02 - The Cylons' Secret

by Craig Shaw Gardner - (ebook by Undead)

She looked up in the sky and saw another ship fly above her, a ship not much bigger than a Viper, but more boxlike in structure, like it was designed to carry lots of people and supplies.

  Someone else must have found them—unless this was another ship from the raiders. Someone at the research facility must have known about this before she left.

  She realized she had been so intent on finding the lander, she hadn’t cared what was happening at the station.

  She was still some distance from the station. At least she was far from harm if anyone started using weapons again. She hoped nothing else unfortunate would happen this time. She wished there were some way she could stop anything like that from happening—ever again.

  But whatever was happening, she had to see it for herself.

  Laea climbed to her secret spot on top of the roof, just as she saw three Vipers streak down from the sky. When she reached the spot where she could look over the edge, she saw that all three Vipers had landed midfield. These three were newer models, more streamlined and shinier than the ones the scavengers had used. She watched as all three pilots climbed from their ships. They were all dressed in flight suits. Two men and a woman? And Jon had come out by himself to greet them, with a group of companions watching from near the hangar doors.

  She would like to go somewhere where a woman could fly.

  Jon stopped in front of the three pilots. Everyone seemed happy to see each other. This was different.

  She realized she was missing out again on the life of the station. She wanted to meet the new people, especially a woman who flew a Viper.

  She guessed, for that, she would go down and join them.

  * * *

  Tigh stepped out of his Viper.

  “Holy frak,” he said.

  This looked like something from his childhood. Cylons and humans, side by side. His family hadn’t been rich enough to have Cylon servants, but he had seen them everywhere.

  The first time he had been up close and personal with Cylons it was a few years later, and he was trying to kill them before they killed him. Now, looking at the half dozen machines clustered at the far side of the field, he realized he had this built-in fight-or-flight pattern he would have to overcome.

  He had thought getting back on the Galactica would be a good test of whether he had a future. Until this moment, Tigh hadn’t realized how much he would be tested.

  An actual human being walked between the Cylons, heading toward them across the field. Athena smiled as he approached. She seemed relaxed despite the things that waited for them on the far side of the field. Tigh would never understand that woman.

  Not that he didn’t find her attractive. Tigh always liked a take-charge woman, and Athena certainly fit that description. But it wasn’t good practice to fraternize with those under your command. Tigh had screwed up in so many ways over the years, he didn’t want to do the same thing here.

  Maybe Athena was just too young to remember much about the Cylon War. But then Skeeter looked worse than Tigh felt. From the frown on his face to the way he jumped at the slightest movement around him, the young pilot seemed to want to be anyplace but here.

  “I never thought I’d see these things, sir.”

  “Well, they’re not supposed to be the Cylons that we fought,” Tigh replied, realizing he meant his words to reassure himself as much as Skeeter. “They have some sort of experimental program here. Cylons and humans get along.”

  “If you say so, sir.”

  Tigh nodded. “I have trouble believing it myself.” He waved at the young man walking toward them. “Let’s go meet the fellow. Until we’re told otherwise, everybody and everything here is our friend. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Athena?”

  She fell into step beside the other two pilots. The young man slowed his own forward progress as they approached.

  “My name is Jon,” he called out to them. “Your Colonel Adama is looking around our center. I’ve been sent to bring you inside so we can all join him.” He turned abruptly, calling over his shoulder, “Follow me!”

  He was leading them straight back toward the cluster of Cylons. Without any weapons, Tigh was feeling increasingly naked with every step.

  Jon waved at the machines as they approached. “As you see, we live in harmony with the companions.”

  “That’s what you call them?” Athena asked.

  “We call them that, because that’s what they are. This place only works because we all—human and companion—work together.”

  Jon led them back through a large set of doors. A half dozen Cylons watched them pass. All of the machines were built to look vaguely human, with a head-shaped object above what could be a pair of shoulders. But their faces were all curiously blank and unformed, often not much more than a few blinking lights. Tigh saw models with long broom arms that had once been used for street cleaning, a multi-armed mechanism of the kind that he remembered had cooked for large groups, and a couple of the silver mechanical repair models with dozens of interchangeable parts. He had almost forgotten how many different varieties of the machines had once existed, before the war had turned them all into killers.

  “We developed this station to be a self-sufficient community,” Jon continued as they entered a long hallway with doors to either side. “Despite our problems, this is no doubt why we survived.”

  A moment later he added, “If you look to our left, you will see the companion repair facility.”

  A vast room stretched off to their left. A dozen or more Cylons were working on parts of other Cylons. The bustle of activity reminded Tigh in an odd way of a nest of insects, something compact and contained one minute, swarming all over you the next.

  The Cylons inside all paused and looked at the newcomers.

  “Up ahead here,” Jon called from where he had already walked on down the hall, “we have our main data center, where we are still collecting information from experiments started thirty years ago.”

  Tigh and the others hurried down the hall to join him. This new door was on their right.

  Five different-model Cylons checked vast banks of equipment far beyond Tigh’s understanding. They all stopped abruptly, and stared at the newcomers.

  “You’ll have to forgive the companions’ curiosity,” Jon said as he once again walked away. “You’re the first new humans they’ve seen in over twenty years.”

  Curiosity? Is that what he called it? Seeing the Cylon’s blank faces staring at them, Tigh thought their reaction could be anything. Hatred, fear, that startled moment just before the enemy attacks. Anything.

  They passed other doors, and other Cylons. Each of the “companions” stopped whatever it was doing to look at them as they passed. While this might have been called a Colonial research center, it felt far more like an enemy camp.

  “Your Colonel Adama is meeting in our conference center, just through here.”

  Jon led them through a door, where two humans and three Cylons were seated around a long table. These Cylons glanced briefly at the newcomers but did not stare. After what they had just walked through, Tigh realized their gesture seemed almost friendly.

  Adama stood as they entered the room.

  Tigh didn’t think he had ever been so glad to see his old friend.

  Adama saluted them all. “Captain, lieutenants.”

  Tigh, and the others behind him, all snapped to attention. “Colonel Adama, sir!”

  “Everyone at ease. This is Doctor Fuest.” Adama waved at an elderly gentleman who sat to his right. “He’s been showing me the place.” Bill grinned at the doctor. “It’s quite impressive. I was about to ask the doctor what results have come of their research.”

  “We do manage with what we’ve got,” the doctor replied. “The planet provides us with raw materials for manufacture, as well as foodstuffs for the human members of the community. We survive. But we have not grown in the ways we had wished.” He paused, then added, “We have the whole history of
the station on file. I’m sure that can help you if you want to look for anything specific.”

  Tigh noticed that the doctor wasn’t quite answering Bill’s questions. Bill no doubt noticed that as well. He couldn’t wait to talk to his friend alone.

  “Doctor?” a Butler Cylon spoke up.

  “This is Gamma,” the doctor said with a grin. “I suppose we should all introduce ourselves again! Yes, Gamma?”

  “Laea has returned,” the Butler replied.

  A moment after he spoke, a young woman entered the room. She was dressed in the same shapeless white tunic and pants as the other humans, though hers were covered with a few stains and wrinkles, as if they had seen some real use.

  She stopped and stared at all of them, and then smiled. “So you are from the Colonies?” She laughed, resting a hand on Adama’s shoulder. “It’s these uniforms that give you away. I’m glad you’re here at last. The doctor’s been waiting for you forever.”

  She smiled at each of the pilots in turn, looking straight at each of them, totally unafraid.

  Tigh had never seen a girl quite so at ease, so natural.

  “Laea keeps her own schedule,” Jon said with a frown. “Although you would think she would make an exception for visitors.”

  “I am here now, Jon,” she said brightly. She smiled at each of the newcomers in turn. “I oversee the soil collection for our farming, and I was out—nobody told me to expect—well, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

  Jon and the other young man continued to scowl, while the doctor smiled rather benignly. Apparently, young Laea was the problem child around the station. Tigh thought she was charming.

  The doctor waved at the four in uniform. “As you guessed, these are all representatives of the Colonial fleet. Our home worlds have found us!”

  “But others found you first,” Adama replied. “You promised to discuss this.”

  “We’re still not certain exactly what happened,” the doctor answered. “Things happened very quickly. The companions acted to protect us.”

  “It went very badly,” Jon broke in. “People died. Companions were damaged almost beyond repair. But after that they left us alone.”

  “And our mistake with them meant we wouldn’t make a mistake with you,” Gamma added.

  “In what way?” Adama asked.

  “You understand, they were the first new humans we had seen in years—” the doctor began.

  “These are not scavengers,” the Warrior Cylon said. “The protocols are different.”

  “What looked like an attack apparently activated certain obsolete programs,” Jon explained.

  “These have been corrected,” Gamma added.

  Tigh was impressed. Whatever the frak they were talking about, the humans and Cylons did speak on equal terms. Adama didn’t act surprised, so neither would he. For now, Tigh thought it best to stand silently and listen.

  “Now, your pilots here,” Laea interrupted, “what are your names?”

  Tigh and the others introduced themselves. Laea quickly managed to introduce everyone else in the room, including the Cylons.

  “Would you care to join us, Laea?” The doctor pointed to a chair at his side.

  She paused and frowned for an instant before her smile reappeared.

  “Would you mind if I showed some of the guests around?”

  “I’ve already shown them most of the points of—” Jon began angrily.

  Laea waved away Jon’s objection with a single flick of her hand. “What did you show them? The repair room? The science labs? We live in a truly beautiful and exciting corner of this planet. Let me take some of our new friends up to see the lookout ridge, or our new agricultural stations!”

  The two young men looked like they wanted to shoot her on the spot.

  The doctor was far more accommodating. “No, I’d like them to know as much about the station as possible. We will have to make some informed decisions very soon.” He turned to their chief officer.

  “Colonel Adama?”

  “I can discuss the important issues here,” Bill said after a moment’s hesitation. “I think I’d like Captain Tigh to stay as well. His experience with Cylon culture might prove invaluable. But we do want to see as much of this facility as possible. I think it would be a wonderful idea if your young woman—Laea?—would show my two lieutenants around.”

  Tigh’s experience with Cylon culture? Like that he had killed over a hundred of those frakking monstrosities? Bill was giving him a danger signal, a code that there was something wrong in paradise.

  “Lieutenant Tanada,” Adama said to Athena. “Be prepared to give a full report. We really need to learn as much as we can about this station in a very short time.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Laea said to the room. She waved to the two pilots. “I’ll give you the full tour. The others will be sorry they stayed behind!”

  “Laea!” the doctor called out. “Gamma and I have decided we would like to honor our guests with a formal dinner. Can you see to it that you are back here by nightfall?”

  Tigh was sorry to see her go. She smiled at him as she left the room. He chided himself for his thoughts. There was a considerable age difference. He would have to put young women out of his mind and get down to work.

  Adama waited for the three to leave the room before he turned back to the others.

  “Doctor. Companions.” He looked at the three humans and three Cylons in turn. “I’m afraid we are through with being polite here. As a representative of the Colonial fleet, I outrank anyone on this station.

  “Before I can make any kind of final report, you must tell me exactly what happened to the scavengers.”

  Now Saul saw why he was here. Bill wanted Tigh to back him up in a fight. This was just like old times.

  “I will report,” the Warrior Cylon Epsilon interrupted. “The cruiser Lightning entered our system two days before you arrived. They demanded that we let them land. We had nothing we could do to keep them from landing. This demand also put all the companions in defensive mode. In a way, we were being invaded. We prepared for a violent attack.”

  “But I asked you to do no such thing!” the doctor protested.

  “We sometimes question your judgment, Doctor,” Epsilon replied. “We have done it quietly, so as not to upset you.”

  The Cylon turned its attention back to Adama.

  “Two men came down initially. They waved guns and fired upon the companions, even though we held no weapons. We overwhelmed them with sheer numbers, and took them prisoner. They severely damaged three of our number.”

  “Prisoners?” Adama asked with a trace of anger. “You said nothing of taking prisoners.”

  The doctor shook his head. “I have not seen them. I meant to, but with all that has transpired…”

  “I’ve seen them.” Vin spoke up for the first time. “They are in the medical unit, in induced comas. We had no other place to store them. Both pilots have suffered injuries, but I believe both will survive.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this?” the doctor asked.

  “Doctor, you seemed overwhelmed,” Gamma replied.

  “It was all that death.” The doctor whispered one more word. It sounded like “bet.”

  “The scavengers demanded the return of their pilots,” Gamma continued. “We would gladly have given them up, if they had acted in a civilized manner. Five came down the second time. I believe the lead negotiator wanted to find a way to make an exchange. But others in their party were all too quick to draw their weapons. The doctor had gone to meet them. He was in harm’s way.”

  “We had to defend the best interests of the station,” Epsilon explained.

  “It was over very quickly,” Jon spoke up. “Three of the five were shot. The other two escaped in their ships.”

  “We are not sure what happened to those vessels,”

  Beta the Mechanic said. “Our dradis system was disrupted at that time. We feared it had been damaged by weapons fire, but shor
tly thereafter, it once again became operational.”

  “By the time we could once again check,” Jon added, “the cruiser Lightning was leaving our system.”

  “We were left with prisoners that we didn’t know what to do with,” Epsilon added.

  Adama stood abruptly. “I would like to see the prisoners—now.”

  The doctor, grim-faced, stood as well. “Very well. Shall we all go?”

  CHAPTER

  19

  Laea wanted to trust them. They came from the Colonies, didn’t they—her human home?

  She felt she needed to trust someone outside the station. Her home had always had its secrets, but they had grown much larger very quickly. There were things right in front of them not talked about.

  The others said they regretted the deaths of the scavengers, but it seemed as if not even the doctor felt for the dead.

  And no one spoke of the other ship. The ship she had seen from the roof.

  Laea needed to tell them her story.

  “I’m glad we got away from the others,” she said to the two young pilots. “I need to talk to you, someplace private.”

  “What?” The young man called Skeeter looked confused. “I thought you were taking us on a tour.”

  “Oh, I’ll be taking you on a tour.” She looked around her. “We can’t talk here. Everything in this place is recorded for future study.”

  Athena frowned. “Then they’re watching us? Won’t they be suspicious if we leave?”

  “The station isn’t that organized. So much is recorded, sometimes no one bothers to look at what has been saved unless they have a specific reason to. But I have questions, and I’m sure you have questions, too.” She smiled up at one of the hidden recorders. “But really, I’m simply showing you our farming sites. It’s what I do, remember?”

  She led them back out onto the landing field.

  “Actually, I need to take you some distance away from the station. It’s a bit of a walk. We may not be home for dinner.”

  “You aren’t afraid that someone will get suspicious?” Athena asked.

  “No, they’ll just get angry,” she said with a grin. “I’m known to be irresponsible.”