"You hunted them down?" Vulpa asked hopefully.
"No. But humanoids cannot survive the plateau."
"I hope you are right."
Vulpa felt annoyed. The humans should be dead. Then why did he feel they were still skittering around like those insects beneath Cylon metal?
The corridor down which Ser 5-9 and the other clones guided the expedition team proved to be one part of a vast subterranean system of caves. Apollo sensed that the dwellings which were placed within depressions and cliff sides along the high walls would be of great interest to geologists and archaeologists of Galacticcfs space fleet— if they only had time for research these days. The clone habitations were carved out of the relatively soft rock. To Apollo, they appeared quite primitive, with their unevenly balanced windows and entranceways, their mottled surfaces of stone and closely packed mud. Their rich brown coloration suggested the dwellings had been subjected to a sun. Since that was impossible, Apollo wondered if the colors and textures were natural, or perhaps the result of some special treatment applied to the surfaces of the dwellings.
Ser 5-9 halted the group, gestured that it should remain in the shadows.
"This passage leads to the bottom of the research station," he said.
"Research station?" Apollo said. "How is it—
"Some time ago, a group of human scientists, fleeing from the war with the Cylons, landed on this planet and established an experimental research station whose purpose was to develop inventions that could be used to bring and sustain peace. After the scientists' arduous work to build the station and begin their experiments, the Cylons came. They engaged the human group in battle, killed almost all of them, then took charge of this planet and powered it away from the sun system to which it had belonged. The ice formed, covered the caves, and even infiltrated areas of the research station itself. It is not used for scientific research any longer, but the planners meet there."
"Planners?"
"The father-creator made two types of Theta life forms. We are hunters, workers. The planners are thinkers. They will know best how to approach the pulsar weapon."
Ser 5-9 abruptly went to Tenna's side and talked with her again. Returning to Apollo, he announced:
"You come with me. Tenna will stay with your friends in the village."
"I don't know if we should separate."
"Too many of you at one time may frighten the planners. They are not... especially brave."
"I think I understand. Back at the fleet we have a group like that which we call the Council of the Twelve."
Apollo led Starbuck into a different set of shadows, saying:
"Our turn for a conference."
When sufficient distance from the others had been established, Apollo said softly:
"Anything happens to me, you're in command."
"All right, Captain. But remember command upsets my stomach, so don't stay away too long."
"You love command, and you know it."
"When you get back, be careful you're looking in the right place."
"What do you mean?"
Starbuck glanced over his shoulder, as if he expected attackers at any moment.
"Boomer and I have a wager going," he said.
"You surprise me."
"Which of our specialized team is going to jump us first."
Apollo stared at him questioningly.
"You really think they're going to go through with this mission?" Starbuck said caustically.
"I had been counting on it."
"Our lives are on the line."
"So are theirs."
"And so's their freedom. If we're successful, we go home. They go back into chains."
"Not necessarily. The commander might—"
"And you can stash that might in the deepest cargo hold of a straggler ship. Adama might be willing to take a chance on Croft, and maybe Leda, but do you see either Wolfe or Thane going the redeemed-hero route?"
"They don't have to be warriors."
"They're always warriors, they wouldn't know how to be anything else. No, they got to make their break. If not here, on this mission, then somewhere else on some other boondoggle. If I were them, I wouldn't be taking the chance..."
Apollo nodded, said:
"I see what you mean."
"I thought you would."
"Watch yourself, you hear?"
"Sure. Sure, skipper."
Tenna had assembled the rest of the group. Before taking leave of them, Apollo leaned'close to Boxey and whispered:
"Boxey, stick close to Starbuck."
"Don't worry, Dad. I'll keep an eye on him for you."
Apollo tousled Boxey's hair, then gestured for Tenna to take over the group. He felt a clutch of fear as he watched the team walk off. But why should I worry? he thought. Boxey's safe, so long as Starbuck and Boomer are there to protect him. He nodded toward Ser 5-9, and the two tall men entered the passageway leading to the research station.
The planners looked nothing like hunters, although as clones they all looked like each other. Planners were thin and fragile, adding to the intellectuality of their appearance. Their faces were gaunt and dominated by high-bridged noses. They were dressed in thick robes, their faces almost obscured by large-fold cowls. Five of them sat at a primitive conference table underneath the emblem of the Experimental Research Station, a weathered holographic mural-photo of the father-creator. Planner One brought the meeting to order by informing the others:
"Worker Ser 5-9 is here, in the village!"
Planner Two, incensed, slammed his fist on the table and stood up, snouting:
"He was told to keep his marauders out of the village."
Planner Two's voice was pitched the same as Planner One's, but there was an added level of petulance in it. Planner Three, in a gentler version of the voice, urged him to sit down again, an invocation that Planner Two obeyed immediately.
"I object to calling Ser 5-9's hunters marauders" Planner Three said quietly. "They are guerrilla warriors fighting for liberation."
Planner Three's statement initiated an argument among all five planners. To an outsider, the sound of these clones would have been strange—like a person arguing with his five selves. Finally, Planner Five began rapping the table with a clublike gavel, screaming:
"Order! Order!"
The others subsided.
"Bring them in," Planner One said to a guard.
Apollo and Ser 5-9 were admitted. They strode forward boldly and stopped in front of the conference table.
"Members of the Planner Council," Ser 5-9 said. His voice had taken on the impressive stentorian resonance with which he had initially greeted the expeditionary team. "We seek your wisdom. I have brought with me Flight Captain Apollo... from Battlestar Galactica."
"The Galactical" Planner Three said, awed. The other planners displayed a similar surprise.
"The Cylons have posted warnings against you throughout the star system!" Planner Five said.
"Every outpost is on permanent alert!" said Planner One.
"If he is discovered here, we're..." said Planner Two, his voice trembling with fright. "This must be reported!"
Ser 5-9 stepped forward, placed his huge hands flat on the conference table, his bare arms powerful with tightened muscles, and said:
"Nothing will be reported."
Planner Two, though clearly intimidated by Ser 5-9's physical authority, squawked:
"That is not for you to say."
"Apollo and his team can—"
"His team?" screamed Planner Four. "There are others!"
"Yes. They have come to destroy the Ravashol pulsaric weapon."
All of the planners paled simultaneously, the effect looking to Apollo like a five-sectioned mirror.
"Impossible!" Planner Two shrieked.
"Impossible or not... we're going to try," Apollo said.
None of the planners could respond. Instead they went into a huddle. Their discussion sounded like a covey of birds
agitated by the suspicion of preying hunters. And these're supposed to be the intellectuals, Apollo thought. / should never have consented to consult with these lunatics. Seems clear that Ser 5-9 and the other worker clones are making a mistake in trusting these planners. They couldn't even plan the menus for a madhouse. Finally the huddle broke and Planner One said formally:
"We will discuss your request and give you our answer shortly."
Apollo, furious, came forward. His upper legs collided with the table.
"We don't have time for bureaucratic discussions!" he hollered. "The fleet will soon be within range of that grotesque weapon up there! It must be destroyed!"
Planner Three, in his best peacemaking voice, said softly:
"We cannot rush into this. Such matters must be discussed." He looked genuinely troubled, and seemed to Apollo the one planner with at least a degree of sense and compassion. "I am sorry."
However, apologetic or not, the planner's sad plea only made Apollo angrier.
"Let's get out of here," he said, with disgust, to Ser 5-9. The two tall men started for the door.
"We will give you our answer," called Planner Four after them. "In time."
Ser 5-9 whirled around and faced the quintet of planners. He could barely suppress his indignation.
"Just don't betray us," he said intensely, then strode out of the room, Apollo right behind him.
At Ser 5-9's advice, Apollo remained close to the corridor walls, moving from shadow to shadow, as they returned down the passageway. Once, when a worker clone passed, Ser 5-9 pushed Apollo into an alcove and they silently waited for the worker to pass.
"Wait a moment longer," Ser 5-9 said. After a short pause he spoke again: "I'm sorry, Captain. I thought the planners would help. I should have known better."
Ser 5-9's voice was filled with disgust. Apollo understood. To this worthy young clone, the planners must have seemed the height of mental achievement. He had now seen them for the muddle-headed cowards they were. It was a bitter lesson, and one that needed no reinforcement, so Apollo said soothingly:
"No time for that now. We have to get to the top of that mountain."
Once the object of their mission was again put into words, Apollo felt a shiver of apprehension. It was easy to say: Get to the top of that mountain. But Croft's caution—and he was an expert, after all—and the misfortunes in the mission so far had made Apollo realize what a formidable task they had undertaken. They were all experts in their fields, yes, but expertise was useless when frigid air was breaking off chunks of your fingers.
Also, that last talk with Starbuck had unnerved him. If Starbuck was right, and the four criminals were about to bolt, then there was no way the rest of them could get to the top. They needed Croft and his collection of misfits. It seemed that the fate of the Galactica, of the fleet, of all the remnants of the human race, was now suspended on a very thin stretched thread.
"But when we get to the mountaintop," he said to Ser 5-9, "I'm not sure what to do. That cannon, according to our scanner analyses, is a multistage energy pump. We're unsure of its design. I'd hate to blow the lens or focusing system, something that could be repaired."
Ser 5-9's bright blue eyes narrowed, as if he were trying to reduce the lens system in his own head.
"There is another who could help," he said.
"Who?"
Ser 5-9, for a moment, seemed reluctant to answer; then he said:
"The father-creator. Ravashol."
Apollo, amazed, asked:
"He's here? In the village?"
The tall hunter shook his head no.
"He lives at the base of Hekla near the Cylon command post."
There was a strange reluctance in the way the clone pushed out the words of his declaration.
"You're afraid of something," Apollo said.
"Yes."
"I find that hard to believe. What could you possibly be afraid of?"
"His home is sacred ground."
"But you'll take me to him?"
Ser 5-9's eyes almost shut. The power of his eyes, however, seemed only momentarily dimmed.
"To free my people, yes!"
Apollo smiled and clasped his hand on Ser 5-9's shoulder. It was lucky they were nearly the same height. For some people the hunter's shoulder would have been a difficult reach.
Athena kept silent as she watched her father and Colonel Tigh crouch, like observers at a spectator sport, over the scanner screen. Some Cylon craft had been detected toward the rear of the fleet.
"They're looking for a straggler to pick off," Adama commented. He turned to Athena and asked: "What's our fleet spacing?"
"Standard defense between each ship."
"Close the gaps to twenty-five," Adama said, and Tigh protested:
"Commander, some of our ships have cadets at the helm. The collision risk—
"I know. It's a chance we'll have to take. I want to give our fighters a tighter grouping to defend."
Tigh seemed reluctant to give the order, but finally said "Yes, sir" and transmitted the command. Athena scrutinized her father's face. His eyes seemed focused in the distance, as if he could see all the way to the ice planet and its awesome weapon atop a mountain. He looked, Athena thought, very, very worried.
Cree had not been aware of even a thought in his mind for some time. For hundreds of centons, it seemed. His only awareness had been of pain. Now his mind couldn't even call up a picture of a single Cylon torture device, and he knew they had used several. Vague memories remained. Wires with fine needles being injected into various bodily pressure points. Clamps bunching up the skin and pulsating it with electric charges. Something that expanded his brain like a balloon and made him think of nothing else but that it would break into flying pieces at any millimicron of a centon.
Pain. That was all. All he could remember. When it had started, he had vowed not to tell the Cylon leader anything. He hoped he had not. He could not be sure, but he could hope.
Now consciousness returned. Or something like consciousness—who could be sure? He seemed to be back in the Cylon control headquarters, but the room seemed distorted now. The distortion could be residual effect of the torture. The Cylon leader sat in his command chair, oblivious to Cree. Vulpa appeared uglier, more repulsive than ever. Cree, in long discussions with his friends Shields and Bow, had argued that the supposed ugliness of the Cylons was the result of conditioning, that they were supposed to view the Cylons that way in order to summon up the urge to kill. Now, watching the Cylon leader, feeling his stomach churn with hatred, Cree wouldn't be at all willing to argue that side.
A human dressed in religious robes slunk into the control headquarters, then stood behind Vulpa's chair, waiting to be acknowledged. It was a moment before Cree realized the astonishing fact that the new entrant was a human. What was a strange human doing here, in Cylon territory, standing obsequiously behind an ugly Cylon leader?
When Vulpa finally did acknowledge the human visitor, he said:
"Yes, let's see, you're Planner Two, are you not? What is it?"
Planner Two leaned down next to Vulpa's helmet and whispered. Cree could not make out what the cowled man was saying, but Vulpa reacted to it by bellowing:
"Apollo? From the Galactica?”
Cree felt a surge of joy. The invocation of the name of his flight commander and his home battlestar buoyed his spirits. But where was Apollo? It seemed unlikely that the captain would be here on a mission to rescue a cadet.
Vulpa turned to a nearby subordinate and said in a sneering voice:
"So humans cannot survive the plateau? Well, it seems that they have, centurion! Search the village. Every compartment. Find them!"
The subordinate exited quickly, taking some other Cylon warriors with him. Cree almost laughed, but it was too soon to attempt such an exhaustive labor.
As soon as Tenna increased the heat of the glowing light in the middle of the chamber, the team crowded around it, pulling in its warmth as if it could b
e gathered in tangible rays. Tenna touched Starbuck's arm and led him away from the group. Although he desired the warmth, he was interested in anything the attractive blond huntress had to say to him.
And what she said surprised him.
"I will, warm you now."
He glanced at the others. Thane seemed to have noticed the separation of Tenna and Starbuck from the group. Just like Thane to keep his cool unemotional eyes on everything!
"Ah," Starbuck whispered to Tenna, "isn't there someplace, well, someplace more private?"
"Private?" Tenna said, genuinely astonished.
"Somewhere we can be alone," he whispered.
Now they had caught the attention of the entire group. Everybody watched them, including Boxey, although the child's smile did not resemble the odd leers of the others. Again except for Thane, who, it seemed, never smiled.
"There is no such place in the village," Tenna said. "Why should we have to be alonel"
"Ah, well, um, then, I think I'm not so cold anymore. I'll just go right back to my friends and—"
"But you don't have to be cold. In fact, it's preferred if—"
"I get the idea. And it's a good idea, but... well, say, look, Tenna. See, ah—"
Apollo and Ser 5-9 entered the chamber. Starbuck let out a sigh of relief.
"Am I glad to see you!" he said to the captain, who seemed puzzled by Starbuck's welcoming enthusiasm. Boomer laughed.
"What did you find out?" Croft asked Apollo.
"There's only one man who can help us," Apollo said grimly. The group congregated around him as he told them about Ravashol. Then his voice dropped to a whisper. "If Ravashol won't help... well, then, we'll just have to take our chances."
"Maybe we'll get lucky," Croft muttered. Starbuck couldn't tell whether the wiry-muscled mountaineer was being sarcastic or sincere. Before he could consider that problem, another clone resembling Ser 5-9 rushed into the chamber.
"The Cylons are searching the village!"
"Be calm," Ser 5-9 said to his duplicate. "Explain."
"There're search patrols marching around everywhere. All through the village, the underground mall, everywhere. Pushing us aside, searching us, kicking any worker who stops to look at them. They're going into our living quarters, searching, ripping things, smashing furniture, scattering us everywhere. At the meeting hall they're overturning the benches, tearing aside wall hangings. They say they're searching for the landing party and they'll start killing us if we don't tell them where they're hidden. They—
The Cylon Death Machine Page 13
