Record-keeping
Himp: At this point i believe that the worst enemy for the colonial position in a wider galaxy is the colonial military. For all purposes the(y) deposed Adar to launch the invasion, his political value was destroyed in front of everyone and they left him to "clean" the house after being repealed in Sol-3. Next you have those "recon" missions inside Cylon territories, i don't remember if is fanon, that those missions were launched when the(y) founds to the military were going to be reduced.
The Colonials are just learning about the wider galaxy now. So please have patience with them. Also in canon the colonials sent a ship (Adama) to spy last the armistice line and the cylons used that excuse to wage genocide. Give me a break. The Cylons wanted the war.
GameMan888: Got to agree with Guest. It'd be quite interesting to see the Colonial character interact with one or two Serrakin. Please write that in at one point.
Coming up but not until the next series. The Race will find them interesting, too. Right now we are focusing on the missionaries and their adventures.
Shadowwriter01: One of the logic failings of the Colonials is their argument that they all should work together to counter the threat of the Goa'uld. But for many people in the galaxy, there would be very little difference between them.
This one point cannot be overstated. To most Colonials, as seen by the missionaries here, see the Earth as a small cog of a larger wheel of the Colonial machine. To them Earth, no matter how powerful, are rubes that needs to rejoin the family. Earth can only mature surrounding by their loving family. Earth is a wild, too rich, little hick town that need to see what the big city is like. They're quite like us in real life, you see.
That attitude takes a generation or two to really change – unless something drastic happens.
Interlude:
(Chapter 8A)
AlbertG and RenS
Earth: new York City, United States
Tavo Mallory nearly dove through the open door of the cab. He had to make a run for it because otherwise, some other rude person might beat him to the punch of grabbing the cab he hailed. It was a necessity he learned through bitter experiences living in New York City. He sighed in relief as the door closed and the cab moved to join traffic. The vehicle lights and the lit windows on the buildings held the night at bay.
Part of the glass panel dividing the passenger seat from the front seat lit up. DESTINATION?
Mallory took his phone out of his pocket, opened the menu and tapped 'home'. He held it close to the glass and waited a moment while the glass and the phone made a handshake. The address for his apartment appeared on the dashboard above the stereo. The driver, a Sikh judging by the turban he wore, nodded and tapped the dashboard. The display immediately changed into a ticking counter. Thank God the newest LGM series was compatible with the New York Cabs latest upgrades, even if it cost him an arm and a leg.
As the cab negotiated the traffic in the typical aggressive way that seemed endemic to taxi-cabs the world over, Mallory unfolded his phone so that it became a tablet. He tapped commands that brought up an article typed in fine print. He sighed. Attending CUNY (City University of New York) caused him to exercise his eye-rolling muscles regularly.
Being a student had its perks and its downsides. The mountain of groaningly boring reading material that professors were too fond of inflicting on would-be scholars was one of the downsides.
Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Popular British Attitudes by Douglas Davies & Alastair Shaw. Of course, they should he summarized. What were they going to do, start shooting corpses into outer space? And, what was the cost of doing something like that? Would people even approve of their bodies floating forever the emptiness of space only to burn up in some planet's atmosphere or orbiting some moon? What if some alien found the body and did an autopsy out of curiosity? Would people even want to have their bodies ejected from Earth? They were dead, sure so it shouldn't matter. But still – it did matter to a lot of people. Reusable graves sounded better than it did before he first started reading.
That looks very promising…not, he thought.
He decided to postpone the reading till he got home. Mallory glanced at the taxi counter and saw that he had an ETA of eighteen minutes to go before arriving home. He tapped the command that closed the article and another command that opened the videophone app. He typed '10th Avenue Pizza & Café'. The app made the call upon confirmation. Soon, the image of a young man dressed in black appeared. Mallory knew that the person was not real—it was only a computer-generated image albeit realistic-looking.
The man started signing in American Sign Language. 10th Avenue Pizza & Café. How may I help you?
As Mallory gave his pizza order in ASL, the fake person nodded attentively. Several years ago, a living interpreter would be speaking into a headphone as he/she watched the caller's signing but automatic translation technology has progressed to the point where even visual languages could be instantly translated into speech and vice-versa.
The price is $16.80. Your order will arrive in 15 minutes.
Mallory glanced at the taxi counter. 12 minutes to go. Perfect. Thanks.
He sat back into the taxi's seat and switched to the news headlines:
TERRORIST BOMBING OF DESALINATION PLANT IN YEMEN! SUNNI AND SHIA BOTH DENY RESPONSIBILITY.
INTERSTELLAR SUMMIT? National Commission on Extraterrestrial Secrecy requests immediate transparency, White House yet to respond.
GREENLAND REQUESTS INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM
NINETY- FIVE PERCENT SURVIVAL RATE FOR TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER ACHIEVED!
MALE BIRTH CONTROL PILL ENTERS MARKET
FIRST ARTIFICIALLY GROWN KIDNEY IMPLANTED IN PHASE ONE TESTING: Will the Nanotechnology work as advertised?
UAE LAUNCHES FIRST ARAB PROBE TO MARS.
FIRST FLEET OF CIVILIAN SPACE PLANES LAUNCHES!
KOBOLIAN PRIESTS ARRIVE: What are they here for?
TEXTING BY THINKING CONTROVERSY: The Beginning of Digital Telepathy? PRIVACY ADVOCATES UP IN ARMS.
PILL CURE FOR MALARIA IN AFRICA: Result of Last Year's phase III shows great promise against all variants.
HONG KONG-MACAU BRIDGE TO OPEN IN CHINA
CATHOLIC CHURCH'S JESUIT ORDER REQUESTS PERMISSION TO TRAVEL TO CYRANNUS STAR SYSTEM FROM IOA. OTHER RELIGIONS WATCH CLOSELY.
CONTROVERSY OVER PHOTO-REALISTIC GRAPHICS IN VIDEOGAMES: Is Holographic Immersion too much too soon?
On arriving at his address in the neighborhood that used to be called the Meatpacking District, Mallory saw that the pizza deliverer had made good time and was just arriving at the same time. He quickly folded his tablet back into its phone mode and stuffed it into his pocket. He gently slapped his credit card on the dividing glass and saw a dot of light flash the payment confirmation on the clear glass.
The pizza deliverer was standing beside her car, holding the pizza box and her phone. As the cab drove away, she held her phone forward, its screen lit and flashing the price. Mallory could smell the pizza's topping of pepperoni, pineapple, anchovies and green pepper. He put his credit card on the phone face-down and slid it down the screen. When the screen flashed green, Mallory tapped additional numbers for tip on the phone. The deliverer nodded in thanks and handed over the pizza box. Receiving a signed thanks, she got into her car and drove away.
Mallory looked up at his squat building and saw that his window was lit. His roommate must be awake, likely studying the Bible or some other religious text. Normally, Mallory wouldn't room with an overly religious person, but Enola Kerry was such a nice kind girl and besides, it was nigh impossible for anyone to live alone in New York on a student's salary. He looked around at the quiet neighborhood and wrapped the doorknob with his hand and waited a moment while the door read his fingerprints and handprint. He felt a click and went inside. The carpet on the stairs muffled his footsteps as he climbed up to his floor.
His door recognized his print and unlocked. A hallway took him to the living room and kitchen. He saw that Enola was sitting at the table that served as a dining and work area for them. The silver crucifix hanging on her necklace shone in the light as she moved. She was talking with a man who had a traditional cap—what was it called? A topi or kufi? Clearly a Muslim. The glint of metal attracted Mallory's eye to a police officer's badge hanging at the man's belt.
Enola and the man didn't see him and continued talking. Mallory wondered what had them talking so late at night and read their lips. While his lip-reading skill was excellent, it wasn't perfect.
"…for my father…," said Enola. "…don't know why they didn't arrest these…"
The man nodded sagely. "That's why…help…"
Mallory was puzzled. He knew that Enola's father died in a space battle against the Kobolians. In fact her father's fighter was one of the few that had been isolated and destroyed in what was considered one of the most lopsided battles in the last twenty years. Perhaps she was finally unloading herself and the man was sympathizing with her.
The man tapped the table whose glass top lit up to show a bird's eye view of a neighborhood, centered on a large townhouse surrounded by a wall. His finger pointed at places in the image while talking.
Mallory shrugged and loudly walked into the room with a beaming smile. Enola and the man froze. The man tapped the table, deactivating the image. Mallory put the pizza box on the table and enunciated, "I'm hungry. Hope you are, too." He turned to the man. "My name's Tavo. I'm sorry, this pizza is pepperoni but I can…."
He trailed off as he noticed their body languages. Deaf people were generally very good at reading body languages, and Enola's was screaming tension and discomfort while the man's was screaming tension and suspicion.
The man snapped a question too quickly for Mallory to understand. Enola touched the man's arm and said, "He doesn't know."
The man instantly stood up and took something out from inside his jacket.
Mallory froze before his mind could register what the man was holding. A gun with a thick tube on its end. He risked a quick glance at Enola. She was watching but was avoiding Mallory's eyes. She appeared ashamed.
The man spoke quickly but for Mallory, the world shrunk to the gaping black hole in the end of the silencer.
A flash.
Mallory felt something slam into him.
He felt nothing but raw shock as he stumbled backward. Thoughts tumbled in confusion until the reality dawned on him.
I've been shot!
All this lasted for a few seconds but the slow motion effect from the shock made it seem a lot longer. Mallory looked down to get visual confirmation. Blood pumped from a hole in his chest and soaked through his shirt. Pain rolled in waves and he stumbled down to the floor as the nausea started.
Mallory was dimly aware that Enola was standing and pressing her hands on her mouth in wide-eyed horror. He was gasping and laboring to keep his eyes focused as the room spun and went out of focus in intense pain.
The man's mouth was moving and Mallory just barely saw what man's mouth was forming.
"Nobody can know."
Another flash.
Kobolian Embassy
"Did you see the US President's teeth?"
Elosha glanced in bewilderment at Luke. They were watching the news while the missionaries rested in the Kobolian embassy. Some of them were resting to get over fevers and headaches, the receding ill side-effects from the immunizations they received. Elosha and Luke were one of the few who hadn't developed any symptoms.
Meanwhile, the American President smiled brightly as he confidently stood up out of his limo and waved to the cameras in the porch of the presidential palace that the locals oh-so-modestly called the White House. He strode into the open doors of the modest palace flanked by uniformed guards.
So much like how the Colonial President would do it going into the Apollo Palace.
"Luke, what are you talking about?"
"See how white and perfect his teeth are? I've read that comes from teeth regeneration and mineralization. Apparently, Earnest Boyd is the first President to take full advantage of the technology." A faraway look came into the intellectual priest's eyes. "It appears a bit overkill. But…that's one of the many things we could try to get in future trades between Earth and the United Colonies. Our people would love it."
Elosha nodded without comment. She knew that Luke was always hungry for information—he simply lived for it—and the Earth internet was an enormous boon for him. He had raved about something called 'Wikipedia.' From his descriptions, it sounded like a trap for people like him. Was that how it was for the generation of her parents on worlds as advanced and integrated as Caprica before the first Cylon war?
The implications for the current living generations, as the Colonies were moving toward such information network integration once more, wasn't lost on her. She mentally shrugged as she focused on the Colonial-made flat-screen, a view she once thought beautiful. She considered it dull and lifeless now. It wasn't as crisp and multidimensional as the Earth TVs. It was just one of the many things that people like her felt was lacking after experiencing Earth technology. Another was the tablet devices that the missionaries temporarily had at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and if she felt like this, what would the Colonials at home feel? What would they feel if they're confronted with a world even more advanced than Earth or the Kobolian worlds, if rumors spoke true? With her people being subjected to an ever increasing theocratic influence – not that it was really happening, she thought to herself – how would they respond to Earth's chaotic but apparently ever-growing technologies and freedoms in countries like this US?
They'd love it came the unbidden answer. It might break Colonial unity especially on worlds where they're teetering on the edge of religious and economic rebellion. Colonial unity was as strong as most people believed. With the loss of the Cylons as a unifying factor, there was no guarantee that the colonies would remain a cohesive group. Livia's long term thinking might well be a terrible mistake. It might slow down Colonial progress keeping them isolated in their culture and beliefs while Earth interacts with its allies becoming more and more of an intergalactic power. Different worlds coming together, their hyper drives, their knowledge of the gate of the gods, their ever-growing influence… Of course it was all conjecture at this point. If Livia's plan was successful, how could the Colonies compete? Most people in the Colonies assumed that when Earth joined, one way or another, Colonial culture, despite their independent streak, would subsume them easily by sheer weight of numbers if nothing else. She had been here less than a week and she already saw the potential of these people. She knew better.
Is this an inferiority complex that I'm feeling?
That was an uncomfortable thought. She put that out of her mind when the news woman reappeared. At least, the wonderful universal translator has been installed in all televisions and computers in the embassy, after being scrutinized for listening devices, of course.
Onscreen, a caption announced that the woman was Julia Donovan, a reporter for IWN.
"Still no word from the White House on Senator Camille Wray's demands for transparency on the rumors about a summit taking place at an undisclosed location. Senator Wray has threatened to authorize the National Commission on Extraterrestrial Secrecy to subpoena the President's administration officials. As a reason for the demand, she cited the need for 'truth and reconciliation for the people for all the years of secrecy and government abuses in the name of national and home world security.'"
Donovan turned to face another camera. "In related news, I, along with several others at the IWN Network News have been summoned to appear before NCES to answer Senator Wray's questions about events surrounding the disappearance of Alec Colson, CEO of Colson Industries. I am legally bound to not say anything about this before my Senate appearance. Nevertheless, the senator's wish for transparency is in concordance with what IWN wants for all of us and we will completely cooperate. This is Julia Donovan, IWN News. Good night."
Luke nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting. So the locals care about democracy, truth and reconciliation. It may be all just politics but somehow, I doubt the Colonies would have a truth and reconciliation committee." He glared at her for a moment trying to decide if he should be blunt and if she would understand why. "…Not with a government under Livia's influence," he added.
Elosha gave him a sidelong look, understanding exactly what Luke was saying. She was not one to proclaim her views—keeping quiet was how she survived retirement from the Quorum of Twelve intact and how she was favored by the Synod—but she agreed with him. High Priestess Livia seemed to want to turn the Colonial government into something that Gemenon had: a Council of Guardians overseeing the democratic processes including the election of prime ministers, and making that Colony a theocracy in all but name. Nominally, the political power may be in the Gemenese capital city of Oranu, but real power rested with the priestly Guardians in the holy city of Illumini where all of the gods ever mentioned in the Holy Scrolls are worshipped. Nevertheless, she also understood that this Senator Wray was being shortsighted. Demanding full disclosure when secrecy was needed at the time was very ill-advised. There had to be a balance between transparency, security and common sense. But would problems at home reared their collective head as Luke's off-handed comment suggested? She had to admit that it was certainly possible.
So far, Livia had been cautious; she was playing a very long game. But those secrets and plans were obvious to those who knew where to look, like Elosha. If Colonies like Tauron and Sagittaron chaffed under a perceived rule by Caprica, the Colonies would hate being a part of something like the Holy Republic of Gemenon. When taken together, things were slowly forming a picture she was not pleased to see and from that perspective she began to see that President Adar's administration policy of tolerance wasn't as ill-advised as she first believed. Earth people had conflicts with one another but they hadn't started to turn dark. Instead they were reaching out to her people in a way she knew that the Kobollians would have never initially done. Indeed the only reason they weren't at war was because her people were afraid of Earth and its capabilities and that Earth was needed to blunt the other powers out there in the galaxy. Adar hadn't been perfect but the imperialistic tendencies the Colonials were developing after defeating the Cylons was pushing her people in a direction she didn't like or agree with.
Obviously Livia couldn't od didn't see it that way. Silently, Elosha thanked the powers that the Colonies weren't at war with Earth or maybe worse had boots on the ground here. This place was a microcosm of confusion, stubbornness, power, and conviction all stuffed into one world. If conquering, or rather bringing the Thirteenth Colony back into the embrace of the Colonies, had succeeded, she doubted the Colonies would survive the resulting cultural explosion intact. She was just beginning to understand that tidbit of truth.
Luke smiled at Elosha's silence, taking it to be tacit agreement. He said, "Oh, I've found something that we might be interested to see." He took his personal laptop and unfolded it, waking it up. Colonial computers had improved quickly since the war but they were much bulkier and slower than the foldable tablets that the missionaries experienced back at Waldorf-Astoria.
Once again, Elosha felt a twinge of envy.
"Ah! Here it is." He turned the laptop around so that Elosha could see what was being shown in the monitor screen. It was apparently a website of videos called YouTube and Luke had chosen the topic "Stargate: Instructional videos by Daniel Jackson."
She looked shocked. "Luke, how did you find this?"
"Oh, I was just playing around with the internet last night..."
Luke's face flushed at Elosha's wry expression at 'just playing'.
"Well, truthfully I was looking at some television entertainment earlier yesterday. The number of channels," he shook his head. "They had a couple of older movies that seemed interesting dealing with fiction Earth Cylon wars. The first was 'Terminator' which was a standard movie involving a killer cylon from the future if you could get past the idea of a time traveling cylon trying to kill some woman before she could have a child that would grow up to destroy some cylon war machine in the future."
"No one believes in time travel," Elosha smiled. "It's ridiculous."
"Of course it is, but that wasn't the point. Their cylon was different from our model and that was interesting. The thing was a combat skeleton covered with human flesh." Kobolian cylons were either all metal or humanoid. "They were robots with hyper ally combat chassis covered in skin. It was creepy. Our humanoid ones could best be described as synthetic clones. Here they approached cylon concepts from a totally different view point." He smiled. "It was okay but it was the second movie that, I have to admit was terrifying."
"What do you mean? Cylons in any form are horrible creations. How can anything be worse than them?"
"In the second movie, there was a liquid metal cylon killing anything that got in its way. You should have seen it, what it could do. It could change into anybody, was super strong, turn to liquid and back to human shape." The young man shuddered. "I don't think we have anything that could have stopped them if they had gotten into a city."
"So they understand the danger of artificial intelligences."
"Yes, but with their technology who knows what kind of cylon they could invent. I mean, a cylon capable of turning into a floor to hide? I mean…"
"I don't want to think about it," said a horrified Elosha.
"I thank the gods we didn't invent something like that. But let me change the subject to something real. I was looking for information on the Stargate program. Eventually, I found videos. Apparently, they're part of the Disclosure process the stargate program's efforts to satisfy Senator Wray and people like her and of course, the public." He shook his head as he added, "My Gods…everything and anything about anything could be found in the internet, if you knew where to look. But this is really amazing. This, this 'gift' could only come from the gods themselves.'
Elosha nodded. Eyes riveted to the frozen image of the infamous Dr. Daniel Jackson, Elosha settled down to watch the instructional videos.
"Wait," Luke said. "Before we look at that, there's something else I found earlier. I think it's more important." The way his voice lowered made her shiver. "You need to see this."
"But?" She couldn't finish. What could be more important than the stargate? By the gods! Who were these people, to have so much that they were able to just distribute information out into the open so freely? Calming herself she asked, "What is it?"
"It's something we all need to see," said Luke with a mixture of excitement and awe. "Our people would kill for this. I hope that our ambassador can send this home."
Both of them knew that, as much communication that Earth had blanketed itself in, no one at home had an idea of what was happening. Ambassador Saltum was clear that only recorded packets of information could reach home intact as Earth's communications were so encoded that the goddess Athena would be needed to decipher and make sense of the actual transmissions.
"What do you want me to see?"
"By all of my calculations, this world should have been dead a long time ago!" Quickly he moved his finger across the touch screen, watching carefully until the screen image he wanted popped up. Touching another button, the image suddenly appeared on the flat-screen. "This happened a few days before we arrived here," he added as both sat down to watch. "This is my third time watching this," he whispered just before the program began. "It's the history of the Earth for the last twenty years of the Stargate program and the influence it's having on Earth," he said.
"Oh."