CH 34

Sonya was upset to find out Hugh only had five years to live. Officer Hanson knew octopus biology and 5 years was the longest any octopus ever lived. Many only lasted three years. The subject was well studied.

Sonya first thought about getting nanites into Hugh. The question was how? Octopi had a bird like beak. They bit their food into chunks and swallowed it. No chance of nursing some nanites into him that way. Any she put in fish for him would be diluted into the pool water unless he ate those fish whole.

Any kind of vitamin supplement was out also, Hugh's blood was cooper based and no one knew enough about his physiology to give him any supplements. All that could be done was to feed him a good healthy diet of non polluted fish and hope for the best.

To Sonya, that wasn't good enough. There HAD to be something she could do to help him at least live a bit longer. Hugh had personality. He liked her to get in the pool and play simple games with him. He had even climbed over the wall into the fresh water side of the pool when he saw her swimming there.

Finding Hugh swimming towards her in the fresh water side, Sonya had panicked, thinking he couldn't breathe. She'd grabbed a tentacle and swam him over to the wall. Thinking she was playing, he held into her with a couple more tentacles and rode on her back over to the wall of the salt water side. A jump and a push with her arms and she flipped them both back over into the salt water.

Hugh didn't let go. Sonya surfaced by the wall to make him let go to stay under. Hugh didn't. He reached over the wall with a few tentacles and rolled his body over the wall, pulling on her too. Sonya went back over to the fresh side. Hugh let go to shoot away then reached out for her.

Sonya came closer and Hugh pulled himself up on her back again.

Great, he thought she was playing a game. Sonya swam and sped up and again, charged the wall to come up and all but fly over it. Hugh on her tipped her down faster, but she did splash down head first. This time Hugh made the wall first again, but hung there and reached out for her.

OK, just a few more times.

Coming back up to sit on the wall, she saw Officer Hanson coming out into the pool area. She went over the wall, so did Hugh. He also latched on and got on her back for another ride. Sonya swam over near her and surfaced at the edge. Hugh spit water at her, Looking over Sonya's shoulder.

Officer Hanson winced. "Thanks, Hugh," she grumbled. "Fresh water isn't good for him," she stated.

"Tell him that," Sonya retorted. "I went for a swim, and here he comes!
I grabbed him to take him back over, and he comes back with me! I think he likes jumping over the wall."

Officer Hanson laughed. "Wow, and you can get over the wall with him on your back?"

"Yes, but he won't stay on the salt water side!" Sonya complained.

"Maybe if you stay on that side, he will too."

"I'll try it." Sonya said in a grumble, then went deep and swam fast. Hugh clung a little tighter to her as she came up to jump the wall.

This time, Sonya headed for the ladder. She got on it and up to the surface. She was expecting Hugh to let go. He didn't. He did wrap a couple tentacles around her and another on a lower wrung to stop her from climbing out.

Sonya could have broken free if she really wanted to, but that would have ripped some skin. "You don't want me to get out, do you?" she asked in a grumble.

Hugh reached out a tentacle at the wall between the two sections of the pool she'd been jumping.

Officer Hanson giggled. "Looks like you're his daredevil ride. Zooom, zoom!"

Sonya frowned at her. "Feed him maybe?"

"I think he wants you to play motorcycle again."

Sonya felt Hugh pull on her. Yup, apparently he was liking jumping the wall.

OK, fine! Just a couple more times. Sonya let go of the ladder and swam down towards the bottom. Coming up on the corner of the wall, she shot herself up and out and over into the fresh water side. This time she cruised near the bottom, undulating fast the whole way. Picking up all the speed the could she, she rose up to jump out of the water, and caught the wall below as she flew over it, flipping herself upside down to land on her back. She got righted and dove down to charged the wall again.

Hugh let go. Feeling him slip away, Sonya turned and came back. She saw Hugh go into his cave. Swimming down to him, she saw his eyes looking out at her. She went to reach in and he backed up a bit.

Nuts. She had the feeling she'd hurt him by landing in her back. The hand she offered to him got the end of a tentacle around her wrist briefly, then he withdrew it. Shit. She hadn't meant to hurt him. She swam up to the ladder and looked back. Hugh stayed in his cave.

Surfacing, Sonya noticed Officer Hanson was soaked.

"That was a hell of a splash," the woman noted sourly.

Getting out, Sonya said, "I didn't mean to hurt him."

"He'll get over it. In a couple hours it will be feeding time. I'm sure he'll make up with you then."

Sonya nodded. When she'd landed on her back, she hadn't thought about Hugh pressing into her. Having no bone structure at all, she began to realize that she had squished him flat. That had to hurt. "I'm sorry Hugh," she said with a sniffle.

.

Patricia got a 'day off' from school for her yearly gyno Dr. appointment. It was just a routine checkup, and she hated those. Because she was at high risk for cancer, every time she had to strip down, put the paper gown on and lay there while the Doctor got his probe out and ran it over her.

Watching his screen as he probed her, he finished by saying, "Still looks good. No sign of any lumps or deformations." He put his tools away and asked, "Your parents told me you want to go through FTM surgery?"

Patricia eyed him. "What are you talking about?"

He explained, "FTM is Female to Male surgery. All it consists of is top surgery, flattening your chest…."

"NO!" Patricia cried and sat up to cross her arms over her chest. "I in no way want to be a guy!"

"You don't have to go through the entire thing," he said gently. "See, for cancer surgery, you must be at least 18, FTM we can remove your breasts any time now. It will serve the…"

"NO!" Patricia spat. She got up and grabbed her clothes. "I do NOT want a guy's chest! I do NOT want fake tits stuffing my chest to replace mine. I don't want ANYONE cutting my tits off!"

Eyeing her, the doctor said, "With the very high rate of cancer in your family, it's the only safe thing you can do."

"Mrs. Connor has a cure she wants to try on me," Patricia explained. "If it works, I won't get any type of cancer. I want to try that FIRST before someone cuts me up."

"What is this cure?" he asked.

"It's called Nanites."

"Never heard of it," he said with a shake of his head. "I would like to find out about it. Could you have this lady contact me? A phone call will do. I want to research it before you try to use this cure."

Patricia nodded.

Before he left to record his findings, the Doctor gave her a pen and had her write down Jackie's phone number. Feeling like she'd at least won this round, Patricia went out to see her mother waiting for her.

All smiles, her mother asked, "How did it go?"

Patricia returned her smile. "Good, everything's fine."

"So, you're OK with getting FTM surgery?"

"Nope. The doctor is checking up on a real cure for me."

Her mother frowned. "Patty, you have to have that surgery done."

"No, Mom."

"WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DIFFICULT?" her mother screamed.

"Because I have another option to explore," she replied firmly. "If it doesn't work, then it doesn't, but I want to try that first."

Fuming at her, her mother grated, "Get in the car."

Of course when they got in, her mother slammed her door shut.

Trying to reason with her, Patricia said, "Mom, listen. I have an option besides getting my boobs lopped off. I want to try that first."

Her mother scowled and drove on, not saying a word. Instead of going home, she turned onto the road up to the Collin's house.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Patricia asked.

No answer. Her mother drove up to the house and growled, "Get out!"

By the time Patricia got out, her mother had gotten out and slammed the door shut. She was having a bad feeling about this. Sure enough, her mother strode up to the front door and pounded on it.

"Mom!" she cried and ran up to ask, "What are you doing?"

"Shut up!" her mother snapped then beat on the door again.

A maid opened the door. "Yes?"

"I want to see Jackie Connor, NOW!" her mother raged.

"Ma'am, you need to calm down. Come in, I'll go find her."

.

Jackie heard the pounding on the door. She was already on her way to see what was up when Betty told her an angry woman was here to see her.

Coming downstairs, Jackie saw Patricia looking worried beside an older woman eyeing her with venom. Calmly, she asked, "So what is the reason you tried to beat our door down?"

"YOU are coaxing MY daughter into flirting with DEATH!" the woman spat.

Jackie frowned slightly as she walked towards them. "Care to explain that in a little more detail?"

Shaking in anger and waving a hand around as she spat out the details as tears dripped from her eyes, Patricia's mother raged on explaining the high rate of very rapid growing cancer in her family and the only cure to keep from dying like her sister did was getting a double mastectomy as soon as possible. She went on about how Patricia was going to die because someone here has convinced her that some 'snake oil' cure would work when in fact it would not.

Jackie waited out the woman's tirade, then said, "I can see why you're worried." Noting the woman had average sized looking breasts, Jackie asked, "You have implants? What kind?"

"Saline, they look and feel better that the silicone ones and won't do damage if they do somehow rupture. Patty can get the same and be SAFE."

Jackie nodded. "What will it take to prove to you my nanites will keep Patty here from getting cancer?"

"You can't!"

Jackie grew a crooked grin. "How about this. If my nanites can get your natural breasts to grow back and replace the saline implants you have, will that convince you Patty here will be safe?"

"That's impossible."

"Have a seat and wait here a moment, please," Jackie told her and headed for the kitchen.

Patricia saw her mother head for the door. She ran over and grabbed her arm. "Mom, wait!"

"Why?" her mother snapped.

"Because Jackie is going to cure you! Don't you want that?" Patricia cried.

"That's not possible," her mother stated. "Patty hon, I've learned to live with what I got, and nothing's going to change it."

"Then please do it for me. If Jackie can't do what she says, then I'll go get my boobs lopped off, OK?" Patricia pleaded. "You say it won't work, but it will not work if you don't give it a try."

Her mother eyed her for a moment, then said, "If I try it and it doesn't work, will you cooperate?"

Patricia nodded stiffly. "Yes. IF it doesn't work, then I'll go ahead and get the implants like you want. Promise. But you have to take the nanites Jackie gives you."

"You swear?"

"I do, but if it does work, then I get to keep my breasts."

Her mother eyed her for another moment, then nodded. "Fine. Whatever happens to me, if my breasts don't grown back, then you go into surgery."

Patricia nodded. "Yes, let's sit down."

.

A few moments later, Jackie came out with two glasses of milk. She handed one to each of them and said, "I will explain how this works. In this milk are healing nanites, and task specific builder nanites to form glands under your stomachs to produce more healing nanites only. It will take a couple days for the nanites to adjust to your DNA. Once they do, they will remove anything in your body that's not supposed to be there and replace everything that is supposed to be there." To the mother, she said, "That means they will dissolve your implants completely and refill your breasts with breast tissue."
To Patricia and her mother she added, "Any cancer or other materiel they find anywhere in your body that isn't supposed to be there, they will remove. If you're cut, get a broken bone, whatever, it will heal faster than normal. Drink up, girls."

They both drank. Patricia's mother eyed Jackie as she did.

"What kind of milk is this?" Patricia asked.

"My breast milk. I grow the nanites in me." Jackie said, then cast a crooked grin at her mother. "And there's no oil in it. Not even snake oil."

Patricia chuckled.

"Can you tell me how you do that?" Patricia's mother asked in a flat tone.

"I'm a cyborg. Nanites are what we use to heal." Jackie then shrugged and added, "Dad might not be happy with me. We're not supposed to give anyone outside the family any nanites, but I got a feeling Patty here just might become family, and you both do need them. If you could not share this with anyone, I'd be very grateful."

"I won't say a word!" Patty assured her happily.

.

On the planet Picon, Delilah got Cavil and Caprica together and explained to them, "You know Athena is a Model Eight Cylon. She is nearly eight months pregnant and her and the baby are doing fine. What this means is that male humans and female cylons can have children. The only thing I found why cylons can't have children with other cylons, is there is something in your resurrection system that is inhibiting that. For whatever reason, I'd like to take a close look at that system to see if I can find out why it's doing that."

"Can you find out how we can make different bodies for ourselves also?" Cavil quickly asked.

"Once I know fully how it works, there is a good possibility," Delilah said. "I won't know for sure until I know how the whole system works."

Cavil smiled. "I will get you all the system information we can as soon as possible. You are staying for a while?"

"At least until we get things settled here. If I have the system information, programming, circuitry, chemicals you use, everything you can tell me about how it works, the better chance I have of discovering the answers."

"Delilah, we're a search group, we have to go," Cameron called over.

"Coming," Delilah called back. To Cavil, she said just know, finding answers may take a while."

"At least now we have hope," Caprica beamed.

.

Joan and Bob trudged uphill through the woods in the area where 'rebel' humans were suspected to be. Knowing anyone left here would be nervous, John decided to only send a couple pairs to go make contact with these rebels. Cameron and Delilah had gone into an hilly area. Joan and Bob got volunteered to go up onto a mountaintop where a human had been spotted.

In their armor and carrying plasma rifles, Bob was tired of climbing. "I think your moms would have been better at this," he said.

"Yeah, maybe, Look at the bright side! Up here, we got the place to ourselves!" Joan said with a big grin.

Scanning the woods round them, Bob grumbled. "Yeah all kinds of nature around us." He then yelled, "Oh my GOD! we're surrounded by nature!"

Joan laughed. "Yeah, the trees are on all sides! What do we do!" She checked her radiation meter. "At least the rad levels are lower." She flipped her visor up.

Bob flipped his up too. "Any sign of say a stream?"

"We got water if you're thirsty," Joan reminded him.

Bob cast her a crooked grin. "I was thinking more about bathing and cuddling in the nice cool water."

"You just want to get hot and bothered."

"That too."

Joan frowned. "Not a bad idea, but we're supposed to get to the top." Looking up, she found a warm spot in the undergrowth up and to the right. "Let's go just a bit farther. Up there it looks like heavier brush cover." She grinned and said, "Maybe we can relax a few minutes and get this stuff off."

"Sounds like a plan." Bob agreed.

They headed for the warm spot. Joan whispered, "I think there's someone up there."

Bob nodded. They didn't want to be quiet approaching that area. "Hey, if you look out down the hill, that's a pretty good view I bet from up there."

Joan chuckled. "OK, so you want to build a cabin?"

"Sure, why not? It's not like we'll be bothering anyone. We make a nice, cozy cabin, warm fireplace inside, snuggle up. You know, fun stuff!" Bob beamed.

They were approaching the warm spot. Not trying to be quiet, Joan was sure if it was an animal, it would be moving by now. She was sure it was a person hiding. "That spot up there with all the brush, I think the top might be flat."

"Oh, goodie! Maybe a pool or a stream we can fondle, I mean wash up in?" Bob asked.

They were only maybe fifteen feet away from the brush now. A man in camo cover, leaves and sticks on his hat raised his head. "Whoever you are, stop being so loud!" he hissed.

Joan and Bob stopped.

"Hey guy!" Bob said with a wave. "Got water up there?"

"No! Get under cover and keep quiet! Cylons can hear you!" he hissed.

Bob looked around. "I don't see any. Even if we did, we'd take care of them."

"We're not scared of cylons," Joan added. "I'm Joan Tanner, this is my husband, Bob."

"Cylons will attack you without mercy!" the man stated. "Where'd you come from?"

"Earth. It's a real long way from there to here," Bob explained. "I take it you live here?"

"Where's Earth?" the man asked.

Bob shrugged. "Joan, you flew us here. How far away is it?"

"Total? It's been about three weeks now at Ludicrous speed." Joan told him.

"What?" the man asked.

"I don't know how fast exactly, but it's like a zillion miles a second. We were really hauling ass," she said with a smile.

The man stared at them.

Bob raised a hand. "Hang on, I'll ask Cameron, maybe she knows." He grabbed his radio. "Bob, calling Cameron."

The radio replied, "Cameron here. What is it Bob?"

"This guy here wants to know how far we've gone to get from Earth to here."

"You've made contact?"

"We have. A guy with nature stuck to his hat. Kind looks like he has antlers."

"Bob, we need to find surviving humans and let them know the war is over. Concentrate!"

"Sorry, we'll see if we can find others. So, how far have we gone?"

"Over 3200 light years. Now get moving or do I have to come help you move?"

"We're going! This guy just had a question." Bob replied.

The man rose up higher. "The war's over? Did we win?"

"The war being over is a win," Joan told him. "If you have a group or something, we like to let everyone know the details."

"Yeah, yeah, this way," he said and got up.

They followed him up a sorta path where the footing was better. It was still climbing, but easier. Coming to an open spot the man stopped and waved. "They see us. Someone will be coming," the man explained.

Four men did come, sneaking down from the top of the rise, guns out and pointing at them and to the sides. Joan noted they only had browns and greens on, plain clothing. She asked, "Don't any of you have armor?"

The man shrugged. "We scrounged up what we could. That armor you got, will is stop cylon bullets?"

"Completely." Joan said and took her plasma rifle off her shoulder to show it to him. "And our plasma rifles will melt then into slag, nothing flat. On Galactica we mowed down a whole bunch of them and blew up the ships they came in."

"So, you won?"

"We sure as hades didn't lose," she replied with a chuckle.

The four men stopped 20 feet away. One man with a sniper rifle asked, "Bill, who are they?"

Bob offered, "I'm Robert Tanner. This is my wife Joan."

"Weapons on the ground," the man stated.

"Nope!" Joan replied. "Not unless you do also. We're not going to be defenseless."

"You wanna get shot!" the man snapped.

Joan and Bob looked at each other and laughed. With a giggle, Joan told them, "First of all, your guns won't hurt us. Your Colonial President has also surrendered to us, from Earth. We came to find you and give you whatever assistance you need and let you know the details of the peace treaty. Shooting would be a very bad idea."

"You working with Cylons?" the man asked in a challenge.

"Wrong again," Joan stated. "They have signed a peace treaty with us. The war is over, finished. All hostilities have ended. Don't make the mistake of getting it restarted."

The man shifted in place. "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

Bob let out a sigh. "OK guys, we'll do it this way." He put his visor down and walked to the side. He then asked, "So you want to shoot first, or should I?"

"What are you doing, Bob?" Joan asked, eyeing him.

"Putting the 'who's got the bigger one' to rest." Bob told her. "So guys, do you go first, or should I?"

"Just drop your weapon and step back," the leader said firmly.

Bob looked around and found a nice boulder just uphill of the men. He snapped his plasma rifle up and shot. All four men shot him. Their bullets pinged off his armor. His plasma bolt made the boulder explode.

Bob watched them duck and cover as bit of rock rained down on them. The men all stared. Bob announced, "Now, you saw what my shot did to that boulder. You also saw your bullets did nothing to me. So, can we calm down now and talk like civilized people?"

Bob and Joan's radios spoke. "This is Cameron, who is shooting what?"

Bob keyed his mike. "Bob here. That was me. Just making a point. No harm done."

"I got you on the tracker. NO shooting anything else. We're on our way!"

"Yes, Ma'am," Bob replied.

"What the hell is that?" one of the men asked in a wail.

Bob pointed his rifle at the sky. "Plasma rifle. It will blow things into dust and melt down damn near anything. Even a couple centurions at once if one stands behind another. My point is, we're not putting our weapons down. And as long as you folks don't get aggressive, you don't have to either. We came to help, not fight."

"Bob's right!" Joan announced. "We came to help with food, medicine, whatever you need. Can we get that started now?"

The man who'd been talking swallowed and nodded. He spoke much softer. "Yeah. I'm Sam Anders. Follow us, camp is this way."