Islands in the Sky

  Adama considered whether there was any danger in telling her. The

  time seemed to have rrived to employ Athena's strategic acumen.

  "I think it just might be a troop carrier."

  It took a moment for the information to sink in, then Athena said,

  "Cylons?"

  "Possibly."

  She returned to her duty. On the scanner screens, movements which

  had seemd strange to her previously now began to take on a military

  aspect.

  A bridge officer turned away from a scanner console, and reported.

  "Picking up a large body of objects closing toward us rapidly. They

  seem to have come out of nowhere."

  "From behind an ambush screen, no doubt," Adama muttered.

  "What was that, sir?"

  "Nothing. Scan the objects for life forms."

  "Yes, sir."

  Athena glanced away from the consle, into his daughter's concerned

  eyes. Obviously she had heard his muttering.

  *****

  Before her father had alerted her to danger, Athena had been

  wallowing in self-pity about being left behind aboard the Galactica. Her

  mind had been filled with pictures of Starbuck chasing after that

  socialator. She wished she had not reacted so rashly, throwing the key

  down like that. If she had had any sense, she would have lured Starbuck

  to the guest quarters, used all her abilities to make him forget the

  Gemonese woman. It did not seem to her that men developed permanent

  relationshisp with socialators, and that comforted her for a while, until

  she recalled that Cassiopeia could not really be considered a socialator

  anymore. She was an ex-socialator, able to use her considerable trainng

  within new social systems.

  Now, however, there was no room for jealousy. If her growing

  suspicions were correct, and what was happening on the planet below and

  space above was another Cylon secret assault, then ther was no time for

  petty emotions. Why didn't her father order up the warriors, rather than

  leaving them in the chancery? The odds were already against them, and

  the time wasted in lifting the warriors off Carillon's Lot might make all

  the difference between defeat and victory. She was not used to her

  father being hesitant in his command role. On the other hands, she had

  not been prepared for his resignation from the council, an act that

  seemed to indicated emotional disturbance. Was it possible that her

  father was cracking up, that under the tough surface pressure was

  building toward an explosion of madness? She shook her head, not wanting

  to even consider that.

  Switching on the comline to Tigh, who had left his transponder open,

  she asked him for a report.

  The Ubbo-Sathlas're collecting in droves," he said. "We might have

  to make a move very soon. If we can get this stupid crowd moving..."

  "What do you mean?"

  "They're buying up every word Zalto says. How can they? Listen,

  I'll turn up the transmitter, and you can hear..."

  Zalto was speaking."

  "...to use this occasion to invoke a rebirth in all of us. A wiping

  the slate clean of animosities and prejudices against any living

  creatures, whether a former friend or enemy..."

  The cheer that went up almost deafened Athena. The man's speech was

  effective, all right. How could their people be so gullible? She

  remembered her father saying once, panaceas were a cubit a dozen but

  solutions cost much, much more.

  "Athena?" Tigh came back on the line.

  "Yes?"

  "Tell your father I can't keep the lid on here much longer."

  "Righto, whatever that means."

  "You'll know soon enough."

  Athena's fright seemed to have doubled as she turned away from the

  scanning console.

  *****

  For the moment, Starbuck and Apollo had outdistanced their Cylon

  pursuers. Cylons were not known for ground speed. Unfortunately, their

  last turn had led them into a dead end.

  "How do we get out of here?" Starbuck asked.

  "I don't know."

  "Am I correct in assuming that, in addition to finding ourselves in

  a cul-de-sac, we are also hoplessly lost?"

  "That's correct, Lieutenant."

  "I always like to know the odds. Especially when they're a thousand

  to one against me."

  "You can't always measure life in gambling odds, Starbuck."

  "Is that so? Do you suggest an alternative measurement?"

  "Starbuck, those Cylons'll located us at any micron. This is no

  time to..."

  "Yeah, yeah. But what do we do? Go shoulder to shoulder, run out

  there blasting away like we did that minefield? And what about Boxey and

  that growling machine of his, what about..."

  "Muffy's not a machine!" Boxey protested.

  Muffit perhaps felt the insult, too, for he started barking.

  "Quiet, you daggit!" Boxey said.

  The daggit started running away from them. He ran a few steps, then

  ran back.

  "What's he doing?" Starbuck said.

  "He wants us to follow him," Boxey said. "C'mon..."

  "Boxey, I don't think now's the time to..." Apollo said, but before

  he could finish Boxey had leaped out of his arms and begun to follow the

  running daggit down the corridor.

  Apollo and Starbuck rushed after them. When they had almost caught

  up with the boy, the daggit turned into a dark area in the wall that

  looked like a shadow. Boxey followed him into it. Starbuck and Apollo

  changed glances. Closer examination showed the dark shadow to be a small

  tunnel that ran between the corridor and what proved to be, when the two

  men had crawled through the tunnel, a large cavern. At first Apollo

  thought it was just one of the mining areas until he looked closely at

  the ground.

  "What're those?" he said to Starbuck.

  "Looks like some kind of funeral parlor to me but..."

  "My God!"

  They simultaneously perceived the humans inside the pods. Starbuck

  crouched down by a nearby pod and touched the plumpish young woman bound

  inside it.

  "I think----I think I was playing Def-Ice with this woman that first

  day I found the chancery. Her name was---was---aw, I forgot it already."

  "Is she alive?" Apollo.

  "Just barely. She's got a pulse, though. Let me see if I

  can...ulp!"

  "What is it?"

  "Her body. It's like she's dying, but somehow not really dying.

  Something's bitten her on the neck. I see two puncture wounds there

  and----Apollo, this woman's blood is being sucked right out of her veins!

  We've gotta----"

  "We can't help her now, Starbuck. C'mon, let's get outta here."

  "But this woman. The others. We can't just leave them, we..."

  "And we can't sort out who's salvageable. We'll send a team back.

  Right now there's the Cylons. C'mon. Follow Muffit, he seems to know

  where he's going."

  They crossed
the chamber, carefully stepping over the pods, trying

  not to look at their grim contents.

  Ahead of them, a group of Ubbo-Sathlas entered the cavern, carrying

  four new pods. Apollo grabbed Muffy and crouched behind the nearest pod.

  Starbuck and Boxey fell to the ground beside Apollo.

  "What's going on there?" Starbuck whispered.

  "I think they've been siphoning off people from the chancery,

  bringing them down here. That's' the reason for the chancery, the reason

  they keep everybody winning and happy and fat."

  "But why?"

  "I think that should be obvious, Starbuck. The Ubbo-Sathlas are a

  race of vampiroids. They're drinking our blood."

  "Vamp...Apollo, vampiroids are a myth, tales to frighten immature

  adults. They don't exist."

  "I guess somebody forget to tell them that."

  "Do you realize what you're saying?"

  "You saw the neck wounds on that poor woman back there. How else do

  you explain them?"

  "But if all they want is our blood, why fatten us up like cattle."

  "I'd say it's because the fatter we are, the more blood there is for

  them to drink. Hey! Those first pods they just brought in, the men in

  them look familiar."

  Starbuck squinted at the pods, which were being delicately held up

  horizontally, while one of the Ubbo-Sathlas, a female, opened her mouth

  as wide as she could. The blond lieutenant nearly gagged on his own bile

  as he beheld the woman's hideous fangs. He watched in horror as she

  began to sink them into the man's neck.

  Suddenly, Starbuck said, "They're the three men we were looking

  for!"

  "I thought so. Even from here the uniforms look like bad fits."

  "And the other one----Oh no! It's Cassiopeia!"

  Starbuck had stood up and began to run before Apollo could stop him.

  He rushed toward the pod carriers like a competitive runner, leaping over

  the pods underfoot as if they were hurdles. With a last running jump

  Starbuck hurled himself on one of the Ubbo-Sathlas who had just propped

  up the pod containing Cassiopeia, making ready to dine on her.

  Starbuck's move seemed to activate Muffit Two, who ran after him.

  Naturally, Boxey followed the daggit. Apollo, still crouching behind the

  pod, muttered, "Damn!" then started crawling toward Starbuck, around and

  over the pods.

  *****

  Bar-Lo, alerted to the disturbance by a messenger, rushed into the

  pod chamber. From another entranceway came Nor, aaccompanied by the tall

  Cylon centurion.

  One of the humans, the brash young man called Starbuck, was

  struggling in the grip of tow Ubbo-Sathla warriors. As Nor approached,

  she heard him say:

  "What kind of sick heathens are you? You can't---drink her blood!"

  "Oh, but we can, Colonist," Bar-Lo said. "It would do no good for

  me to explain our origins to you, as I judge your mind too primitive to

  understand our history, or even the dark powers we once served until the

  Cylons conquered us. "

  Starbuck appeared to be sick.

  "You're right," he said. "I probably wouldn't understand why you do

  what you do. I don't think I'd want to understand."

  Bar-Lo showed no reaction to his remark as he continued.

  "We Ubbo-Sathlas drink your blood because it provides us with all

  that is best in your race in order to sustain our immortality. And other

  races, for that matter. Minerals, antibodies, plasma, calcium for our

  bones. We can even extract knowledge from your RNA, improve our DNA by

  using your own. We are not vampiroids for nothing, you see."

  Bar-Lo laughed harshly.

  "You should be flattered, Colonist. We find your blood useful,

  unlike our Cylon masters, who..."

  Barking and yelling distracted Bar-Lo's attention. The young human

  boy waws pulling at the uniform on the leg of one of his warriors, while

  his detestable pet was biting at the Ubbo-Sathla's leg. The queen,

  clearly amused by the situation, walked to the scene, and pulled the boy

  away from the warrior.

  "I have special plans for this child," she said to the warrior, who

  had drawn a weapon. "He's mine. But, if you wish, you may dispose of

  the droid."

  The Ubbo-Sathla coolly pointed the weapon at Muffit Two, who was now

  leaping in anger. Squeezing its trigger, he shot the daggit at the high

  point of a leap. Sparks flew from Muffit's hide as it fell to the ground

  in a crumpled, inert heap.

  "Muffy! Muffy!" Boxey shouted.

  "Why, you..." Starbuck shouted. Twisting his body violently, he

  pulled out of the grasp of the two Ubbo-Sathla guards. Leaping up

  suddenly to Bar-Lo's left, Apollo fired at the Ubbo-Sathla who had shot

  the daggit, sending a killing beam through his neck. Starbuck, in

  reaction, rolled to his left and came up shooting. His aim was true, as

  he sliced the Cylon's helmet in two. Suddenly the two men were blasting

  away, and an Ubbo-Sathla warrior seemed to fall with each shot. Bar-Lo

  ran recklessly through the fire toward Nor, to protect her. Nor held the

  child, who was now crying fiercly as he looked down at his fallen pet,

  tightly in her arms.

  The firing behind her stoopped. Looking back, he saw that all of

  his warriors had been killed by the two humans. Starbuck was now

  advancing toward her and Nor.

  "Stop right there, you damn she-monster!" he cried.

  Bar-Lo moved sideways, placing himself deliberately between the two

  men's weapons and his queen. Whatever else happened, Nor must be

  protected. It would be final proof of Bar-Lo's love of his queen to die

  for her.

  "Starbuck, stop!" Apollo shouted.

  "I want to kill both of them!"

  "You might kill Boxey, too."

  Apollo's cautionary message seemed to make Nor hold the boy all the

  more tightly.

  "Disarm them, Bar-Lo!" Nor screamed, her voice shrill. Conditioned

  to respond automatically to an order from his queen, Bar-Lo jumped at

  Starbuck. The warrior, surprised at the Ubbo-Sathla's lunge,

  nevertheless got off a shot at at him which burned through his left arm.

  He finished his leap and knocked Starbuck off balance. Bar-Lo grabbed at

  his arm to try to wrest the warrior's sidearm from his fingers. The move

  jostled Starbuck's arm, made the warrior accidentally fire the weapon. A

  high pitched scream behind him ended in a gurgle. Bar-Lo turned to see

  Nor falling, her head half-severed from her neck by the chance shot.

  Bar-Lo's scream took up where Nor's left off, and he ran to his fallen

  queen. Boxey, having been released from Nor's arms as they went limp,

  ran to Muffit. Starbuck aimed his weapon toward Bar-Lo's head.

  "No, Starbuck,' Apollo shouted. "We've done enough. Take care of

  Cassiopeia."

  Starbuck ran to the pod containing Cassiopeia as Apollo rushed to

  the sobbing boy.

  As soon as Cassiopeia had been released from the pod, she fell i
nto

  Starbuck's arms, drugged, half-conscious, but alive. He hugged her to

  him briefly, then set her down while he released the three men in the

  Galactican uniforms. He was about to interrogate them, but he could tell

  from their glazed eyes they were in no state to produce any explanations

  at that moment.

  At first Apollo didn't know what to do about Boxey. He figured that

  the crumpled daggit-droid's body must remind Boxey of the death of the

  real daggit back on Caprica. Only this time nobody shielded the boy from

  his pet's fallen form. Would the boy be able to get over such a loss

  again? Or did it have to be a loss? Perhaps not.

  "We have to go, Boxey. We can't stay here."

  "I won't leave Muffy."

  "I know what you're thinking, but are you a Colonial Warrior First

  Level or not?"

  "Yes, but..."

  "Then get moving, officer. I'll bring Muffy, I promise you that.

  Now let's go or I'll have you court-martialed."

  Boxey, responding to the authority in Apollo's voice, sprang to his

  feet. Gently, Apollo picked up the daggit-droid. A few wires inside it

  hung out, frayed and burned. Ordering Boxey to start moving, they

  collected Starbuck, along with Cassiopeia and the three uniformed men,

  all of whom could respond to orders in an android fashion. They made,

  Apollo thought, an odd-looking platoon as they trudged toward the

  entranceway of the chamber. Starbuck brought up the rear, looking back

  with his weapon raised at the mourning Bar-Lo. He took aim at him, but

  Apollo said to leave him in sorrow. He was no threat now.

  Bar-Lo, aware of their departure, maded no move to follow them.

  There seemed no point. Nor was dead, the first death of an Ubbo-Sathla

  queen in a million yahrens. Soon the centuries would catch up with her

  and her corpse would disintegrate into dust within centons.

  Without his queen, Bar-Lo was without function. There was nothing

  he could do to assuage his misery. Wounded by Starbuck's shot, he could

  only sit and allow the life to drain out of his body. For a long while

  he bent over the dead queen and muttered prolonged, high-pitched sounds

  that were the Ubbo-Sathla version of keening. Eventually,

  unconsciousness relieved his misery and he fell forward across Nor's

  body.

  *****

  "I think I've got my bearings now," Starbuck announced, after they

  had traveled some distance from the pod chamber. "The elevator's that

  way."

  "So's that bunch of centurions," Apollo shouted.

  "Hades' hole!"

  Pushing the dazed men in uniform against a wall and forcing one of

  them to hold the inert form of Muffit Two, Apollo and Starbuck took cover

  behind a pair of jutting wall-rocks as the Cylons opened fire. Laser