"I see the universe," Leoben says behind him. "I see patterns."
Lee spins around immediately reaching for his firearm. He had forgotten the cylon was there. Patting his leg he finds that his gun is gone and swiftly falls into a fighting stance.
"How things fit together," Leoben continues, ignoring Lee's defense.
"Where are we?" Lee demands.
"You do not fit any pattern I have seen." the cylon says as it moves closer to him. "I'm amazed you made the sacrifice, let alone survived the journey."
"Where are we?" Lee screams again.
"We are standing on the shore, where the current will never take us downstream."
"What the frak does that mean?"
"This is not your destiny. This is not your path, yet here you are." Leoben says smiling slowly, the simple hint of movement laced with cruel intention. "Are you afraid of death Major?" he asks. "I wouldn't think so, as many times as you've been on his doorstep."
"Only crazy people aren't afraid of dying," Lee replies as he moves closer to the machine, arms tensed with fists just begging to be sprung loose.
"Death is nothing to be feared," he goes on, continually ignoring Lee's physical threat. "It is an inevitable fact of life. And once you accept it, once you embrace it, it's beautiful."
"If you're so enamored with death," Lee says. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."
"You're welcome to try," Leoben challenges. "But if you strike me, if you could harm me in any way, do you think it's pain I would feel, in this place?"
Lee's anger falters the slightest bit and he stares into the eyes of the machine in front of him, the maddening confusion settling in. Kara had told him about this model. He likes to confuse. He likes to mix lies with the truth. He likes to make you uncomfortable. It irritates Lee that this thing is doing exactly that to him. That it is doing it so well.
"I'm dead aren't I?" He asks.
"You're physical form has been left behind," Leoben answers. "You couldn't be here otherwise. Tell me Major, do you think you're a cylon?"
"No," Lee shoots back quickly.
"But you're body is gone, nothing but ashes and dust. Yet your consciousness is here journeying toward another. Doesn't that sound the least bit familiar?"
"I'm not a cylon."
Leoben smiles that slow twisted smile and Lee really wishes he had his gun.
"Perhaps that is the wrong question. Perhaps the right question is do you think she's a cylon?"
"That's impossible," Lee answers firmly. "Kara was a child. Two minutes ago I was looking right at the little girl she used to be. She is not a frakking cylon."
"There are twelve models," Leoben replies. "How many have you identified?"
Lee says nothing to that.
"Perhaps she was implanted in Socrata Thrace. Perhaps she was brought up human. Perhaps all that pain, all that suffering, was manufactured for her to accept her true nature when the timing was right."
Lee can feel his fists clench so tightly his nails cut into his palms. The urge to punch that confident smirk is overwhelming.
"You're lying," he says. "You're trying to confuse me. You're a machine. That's what you do."
"Am I? Wouldn't that explain why Kara and I are so connected?"
This time Lee does throw a punch, falling off balance when his hand connects with nothing. Leoben chuckles softly, only causing Lee's anger to intensify.
"You don't get to call her by name," he seethes. "If you refer to her at all you call her Starbuck or so help me gods..."
"You're not in a position to making threats," the cylon replies smoothly.
"I'm not in a position to do anything," Lee sighs. "I'm a ghost."
"I don't recall us clarifying that."
Lee puts his hand to his forehead in frustration. "Are we going to talk in circles forever?"
His eyes are closed and he doesn't even notice the light this time.
"No," Leoben says. "We're going downstream."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
They're in a bedroom. The curtains are drawn so there's only a small beam of light trailing across the floor. It takes a minute for Lee's eyes to adjust. There's a dresser with a large mirror attached and he doesn't see himself in the reflection. His stomach drops. The dying and being a ghost thing is looking closer to a reality.
"What are we doing here?" He asks.
"Watch," Leoben answers, nodding his head toward the closet.
Lee sees Karaon her hands and knees rustling in the bottom of the closet. This incarnation is slightly older than the previous one. There's a bag of plastic bugs next to her, and she pulls out handfuls at a time, dropping them all over various pairs of shoes. The look of determination set in her eyes is one far too old for such a young face.
"What is she doing?" he asks.
"Her mother was a soldier once, stationed in the dankest of jungles. She grew to be terrified of bugs, despised them for the rest of her life."
"Then why is Kara putting them all over her mother's shoes?"
"Payback."
"Payback for what?"
Leoben doesn't answer, but Lee finally notices the bandage wrapped around little Kara's head. He starts to move toward her but the cylon holds him back.
"It is not your place to interfere. You could not stop it even if you were really here. Pain is her teacher. Suffering is her reason."
"I don't want to see what's going to happen," Lee says quietly.
"Don't you?" Leoben replies. " Isn't that why you came? Isn't that why you followed?"
"I..." he beings.
"Watch," Leoben says again.
There's a voice out in the hallway and little Kara jumps up and tears out of the room. Lee's hands begin to shake when Socrata Thrace walks into the bedroom, running a brush through still damp hair. She is fully dressed in casual clothes, except for her bare feet. He can feel his heart rate increase when she walks straight toward the closet.
Her scream makes Lee jump and his eyes shoot directly to little Kara now standing in the doorway watching her mother's panic attack. Socrata is on her hands and knees smashing the little rubber bugs with her shoes, only causing them to bounce around even more.
Kara tries to make a run for it while her mother looks up and sees her there, and she almost gets away. Lee tries to move to her again but Leoben is quick to stop him once more.
"You little brat!" Socrata yells grabbing Kara's arm and yanking with far too much force for a child. "You think this is funny?"
Kara struggles to get away but her mother's grip is too strong.
"Give me your hand!" She demands.
Lee watches helplessly as Kara's mother places her hand on the doorframe.
"I don't want to see this," he says again. But his objection is too late and he can only flinch as the door slams.
Socrata leaves the room and ignores the cries of her daughter. Lee brushes past Leoben and moves to kneel in front of little Kara. She's cradling her wounded hand to her chest and sniffling softly. He moves his hand to brush some hair away from her forehead as if he could really touch her.
"You think you know her," Leoben says behind him. "You think you understand."
Little Kara looks up right into Lee's eyes and he swears that through her tears she can see him.
This memory doesn't cause his heart to freeze.
It just shatters into a thousand jagged pieces.