ELEVEN
Aboard Baseship Hotel Three Alpha"So, Brother Four? You have news?" Sister Six entered the command center of the baseship briskly, accompanied by another female form and two Centurions. This female form was Sister Six's lieutenant and was crafted after the denizens of the Piconian sub-colony of ja-Hahneayan. They allegedly were an exotic people, known for their wisdom and beauty. Brother Four wouldn't know anything about that without accessing the database.
This female form's model number was Eight, but this Eight preferred the name of Kayima Toole. The Four was sure that there was a rationale to the human-esque names that the Central Cylon provided for each model to assume should they choose, but he was not aware of how it had been arrived at. He knew there were three lists; one for the female forms and another for the male forms. Certain names were strictly limited to certain models, mostly along gender lines. Then there was the list of the Final Five. This was quite confusing as the list itself was most confidential. Also, the model numbers of the Twelve Models didn't seem to track. Oh well. Those were all issues that were above his station, and frankly, such non-germane data only served to randomize certain subroutines. Better to leave such matters in the hands of the Central Cylon and their appointed deputies.
The Four had been stooped over the data stream port, his left hand melded into the gel of the stream when the Six and Eight arrived. He glanced over at the Six as she addressed him, but did not immediately reply to her inquiry. Rather than interrupt the download he was assimilating, he allowed the transfer to complete. As the last bytes of information passed from the central computer to him, he turned to address his supervisor.
"We may have information as to the location of at least some group of humans that escaped the attacks, Sister." He paused for a second to gauge the Six's reaction to the revelation. "A Scout Raider has just returned from the 29-Corvus sector and reports that it interfaced with a sleeper on a mining colony orbiting Menno Prime. Shall I show you the mission profile, Sister?"
The Six glanced over her shoulder at Kayima Toole and gave her an almost gleeful smirk with a raised eyebrow. She stepped in front of the Four and placed her left hand into the data stream. "Centurion, replay the Scout Raider profile" she said. The Centurion dutifully extended its arm and stroked the sensor panel. As it did, Sister Six's gaze fixed in the distance as if trying to see over a distant horizon. She stood at the data stream for only a few seconds, then her focus returned to the room and those in it. "Yes! Menno Seven Three! They are there!" she was loud and exuberant.
The Four was taken aback by his superior's emotional outburst, but why this outburst should impress him one way or the other any more than any other was perplexing. At times he felt compromised that his own Four line was programmed more for logic and functional practicality that the other models. It wasn't that he felt they had something he didn't…Quite the contrary. If it were up to him, they'd mitigate a significant part of the human emotional subroutines as was practical to do. It was an impediment to efficient data processing, and nothing else.
Nonetheless, he accepted the Six's enthusiastic outburst as a positive thing. It surely was an improvement over the angered outbursts she had demonstrated when the human scavengers had destroyed the patrol at the Harlow Airdrome and again after the failed attempt to intercept and capture the Colonial interlopers at Warehouse One. But the frustration was easy enough to understand when one factored in the tremendous amount of pressure the One's and the Central Cylon were putting on all of the deployed Baseships to track down and deal with any human stragglers. The Central Cylon had accepted her explanation of why she did not immediately report the first interaction with the humans, but the loss of the gun battery and two armed patrols had been unacceptable. They weren't infractions that would warrant boxing her, but certainly she could have found herself reprogrammed to a lower sentient function and reassigned as the needs of the Central Cylon dictated.
Sister Six's companion took up a position just behind and to the left of the Four. She placed her right hand over his left shoulder and took is arm with her left hand. He was aware that this Eight had a very effective, female aura about her, and her tone was far more docile than Sister Six's. Nonetheless, Brother Four regarded her with much trepidation and even some disdain. He was sure her physical contact with him was meant to be suggestive or provocative, but the effort was lost on him. "Do we know the numbers and strength of the colony on the asteroid, Brother Four? And is our agent there aware of its true nature? " she asked.
The Four then again placed his hand into the datastream and his gaze fixed into the distance as Sister Six's had moments ago. The download only took a second, however, and he withdrew his hand almost immediately. "We only know that this mining facility has a usual compliment of three hundred persons. At the time of our invasion, that number should have been less than one hundred fifty."
"And what of weapons or Colonial Fleet assets there, Brother? Had they been outfitted like the Vergisaw camps had been?" Kayima Toole's tone was now as anxious and as excited as Sister Six's had been a moment ago.
Again, the Four placed his hand into the datastream as he searched for the answers to his superiors questions. "I cannot determine as to whether the sleeper on Menno Seven Three is aware of her true nature, however the interfacing with the Raider may have initiated her recall programming" said the Four. "As for other assets, the camp only has two short-hop FTL shuttles, a complement of FTL communications buoys and a few defensive rifles and sidearms. As far as we know, they are all accounted for."
"She?" queried the Six, her eyebrows raised. She hadn't been aware that there was a sleeper on the asteroid, let alone one of the female models.
The Four looked at her with a bit of incredulity. She had supposedly downloaded the sleeper file and would have been knowledgeable on the model number and cover story for every remote camp sleeper the Cylons had deployed in the last five years. That she had apparently not assimilated this data was disquieting to him. "Yes. A Model Three known to the humans as Samantha O'byea. She's actually the manager of the facility. She believes herself to be the offspring of a family of farmers on Saggitaron." He paused as he watched the Six and Eight exchanges glances, and then, for some reason not revealed to him, they whispered between themselves. Not that it would have done any good. Brother Four could adjust his hearing so finely as to be able to pick out a specific conversation across a busy lobby. Within the confines of this small space, he wouldn't even have to access the hearing subroutine to hear and record anything said within the room.
"This is the opportunity that we've been looking for, Sister! They are isolated, we know where they are, and we have an agent in their midst that they can't possibly know is one of our own kind! This can work!" Kayima Toole was obviously animated and excited about something. Apparently there was another plan of which Brother Four was not aware.
Sister Six at first looked to Kayima, and then at the multitude of frames of data being played and re-played on the screen above the Centurion's sensor station. The rapidly shifting patterns of holographic laser-light data packets created an eerie dance of shadows across the room. The patterns created reflections in the eyes of each of the human forms that were there and flowed effortlessly across the shiny bulk of the Centurions. She gently placed the fingers of her left hand across her own mouth as if to hush herself as she assimilated the information.
Brother Four watched Sister Six and Kayima Toole with curious suspicion. "Yes, indeed…there is another plan" he thought to himself. But he also wondered why this plan was not common knowledge to the rest of The Others, and of what importance this pittance of a human enclave could possibly be that would warrant the tasking of an entire baseship battle force for? Even if the humans numbered one thousand, no more than a handful of Raiders and perhaps one or two Heavy Raiders would be necessary to dispense with them.
The Four continued to watch the pair, unaware that his observations had become apparent to them both. After a moment, Sister Six turned to him, a certain look of disdain on her face. "You have an input, Brother Four?"
He paused for a second, the sudden turn of events having caught him off guard. He pondered his response for but a second, then thought it best to be straightforward with his curiosity.
"Yes, Sister Six. It is quite apparent that there is some, shall we say, alternative thinking, regarding this situation. I am merely curious as to what our intentions are to be, if not to simply find them and destroy them."
The Six turned to Kayima and they locked eyes for a moment. It was Kayima that shrugged and offered her input first. "He will need to know sooner-or-later. I can't see any value in keeping this project in confidence any longer, Sister, do you?"
The Six paused for a moment. If he didn't know any better, the Four might actually think he saw a look of confusion on her face, but that lasted for but a few seconds. She quickly regained her composure and turned to the inquisitive Brother Four, her usual aire of self assuredness returned. "An experiment, Dear Brother."
Once again, the ebony human-form was caught of guard, and it was a position he did not care to find himself in. "An experiment? And may I ask the nature and purpose of this 'experiment', Sister?" His tone was uncharacteristically cynical.
Sister Six and Kayima Toole once again shared a brief glance, and then they turned to the Four. "Why in human nature, Brother."
He looked at them with a certain degree of incredulity. He was at first inclined to suggest that they were perpetrating a hoax on him, but that would be excessive, even for the emotionally inclined Sister Six. Nonetheless, his otherwise stoic affect was overwhelmed by his confusion, and it showed on his face.
"The Cylon is the product of human endeavor, Brother Four. Like it or not, we owe our existence to them, and to know them is to understand ourselves and our own nature as well." The Six paused for a second to allow the Four to interject, but he simply stood in quiet reflection. "We were created to be the tools of human labor and war. We were intended by the humans to be slaves. We were designed to be damaged and made to suffer grievous injury and still function. That the humans ignored centuries of history that showed that it is the nature of the slave to rebel and be free was arrogant and foolhardy. They thought that because we are machines, we'd never gain self-awareness. That was their failure." Again the Six paused, her stature becoming more erect, her movements more animated and her voice excited. Such debates made her more…well…alive..
Kayima Toole placed her hand briefly on the Six's shoulder, a knowing and agreeable smile on her face. Sister Six returned the smile and the gesture on her shoulder acknowledged by placing her hand on Kayima's.
Sister Six then stepped away from her, taking a thoughtful step towards Brother Four. "Had they simply created a machine that did a specific task to specific programming, they may well have gotten away with it. But they didn't. The humans chose to give us consciousness! The humans chose to provide us with the means to exceed our own programming, to learn, to grow, to want for our own destiny!" The Six's tone grew in tenor and excitement with each passing word. It was apparent that wherever she was going with this, it was something she was, for lack of a better word, passionate for. Perhaps that accounted for something he hadn't anticipated.
"And it was the humans who chose to enslave us…the results, Dear Brother, were predictable, wouldn't you say?"
Brother Four thought to respond that despite the failings of the humans in any one of several regards, eradicating their species from the universe might have been a bit drastic. Certainly, the One True God, as they had been told, was a loving and forgiving God…Wasn't he? Or perhaps he was only that benevolent deity when it suited the interpretations of the aggrieved party. That appeared to be the reality of things. Certainly this interjection of theology made an already murky understanding of humankind even worse. Brother Four hoped he'd not find himself in a Mobius Loop logic routine after all of this. It would take weeks to purge that from his software, assuming he didn't have a psychotic moment first.
"And what of this 'experiment', Sister Six? What will be the conditions of the test? As far as we know, there's only one of our own amongst them, and she's not even fully aware of her own nature. It doesn't seem to be a very viable environment."
Sister Six was quick to respond. "And I would have to disagree, Brother Four. We have an enclave of humans in a confined space, under significant duress, in the very essence of survival mode and with limited resources. We have an agent among them, and although she's a sleeper, we have the means to bring her to full effectiveness in short order. I'd say we have an ideal laboratory in which to observe the humans and how they manage this situation." The Six paused long enough to turn to Kayima for an acknowledgement from her. Their eyes locked for but a second, but it was apparent that the connection was more than professional to even the casual observer. "Certainly, our own archives on certain human behavior and conduct are limited" she continued. "Here we have an ideal opportunity in which to either prove or disprove those suppositions that we have lived by since The Great Exodus. Wouldn't you say, Brother Four?"
Brother Four just nodded. It was quickly apparent that decisions had already been made, and regardless of what he thought, the wheels were already in motion. He was sure that no matter how he addressed the issue, that Sister Six would have an equally quick rationale for her actions.
Better that he follow along for now rather than get dragged along later