towards humans. We will not support anyone who is aggressive to others."

"Then how do you end up getting shot?" Cavil asked. "Do you just take it?"

Delilah cast him a smirk. "Not at all. I never said that we can't be deadly if we want to be. That is a last option for us. If someone attacks us, we attack them right back, usually with more firepower than they can handle. We want to be helpful and beneficial. That doesn't mean we can't be holy terrors if the need arises. There isn't anything yet, man or machine, that is able to defeat us."

"So with just you four here, you think you could kill all of us?" Cavil asked.

"Ever seen a plasma cannon?" Delilah asked.

"What's that?" Jennifer asked.

Delilah raised her arms and morphed out her cannons. "These. They shoot ultra hot balls of plasma that will melt down any material or cinder any burnables. While you shoot your bullets that my internal armor would stop, I'd be making you into balls of fire, as would these other terminators with me. Also above us Cameron is watching. Anyone gets violent with us, and she would carpet you with plasma fire." Delilah morphed her cannons back into hands. "As I said before, it's best to keep the peace and be helpful."

"Ahhh Delilah? Maybe you shouldn't have done that." Allison said meekly.

"Nonsense. That is exactly what Mr. Cavil there needed to hear. He needs to know that just because we're here to help them, doesn't mean we can't kick their asses if we're pressed. They are not the most bad-assed thing in the universe."

Delilah then smiled and said, "Now we got that out of the way, perhaps we can talk about how you and humans can help each other and we can help you instead of continuing this constant, stupid war?"

Cavil pointed a finger at her. "Gladly!" he said. "But that has to go for the human's also! The last thing we want is to have to worry about them coming after us."

"That is why we came," Delilah said. "To do our best to understand you and get everyone to stop the fighting. We also want you to know where we come from. These nanites I have for self healing, these plasma cannons, even my body are all human inventions. The same with our ship. Yes, Mrs. Weaver, a T-1001 liquid metal terminator owns the company that designed it, but did so with her human engineers. AI's like we are can think faster, we can solve equations much faster than humans could ever hope to. However, when it comes to original thinking, humans are the kings. They can pull ideas out of nowhere we'd never even consider. Our civilization grows stronger by having all of us, no matter what we are, working together. I am positive that you and the Colonial humans eventually can be the same. Jennifer, you are shocked that I, a terminator, can have children. It was through studying how to modify nanites that I have and human DNA that my husband John has that made that possible."

"We don't trust Colonial humans," Jennifer stated.

"And they don't trust you," Delilah replied. "BOTH, for good reason. What I'm getting is each of you have been looking to remove the other side completely. What you need to know is by acting like that, you're each hurting yourselves as well."
The Oriental woman stared at nothing briefly. "Yes, what you say is true."

Delilah noted one important thing, these cylons were listening.