Revelations

"So the bottom line is, you're now fragile."

I receive the news in silence. I didn't want to ask, and now I have been proven right... There's no way to replace my Shock Assembly, and the repairs done to it, one day, will fail, and it'll probably shred my chip apart.

"The only reason you're hear at all is because of Major Shaw," Derek says softly. I look at her, an irrational tear coming down my cheek.

"Thanks... though I don't know if saving me was a good thing," I say quietly. I get up, and walk away from the kitchen table. I suddenly don't feel like eating any more. I just want to get out of the Cathedral. I need time to think.

Apparently, we are a few days early; we have yet to move house, have yet to see me emerge from a wrecked Jeep damaged and gone bad, have yet to escape Margos Sarkissian and his blackmail attempts, have had us escorted to him by Chola...

Could so much really happen in such a short space of time?

I walk out to the Main Control Room. I go to the science station, and duplicate enough money to have a serious spending spree. Because I just want to shop and forget about it all. All that's happened to me, what I've lost... I don't know how to cope with the fact that one day, if I'm not in some accident or fight that destroyed me utterly, One day, I'll just... stop. And I don't want to think about it. I can't. Not yet. Just not right now. I pocket the money, and head back to the kitchen. Oh. They're already half-way to the Main Control Room anyway... Popcorn? I shake my head in confusion.

"There's a baseball game going to be on soon. I'd have watched it, but with the whole Sarkissian thing... not to mention it being John's birthday..." I frown in surprise.

"I hadn't known that..." I look to Jack. He smiles slightly.

"You know, the screen dome set-up makes wide-screen look primitive in comparison..." He shrugs. "Not to mention, we all need to step down, try and unwind. After what has happened..." his voice trails away. I fight back the tears.

"I'm going out. Shopping... something. I need to get out," I say. Major Shaw looks at me with cold, undisguised suspicion.

"I'm going out with you," she says simply. I just shrug. Derek gives me a small smile, and gives me a hug. I draw back, shocked and confused. I look at him, mistrustful.

"Thought you needed to know you're not alone. We're all feeling her loss," he says gently. I look away, screwing my eyes tightly shut, just so they can't see me cry. I mustn't cry. I won't. I turn and walk away as quickly as I can.

"I'll be back soon," I say, my voice uneven. Major Shaw is keeping up with my brisk pace. I get to the Main Control Room, and pause only for a second at the main door in and out of the Cathedral. I grip hard, and swing the door wide open.

I squint in the sunlight. When was the last time I've seen sunlight? Felt its rays on my skin. We've been inside the Cathedral for such a length of time... because of the Time Lock Jane, the one whose sacrificed herself to prevent Skynet establishing itself in the past, creating a Victorian Judgement Day. The technology we have at our disposal still works, but it's a little unpredictable. We can't be accurate with time jumps. But Skynet can't easily send anyone back, though. Tech-Com can't either, which is a good thing. The Time Displacement technology is tearing the fabric of this universe apart. I allow a single tear to flow down. She – the one I had been intimate with – sacrificed herself, so all this could continue. I look out at the street corner we are on, and smell in the pollution that's in the air, hear the noise that's rabble and random to my ears... I walk forward, basking in the simple dull, average existence that is everyday life. My hands unfurl, and move outwards from my body. Right now, I just want to feel the pain, the anguish I feel inside me, and the joy of simply being alive. I hear the footsteps that tell me that I've just been joined by Major Shaw. I hear a gasp beside me.

"What the-" I glance to my side, confused. I see Major Shaw running around the Cathedral, incomprehension on her face. I quickly close the door as she examines the blue box that makes up the exterior of the Cathedral. My face crumples into a confused frown. Shaw looks at me, shocked.

"The outside... it's smaller than the inside... how?" she's there, staring at me, wide-mouthed. I look at the alien ship, and realise that I've been so used to it, I no longer am all that shocked about the Cathedral and what it can do. I shrug at her, a small lopsided smile on my face.

"It's advanced. And alien. But is a second home to me now... to Jack and Derek." I turn away, and start walking. Shaw follows me.

"But-"

"In time, you'll get all the information you'll want. But right now, we need to buy you some clothes. Because a wrecked uniform might attract attention. We don't want attention."

"Okay, but tell me this at least... What colony is this?" I look at her, my face showing the confusion I'm feeling.

"Picon, Aerelon, Scorpia, Caprica..." I just blink repeatedly at her, trying to work out what on Earth she's talking about. Colonies... Oh. Colonies...

"You're from the future. Humans go out into space, and create colonies." My head tilts sideways as I contemplate this. "But that means that something has happened to Earth, bec-"

"Earth?! You know where Earth is?" Shaw exclaims. She's gripping my shoulders hard. I fight back the urge to wince in pain.

"Yes. We're on Earth right now," I inform her simply. She gasps, and I hold her as she suddenly starts to collapse.

"Roslin was right... she was frakking right! I never believed her, thought it was the medication talking..." she looks at me hard. From the corner of my eyes, I can see people looking at us as they walk past. We need to go, get away from attention.

"You have to get ships out! I can't tell you where, but there-"

"We don't have ships. We have yet to have permanent space-flight technology. The Cathedral is the only ship we have, and it's going to be destroyed. Once we all leave, it'll take itself into the heart of the sun-" my voice breaks. "It's set to destroy itself so no-one side can use the technology within. It's what she had wanted," I say, my voice breaking with emotion. Shaw is shaking her head at all of this.

"But there are twelve colonies out there! Everyone came from a single planet! Kobol!" I clamp my hand on her mouth, and my eyes impress upon her the need for silence. Too many people are getting interested in us. We have to move. I force Shaw to walk down the street.

"You must be from a different universe. Humans originate on Earth. They evolved here. I come from this planet." I look around, and see where we are. I keep on moving, the need for us to get new clothes a pressing need. My mind figures out a way to broach the subject to Shaw.

"How did you end up inside the Cathedral?" I ask. She takes a deep breath.

"I was on a Basestar – an enemy ship. Our mission had gone badly, and I'd stayed behind to trigger the nuke that was meant destroy the ship. I'd pressed the trigger... time just stopped. There was this stranger, and she was giving me a choice. I could die there, or live and fight for the survival of all those I care about, but never see them again. I figured that the second option sounded better." Wait... my eyes widen.

"She? Was this a stranger with a sword?" Shaw nods her head.

"Yeah... long brown hair, short, and with some strange black armour. Like nothing I've ever seen before." I can't believe what I've just heard...

"Jack was rescued from a prison cell by someone who sounds like the stranger you mentioned." Oh... That's... my mind reels at the thought I've just had "I think that she's pulling people from other universes, other dimensions and time-lines, to create... I guess it might be seen as an army of time," I say softly.

"Wait... you mean-"

"There's something bigger going on. Bigger than your Basestar mission, bigger than Skynet... something that affects the whole of creation itself." Shaw blinks repeatedly at that revelation.

"Gods..." She sizes me up. "So... what about you? What's your story? You're a machine, and you've mentioned some Skynet thing..." I swallow hard.

"This is going to be a long story."