Chapter 56
Nereid
During President Adar's last year in office, the Caprican Historical Society petitioned to declare the site of an ancient stone altar outside of the city of Antioch as an historical site. They wished to begin efforts to preserve the altar from any further deterioration by the elements. The non-profit Historical Society came into conflict over rights to the site with both the government of the province of Antioch and with a priest who claimed that the altar was the possession of the Temple of Pythia in Antioch. As the case made its way through the Caprican court system, treasure hunters and looters removed most of the smaller stones around the altar, and destroyed forever the integrity of a site that had been untouched for a thousand years.
-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War
.
"I see Lee left his birthday gift here," her father said to Kara on Saturday morning at breakfast.
"He got a transport last night like you said. He's coming over after lunch today. He's going to bring something he's studying for War College. I've got to finish reading a book."
"Was he surprised by the print?"
"He almost cried. When I think of how smart he is and how nice he is, it's easy to think he had a…normal childhood and then he tells me something like he did last night and I realize how frakked up his home life was. Admiral Adama might be a great military leader, but he sucked as a father."
"I hardly think I'm in a position to criticize Bill's parenting skills."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I shouldn't have to spell it out for you."
"That wasn't your fault. Did Lee never talk to you about his dad?"
"Rarely."
"Then what did you talk about all those times you got together at McGee's?"
John shrugged. "Sports, flying, what Lee was doing at the Academy."
Kara snorted. "I think you're forgetting about the number one topic…women. Did he talk to you about Blaire and Shelley? Did you compare notes on your women?"
"Are you trying to pick a fight with me this morning, Kara?"
"No," she said in a sulky tone and then added contritely. "I'm sorry. You do all these nice things to help me and I'm acting like a jerk. I'm still mad about the way Admiral Adama treated Lee as a kid."
"Bill Adama may have taken top honors as Caprica's Worst Dad. I don't know. Lee rarely talked about his home life. I know his dad was gone during most of his childhood. I know Carolanne had a drinking problem. He never talked about specific incidents to me. There was a time when I worried about him, but he seems like he's put the past behind him now."
Laura walked into the kitchen with Braedon. Kara held out her hands and Laura put him into her arms. As she walked behind John's chair, Laura put her hands on his shoulders and leaned down and kissed him on the cheek before she went to the stove to start the water for her tea.
Kara leaned over and whispered very softly to Braedon, "Your daddy made your mommy very happy last night." Braedon rewarded her with one of his big grins. She whispered in his other ear, "I did the same thing for Lee."
Brae gave a bubbly little laugh.
"What did you say to him to get him to laugh like that?" John asked.
"I told him he was going to grow up to be just like his daddy."
John chuckled softly. "The gods forbid. He needs to grow up to be like his mother."
"What do you have planned for today, Kara?" Laura asked her.
"I thought I'd take the bike out for a ride."
"It's too cold," her father said.
"No, it's not. When I was riding for Jack, I rode in a lot colder weather than this. I can put on the boots and my leathers. I'll be fine. I'll be back by lunch. I've got to finish reading the book I'm doing my term paper on."
"Be careful if you go down to Fifty-First Street."
Kara nodded. "What are you going to do?"
"Laura's going to her campaign headquarters this morning. Braedon and I will play, and then when he goes to sleep, I'm going to start reading Irina Hoshi's first journal and making some notes on it."
"You'll let me know if you find anything interesting besides some coordinates, won't you?"
"You know I will."
When she was dressed and ready to leave, her father pressed another hundred-cubit note into her hand. "I know one of the places you're going this morning. Take this to her. Tell her I hope she's feeling better."
Kara looked into his green eyes. "Thanks."
She didn't have to say anything else. Her own eyes told him that she loved him.
...
Kara got a parking place on the street in front of the door of Leoben's bookstore. She took off her helmet and redid her messy ponytail before she went inside. The familiar little bell over the door tinkled. Leoben was seated behind the tall counter looking at his computer screen. He glanced up as Kara walked in. She smelled the pleasant aroma of freshly brewed coffee. There was no one else in the shop.
"I've been expecting you," he said as she walked up to the counter.
She set her helmet on a stack of books, unzipped her leather jacket and took it off.
"I've been busy. How have you been?"
"Business has been good. I can't complain. I was just about to get a cup of coffee. Would you like one?"
"Why not? I like cream in it."
"Sorry, I don't have any. I drink it black."
"Then I'll pass."
Leoben walked through the curtained doorway that she assumed led to the storeroom or a backroom. Kara stepped behind the counter and looked at the computer screen. Leoben was reading the online news. She saw a picture of Admiral Adama shaking the President's hand. Laura was on the other side of him. She glanced at the top of the screen. The article was dated Wednesday.
She scanned down the page. It was a standard press release from the President's office. Laura's name was mentioned twice. Both times it referred to her as Presidential candidate Laura Roslin instead of Secretary of Education.
Leoben walked out of the storeroom with a mug in his hand.
"I was looking at my stepmother's picture," Kara said.
"She came out ahead in a poll last week. Not a huge margin, but enough to cause the other candidates to pause and take notice."
"I don't follow politics."
"How does your father feel about her running?"
Kara shrugged. "He knew what she did when he married her."
"There's a certain right-wing element that is going to make something of the fact that she was…with child when the wedding took place. They're going to use it to question her moral character."
Kara thought of D'Anna Biers' questions. Why was it such a big deal that a single adult woman was having a love affair with a single adult man? Kara didn't understand it. She didn't remember anything in the scrolls of Pythia about that being a sin.
"How do you know what some people are going to do?"
"I listen to a lot of Talk Wireless at night. There's one show where the commentator is…well, let's say I listen to him when I want a laugh. It takes all kinds. He's got his own twist on the scrolls of Pythia, that's for sure. He's got a following, though."
"I'll bet he's an old guy who looks at his secretary and…never mind. What do you think about Laura?"
"I think she should be judged by what she has done in her public career."
"Do the other Cylons feel that way?"
"I don't have any contact with them."
She smiled. "Yes, you do."
Leoben sat down on the high stool behind the counter and took a sip of coffee, all the while looking at her. "Some things are blocked in my memory."
"Not from all of you."
He smiled. "You're an expert on us now?"
"I know another one of you. That one says she knows how many of you there are."
"You've talked to Natasi?"
"No. Another one. She says there are eight models."
"Seven."
Kara smiled. "See? That wasn't so hard. You do know something about the others."
Leoben looked over her shoulder for a moment before he said, "I had a dream…or a vision…I'm not sure which…one night months ago, not long after you and your father were here. I saw six others."
His expression was troubled.
"What?"
"Cavil called me a traitor. He gave an order to a centurion. The last thing I remember was its weapon locking into place. It must have shot me."
"Those are your memories coming back," Kara said. "It happened to the other one I know. When you download, they can reprogram you and make you forget, but the memories won't stay buried forever. Things…trigger them, like me and my dad coming in here and talking to you. You're starting to remember."
"The only other thing I dreamed…or saw in the vision…was the bathtub of goo, the slimy feel of it and the sensation at first that I was drowning, and then some red lights. One of the others was there with me, a female, not Natasi."
"Blond or brunette?" Kara asked.
"Blond. The headache was so bad that I don't remember anything after that."
"And you've never seen her here in Caprica City?"
For just a moment, the corner of Leoben's eye twitched. He looked down at his coffee. "No."
He was lying. Kara was sure of it. Some built-in program to protect the identity of the others?
"Why do you think Cavil would have killed you for voicing your opinion?"
"He was probably afraid I would start turning one or more of the others to my side."
"On the basestar Natasi is called number Six. Cavil is number One. What number are you?"
Leoben grimaced. "I don't know. I try to remember and the pain comes. But our destinies are linked, mine and yours. It has something to do with Cavil. I'm sure of it now."
"Don't you remember anything else?"
"I'm not sure I want to know."
"Why?"
"It's hard enough knowing I was part of so much destruction. We did everything wrong. We became worse than our human creators. We should never have come back to destroy the Colonies. Our spiritual destiny pointed us in another direction. We made a terrible mistake."
"Why did you do it, then?"
"There must have been a consensus among us. That's the way we govern ourselves. We thought that we were destined to replace our human creators in the universe. We thought it was the will of the one true God. In order to do that, the humans had to die. We were wrong. It wasn't God's will. It was Cavil's will. I must have come to that realization. I must have confronted him."
"You stopped before you destroyed Caprica because Simon and some of the others wanted to see if you could make babies with the humans. You must not have been able to make babies with each other."
"And now you say they've made some human-Cylon hybrids."
"That's what we heard from somebody who should know. Do you think it's possible that twenty-five years ago the centurions went somewhere with some humans and created the skin…the humanoid Cylons, you and the other six models?"
"I don't know. The only memories I have are from the basestar."
"Try to remember. It's important."
"It doesn't work that way, Kara. We can't decide to remember something and then remember it if it's been blocked."
Kara thought of Sharon. Her memories of Troy had started coming back as dreams. Maybe Leoben was right. But the memories were still there. Kara was almost sure of it.
"You must have been created somewhere else...to have been on that basestar. Where did you come from?"
"I don't remember…but I'll try."
She heard the bell over the door tinkle. Several students had just walked in.
"I'll come back," Kara said. "Maybe in a couple of weeks."
"I know you will," Leoben said and smiled. "Our destinies are linked."
...
Twenty minutes later Kara stood outside Dreilide Thrace's door. She knocked and waited. When he opened the door, he was wearing jeans and a wrinkled t-shirt and looked like he had just gotten out of bed. His color was not good, either. His skin was chalky.
"I should have called first," she said.
"No, come in. What's with the helmet?"
"I rode my motorcycle today."
"Another way you're like him. I hope you're more careful than he was." He started coughing.
Kara was suddenly aware that a woman stood in the doorway of the small kitchen.
"I didn't know you had company," Kara said. "I can go."
He shook his head because he was still coughing and went over to the piano where a glass of whiskey stood already poured. He took a cloth out of his jeans pocket and coughed into it, a deep, chest-rattling sound. It was half a minute before he could stop. He finally wiped his mouth on the cloth and took a drink.
"Paulla lives one floor down. She brought me some soup. I've been under the weather." He turned to the woman. "Paulla, this is my daughter, Kara. Kara, Paulla Schaffer."
"Hi," Kara said.
"Are you a believer?" Paulla asked.
"Soup and sermons," Dreilide said lightly. "I can always count on Paulla for both."
"I'll check on you later today," Paulla said as she went to the door. "I'll pray for you, but you should still go to the doctor."
Dreilide smiled. "I don't need to pay someone to tell me what I already know."
After Paulla was gone, Kara threw her jacket on the couch and walked to the window. She couldn't look at him. "What is it that you already know?"
"I'm dying."
"Lung cancer?"
"Emphysema. It won't get me quite as quick, but it'll do the job. I've had bronchitis this winter that I can't seem to shake. That's where the cough is coming from. This past week was bad."
Kara turned around. "You need medicine…antibiotics. In the camp…people with bronchitis always got antibiotics...if the doctor had any."
"I took antibiotics for nearly a month last fall. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn't. As soon as I stopped, the cough was back worse than ever."
He walked to the piano and took a cigarette from the pack on top.
"Hey, lay off the cigarettes while I'm here, will you?" Kara said irritably. "I can't afford to have these leathers dry-cleaned to get rid of the smell."
He put the cigarette down and picked up the glass of whiskey and raised it in a toast. "With your permission."
She shrugged. "Don't you need to eat your soup?"
"I did. Paulla and I were sitting in the kitchen talking. Or rather she was talking and I was listening. She's been trying to convert me. She's a monotheist. The Cylon woman has been leading worship services at an old warehouse. Apparently she's gotten some followers. Paulla wants me to go with her one night. I couldn't even if I wanted to. I work nights."
"Is Paulla your girlfriend?"
Dreilide mouthed the word no.
"After you left, did you…have any girlfriends?"
He smiled and sat down on the piano stool. "Nothing serious. Your mother never divorced me."
"What?"
"I kept in touch with her occasionally until four years ago. I kept waiting for her to send me the divorce papers like she said she was going to do. She never did. That's how I knew she hadn't married your father. I figured you were all living together...one small happy family."
"You could have divorced her."
"I still love her. She was my first…my only real love."
"Why didn't she divorce you?"
"I don't know, Kara. I quit trying to figure her out a long time ago."
"John and I went to see an old woman yesterday to talk about a project he's working on and…she was married for fifty-one years to the same man. He died and she's still wearing her wedding ring. She still loves him."
"It happens…when it's right for both of you."
"How's the new song coming?" She asked.
"I'm pleased."
"Will you play it for me?"
He turned around on the piano stool, sat the glass on top of the piano and began to play without any sheet music. She was stunned at the simplicity and the beauty of the melody. Dreilide played for nearly a minute before he stopped.
"That's as far as I've gotten. You get the general idea."
"That's…beautiful. What are you going to call it?"
"I haven't decided yet." He turned back around on the stool. "I saw on the news where your boyfriend's father got promoted to Admiral."
She nodded.
"How did Lee like his gift?"
"He liked it. He was surprised." She stood. "I'd better go. Laura is going to her campaign headquarters and I want to help take care of my brother. I don't get to see him enough. And you need to rest."
She picked up her jacket, put it on and then got her helmet off the couch.
Dreilide stood. "You'll come back?"
"Sure. I may have to stay at the Academy next weekend and study. Midterms are coming up soon." She opened the door. "Try to cut back on the cigarettes."
He smiled. "I can't promise."
"Don't promise. Just do it."
...
Kara had one more stop to make before she went back to the apartment. She rode the short distance to Fifty-Third Street, made a U-turn and parked on the opposite side from the shoe repair shop.
At the top of the steep stairs she knocked. This time the bronze-skinned woman let her come inside.
"She's better?" Kara said hopefully.
"Much. We owe you and your father more than we can repay."
"You don't owe us anything," Kara said.
"My name is Keshia. Come and have tea with us."
She pulled back the gauzy curtain and Kara walked past her into a small kitchen. Yolanda Brenn sat at the table. She was wrapped in a heavy wool shawl despite the warmth of the room. She was thinner, her face gaunt, and nearly as white as her scars. She had obviously been very sick.
Kara unzipped her jacket, took it off and hung it on the back of a chair.
"Sit, please," Brenn said, her voice soft and hoarse. "The tea is nearly ready. Your father is well?"
Kara nodded. "One of them is. I have two fathers. The first time I came here, you told me there was someone in my past that would also be in my future. It was the other one. I thought he died on Picon, but he was here all along."
"Ah, two fathers," Keshia said with a lilt in her voice, "a woman should be so lucky."
"He's an artist, a composer. He's sick. I'm afraid he's going to die."
"We are all going to die," Brenn said. "Many of us have already. It is written in Pythia that a great flood will destroy the wicked. The righteous will survive to begin life anew and the cycle repeats."
"So is that us?" Kara asked. "Are we the righteous because we survived the Cylon attack?"
"Some believe we are. There is more death yet to come. Pythia also writes of a scourge on the land before the wicked are consigned to a great blaze."
Keshia put a large mug of tea in front of Brenn who cupped her hands around it. She then placed a cup in front of Kara.
"What does Pythia say about Kobol?" Kara asked.
"Kobol was the home of the gods. Life on the Twelve Colonies came from there in a great caravan through the heavens."
"Why didn't they stay on Kobol?"
"There was division among the people. Each tribe wished to found its own world and make its own laws."
"What about Earth?"
Brenn sipped her tea. "Earth is never mentioned in Pythia or any of the sacred scrolls. The planet Earth is nothing but a myth."
"There is an ancient Gemenese story," Keshia said, "told to me by my mother of a place where all life began, even the lives of the gods. It is said that place was called Earth…but it doesn't say it was a planet."
Brenn said. "The creation story is different depending on which scripture you read. Pythia clearly tells us that in the beginning was eternal night and that a divine spark lit the stars in the heavens. When the darkness met the light, four powerful gods were born. They were Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The four gods joined hands and the planets were formed. The fairest of these was a planet called Kobol. But the great forces of creation saw that the universe was still incomplete and created our gods from their own essence and placed them on Kobol. There was peace and harmony for many eons, but eventually our gods become arrogant and bored and did the one thing which they had been forbidden to do by the four. They created humans in their own image from the earth and the air and the water and gave to them the gifts of fire and love and immortal souls."
Brenn's voice had become very hoarse as she spoke. She sipped her tea. Keshia continued the story. "For this forbidden act our gods were punished by the creators. They sowed discord among the humans. They spread the seeds of jealousy and hate and greed. Humans learned blasphemy and became disrespectful of their gods. They learned to covet and to steal. They learned to kill."
Brenn said, "All of this happened in the blink of an eye to the creators, but it took many millennia as we measure time. The humans eventually split into thirteen tribes and desired their own worlds. They left Kobol in great galleons, according to Pythia, to find homes among the stars. They eventually founded the Twelve Colonies of Kobol."
Keshia picked up the story again. "The Thirteenth Tribe had ceased to worship our gods and had begun to worship one God who had no form or shape. They disappeared from our history."
Brenn smiled. "Except as a cautionary tale least we forget our gods."
"What about the monotheists today?" Kara asked. "They worship one God."
Keshia answered her. "Two thousand years ago a remnant of the Thirteenth Tribe settled on Gemenon. The monotheists of today had their beginnings there."
Kara said, "When I was in the refugee camp outside of Antioch, I found a stone altar in the woods. It was ancient and weathered."
"The altar of Zeus," Brenn said. "There was one on each of the Colonies. Pythia writes of it." She gestured to Keshia who left the kitchen and returned with a book. Brenn told her which passage to read.
And Zeus bade his children that when they should reach their new homes, they should build for him an altar in stone and carve upon it the story of their journey so that their children would remember the gods who had made them and their home of Kobol. They would remember the sin of the gods and their punishment and never again try to create life.
Kara noted the chapter and verse so she could show the passage to her father when she got back to the apartment. Of course she was sure Hugh Connelly had already mentioned it to him.
"We forgot that, didn't we?" Kara asked. "The commandment that we shouldn't try to create life. We went against the will of the gods in making the Cylons. This is our punishment."
"Many believe that what you have just said is true."
"Thank you for the tea. I need to get back to the apartment and you need to rest."
Brenn reached out and took her hand. "Your kindness will be returned to you and to your father."
Kara smiled. "Get better. That's what's important."
Brenn said, "There will come a time when you will despair. Do not lose hope. Do not give up. Your darkest fear has no substance."
Kara smiled. "Does this have anything to do with exams?"
"I only speak the words that come into my mind."
At the door Kara pressed the cubits her father had given her into Keshia's hand. "My dad sent this. We want her to get well. She's suffered so much."
"We thank you. She has taken you and your father into her heart. Your act of kindness has shown her that her faith in mankind's goodness is not misplaced."
...
When Kara got back to the apartment, Laura was gone and Lee was there.
"Hi," she said as she unzipped her jacket. She saw Lee's eyes take in the black leather. She saw the appreciative look. "I know you like this outfit. Where's my dad?"
He grinned. "In the kitchen, I think. He just put your brother to bed. And you and your leather outfit have wrecked my concentration for a while. The first time I ever saw you, you were wearing the black jeans and black turtleneck…and the next time you were in the black leather. We know what happened after that."
She smiled.
"It'll be a year this Wednesday. A year since you rode the bike out to the base and had your little chat with Sergeant Ackerman."
"A year," Kara said in surprise. "Has it really been a year?"
"A whole year. And then next Saturday will have been a year since…"
"Since I let a sweet-talking lieutenant seduce me."
"I seem to remember it being more of a mutual thing."
Kara smiled again. She was touched that he had remembered the exact date and a little disturbed that she hadn't.
"Posiden's daughter and a prince. We've come full circle. I'm going to get some lunch. Do you want some?"
"No, thanks. You go ahead. I ate before I came over. I'm going to keep reading…as soon as I can get my mind back on battle strategy."
Kara went to her room, unzipped the leather pants and pulled them over her jeans. She hung them in the closet with her jacket. She peeled off the heavy sweater and dropped it on the bed before she walked into the kitchen clad in the black turtleneck and jeans.
"Hi, Dad. What's for lunch?"
"Hey, baby. Jennet made spaghetti yesterday. I'm warming it.
Kara got two plates from the cabinet. "Did Hugh Connelly refer to the stone altar as the altar of Zeus?"
"He did. It's in Pythia. He gave me the chapter and verse."
"Do you believe any of it?"
"There's no way to prove it or disprove it."
"That's not what I asked. Do you believe it? I know you believe we make our own destiny, but do you believe in the gods at all?"
"I believe there's a power higher than us, but I don't think something or someone is controlling us like a puppet master controls a bunch of puppets. If that were the case, what would be the point?"
"Yolanda Brenn is better."
"Good."
"I went to see Dreilide. He has emphysema." Her voice caught. "He said he's dying."
John put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. "I'm sorry, baby."
She took a deep breath and struggled to get her emotions under control. "It's not like I'm…It's not like he's…"
"Kara, you don't have to explain anything to me. He's the only father you knew for eight years. Hell, he's the only father you knew until I dropped out of the sky when you were thirteen."
She put her arms around him and took deep breaths until she could get herself under control. "He said mom never divorced him."
John didn't speak for a long time. Finally he said, "That doesn't surprise me. She told me a couple of times that she was working on it. I finally quit asking her about it. It was clear by then that she liked our relationship just like it was. She didn't want to marry me."
"Come on. Let's eat. The spaghetti is going to get cold." When they sat down at the table, she said, "I went to see Leoben."
He didn't say anything, just picked up his fork.
"I have to do this."
"So you say. You know I don't like it."
"He confirmed what Sharon said. There are seven of them. Besides Natasi there's another blond. It could be D'Anna Biers. He lied to me when he said he had seen her on the basestar but not down here. You said your man had seen her going into Leoben's bookstore a couple of times."
"That's right."
"Cavil killed this copy of Leoben on the basestar. He only remembers bits and pieces, but he's going to try to remember more. I think he'll tell me more than Sharon will if he can remember. He thinks what the Cylons did is wrong."
Her father was twisting his fork in his spaghetti. "Kara, you've got to consider that Leoben might be playing you."
"Why would he do that? I've told him nothing. You know better than to think I'd tell him about Admiral Adama's plan."
"Maybe he just likes to see you. Maybe he knows everything about the Cylons and he's stringing you along, feeding you little bits of information to keep you coming back."
"Eww, Dad, gross. He's as old as you are, maybe older."
Her father smiled. "Thank you, daughter. A wise man once said we can always count on our kids to remind us of our age."
"I didn't mean it like that, and you're wrong about Leoben. He's going to help us. You'll see."
Her father didn't say anything.
"Do you hate him just because he's a Cylon? Does that automatically mean he's bad?"
"Kara, I just want you to be careful. He's one of them. He's one of the enemy. You need to be careful how much you trust him."
"I didn't say that I trust him. I just don't think he's the enemy."
"Finish your spaghetti. Then come look at some pictures with me."
"Pictures of what?"
"I don't think the Hoshi's expedition found Kobol."
"Why?"
"The star chart in Irina Hoshi's journal doesn't match the one carved into the altar."
"You're sure?"
"Come look when you finish eating."
After she had cleaned her plate and put it in the dishwasher, Kara walked into the den. Her father was seated on the couch with his laptop and the journal. She sat down beside him. He handed her the journal and turned the laptop toward her.
"This is one of Hugh Connelly's photographs from the altar's south-facing side." He mouse-clicked to the next picture. "This is an enlargement of the left quadrant of that side of the altar. Look at that section. I think it's a star chart." He pointed to what looked to her like a series of dots with a larger dot in the middle.
Kara said. "It looks like somebody knocked a couple of chips out of the altar."
"The indentations are too round and consistent for that. They were definitely carved. I think the larger one in the center is the system's sun. Now look at this page of the journal where Irina or Joshua Hoshi drew the sun and planets of the Prolmar Sector. I don't care which angle you view them from, they don't match the one on the altar."
"You're right. They don't match. They're not even close. It's not Kobol."
"I agree," Lee said. "I looked at the pictures, too. Of course we're assuming that's Kobol's planetary system carved on the altar."
"Connelly thinks it is," her father said. "The story starts here on the south-facing side of the altar with the beginning of their journey, the place they came from and progresses around the altar, ending on the west-facing side with the star chart of our system."
"Does he know about Irina's journals?" Kara asked.
"I called him this morning. He's going to drop by in a little while and look at it. He's understandably very excited about the journals. I'll be able to tell him that we're three for three on our opinions that it's not Kobol."
"If it's not Kobol, then what is it?"
"Connelly has a theory. He just might be correct. He thinks the fourth planet in the Prolmar Sector is where the Thirteenth Tribe went when they left Kobol."
"But they must have left there, too. Irina Hoshi said there weren't any humans on the planet. Where could they have gone?"
"Mrs. Hoshi said it best. Our galaxy is a vast place full of star systems. They could have gone anywhere or nowhere. They could have died on the planet or somewhere out in space. I doubt we'll ever know."
"Yolanda Brenn said the Thirteenth Tribe no longer worshiped our gods. It sounds like they were outcasts."
"Mrs. Hoshi admitted that they never got to do an in-depth study of the temple. It could have been one of ours or it could have been one of theirs."
"Whoever settled that planet would have worshipped something," Lee said. "All cultures have some sort of religious beliefs, even advanced ones."
She heard her brother begin fretting on the baby monitor that was beside her father on the table. "No, you keep reading. I'll take care of Braedon."
Kara had gotten very efficient at diaper changing. She carried Braedon into the kitchen and warmed a bottle for him. When she got back to the den with him, she asked Lee to move to the couch so she could sit in Laura's favorite chair.
She glanced up in a minute and saw him watching her. "What?"
"You're…good at that."
"There's nothing to it. You want to feed him?"
"I'll pass."
Kara grinned. "Have you ever held a baby?"
"No."
"You're going to get to." Kara looked down at Braedon. "Don't worry, little star-mapper. I won't let him drop you." Braedon studied her with eyes that looked greener than they had the week before. Then he smiled at her before he continued sucking on the bottle.
"Did he just smile at you?" Lee asked.
Her father glanced up from the journal. "Kara has a way with him. She can always get him to smile."
Lee looked at Kara holding her little brother and felt something melt or shift within him…the hard, cold decision he had made as a teenager never to bring a child into the world and risk being the terrible father his own had been. He realized that someday, years from now, he wanted to see Kara with their child in her arms. He wanted to see their baby smile at her the way her brother had just done.
He understood suddenly why John had given up flying, the job he loved, in order to teach cadets in the simulator. He even understood why his own father had sacrificed his personal life and his marriage to create a plan to rid them of the Cylons. Both men had done it so their children…and someday their grandchildren…could grow up free.
He watched Kara as she looked down at Braedon. He had always seen her beauty and her courage, her toughness and her sensuality, but he had never seen the softness that was in her face now, a softness that gave her an almost ethereal loveliness.
Lee wasn't aware that John was watching them until John said, "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"It makes you understand why artists paint that subject over and over."
"And still never quite capture it perfectly."
The doorbell rang. Lee stood up. "I'll get it."
He walked back in with Hugh Connelly.
"Hugh, have a seat," John said.
Kara looked up from her brother. "Hey, Connelly."
He smiled at her as he walked over to an overstuffed armchair. "I want to hold your brother before I leave."
"Could I get you something to drink?" John asked. "I think there's coffee in the kitchen, or I can make some tea."
"I'm fine. I'm anxious to see what you've found."
John carried the laptop and journal over to Connelly, pointed out what they had looked at earlier and then returned to the couch.
"Take a look."
Kara watched as Connelly carefully studied the photographs and the journal drawings. He finally looked up. "I don't know anything about star charts, but based on what I see here, I don't think the fourth planet is Kobol. For one thing I don't think Kobol is that close to us. How long did it take the expedition to get to the Prolmar Sector?"
"Sixty-two years ago FTL technology wasn't as good as it is today. The drives had to be shut down and recalibrated after each jump. It was a twelve to sixteen hour process. The computers were much more primitive, too. So you're looking at nearly a day between jumps. In those days the Prolmar Sector was half a dozen jumps so we're talking about a week just to get there and that's assuming nothing goes wrong. The best ships always have redundant drives, but that's costly."
"And the FTL technology we had during the exodus from Kobol would have been approximately what was on the Hyperion?" Connelly asked.
Lee answered him. "Yes. The Prolmar Sector is over thirty light years away. The drives are improved now but the computers that do the calculations are what have really made the difference. Today our battlestars could make it in one jump but none of our smaller ships could."
"Based on skeletal remains the Hoshi's expedition found, the inhabitants of the planet were human. We know they weren't one of the Twelve Tribes. Both Pythia and the scriptures of the monotheists say all thirteen tribes left Kobol. We know only twelve arrived in our solar system. What if the Thirteenth Tribe stopped on the fourth planet in the Prolmar Sector? They stopped on the first habitable planet they came to. The rest kept going to look for homeworlds of their own."
Kara had put the bottle on the table and had Braedon at her shoulder. "Stopped there and then did what? Left again? Mrs. Hoshi said there wasn't anybody on the planet."
"That's the mystery of it, isn't it?" Connelly asked. "Without a lot more study of the planet, there would be no way to tell. Even that may not be enough. It might always be a mystery."
After she got a burp from Braedon, Kara took him over to Connelly. Their eyes met and she smiled. "It's about time to give Elaina a brother or sister, isn't it?"
"I'm ready…if I can just convince Stacey. She doesn't want to bring another child into a world ruled by Cylons."
As she picked up the empty bottle from the table to carry it to the kitchen, Kara glanced at Lee. The gods willing, that would be sooner than Hugh Connelly probably thought.
When she came back, Connelly was preparing to leave. He had given Braedon to John.
Kara walked with him to the door.
"Have you seen Mr. Thrace again?" Connelly asked her.
"A couple of times."
"How are things going?"
She shrugged. "I'll come by one afternoon and we'll talk."
"My door is always open to you, Kara."
"Thanks."
She walked back into the den. John was sitting beside Lee on the couch and Lee was very awkwardly holding Braedon. Kara had to stop herself from laughing. She looked at her father and thought he was having the same problem.
"Lee, he's not going to break," Kara said.
"Okay, I know I don't know how to do this."
"You're doing fine," John said.
Kara finally took pity on Lee and lifted Braedon from his lap. She put him on his tummy in his playpen which now occupied the area of the den in front of the couch that had once been occupied by the coffee table. Immediately her brother pushed up and turned his head in their direction.
"He's getting stronger," John said. "I think he'll roll over soon."
"How do you know that?" Kara asked.
"It's in one of the baby books Laura bought," John said. "He's almost three months old. It's time."
"A former Viper pilot is reading baby books?" Lee kidded.
John changed the subject. "You know that fourth planet is really bugging me. What if Bill is right and that's where the Cylons went twenty-five years ago to set up their skin-job factory? Even worse, what if they're still there? What if they're making more Cylons, manufacturing more basestars and resurrection hubs? The planet has all the natural resources they would need."
A chill feeling went over Kara.
Lee asked, "Have you talked to my dad yet?"
"Not yet. Last night at your birthday party wasn't the time or the place."
Lee took out his mobile phone. His father answered on the second ring. When he finished talking, he closed the phone and said, "He's on his way home right now. He's going to stop by."
Thirty minutes later they heard the door open. Laura walked in with Bill.
She put her briefcase on the floor. "Look who I found hanging around the lobby."
Bill smiled. "I was having a pleasant conversation with your doorman. John, Lee, Kara. What's up?"
Laura went over to the playpen. "Hello, my little man. I've missed you."
At the sound of her voice, Braedon began to wiggle happily. She picked him up and kissed his cheeks.
Kara scrambled out of Laura's chair and sat beside Lee on the couch. Bill sat down in the other armchair.
"I'm going to make some tea," Laura said and walked out carrying Braedon.
John didn't waste any time. "I think you're right about the Prolmar Sector."
He went on to tell Bill everything they had discovered, including the conversation he and Kara had with Irina Hoshi the previous day. He concluded with, "What if they're still there? What if the Cylons left a force behind on this fourth planet to continue making more Cylons and basestars?"
For a long time Bill didn't say anything. Then he got up and went to the liquor cabinet and opened the door. "I hope you don't mind."
"Help yourself," John said.
"Could I pour you one?"
John glanced toward the kitchen. "I'll wait. Let me see if I can help Laura. You need a minute to think about all this."
Bill sat down in the chair and drank half the whiskey in a swallow.
"What does this do to the plan?" Lee asked.
"Nothing. We're going ahead with it."
"But sir," Kara said, "What if they're on that planet?"
"Then we destroy them here, we regroup, and we take the fight there."
"You'd take our battlestars and jump into a system we know virtually nothing about to take on forces we know absolutely nothing about as far as numbers or resources?" Lee asked incredulously.
"We jump a few battlestars nine-tenths of the way there and then jump a couple of Raptors into space above the planet. We get some quick recon photographs and then jump away. That will give us a better idea of what we're dealing with."
"What if the Cylons there are alerted by the Cylons here when we begin our attack?" Lee asked.
"I'm not aware they have the ability to communicate between solar systems." Bill said. "We're talking trillions of miles. They're very advanced, but I don't think they've figured out a way around the laws of physics yet."
"I hope not," Kara said.
Bill paused, the glass half-way to his mouth. A hint of a smile curled his lips. "I thought you were the resident expert on the Cylons. What do you think?" The glass completed its journey.
Kara felt her cheeks grow warm at his comment. "There's seven models. There were eight, but something happened to one of them. They don't all agree with Cavil. He even killed one of them and tried to wipe his memory to keep him from stirring up the others. I think that one will help us. I think the other one will, too."
John and Laura walked back into the room. John was carrying Braedon. Laura had a cup of tea.
Bill said. "You're asking me to put a lot of faith in your opinion. I'm not sure you realize how much is at stake, Kara."
She glanced at Laura and then at Braedon in her father's arms. "With respect to your position and your rank, sir, I know exactly how much is at stake. Neither one of the Cylons will know what is going to happen ahead of time, and after the attack begins, it won't matter. They'll all know."
"She's got a point, Bill," John said. "Once the attack begins, everybody on Caprica is going to know."
Bill sat down in the chair again. "I wish there were a way to find out if the Cylons are in the Prolmar Sector or not. This changes my whole post-battle strategy."
"There's no way we'll ever get a ship out of this solar system right now," Lee said. "We won't know until after we defeat them here."
Laura put her cup of tea down on the table beside her. "So what all of you are saying is that the battle for Caprica may not be the end of fighting the Cylons?"
"It depends on what we find in the Prolmar Sector," Bill said. "The battle for Caprica may be just the beginning. John, I'm going to need everything you can find on that planet, topography, resources, potential power sources, everything."
"I started reading Irina Hoshi's journals today. She told me to come back and see her. They were there for a year. She was down on the planet for nine months of that year. Her mind is still very sharp. I'm sure there's still a lot she can tell me, things that may not be in the journals."
Bill stood. "I'll be in touch. I've got to go now. I'm going out tonight with Saul and Ellen. I can see myself out."
After he was gone, Laura glanced at John. "Oh, dear gods. We may have to fight the Cylons in another solar system. Suddenly Saul and Ellen Tigh's…problems seem so…insignificant."
Braedon began to fret. "Where's his pacifier?" John asked.
"In his room," Kara answered.
Laura stood up and took her son. Without a word she disappeared down the hall toward the nursery.
"She's upset," Kara said.
"Do you blame her?" John asked. "She thought this was going to be over once we defeated them here."
"It still might be," Lee said. "We've got no proof the Cylons are on that planet in the Prolmar Sector."
"You're in War College," John said. "Try to think like a Cylon. Would you put all your forces in one place? Would you give up making ships and weapons just because it looked like you'd won the war? Have the Colonies ever done that?"
"No," Lee answered.
"Do those captured Cylon Raiders have FTL drives?" Kara asked.
"I don't know," Lee answered. "Why?"
"Just another one of my crazy, outside-of-the-box ideas," she answered.
"Don't even think about that," her father said. "No way Bill Adama is going to let somebody try to jump that Raider into the Prolmar Sector."
"It was just a thought."
"Well, forget it," John said. "Bill won't risk losing either a pilot or the Raider. That Raider is too important to his plan."
"He's got two Raiders," Kara said.
"One of which won't fly. I asked him about it last week. His engineers are still working on it without any success. Besides, they don't even understand Cylon FTL technology. That Raider's FTL drive is about a third the size of our smallest FTL drive. It's smaller than a Raptor's drive and a Raptor can only jump one light year at a time."
"Why do you need to understand it?" Kara asked. "All you would need to do is put the right coordinates in the Raider and jump."
"She's right," Lee said.
"Forget it, Kara. It's not going to happen.
Kara looked at her watch and said to Lee. "Let's take your print over to the apartment and hang it in your...wherever you've decided to hang it. Then we can walk to Zeno's and get something to eat."
Lee stood and stretched. "I'm game. John, what are you and Laura doing tonight?"
"I'm reading these journals. I'm going to try to get Laura to go to bed early and get some rest."
Kara grinned as she got up and put her book in her book bag. "Maybe you need to put her to bed like she does Braedon. Give her a nice warm bath and something to drink…"
She got a look from her father. "The curfew's still midnight. Don't fall asleep and miss it."
Kara snickered. "Are you going to be waiting up for me?"
He grinned and winked at her. "I doubt it. I need my rest, too."
...
"Give me the pencil," Kara said. "I'll put a little mark on the wall where you should put the picture hanger."
"We need to measure it."
"No, we don't. Here's the middle of your dresser." She moved her finger up the wall. "Put the nail right here and the picture will be centered."
"How can you be so sure?" He handed the pencil to her.
She made a tiny x on the wall. "Okay, measure it."
He opened his tool box and got out a retractable measuring tape.
Kara watched smugly as he measured. "What was I off….an eighth of an inch?"
"Maybe a sixteenth. How do you do that?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I'm such a good shot."
Lee hammered the picture hanger into the spot Kara had marked. Carefully they hung the print of Posiden's Daughter on it. Kara sat on the foot of the bed.
"Perfect."
Lee walked over to her and looked at the print. He pulled her to her feet and looked into her eyes. "Perfect like you." He wanted to kiss her. Gods, he wanted to kiss her, but he knew if he did, they'd never make it to Zeno's. She was watching him, waiting for him to make the move.
"Come on," he said. "We'll have plenty of time when we get back."
When they were seated in a booth and had given their order, Kara said, "I thought by this time next year it would all be over. I thought we'd be free of the Cylons and Laura would be President and I'd be serving my year on a battlestar. I never thought we might be leaving our solar system to fight them somewhere else."
"Neither did I," Lee finally said. "I hope my dad is wrong. I hope we find out the fourth planet is just as deserted as when the Hoshis were there."
"We need to give it a name," Kara said. "We need to call it something besides the fourth planet."
"Let's call it Nereid," Lee said. "It's another word for sea nymph."
"Nereid," Kara said. "I like it. It's not every day we get to name a planet."
Lee smiled. "Posiden's daughter just got a planet named after her."
"Somebody on the Hoshi expedition probably named it officially."
"We'll still call it Nereid."
"Your dad is angry at me because I won't give up Sharon and Leoben, isn't he?"
"My dad's only concern it making sure his plan works. He doesn't want anything interfering with that."
"After I get my wings, I want to do my battlestar year on the Galactica. Is there any way to make sure Karl and Sharon get stationed on there, too? That way I can keep an eye on her."
"I'm sure my dad can arrange it. How are you going to explain wanting them on the Galactica with you?"
"They're my friends."
"How are you going to keep an eye on Leoben?"
"I'll see him when I'm home. Maybe my dad can do the honors and watch him while I'm away."
"You still believe in the destiny thing, don't you?"
"That's one of the reasons we can't give Leoben up. He's going to help us. "
"Kara, how is he going to help you? Next winter when my father puts his plan into action, you'll be on a battlestar. Leoben will be down here on Caprica."
"I don't know how. I just know it."
"You'll graduate Flight School in mid-August. You'll be at or near the top of your class. That means you'll get your choice of battlestars. By the first of September you'll be on the Galactica. You won't get to come home for three months."
"Three months!" Kara said. "We won't see each other for three months?"
"I'm afraid not."
Kara was trying to digest what Lee had just told her. "Three months," she said again. "I thought a month, maybe."
"Three months," Lee said. "At the end of the first three months you get a four-day weekend. That's all. Before the end of the next three months, we'll have implemented my dad's plan."
Kara looked at the remains of her meal. She had lost her appetite. "Let's go back to your place."
Hand in hand they walked back to his apartment building and rode the elevator up in silence.
As soon as they were inside the door, she wrapped her arms around him.
"Nothing is going to happen to us. We're going to make it okay. The Oracle said so."
Lee turned her face to his. "Oh, she did? I'm glad to know that. I won't worry at all now," he said lightly.
"One day we're going to explore, just like Irina and Joshua Hoshi. I just happen to be related to a little star-mapper, and we're going to find Kobol, and then we're going to find Earth."
"We're going to find a myth? You're really sure of yourself, aren't you?"
Kara finally smiled. "I was right about where to hang the picture, wasn't I?"
Lee took her hand and led her to the bedroom. "You were right. It changes the whole look of this room. There's only one gift you gave me that means more to me."
He turned to face her and laced his fingers through the fingers of her other hand. He leaned in and kissed her, felt the desire sweep him as the kiss deepened. Three months. He couldn't imagine how long that was going to seem.
She pulled back. "Are we going to stop? Is that why you've got my hands?"
He let go and put his hands on the sides of her face. "Years from now I want you to remind me occasionally what an idiot I was."
He kissed her again and felt her hands unfastening his jeans, reaching for him, finding him.
Kara heard the sharp intake of his breath.
"No, you did the right thing. You made me realize…you made me see how much you mean to me."
They were both scrambling with clothes now. She knew his eagerness to feel nothing between them was a great as hers, to be as naked as the sea nymph.
"It won't be like this on a battlestar," Lee said almost breathlessly as he gently pushed her onto the bed.
"How will it be?" Kara asked as her mouth found his ear lobe.
"In the bunk…you can't make a lot of noise."
"Do I make a lot of noise?"
"Not usually."
He slid his tongue against her neck, his fingers gently caressing her. She made a soft, whimpering sound as he rolled on top of her and laced his fingers through hers again, bringing her hands up beside her head and against the pillow.
"Please," she whispered.
"My sea nymph," he said before his mouth found hers again, "my very own sea nymph."
Her fingers finally tightened around his, her soft cry of passion sending him over the edge with her.
As their breathing returned to normal, he rolled down beside her and pulled her against him.
She pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "How did we do?"
He smiled. "Probably only about half of the pilots in the bunkroom realized what we were doing."
"Is that good or bad?"
"It depends on how much grief you can stand taking from those who weren't as lucky."
"I'll bet you took a lot of grief when you were on the Triton."
"Not for that."
"What did you take grief about?"
"Being such a stickler for doing everything right. Mr. Rules and Regs. That's me."
Kara kissed his shoulder. "I don't mind when you do everything right. I don't mind at all."
"I'll find a way to get to the Galactica those first three months even if I have to go to the Old Man and ask him for a favor."
Kara smiled. "Just tell him that he shouldn't keep a prince and his sea nymph apart."