~ Bright, Shiny Futures - Chapter Sixty ~
For a moment Kara was afraid Zero was going to have a heart attack. She turned so white when she saw all of the children that Kara hurried to her side.
"It's okay child," Zero said with a smile though her voice was shaky. She laid a gnarled hand on Kara's arm. "I'll be okay. I'm old and sometimes these things overwhelm me." She turned to face the rest of the group. "It's so good to see you all," she said with grandmotherly warmth in her voice.
Kara noticed the children all smiled back but their parents still looked apprehensive. Not a wonder, she felt more than a touch of anxiety about the whole situation herself.
"It's so very wonderful to meet you all," Zero continued, meeting eyes with each of the children in turn.
Hera's eyes widened. "You're ... "
The old woman nodded. "Yes I am. I'm sorry if I frightened you child."
"Quite the contrary," Sharon answered dryly. "She never seemed to be afraid. I was the one who was anxious about the strange woman in her dreams."
"And rightly so. I would wonder about any parent who wasn't worried about their child when someone they didn't know was concerned."
Helo nodded and Kara could almost see the tension leaving his body as trust began to set in. Of course it would likely come easier for him, she thought. He trusted and loved one of them right from day one. He's always been the most innocent of us all, believing the best of everyone, no matter who they are. She wished she could be more like him. Distrust and suspicion came much more easily to her and though she put up a brave front, inside she was terrified about what might be happening to her children.
"Don't be afraid," Zero said, as if reading her thoughts. "I would never hurt anyone, especially a child. I value life far too much for that."
"What about resurrection?" Sharon asked, suspicion still colouring her voice. "That makes life more expendable."
Kara had some vague stirring of memory regarding resurrection and the Cylons from her time on New Caprica. Leoben had told her some of the models wanted to get rid of the ability to resurrect so as to be even more human-like. I wonder if they succeeded and that's why they disappeared. Tyrol shot her a curious look. She remembered he'd been on New Caprica as well and wondered if he'd heard the same thing. From the look on his face she was guessing yes.
"That may still be an issue for you child, since you're one of the originals. And you," she nodded at Tyrol, "though the other models only resurrect once so their lifespan is naturally shorter. However these children and the others like them who carry human genes as well as Cylon circuitry do not have the ability to resurrect any longer. Their brains are partially Cylon construct but enough human DNA has blended with them that deterioration occurs much more akin to that of full humans."
"Much more akin? What does that mean?" Lee asked, speaking for the first time.
"It means that while enough deterioration occurs so that there cannot be a second attempt at life, they do last longer than a normal human lifespan. The average for a human/Cylon is one-hundred twenty years."
"Wow, we get to live to be a hundred and twenty years old?" Kiera asked, eyes wide.
"I bet grandpa is already that old," Zach said innocently.
Lee choked back a laugh as he and Kara locked eyes. There were many more question both from the children and their parents but Lee remained quiet, listening and watching as the woman answered them all.
"Come here child," she said to him suddenly, breaking him out of stillness and propelling him forwards. "I'd like to see my grandson up close and personal." She took his hands and the two stared into one another's eyes long and hard. "It hasn't been an easy life for you." It was a statement, not a question, and Lee felt a tell-tale prickle at the back of his eyes. "I'm sorry it had to be that way. Being a leader is a tough and often lonely job."
"I never asked to be." Lee swallowed, fighting to keep his voice even. The circumstances of his life had changed greatly in previous years but he still had enough Adama pride in him not to want those childish emotions to be seen by everyone else.
She squeezed his hands. "I know. Your father had to be brave and do what was necessary no matter how much it hurt him inside. You've had to do the same thing. But it won't be that way for your children. They'll be inheriting the new life that two generations have worked and sacrificed to get for them."
Lee smiled. "I hope so. I'd hate to think we lived through all of this for nothing."
"You didn't," she assured him. "We're almost there. Don't give up now."
"Trust me, I have no intention of giving up."
Kara, focused on this exchange as she was, didn't notice the children had all gathered around in a semi-circle around Lee. Their hands were joined and there was an oddly distant look in each of their eyes. For a moment she was afraid, but Lee held out his hand to her and she stepped through the circle and joined him, and the message she felt in his touch was comforting. Hold on. Don't be afraid. It will be okay. She squeezed, grateful for his added strength and wisdom and briefly wondered how she'd survived those years on Galactica without it, even though he'd always been close enough that it could have been available to her had she chosen to tap into it.
Zach, standing on one end of the group, moved closer to his great grandmother and put his small hand in hers. Nicky, at the other end, did the same.
The air grew chilly and goosebumps rose on Kara's bare arms. Don't be afraid, Lee told her through another squeeze of her hand. She turned and locked eyes with him.
Suddenly everything around them began to change.
* * * * * * * * * *
Adama shivered, as if with the cold.
"You okay Bill?" Laura, eagle-eyed as always, asked. She snugged up a little tighter in her quilt. "I thought I was the one who was supposed to be getting chills."
He shrugged it off. "Just a goose walking over my grave I guess."
Laura's eyebrow rose. "You get stranger and stranger every year mister."
"You've never heard that expression?"
"Never."
"Old wives tale. I've got hundreds of them."
"Because you were once an old wife?" she teased.
"No, because I was raised by my grandma. She could have written a book."
The smile in her eyes died though the corners of her mouth still pulled up slightly. "I'm still not comfortable with that story of you being a Cylon."
"Still? You've only known about it for thirty minutes. After thirty years - should the Gods let us live that long - I expect you'd still have difficulty with it."
She looked at him sternly but it didn't hold and soon she broke into a smile. "You're probably right."
"That doesn't change ... us, does it?" Bill asked tentatively.
Laura extricated her hands from the blanket and took hold of both of his. "Not for a minute. Kara said it perfectly for me too. I've loved you since the day I met you - though Gods help me I tried so hard not to - and I will love you until long after I'm gone. I'm not sure I'll ever stop loving you, even then."
"You don't have to," he said gently, tears glistening in his eyes. "Because wherever the after life is - if there even is one - I'll be there with you. I don't intend to let you go there a moment before me." He squeezed her hands and leaned in to place a sweet kiss on her lips.
She sniffled and pulled a hand away to wipe some stray tears, but returned it to the comfort and warmth of his in short order.
"You should probably get some rest Mrs. Adama, or should I say Madam President, so you can be up and on your feet soon to help us in our search for a new home."
"Home is where the heart is. I don't need to be anywhere else."
"Neither do I, but not many have what we have and they need the physical place in order to be happy. I made a promise to them and I intend to keep it."
* * * * * * * * * *
Sam dipped his hands into the goo and closed his eyes, reaching out with his mental consciousness the way Zero had shown him. He was able to feel everyone around him on the ship - a positively unnerving experience. No wonder they kept themselves separate most of the time! Although he did find it quite attractive when he focused on Tory. Their shared closeness was that much more intimate and they could see right into one another's minds and feel the other's emotions. Must keep everyone here honest, he thought. No point in telling a lie when everyone else can read you like an open book. Another thought made him smile involuntarily. Must make intimacy with someone that much more intense too. If you can feel what your partner's actually feeling and share those emotions, it must double the pleasure. I can't wait to try it!
Tory gave him a knowing smile. She was blushing but her dark skin bore no hint of it. "We'll have to test that theory."
"Soon I hope." Sam felt tingles throughout his body as arousal swept over both of them. Suddenly the smile dropped and he shuddered, no longer with anticipated pleasure.
"Are you okay Sammy?" she asked.
"Something's happening."
"What?"
"I don't know. It's coming from Zero."
She closed her eyes and endeavored to deepen link with him so as to feel what he was feeling. He was right, there was something coming from Galactica. Something powerful that held her watching, feeling, unable to pull away. She felt the other's minds as they joined in, all stopping whatever they were doing and getting caught as she was. It's definitely coming from Galactica, she thought. But I don't know if it's Zero. It doesn't feel like her.
I think you're right, Sam conceded, speaking directly into her mind. Then what is it?
I don't know.
* * * * * * * * * *
Kara began to feel dizzy as everything around them spun. It seemed as though she and Lee - at the centre of the circle - were staying still as the children spun in circles around them. Everything beyond clouded up and seemed shrouded in mist. That can't be possible, she thought. We're on a ship out in space. There's no mist here. But just as the thought crossed her mind, she felt the springiness of grass beneath her feet and the mist cleared to reveal that they were in the middle of a grassy plain, stretching as far as the eye could see. The sun beat down on them and she felt herself begin to sweat. The air smelled hot - if that was possible - and sweet. Grass grew as far as the eye could see, broken only by a few sparse trees in patches. She turned and looked behind her. It was here that the landscape was different. Still flat grassy plain for a good long while but far in the distance there were mountains rising in grey majesty above the yellow-green grass.
"Where are we?" she whispered. "And what's wrong with the children?" she added, noting fearfully that not a one of them was moving and their eyes were locked in place. They seemed as if turned to stone.
There is nothing wrong with them child. Kara looked around but Zero's whispered words appeared to have come from nowhere. They are the ones who brought you here. They need absolute concentration to keep you from returning too soon. Do not disturb them as it's difficult work, even for the most practiced of us.
"You didn't answer Kara's first question," Lee spoke up, apparently hearing her words as well. "Where are we?"
Terra Nova. Your new home if you choose it to be.
* * * * * * * * * *
Helo watched with growing discomfort as the children stood hand in hand, still as statues. He felt Sharon's dismay as well and it only fed his own, causing his heart to race at double it's normal speed. Then a mist seemed to envelop the room and suddenly the children and Lee and Kara were gone.
"What the hell ... ?" he roared, anger fronting his fear. He turned to Zero for answers but she was as a will-o-the-wisp -- still barely visible but not completely there either. Clammy fear gripped him as he realized he could see right through her.
"Where did they go?" he demanded in a tight voice through clenched teeth - clenched to prevent them from chattering.
"It's okay Karl, they're sharing a vision," Sharon said, touching his arm lightly, surprised to find it trembling. "At least I think that's what they're doing."
"Yes," Zero said faintly. "I am with them as well."
Her voice was distant and it unnerved him. Helo frowned. "Where are they? How did they disappear like that?"
"That's not how we do it, " Sharon added. "Not that I've shared a vision with any of my people in a long, long time."
"Why are you still here?" Helo asked bluntly. "Why aren't you gone too? If you're with them, you shouldn't be here."
"They're still here as well, you just can't see them."
Helo stepped forward.
"No! Don't touch them! You'll disturb their concentration."
"Okay, now I'm really freaked out." He grabbed Sharon's hand. "Tell me it'll be okay. Tell me they'll come back. I'll believe it if you say it."
She turned dark eyes toward him. "I think so."
"Think isn't good enough. I want my daughters back!"
"You'll get them back. I promise." Zero's voice gained a little strength. "The children are young and strong but they needed the combined power of all five of them in order to project themselves and Lee and Kara to their new homes. Only a small part of them has been left here - not enough for you to see. I am old and not so strong. I can project my consciousness there with them but my body won't follow any longer. It takes a good deal of strength and I am nearly at my life's end. I promise you that I will stay there with them and make sure they return to you."
Helo drew in a sharp breath, conflicted inside. Sharon stood unmoving by his side but Tyrol shifted his weight back and forth. It made Helo feel some camaraderie with the man. He's having trouble believing it too, he thought. And then his thoughts broadened. I wonder what Lee and Kara must be thinking right now?
"Be patient and trust me," Zero implored. "Your children are the key to finding our new home. We need to let them do what they must."
* * * * * * * * * *
The children shimmered in the sunlight and for a fanciful moment Kara thought it was because they were becoming translucent. Then her stomach flew up into her throat as she realized they were.
"Zach," she whispered, "Sara."
They are safe child. They appear as they do because they are caught between two worlds. It will all become normal once they are home.
Zach and Hera dropped hands and moved aside, leaving space for them to exit the circle.
Go, look around. This is the world I've planned to be our new home. You should get to know it.
Kara turned to look at Lee, then they took tentative steps forward together. Kara stopped as they reached the circle, almost afraid to break its circumference, even though the gap was clearly made for them to do so.
"Come," Lee whispered, taking the first step through and pulling her hand. She followed reluctantly.
The world was more beautiful than anything she could have imagined. Unspoiled, it was probably as Earth - and their home colonies - had been before people had come and ruined their splendor.
"It's so beautiful," she whispered, awed. "It almost feels like a crime for us to be here, it's so pure.
You're not alone, Zero said. There are others here. Look down in the valley.
They walked to the edge of the flatland and peered down into the sunlit valley. A group of dark-brown skinned people moved there. They were dressed in little but small clothes and various parts of their bodies and Kara would have been hard pressed to identify which ones were male or female. A few held spears, others carried furs in their arms. A few were smaller - obviously children.
"They're hunters," Lee whispered, sounding as awestruck as she felt. "A tribe of ancient hunters."
Kara glanced at him and her heart stirred to see the look of admiration on his face. Few men could look on a new race of people - straight into the heart of the unknown as it were - and embrace it as he could. It was one of the things she loved and admired about him most of all.
She squeezed his hand, looking back down. "Do you suppose there are more of them?"
There are a few dozen, Zero answered. Several more settlements like this exist around the planet on different continents, but the population is no more than a thousand.
"A thousand people altogether? That's the entire world's population?" Lee was dumbstruck.
It is still an infant world. Still forming and growing. You can live here peacefully with them and help it grow.
"It seems too good to be true," Kara said.
It isn't, Zero replied. But there is one condition.
"What's that?"
That you live like they do. Without your technology to make you superior to them.
~ TBC ~
A/N: Thanks for all your continued support with this story. It's lovely to know so many are reading this still and your comments make my day! I uploaded 2 chapters today as I completely forgot to post the other chapter here a few weeks ago. Apologies!
Thanks again for all the wonderful feedback!
