Man and Machine 5
"My god, look at the size of it," Wilma whispered to herself.
"The size of all of them," Buck answered, sitting in the seat next to her of the two person starfighter they took to rendezvous with the Galactica and it's fleet. The immense warship, the Battlestar Galactica loomed in front of them, with its massive center hull with two landing pods mounted to either side of the hull, joined by three massive struts. Beyond the Galactica, they could see many of the ships of the fleet, every single one of them was the size of the Searcher or larger, and they came in every shape and style imaginable.
Although originally hesitant to join them on this purely human mission, Hawk flew alongside Buck and Wilma's fighter. In his second seat, sat Dr. Goodfellow who had talked his way into coming along.
The two fighters were met by a Viper escort, who escorted them on a flyby of the Galactica, and around for a landing on the aft landing deck of Alpha landing bay.
The starfighter pilots heard the pop as they pierced the air shield that kept the air within the bay, and touched down about mid ship where the reception party was waiting.
When Buck Rogers stepped out onto the deck, he could almost forget that he was standing in a ship. It was even larger than the largest Aircraft carrier he had ever seen, and to think, the Galactica had two such bays.
Crowds were being held at bay at each of the deck's entrances by men in black security uniforms, while other men wearing the brown and khaki uniform lined the bay as an honor guard.
Captain Rogers and the others exited their fighters, as they were greeted by Captain Apollo, who escorted them to the white haired man at the head of the welcoming committee.
"Captain Rogers, Col. Deering, Hawk, and Dr. Goodfellow," Apollo said, "allow me to introduce you to Commander Adama, my father and commander of the Galactica."
"We are here so we can all get to know each other better, so we can both figure out how best to proceed," Col. Wilma Deering said. "Our ship's mission may be to seek out the lost tribes of mankind, but this is the first time we have met anyone from a radically different culture."
"We will, of course send you back with a copy of all the data we gather from your visit, as well as corresponding data on us. This is actually the second time we have encountered a human culture significantly different from our own," Adama said, "unfortunately, we determined it was best to leave them be with limited interference."
"Some aspects of our technologies seem very similar," Buck said.
"Although, there are some areas where the technology levels are vastly different," Dr. Goodfellow observed, "It will be so fascinating to explore the reasons for the differences. I imagine that most of the reasons are as much historically related as they are culturally. I note from your flight helmets and tunics some elements of Egyptian design. I wonder…"
"Egyptian?" Adama asked.
"Egypt was an ancient Earth nation," Buck provided. "In ancient times they were rumored to be more advanced that the rest of the world. You will have to forgive our Dr. Goodfellow, he can get a bit carried away."
"Well, it is just those cultural differences we need to decipher," Adama said. "They will hold the key to how we decide to proceed. How can we best help each other? Should we even attempt to integrate our peoples?"
"There is plenty of room on Earth left to be repopulated after the Holocaust," Buck suggested.
"Buck, you must remember," Wilma interjected, "that much of that land is uninhabitable due to radioactivity. To say nothing of the mutants."
"Clearly much history must be shared between us," Adama said, "and there will be plenty of time to go over everything in detail. Now, if you will be kind enough to accompany me, I shall begin our 'working tour' as it were."
The Earth delegation followed Adama, Starbuck and Apollo as they led them down a hallway to one of the lifts.
"This is the only surviving warship we have," Apollo said, "The Battlestar Galactica. It serves both as a launch platform for our fighters, as well as a weapons platform. Her primary goal is to protect this fleet of just under 220 ships that contain all that remains of the Twelve Colonies."
"You call them colonies," Dr Goodfellow said, "Just whose colonies were they? Did you originate from Earth?"
"Our scriptures," Adama answered, "tell us of the Second Great Exodus from our mother world of Kobol of thirteen tribes. The Great Colonies were founded by twelve of those tribes on Caprica, Virgon, Tauron, and six other worlds. The thirteenth tribe was to have taken a different direction to colonize a world called Earth. After the destruction of our colonies at the hands of the Cylon Empire, with no surviving allies strong enough to help, we felt it was or only recourse… our only hope was to seek out the Earth of our legends."
"So you think our Earth could be the one from your legends?" Buck said.
"It is possible, we have been disappointed before, which is one reason we are trying to keep your visit quiet," Adama said.
A couple of kids popped their heads out from around the corner, before running off in the opposite direction.
"Doing a wonderful job of it I see," Buck said.
"For it's size, this is still a small fleet in many ways," Starbuck said, "just look at the bright side; the politicians aren't here."
"What can you tell us of the culture of Kobol?" Dr. Goodfellow asked.
"It's nothing but ruins now," Apollo said.
"I didn't get to spend much time there myself," Starbuck said, "but the pyramids were really something to see."
"Egyptian or Mayan styled pyramids do you think?" Dr. Goodfellow asked.
"Huh?" Starbuck wondered.
"Gentlemen," Adama said, "The first stop on our tour is the Life Center. Here, Dr. Salik oversees the wellbeing of everyone on the Galactica and the training of Doctors on the other ships."
"Welcome gentlemen, and lady," Dr. Salik said with a grin, "Allow me to show some of the equipment that we use."
Dr. Salik positioned himself near Col Deering and Dr. Goodfellow, while his nurse, Cassiopeia positioned herself next to Buck and Hawk, an arrangement Buck didn't mind in the least. Starbuck wasn't so thrilled.
Giving a brief explanation of each scanner he used, he gave the representatives from Earth a complete examination, while also showing off the bone-knitter, and the isolation tubes. At every step of the way, Dr. Goodfellow was asking questions about the details of the scanners as well as the results, at which point Salik performed similar scans on Starbuck and Apollo so he could compare the results.
"Doctor, take a look at this reading," Cassiopeia said.
Salik moved over and took a quick look at her scanner, then double checked and took a longer look, then compared it to the scan he took of Dr. Goodfellow.
"Is everything all right?" Wilma asked, "I hope we don't carry any diseases that are harmful to you."
"No, no, its not that, just some confusing readings," Dr. Salik answered. "Our average lifespan is about 200 yahrens; are your people particularly long lived?"
"No, my good man, not at all," Goodfellow answered, "While I am not sure what a Yahren is, but on average we live about a hundred and fifty years."
"How long is a year then?" Cassiopeia asked.
"A year is the time it takes the Earth to orbit around the sun one time, approximately 365 days, each of which is 24 hours long," Dr. Goodfellow explained.
"Our people found it too confusing to tell time based on the time it took a planet to orbit a star," Adama said. "Twelve different planets all orbiting at different rates, our yahren is something of an average of their respective years."
"But how long is an hour?" Starbuck asked.
"Hours… wasn't that a unit of time they used on Paradeen and Terra," Apollo mused aloud.
"That's right!" Starbuck agreed.
"I could just loan you guys my watch," Buck said.
Dr. Salik turned to his computer terminal and brought up the information files on Terra and Paradeen. Fromm there it took only a little math to adjust the figures.
"A yahren is a few days longer than one of their years," Salik said, "but they are a very close approximation to each other. But how is it, that the young looking Captain Rogers is so much older than the rest of you?"
"I was frozen by an accident. My ship launched in 1987, and the next thing I knew I was returned home some 500 years later in 2491," Buck explained.
"Well," Salik said, "maybe my math is off, but are you absolutely certain that it was only 500 years?"
"Well, Im sure it will all make sense someday, but even if it doesn't, its all ancient history now," Starbuck said, "right?"
Adama nodded, and Apollo gestured the party towards the door, "If you will all follow me, I will take you to the next stop on our tour."
Adama hung back long enough to whisper a question to Dr. Salik, "What were the unusual readings?"
"There are a lot of unknown variables, Commander," Salik answered, "like the nature of his suspension, or…"
"Doctor," Adama interrupted.
"Preliminary scan results show that the Captain is three times older than he believes," Dr. Salik said.