Dualla struggled to keep her mind on the conversation she was listening to. She wasn't interested in computers or math or how Cylons programmed viruses. She had the impression that Sharon Valerii wasn't intensely interested either. " You've got about ten minutes left," she whispered into the microphone, " You probably want to back off a little now." When the session had been productive, Sharon usually rudely cut off the conversation when the time was up. It made the next session difficult to start. But, if she gave Gaeta enough warning, then he could naturally close the discussion and let Sharon make a few jibes about the generally crappy state of his life. It was a weird tactic but it worked, and after a while the jabs just got amusing. There were only so many comments on the food and the living conditions that could be made, and Gaeta was too polite or too into getting Sharon's cooperation to point out that he was living and eating better than she was.
At least, Dualla hoped, they should be living better than a prisoner, but Sharon was pregnant and got better rations. It was enough to make Dualla consider skipping the mandatory birth control pills.
" This has been very productive. I appreciate the assistance." Gaeta said. Dualla often thought he wasn't dominant enough in the discussion but she didn't know a nice way to say that to him. And she wasn't sure it would help. He was getting information on how Cylons made their devastating viruses. He was in charge of the project, it wasn't really her place to judge what he did as long as he was producing positive results. She just didn't like that he was so nice to the Cylon. It felt like a bad move, and she usually trusted her instincts on such things.
" You really never think, do you, Felix?" Sharon's voice rolled with disgust. " Don't you ever listen to anything I say to you? I have to sit and listen to you go on and on about things that a mentally deficient human would be insulted by, and you never listen to a word I say."
That was new, Dualla thought with surprise. Sharon certainly never had a problem insulting Gaeta and insulting Gaeta was a pretty rich topic to mine. His listening skills were not something that ever had come into question.
" What's that supposed to mean?" Gaeta asked. He didn't sound angry. Then again, Dualla reasoned, he was pretty used to the insult game.
" Look, it's obvious that you have no idea what I have really been saying to you." Sharon's voice took on an ugly edge. " Let me give you a giant hint. Remember that time that the other Sharon tried to kill Commander Adama?"
Dualla could hear Gaeta take a deep breath. " Yes," he said after a long moment, " It isn't something that's easy to forget." Dualla agreed silently. She still had nightmares about that day. She had been the one who had to help Gaeta clean the commander's blood off the dradis console. It wasn't something that was easy to forget at all.
" You shook the other Sharon's hand. Don't you ever wonder about that?" Dualla could hear the spite in Sharon's voice. " You shook her hand and she immediately shot the commander. Haven't you ever wondered about that? Seems a little suspicious."
And that wasn't going to happen, not on her watch. " The session is over," Dualla whispered urgently. It was a few minutes off to be honest, but she wasn't going to let Gaeta listen to that for five more minutes. He was a friend, and she wasn't going to let some Cylon make nasty suggestions, nasty suggestions that weren't true. She remembered that day as well as anyone and there was nothing suspicious about what Gaeta had done. He had shaken Boomer's hand because she had destroyed a Cylon basestar and saved their lives. Dualla had wanted to shake her hand and kiss both her and Racetrack for saving their lives. There was nothing suspicious about what Gaeta had done. She knew he had spent more than enough time, in her opinion, pondering his actions that day. There was no reason to let a Cylon get her hooks in that way.
Sharon continued on. " Don't look so shocked. The other Sharon didn't know what she was doing most of the time. She was in deep cover. I don't think she had any idea that the plan was for her to kill Commander Adama. What did you do to her?"
There was a long pause. Finally Gaeta said softly, " Don't you know?"
Sharon laughed. " Nicely played, Lt. Gaeta. I think we're done for the day."
Dualla waited until she heard the tell tale click of the headset being pulled from the hook up in the special cell to stop the tape. She started to rewind the tape, knowing that the commander would ask for it by the next watch and that Gaeta would want a copy as well for replay while he tried to work on his anti-Cylon virus program. Her stomach was sour and it felt like butterflies were rioting inside her. I didn't like that, she thought suddenly, I didn't like how that went at all.
She didn't like how Gaeta looked either. He stepped through the hatch into the small room looking paler than when he had left. He wasn't as pleased as he should have been considering all the math and tech talk he had managed to draw Sharon into. No, his mood had been spoiled by the last few minutes. He took a seat at the shiny table and leaned back tiredly. " So let's debrief."
They had started having a debriefing between the two of them after the first few sessions. It was a way to unwind, to get out of the mentality of interrogator and handler versus prisoner. At first, she had needed it more. Her conscious was still bothering over giving Adama reports on Gaeta, and the few minutes to talk after each session assured her that she wasn't doing anything wrong. Lately though, it was as though when they talked about Sharon, they put rank aside and talked like two people sharing a problem. It was… nice. Like talking about a tough homework assignment, as an equal partner.
It made what she was about to say a lot easier.
" You shouldn't let her go off on tangents about whether or not you are some sort of Cylon sleeper agent. It's not a good idea." At the very least it would concern Commander Adama. She didn't relish putting a positive spin on the conversation. The commander was worried about spies, angry about them, and wasn't very forgiving to those who sympathized with Cylons.
" She's trying to get a rise out of me," Gaeta said after a moment. " If I flip out or get angry or refuse to play along, then she'll refuse to play along. Once she stops talking, then that's it. We're all back to the beginning. And we're getting really good information. I can use what she told me about the Cylon virus to try and back engineer something that can do real damage to the Raiders." He blinked tiredly.
" It doesn't bother you at all that she all but said that you told the other Sharon to kill the commander." It bothered Dualla, she wasn't afraid to let that show. All that little accusation needed to do was get out and Gaeta would be on the black list just like Tyrol and Helo. Under suspicion. The commander didn't approve of it, but that didn't make the shunning any easier to bear.
" This Sharon has no idea what happened." His face took on that intensely interested caste she had come to recognize as the sign that he was coming up with something unique. That wasn't a bad thing, she knew that Gaeta having a clever or unique idea was usually a good thing, but she worried that it overrode his survival instincts. He started to tap the table repetitively. " They say that their memories upload when they die, but we don't know that it's really true. This Sharon had no idea that the commander had been shot until after Helo and Starbuck brought her back to the fleet. So she's just guessing I shook her hand."
The finger tapping got faster. She wondered if it was a way to make it less obvious that he was upset. Or to make it less obvious that his hands were shaking. It was bothering him, but she didn't know what to say. Finally she said softly, " We all wanted to shake her hand. You didn't do anything that I wasn't wanting to do."
" Do you know," Gaeta said as he rubbed his eyes, " I sometimes wish that I could have that moment back just so I could punch her in the face instead of shaking her damn hand."
" You'd have ended up in the brig." Dualla laughed. It was kind of funny. She doubted Gaeta had ever even seen the brig of the Galactica before the colonies had been destroyed. She also doubted he had ever contemplated punching anyone in the face before the colonies had been destroyed.
" Seems like all the cool kids get thrown in the brig these days. Maybe I can still get in on the mutiny action." He laughed. It had a slightly hysteric edge to it. " At least I'd get some time off."
" No, Col. Tigh would bring your work to you." It was funny because it true.
Gaeta rose to his feet. " I've got approximately four hours left before I go on duty again. I am going to try to get some sleep. How about you?"
"I have plans to sleep with someone else, sir, but thank you." Dualla couldn't resist.
It brought a smile to his face. He mimed being shot in the heart. " You're killing me, Petty Officer Dualla. I'm shattered."
She laughed again but let her expression grow a little more serious. " Don't let her get in your head, sir. She's designed to make you doubt yourself."
" Don't worry, Dee." He smiled again. " I'm too tired to think of anything other than sleep right now. Sleep and Cylon viruses."
The problem, Dualla thought as she watched him leave, was that he really wasn't the sort to stop thinking once the seed had been planted. She sighed. It was going to make her own report that much more difficult.