"Ladies," he said, "let me tell you, I'm what's known in the fleet as a gambling fool. If I get anything of value, I sell it to get betting money. And do you have any notion how much a painting done in Scorpion oils would fetch back on the Galactica? No, it's safer left here."
It was a pretty lie, and both Megan and Miri realized that, but they let him get away with it, anyway.
"Megan," he went on, "you know you're looking more and more like the woman in the painting by the hour. I've never seen health return to a person so fast."
"Well," she said, with a loving look at her daughter, "I'm getting the best of care. Miri's shown us more curative ways to use herbs and powders in the last couple of days than I'd expected ever existed."
Miri did not know whether to laugh or blush, so she just kept feeding her mother tea.
What Starbuck said was right. Megan looked much better. Her paleness was gone and her cheeks had reddened with health. Her hair was looking fuller, shinier. There was a new straightness in her posture. Starbuck recalled the woman he had first seen just a few days ago, in the wagon—remembered vividly the look of death on her face as she fell away from his grasp.
Suddenly he was glad he had crash-landed on Antila and, at least for the moment, did not care whether the rescue team arrived or not. The saving of Megan's life seemed worth his exile.
"You have a strange smile, Starbuck," Megan said.
"I'm just . . . pleased you're doing so well."
"I'm going to take a walk today. I promised Miri. Anyway, it's time to get the colony going again. I'm eager to get to it."
"I, also," Miri said. "We need that, Kyle, myself, and the others. The children need a chance to be young again."
"You're going to try to recreate that 'ideal' society?" Starbuck asked. "Your people were eager to form firing squads a couple of days ago, you know."
"Yes, I know," Megan said. "And I think what you imply makes some sense. The first colony here made insufficient allowances for human nature. Ideal societies tend to do that. We can't make a perfect society, I think we all know that, but we'll do our best. Mainly, we must attend to the children. That's my—our first priority. Circumstances have turned them into warriors, young warriors, they need some other ideas for balance. No slurs intended, lieutenant."
"None taken. Look, Megan, you find a way to ban war throughout the universe, and I'll happily be your prime minister."
"You'd probably make a pretty good one."
"Probably? You mean after all this time together the best you can say is probably? Why—"
Starbuck's mock tirade was interrupted by Hilltop, who had entered by a concealed rear entrance to the cave. (He always avoided going through the waterfall.)
"This is a surprise. Hilltop," Starbuck said. "I thought you and your troops were busy rebuilding the garrison back into the settlement colony."
"The work still goes on, honored sir, but—"
"I thought you were deprogramming that honored sir out of your vocabulary."
"It is not that easy, sir. Details can be easily changed in us, but habits take more work with the mechanisms. I am here, however, to make a report that may be of interest to you. A fighter has been detected coming toward Antila. Preliminary scanning reveals markings which you have described to us as the insignia of the Galactica."
"The rescue party!" Starbuck shouted.
"No," Miri whispered after Starbuck and Hilltop had left the cave. Megan heard the whisper and touched her daughter's cheek with the back of her hand.
"He'll never come back here," Miri said, tears welling up in her eyes.
There was so much Megan could have said, so many lessons about life and loss, so many consoling philosophies. At one time she would have spoken them immediately. Now she knew it was better to wait. Better for her daughter, better for herself.
"I'm afraid he won't," was all she said, then she hugged her daughter close to her.
EPILOGUE
FROM MIRI'S BOOK:
Starbuck could not even stay an extra night. Hampered by a serious breakdown in its defensive force-field system, the Galactica was passing as close to Antila as it could safely get. Starbuck was ordered to leave with his buddies immediately. On the double, as they said. His reluctance to leave was evident to his comrades, who anyway were already confused from the experience of landing on a planet to find child-warriors had secured the garrison and apparent Cylons who were no longer enemies.
Starbuck's friend Boomer was first out of the shuttle. He had his pistol drawn. A captain named Apollo was right behind him, also armed.
"Starbuck," Apollo cried as Starbuck dashed toward him.
"Apollo, Boomer," Starbuck shouted back. "Hey, about time you guys showed up."
A pretty blonde woman came out of the shuttle, holding a medic's bag.
"Boomer told us your landing incline was so steep we should be lucky if we found you in several pieces," she said. "As usual, Starbuck, you're the lucky one."
She ran to him and hugged him. She was so sensual in appearance, I felt a definite twinge of jealousy.
"I'm okay, Cassiopeia," Starbuck said. "Thanks to the miracles wrought by this lovely young woman."
He pointed to me. Cassiopeia's look was simultaneously grateful and suspicious.
"Starbuck," she said in a husky voice, "wherever you go, you always manage to find the prettiest woman there."
He ignored her sardonic observation and called to Boomer:
"Hey buddy, where's the clean uniform you were going to bring me?"
"The clean uniform? Right. In the shuttle."
Before I knew it, they had told Starbuck he could not stay, not even for a short time longer. The word spread among the children. Soon Starbuck had a crowd gathered around him. Nilz and Robus begged him to stay. He said he was sorry, but he had no choice, he had to go. They cried. As did many of the children. Ratzi seemed inconsolable, until Kyle put his arm around her and did console her. Melysa, Herbert, the Genie, Jergin, Marta, Goodchild, Arno Armwaver—all of them were visibly affected by Starbuck's impending departure. Even Laughing Jake kept looking away whenever anybody looked at him.
"I don't suppose I can convince you all to come to the Galactica with us," Starbuck said, desperately trying to make light of the matter.
Megan, who had left the cave accompanied by Ariadne, came forward and said:
"You know we must stay, Starbuck."
"Yes, I do."
"And we'll succeed."
"I don't doubt it."
Starbuck glanced at Ariadne and said:
"You're going to compete with your sister in the beauty department, and soon. And think of the advantage you'll have with the additional qualification of being a slingshot expert."
Ariadne managed to look both pleased and unhappy at the same time.
Kyle came up next to Megan. Like me, he was trying to be brave and hold back tears. Starbuck unpinned a medal from Boomer's chest.
"You don't need this any more, Boomer. Didn't you win it in a card game, anyway?"
Boomer seemed about to protest, but said nothing at a stern look from Starbuck. The medal looked like a star cluster. With a flourish, Starbuck pinned it on Kyle. Boomer's anger vanished and he smiled.
"You earned this, Kyle," Starbuck said. "Your whole band earned it, and you may wear it for them, lieutenant."
Kyle beamed.
"Thank you, sir. It's been a pleasure serving under your command."
Apollo touched Starbuck's shoulder.
"I'm really sorry, buddy, but—"
"I know, I know. At least let me get into my clean uniform before I say goodbye."
As they walked toward the shuttle, Apollo said to Starbuck:
"By the way, buddy, before I left the bridge, an urgent memo arrived for you. Seems you're overdue on your next appointment to the therapy room. I didn't know you were undergoing—"
"Ah, yes. Forgot to cancel that. My social schedule's been so disrupted lately."
; They vanished into the shuttle, so I did not hear the end of that peculiar conversation.
Starbuck emerged from the shuttle in his clean uniform. It looked crisp and fit him snugly, nothing like the dirty ragged outfit we'd seen on him, and briefly on Kyle, since the crash. Boomer praised his appearance with obvious mockery, but also obvious affection. The engines of the shuttle began revving up. Starbuck, in a hurry now, ran to me and said:
"Miri, I wish we could take you with us."
I noticed Cassiopeia regarding us with suspicion.
"Starbuck, we've been over this already."
"I know, I know. I just wanted to say it's a pity you're not going with us. You could have broken half the hearts on the Galactica."
He walked away a few steps, then turned and said:
"Including mine."
He joined his fellow crewmembers. They got in the shuttle, there was a lot of bright fire, and they were gone. We all watched the vapor trail of the shuttle as it evaporated upward.
I had realized that Starbuck was not for me. I didn't mind that. I just didn't want him to forget me. Perhaps that was why, as he was changing clothes, I sneaked the woman-on-unicorn painting aboard the shuttle and stowed it with the rest of his gear.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EPILOGUE
Battlestar Galactica 4 - The Young Warriors Page 17