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BSG: The Simple Life - Ch2

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Rating: PG-13 (for a little violence and some swearing)
Disclaimer: Baltar, Caprica, Lee, Helo, Sharon, Hera, Cottle, Tigh, Ellen, Adama, Jeanne, Derrick, Paula, Gaeta, Galen, Roslin, D'Anna, the concept of the Centurions, skinjobs, Cylons in general, and the Galactica all belong to Ronald D Moore & David Eick/SyFy/SkyOne/Universal Television.
Note: In case it's not obvious from the get-go, this chapter takes place seven years before the first chapter, several months after they'd landed on Earth. (Please see Chapter One, linked in the description after the story, for summary, spoilers, pairing info, warnings, etc.)

Chapter 2: Seven Years Past ...

Baltar

The Agathons had quickly come to an arrangement with Gaius and Caprica not long after landing, just before the Centurions had come to stay with them. The Agathons shared the results of their hunts with Gaius and Caprica and helped with the planting now and then, with the understanding that Gaius and Caprica would share their milk and eggs (from free-range animals, the notion of penning them sounding too much like the ill treatment of the Raiders and Centurions — or even the lower-class humans in the fleet — for Gaius and Caprica's liking) with the Agathons, and then, later, their harvest. It wasn't something either party had really even talked about; the Agathons had just shown up a day or two after each party had settled into their respective territories. Antelope in hand, Helo made the casual comment that someone had to make sure the famers were fed while they made ready to feed the hunters.

And when the planting was done, and the Baltars (for Caprica had married Gaius by then) had started working on making a more permanent home than their tent, they had invited the Agathons to stay under their roof at night if they would help them build for a little while during the day when they weren't hunting. When their house was finished, the Baltars then began helping the Agathons build their own home. Still, the Agathons continued to spend their nights at the Baltar homestead while their own home was yet unfinished, each party happy to keep the arrangement going. Helo and Sharon, grateful for how Gaius and Caprica had been so protective of Hera during the final battle, were friendly and helpful. Gaius and Caprica, still feeling inexplicably protective of the little girl, were quite welcoming, glad to have her around where they could keep an eye on her.

As the weeks went on, though, Gaius found Caprica to be more and more ... prickly. He couldn't tell if it was something he had done or if she was just tired of their houseguests, as she was cranky with everyone. And then one day, when Galatea, Pandora, and the Agathons were off working at the Agathon homestead, Gaius came home one evening from Quoram meeting to find Caprica home already; she'd gotten sick that morning after he'd left, so had stayed home rather than work at the Agathons' that day. The heat was worse than usual that evening — and so was Caprica's temper. Gaius had had an especially trying afternoon with the Quoram, and when his attempts to show concern for Caprica's illness was met with more crankiness, he found his own fuse was short. What should have been a rare and enjoyable bit of alone-time degenerated into screaming match, capped with Gaius storming out, needing to clear his head.

He at least had the presence of mind to grab his staff, pack, and his knife before starting out on a walk. And before actually leaving their property, he decided to check on their animals. Most of them had actually settled in for the evening — only a few were missing, most notably Bessie the milk cow. Gaius went back outside and decided to see if he could find her, to make sure she was all right. Almost immediately, he discovered a few bloody feathers, remnants of a chicken — and the massive prints of a lion! Suddenly his wish to find the free-range beast became a lot more urgent. Hunting for a while, Gaius finally found a trail of large cloven prints; he followed it until, looking at the sky, it was past the point that he would be able to make it home before dark, even if he turned around right then. That might not have bothered him — he could probably find his way by moonlight well enough if he was in more familiar surroundings by the time night fell — but remembering the fight, he was hurt and confused, reluctant to go home and face Caprica again. So he decided to follow the hoofprints until dark, then spend the night in the woods and hopefully find Bessie the next day, before the lion did — and before the lion found him.

The next morning, he soon discovered that the cow in question had apparently circled back towards home — but also found the hoofprints of a sizable herd of something else. Curious, and still not eager to face Caprica again, he followed the trail for several miles. He was walking up an incline when he heard a blood-chilling scream.

Hurrying over the rise, he found a young, half-starved male lion circling the base of a tree. At its feet lay a spear, the shaft broken in two. Following the lion's gaze, Gaius saw, huddled in the branches of the tree, the spear's probable owner: a roughly eleven-year-old child covered in mud and white paint and wearing nothing more than a leather breechclout.

Beside the boy was Hera.

"Uncle Gaius!" she screamed through sobs.

Upon arriving at the scene, Gaius had found himself rooted to the spot, frozen with fear and uncertainty. Another cry from Hera shot through him like adrenaline, jolting him into action. He ran forward, yelling in challenge, and whacked the lion's hindquarters with his staff. The lion turned towards him in irritation and swiped at him with a paw, growling in warning.

"Run, Hera! Go home!" Gaius ordered, swinging at the lion's head this time.

The lion batted the staff away like it was a twig, but Gaius managed to keep his grip, even though the impact hurt his hands. He swung again; another rebuttal from the cat, who took a few menacing steps forward, snarling warningly. But then it heard the children slipping out of the tree, and began to turn back to them. Gaius yelled again and whacked it on the head this time, recapturing its attention. Furious now, the cat leapt at him, bowling him over before he could bring his staff down again for another blow.

As he hit the ground, Gaius felt both of his collarbones snap under the weight of the lion's forepaws. A moment later, he felt claws dig into his thighs, then rip across his flesh as the lion's hind paws slipped off of him. He screamed, and white spots dotted his vision. Through the disorientation that came with the pain, he had some vague sensation that the lion had shifted its weight, moving its forepaws to either side of him; despite the danger he was in, for a moment all he could think of was what a relief it was to have the thing off of him. Through the fading spots before his eyes, he saw the lion open its massive jaws. Miraculously, Gaius managed to jerk his head and neck away, so the lion's descending teeth sank into his left shoulder instead. The pain from the movement of his broken clavicles almost blocked out the pain of the bite.

Almost.

He tried pushing the beast off of him, but it was like trying to move a half-tonne boulder with a rubber hose. Gaius felt the teeth move within his flesh as the lion shook his head a little. Dizzy with pain and fear, Gaius expected to feel the teeth tear into his jugular at any moment. He resigned himself to his fate; it was overdue, wasn't it? He'd offered up his life to God for Derrick's not long ago, offered his throat, his blood, but God hadn't been done with him yet. Now that it was finally time, God had kindly thrown Hera and the native boy into the bargain. His only regret about the debt being called was that his last words to Caprica had been in anger — he wasn't even sure when the last time he'd told her that he loved her had been.

Instead of increasing with a new tear in his flesh, though, the pain suddenly ceased altogether — along with the movements of the lion, the wind, the rustle of the leaves, the call of birds, and even the heat of the sun. Time just stopped.

"So you're just going to give up, just like that? Not even a goodbye?"

Gaius looked up and found Caprica kneeling over him. He felt elation, then terrible fear for her safety, then bitter disappointment as he realised it was the angel Six, not his wife; he felt it all in the space of a heartbeat. Or perhaps less — or more — seeing as time had ceased to move.

"What about your son, Gaius? Will you leave him without a father?" the angelic Six demanded.

If time hadn't already seemed to have stopped, it certainly would have then.

"S-son?" he asked weakly, even as he suddenly knew, without a doubt, that Six was right. That was why Caprica had been so cranky of late, and had been sick the day before! Morning sickness! He was so overwhelmed by the realisation that he actually laughed, forgetting about his current predicament for a moment.

Six leaned close to him. "Tell me, Gaius, is that a knife in your thigh holster, or are you just glad to see me?"

And then she was gone, and time resumed — along with the pain.

Baltar fought against it, clinging to consciousness and to Six's words as he reached for his knife. Trembling fingers just barely managed to pull it free, but the surge of triumph solidified his grip. With a roar to match the lion's, he sank the blade hilt-deep into the beast's eye, twisting; blood spattered on him, hotter, it seemed, than the rays from the golden orb in the sky. The lion shuddered, then collapsed on Gaius; he felt a few of his ribs crack under the weight. Letting out one last cry of agony, the white spots of pain were traded for a field of black, as his consciousness retreated to someplace where even angels couldn't reach him.

Hera

While her parents worked on their new home, they still kept a careful eye on Hera, insisting that she should never stray more than a hundred feet from them. She chafed at their invisible leash; there was so much to see in this new world, but when they weren't hunting, she couldn't explore! Even at night, her mother, who didn't need sleep, kept watch — at least, normally she did. And then one day her mother had hurt her hand.
Hera heard her mother complain to her father that the pills Doc Cottle gave for the pain made her sleepy, so she would only take them at night. Hera woke up one night and watched her mother sleep; her mother didn't wake up even once to tell Hera to stay close in all that time. Hera also realized that she herself wasn't very tired. The Centurions weren't around either, spending their nights at the other house, working to finish it. Hera wandered outside, and no one stopped her.

That first night of freedom, she came across a native boy stalking a rabbit under the bright moon. He missed the rabbit; she laughed. He approached her slowly then, suddenly smiling, beckoned for her to follow. She did, and he showed her the best find ever: a pile of rocks with sparkles in them. He handed her one with a hole in it; thinking a moment, she gave him a feather she'd found in trade. He tied it into his hair, and she strung the rock onto the necklace she wore. She thanked him; he just titled his head. She pointed to herself, calling herself Hera; he didn't reply. She did it again; he echoed her name, pointing to himself. Laughing, she kept trying to get him to tell her his name, but couldn't get him to understand. So she called him Orion, after one of her favourite stories. She started pointing to other things, naming them, and he would repeat the name.

She walked with him, finding a voice with him that she seldom used with others. She delighted in teaching him what she knew, in being the one who gave answers, for a change, instead of being the one asking. As dawn approached, she found they were back at the Baltar homestead. Hera waved goodbye to her new friend — who, despite her best efforts to show him it wasn't scary, refused to come very close — and went inside, finding her parents still sound asleep.

After just a couple hours of sleep, Hera woke early again the next night, and found her mother asleep again. She also found Orion waiting for her, in roughly the same place she'd left him. Again, they spent the night roaming together, Hera teaching him language; in turn, the boy taught her about his world with gestures and demonstrations. Again, the boy brought her back home just before dawn. And so they spent their time every night, for a week.

One night, Orion bore Hera on his back and took her much further out than they usually went, to where a herd of zebra were gathered. Unfortunately, she and Orion also discovered a lion circling the animals. It saw them, started jogging towards them. Hera clutched tight to Orion's hair as he ran to a nearby tree. They spent a hundred forevers in its branches, waiting for the lion to leave. They fell asleep there; when they woke up, the sun was out and the lion was gone.

When they climbed down, Hera was still scared, afraid that the lion would come back. Worse, she didn't know where she was. Hera started to cry; Orion made soothing sounds, smiling at her, and she felt better. "Home," he told her, beckoning for her to climb on his shoulders again; did he know the way? She believed he did as he started to jog.

He went far, too — until the lion found them again! Orion ran to the only tree near them, but it was significantly smaller than the last one had been. The lion jumped at them, slashing with its claws, but kept missing them. Then it rammed the tree, shaking it; Hera could hear it crack, could feel it leaning a little. Terrified, she began to cry again, shrieking every time the lion hit the tree.

And then she spotted her Uncle Gaius.

Like a hero from the stories her parents told her at bedtime, Gaius came roaring in with nothing bit a big stick and hit the lion, telling Hera to run. She wanted to obey but couldn't seem to move! The next thing she knew, Orion had grabbed her arm, trying to pull her over his shoulder. Getting the hint, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. He hurried down the tree; if not for the danger they were in, it might have even been fun, like riding a lemur or a squirrel. The lion turned to snarl at them, but Gaius rapped it on the head, and Orion got away with her.

Hera clung for dear life, eyes squeezed tightly shut, waiting for the lion to chomp her from behind — he never did. Soon she couldn't even hear the lion's snarls anymore, but Orion kept running. Finally, Hera braved a look behind her, expecting to see her uncle following after, but there was only wide open grassland. Still Orion kept running. She urged him onward, to home; her parents could help Gaius!

To Hera, it seemed like Orion was running forever before he finally slowed to a walk, but even then he wouldn't put her down. She pretend he was a Centurion, wondering if he was pretending it too — had he ever even seen one?

It was another eternity before Hera started recognising the surroundings at all, and then only a little. Orion stopped finally, breathing hard. Hera slipped to the grass, her arms aching. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye; the next thing she knew, Orion was screaming and falling to the ground. He scrambled back up as quickly as he'd fallen, grabbing her and limping away; looking back, she spotted a snake slithering behind them. Orion kept going a little ways until reaching a shady spot, then sat against a tree, trembling. She wondered whether he was scared or cold.

Hera tried to urge him onward again, but he shook his head, then pointed in the direction they'd been travelling. "Home!" he told her. He sounded like her father, so as much as she didn't want to go on alone or leave him, she obeyed anyway, stumbling through the brush as fast as her little legs would carry her. If she could reach the homestead, her mommy and daddy could help both her uncle and Orion, she was sure ....

Sharon

"What do you think of this for Hera's room?" Sharon asked, holding up a bolt of bright cloth. "Too bright?"

Caprica glanced up from the pile she was perusing in the market and smiled at her friend. "Why don't you try asking Hera?"

Sharon cocked her head quizzically. "She's not here with us!" she pointed out.

"Exactly," Caprica replied, grinning from under half-closed lids.

Sharon felt like she was missing something in this conversation, but when she tried to think of what, it eluded her; it was like Caprica was speaking a foreign language. Instead, she found herself wondering where Caprica had gotten the red dress she was wearing — Sharon couldn't recall ever having seen her in one like that, at least not since landing on Earth. And why was Caprica's smile so ... creepy? Something felt off about the woman, unfamiliar. And then the Caprica's words suddenly made sense.

Sharon jerked awake, panting; Helo, in the bed beside her, groggily asked her what was wrong. She glanced around the room, scrambling out of bed as she asked, frantically, "Where's Hera?"

Helo bolted awake then, sheets tangled around his legs as he fell out of bed. Sharon was already out the door by the time he freed himself and hurried after her.

"You look outside; I'll check in here," Sharon told her husband, looking for her missing child as she spoke; she didn't even realise he'd agreed with her directions until she heard the front door open and close. She could hear him shouting their daughter's name even as she called it out herself. After having exhausted most of the indoor options, she was about to join Helo outside, when her eyes fell upon the door to Gaius and Caprica's room. Could Hera have wandered in there?

Sharon knocked on the door, wondering why Caprica hadn't head the commotion and come out. Caprica likely didn't sleep, only watched over Baltar while he slept, much as Sharon usually did with Helo (when she wasn't on pain meds, anyway). Or did Caprica actually sleep at night, even though she didn't need to? Well, even if she did, she ought to still be able to hear and wake up! Sharon knocked harder, then pounded, splintering the door, calling out for Caprica.

Finally her friend opened the door; Caprica looked terrible. Normally, Sharon would have been concerned and asked after her friend, but at that moment her daughter's wellbeing took precedent over everything.

"What," Caprica asked, sounding as groggy as Helo had — and considerably crankier.

"Is Hera in there with you?" Sharon asked quickly, heart pounding. "We can't find her!"

Caprica straightened, irritation apparently traded for confused concern. She took a step back, scanning the room. "I don't think so," she said, checking the closet, then under the bed. "Hera, sweetie? Are you in here?"

Sharon hurried in, moving sheets as she looked as well. Then something occurred to her. "Where's Gauis?" She relaxed a little; perhaps Gaius had found the girl up early and taken her for a walk?

Caprica looked about the room, apprehensive. "What time is it?"

Sharon blinked. "It's about eleven o'clock, I think?" But Caprica's Cylon mind should have been able to determine that by the angle of the light coming in through the curtains.

"In the morning?"

Sharon didn't like the shocked and anguished look Caprica wore now; it was vastly unsettling. She took the woman gently by the arms. "Caprica, where is Gaius?" she repeated firmly, looking the woman hard in the eye. She didn't know why the Caprica was having a meltdown, but it was going to have to wait until they had some answers!

"H-he ... we had a fight yesterday evening, a-and he stormed out. I went to sleep ...."

So she had gone to sleep the night before; had she been asleep since? Before Sharon could ask, Caprica slipped out of her grasp and hurried into the bathroom, heaving the contents of the previous night's supper into the toilet. Another day, Sharon might have held her friend's hair and crooned soothingly at her. Instead, Sharon hurried out of the room, out of the house, and joined Helo in calling for Hera, adding "Gaius" to her cries, still holding on to hope that he was with the child.

Helo paused and stared at his wife. "Gaius?" he asked, glancing towards the house with a furrowed brow. "Uh, where's Caprica?"

"Sick," Sharon answered quickly. "And Gaius apparently stormed out yesterday and Caprica's been sleeping ever since. HEEERAAAA!"

Looking confused and uneasy, Helo didn't ask anything more, but resumed crying Hera's name — and began calling for Gaius as well. Sharon could tell that he was worried for their friends now, too, but Gaius and Caprica would undoubtedly agree that finding Hera came first; the pair had proven themselves as dedicated to her as she and Helo were!

Five minutes later, Caprica stumbled weakly from the house. "We need help!" the woman said, and started to walk towards the Agathon homestead.

Sharon realised that Caprica was going for the Centurions. She hurried over to her Cylon sister, taking her hand. "You stay here with Helo — I'll go get Pandora and Galatea!" Giving Caprica's hand an encouraging squeeze before letting go, she raced off to her and Helo's own plot of land and their half-built home, wishing that skinjobs like her had the same connection to the wireless network as the Centurions had ....

Helo

After Sharon left, Helo finally found something, a little ways out from the house, in the brush: a strange set of human footprints. The area around the house was covered in the small prints of Hera and the larger ones of the adults that lived there — and the prints of the livestock, of course. But this set was outside the well-beaten area of the yard, bigger than Hera's prints yet smaller than those of any of the adults. He found Hera's prints leading up to just beside them; her prints stopped there, with no steps returning to the house.

Could she have wandered off to play with another child? A native, maybe, or a runaway?

Helo turned back to mention them to Caprica, but before he could open his mouth he noted another set of prints several yards away.

Prints that were very big — and not human.

"Hey Caprica, come take look at this!" he called out, gesturing her over frantically.

He watched her make her way over, frowning as he noting how she seemed out of balance. And then to his alarm, he saw her double over, being quietly sick into one of the bushes.

"Caprica?" He hurried over to were she fell back onto the ground, panting. "Are you all right?" he asked, rubbing her shoulder. She just shook her head. "Wait here," he told her, then hurried off to the water pump, filling a cup they kept beside it.

When he brought it to her, she nodded gratefully, taking a deep swallow and spitting to rinse out her mouth, then sipping gingerly. "I don't know what's wrong with me," she said, resting her head on her knees. "I've just felt so ... out of sorts or something. And then I had this dream just before Sharon woke me, one that left me feeling ... well, sick, and now we can't—" her voice hitched, and Helo realised she was crying, "—can't find Hera or Gaius ..." She looked up at him suddenly, grabbing his shirt. "Helo, what if it wasn't just a dream?"

Helo sat beside her. He remembered the dreams that Sharon, Caprica, and Laura Roslin had shared; he'd learned to take such things seriously. "Tell me," he requested, taking her hand and squeezing it.

She gave him a wan smile, squeezing back a moment. "I was sleeping — in the dream, I mean — and Gaius — well, not Gaius, the angel that looks like him — sat down on the bed and said, 'Wake up, sleepyhead! It's morning; do you know where your husband is? I do; he's not here, and the lion didn't sleep so well last night.' And then that's when I heard Sharon knocking. What does that mean, H—What's wrong?"

Helo's stomach had flopped when Caprica mentioned the lion, and he'd scrambled to his feet. "I don't think that was an ordinary dream," he told her, slipping his hands under her arms and pulling her up. He guided her over to the inhuman footprints.

Lion pawprints.

Caprica stifled a cry with her hand, knees giving out; Helo caught her and lowered her gently to the ground. He knelt before her, gripping her upper arms. "Everything's gonna be okay, Caprica, you here me? We're gonna find them — that's why you had the vision! The angel wouldn't have bothered warning you if it was too late, right?"

Caprica nodded, fighting tears.

"Now, there's a strange set of tracks just over there, I think from child, 'cause they're bigger than Hera's," he told her, pointing. "Hera's tracks are there too, but they stop at the other set — I think Hera wandered off with the kid. I'm going to follow the lion, though, and I want you to wait here—"

"No! Helo, it's too dangerous for you to go after it alone!" There was an unspoken implication that it was because he was only human — Helo suspected, from some of the things she'd said and done (and that Sharon had told him), that the frailty of humans frightened her.

"Listen to me!" he told her, shaking her shoulders. "Listen — if the lion's found them, they need help immediately. If it hasn't, then I want to make sure it doesn't, and wherever Hera and Gaius are, they're probably okay. So tell Sharon when she gets here to follow the kid's tracks with one of our Centurions, and have the other come trail me. Tell them to contact Doc Cottle and gather as many more Centurions as will help us. I need you to stay here, so you can show them the trails, okay?" And whatever was wrong with her — and he had a strong suspicion of what the problem was — he didn't think she was up to running around. "Make sure one of the extra Centurions stays with you, so you can contact us, in case Hera or Gaius comes back on their own."

Anguished, Caprica nodded.

Helo hurried into the house for a pack, which he filled with a first aid kit and provisions. He then grabbed a knife and a rifle; Lee had insisted guns were for emergency use only, but Helo was pretty sure this situation qualified. Coming back outside, he hugged Caprica, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly for a moment and kissing her forehead. "We're gonna find them," he promised, then set off after the lion.

Each step on the path he'd chosen was torture — mentally. What if he was making the wrong choice? What if Hera needed him right now, but it was the other set of tracks that led to her? He'd already lost Hera twice before (three times, if you count how she slipped off during the final battle after they'd gotten her back)! At this rate, once he found her again, he might never be able to let go of her — he'd just have to carry her everywhere ....

And what about Gaius? Would either set of tracks lead to him? Helo was inclined to trust Caprica's vision, but what if it was just a dream? What if Gaius was in some completely different and dangerous scenario — bitten by a snake, for example? As worried as Helo was for his daughter, he discovered that he had plenty of worry left for Gaius, too. The man had helped to protect Hera in CIC, for one thing. And while Helo hadn't been thrilled at the idea of his daughter being used for medical experimentation, if Gaius hadn't pointed out the fact that Hera's blood could possibly cure Laura Roslin's cancer, Roslin would have forced Sharon to abort their daughter! And then there was the fact that Gaius understood better than anyone what it was to be a human in love with a Cylon. Helo knew some horrible things about Gaius — and knew that they were true — but in the months since their arrival on this new Earth, working side-by-side, Helo had grown to like him — immensely, even. Hell, they lived together; the guy was practically family by now!

But as anxious as he was to find his child and his friend, Helo wasn't comfortable leaving Caprica alone, either. The Sixes and Eights were generally close, but Caprica and Sharon had the added connection that they were both Cylons in love with humans. And, like Gaius, Caprica had looked after Hera, saved her — the Six had become important to Helo, too. If Helo was right about his suspicions, based on her sickness and her moods, Caprica was now carrying her own child. She had miscarried once before; what if she did again because of today's stress? Well, if she was indeed pregnant, and managed to carry the child to term, Helo vowed to be as protective of their child as all four of them were of Hera. In fact, he felt it was high time that he and Sharon officially acknowledged what the Baltars were to Hera, naming them her godparents instead of just playfully calling them Auntie and Uncle.

He just had to find Hera and Gaius, first.

And he would.

Galatea

As Sharon Agathon rode atop Pandora's shoulders, Galatea reflected that it was a good thing that Centurions were fleeter of foot than skinjobs, given how much time had already passed since Hera's disappearance. Little Hera's odds for survival were slipping with every passing second, the probability already down to 63.249223%. It helped, too, that Sharon had the forethought, after initially asking if they had seen Hera (to which their answer was "no"), to wait until they were already running back to the Baltar homestead to actually explain what was wrong; since skinjobs could only communicate verbally, it took a little while — an agonisingly slow while, as far as computers measured time — for her to do so. By the time she was done — one minute and twenty-seven seconds later — the trip was 29.64% complete. In .347 seconds, Galatea had then transmitted  a message about their situation to the entire Centurion contingent — including Asclepius and Hygea, Doctor Cottle's companions — asking them to wait on stand-bye to assist if necessary.

When they reached the Baltar homestead, Galatea saw Caprica sitting on the ground, knees drawn up, head resting in her arms. Even from fifty feet away, Galatea could, thanks to her heat sensors, tell that Caprica's body temperature was .93 degrees higher than normal. The Centurion remembered that Gaius was missing as well — could that be what was causing Caprica's slight fever? Thanks to their wireless network, even from afar, medical expert Hygea was able to assure her that it was possible.

Galatea wished that she could comfort Caprica from afar similarly.

Instead, she had to settle for waiting until she could physically touch the woman, as skinjobs could only "hear" Centurions when they were in physical contact. Happily, Caprica sped up the process a whole 5.43 seconds by looking up when she heard their approach and coming to greet them. Caprica threw her arms around Galatea' in reply, the Centurion sent soothing thoughts as she smoothed the woman's hair in a gesture she had often seen fleshed ones used. For .097 seconds, Galatea wondered (not for the first time) what "touch", as humans and skinjobs knew the sensation, felt like compared to how Centurions knew it. Then, as Sharon hugged Caprica next, weeping along with her, Galatea found herself wishing she could cry as well, that she had some way to physically express what she was feeling herself. She cared for Gaius and Hera as much as she did any of her Cylon brethren, regardless of whatever the humans believed about Centurions being able to feel happiness or sorrow.

But as they sat there, still crying, for 14.329 seconds, Galatea decided enough was enough. Sadness would not serve them now if it impeded the search for Hera; Galatea suggested as much to the skinjobs, shutting down her own emotions for the time being. Not having emotions on allowed one to make choices that were more rational and made with considerably less indecision.

Nodding, Sharon followed suit, her tears subsiding. She gave Caprica an expectant glance; after another 4.53 seconds, Caprica apparently relented, despite having often espoused the importance of emotions (something Galatea normally agreed with, but there was a time and place for everything). Wiping a final tear away, Caprica stood straight and calm as she filled them in on what had happened since Sharon's departure. Galatea was confused to note that Caprica's temperature was still elevated, despite her calm; she reported the problem to Asclepius and Hygea, knowing that they would look into it once Hera and Gaius were safe.

It didn't even take any processing time to know that Pandora would go with Sharon to follow the print of the native child. There was also no question as to who would stay with Caprica; though Helo wanted someone to trail him, it was Galatea's duty to protect Caprica. Besides, he was right that they needed to have someone at the homestead to contact everyone if Hera showed up. So he would have to wait until someone arrived to take Galatea's place, no matter how fond she was of him.

It was decided that, rather than everyone coming directly to the homestead, the Centurion contingent would spread out, marching side-by-side but dozens of feet apart in a line from the nearby town. They would cover as wide of an area as possible as they walked perpendicular to the town and parallel to the homestead. No one pointed out the obvious flaw in this: the possibility that Hera had diverged from that path that Helo assumed she had taken, and travelled out from behind the homestead. It was a waste of time to contemplate such possibilities when they had a limited number of searchers compared to space to search, even with the humans and skinjobs that Asclepius reported were accompanying the Centurions. Galatea supposed it was kind of the humans to help, but communicating with the humans took many minutes, whereas it took Centurions only micro-seconds to communicate amongst each other. At this rate, who knew how long it would be before anyone would get to the homestead to follow after Helo finally, as he had requested? What if he'd come across the lion, and needed help?

Apparently Caprica was wondering the same thing. 14.299 minutes after Sharon and Pandora had left to follow the native child's trail, another Centurion arrived, one they called Hermes. Caprica walked over to the trail Helo had taken; Galatea thought she was simply pointing it out so that Hermes could follow Helo, but then Caprica said, "Stay here please, Hermes, in case Gaius or Hera comes back. Galatea, you're with me," she added, turning and walking down the trail.

Galatea quickly rose and followed, then passed the woman, blocking the way, shaking her head. This wasn't the plan.

"Think about this for a moment, Galatea," Caprica told her. "What's Helo's odds of survival right now?"

Galatea touched her should, transmitting that it was 76.994%.

"What would it be if one Centurion went after him?"

Galatea touched Caprica's arm and transmitted a reply of 93.372%.

"And what would his odds be if we both went after him, you and I?"

Galatea transmitted a reply of 98.4377%.

Caprica nodded and resumed walking, moving around Galatea. "See? Two are better than one. One Centurion has to stay at the house in case she comes home on her own, so if Hermes goes to find Helo, you can't go with him. Me going after Helo with you, on the other hand, while Hermes stays behind, makes more sense than us just sitting there, twiddling our thumbs — it doesn't take two to do that. Unless you'd rather I took Hermes instead of you to find Helo?"

Shaking her head, Galatea grabbed Caprica's shoulder again, a little more forcefully. There was a statistic the woman was forgetting about: her own survival. Granted, there was always danger in their world, even at home, but Caprica's odds of survival would drop 16.378% if she went after Helo, given her lack of experience as a woodsman — and that was with Galatea's travelling alongside her being factored in!

"The choice — and risk — is mine," Caprica replied, walking onward again.

Galatea realised then that she was forgetting something herself.

She stopped Caprica once more, this time stooping down in front of her. Nodding, Caprica climbed up onto Galatea's shoulders.

Caprica's survival rate went back up 9.782%.

(To Be Continued ...)
Chapter 1: [link]
Chapter 3: [link]
Chapter 4: [link]
Chapters 5 & 6: [link]

Post-Chapter Notes:

In greek myth, sculptor Pygmalion carved a statue that was so beautiful he fell in love with it and begged Aphrodite to bring her to life. In the 18th century, she was given the name Galatea, after a myth of a sea-nymph, in retellings by authors of the day. I just like the name, and thought it kind of fit, an inanimate object given life ...

Pandora was the first woman, created of clay; she opened a jar that contained countless evils that would henceforth forever plague mankind, but managed to close the jar in time to keep hope within it. I chose the name simply for the fact that she was another being made form an inanimate substance and brought to life, but I kind of like the parallel that, where Cylons once brought down the fall of man, now, in this story, they give hope.

Hermes was the messenger of the gods.

Writing Hera' section was a bitca, trying to keep it in a child's tone/way of thinking! The first time through, it did it more externally, sounding more like an observe and adding things about Orion tat she couldn't know or understand, but I decided that it just didn't fit, especially after I wrote another section for her later that was more along a child's way of thinking. Writing Galatea's section, though, was kinda fun, trying to remember to look at things the way a computer would, yet also keeping some human-like aspects to her, since the idea is that the Centurions *do* have emotions and souls. (What does that say about me, that I related better to the robot than the child? *Gulp*) I hope her perspective was as much fun for you all to read as it was to write!

The Cylon bible apparently states that skinjobs speak aloud because humans do, and God made humans after Himself, therefore they are to be emulated; that's why skinjobs either don't or can't communicate the way Centurions do, and have to touch a computer to be able to receive information from it. While early-model Centurions can speak, there is no evidence that the later models can.

It's said that skinjobs also don't really *need* sleep, but can. I figure Hera, being half human, would need less, though still need some.

Other than looking up the stuff about Greek mythology at Wikipedia, the bulk of my research for this fic was done at Battlestar Wiki [link] and IMDB [link] and by simply watching episodes. :)
© 2009 - 2024 WolfenM
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