BY YOUR COMMAND - Static ARCHIVE

 

"Are you coming Starbuck?" Apollo lingered in the doorway, eyeing his blond companion.

"In a centon…" Starbuck was leaning against the parapet of a little balcony, his hands in his pockets, staring at the glow of lights that shone from the distant centre of Camileon city. "In a centon…"

"What's wrong, Starbuck?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Starbuck's voice was soft. "You just go ahead. I'll join you guys in a micron…"

Apollo knew something was wrong and he didn't want to leave Starbuck like this. Surrounded by secret, dark thoughts. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Starbuck didn't look at his friend. "Just fine, Apollo. Never been better!"

Apollo hesitated for a long time. Finally he turned and walked into the living room of Calbâ's quarters, closing the balcony door behind him.

Starbuck didn't notice to his beautiful friend leaving. He kept on staring into the distance. Staring at the golden glow of Camileon.

Looking at the illuminated gates of the forbidden city…

* * *

This time Cree wanted so much to be disobedient. He wanted to hate the man. Oh, but he couldn't. Cree was no longer in control of his own mind, or even the beating of his own heart. Every part of his existence belonged to beautiful Lomas. Cree had no choice. He had to obey.

But for sagan's sake he had no idea how to succeed in doing what Lomas had asked him to do. The control center of the Galactica was always occupied by on-duty officers and information techonology specialists. There was no way in frack he could just sneak into that place and get the co-ordinates. Why for sagan's sake did Lomas want those co-ordinates anyway!

Lomas had just eyed Cree with those waterpond eyes when he had asked about it. "Angel face." Lomas had said. "You don't need to know. Not yet." The man had touched Cree's hair so softly that it had made Cree tremble. "Just do what I ask, my pretty one."

"Will you take me with you?" Cree had swallowed.

Lomas hadn't answered. He had just smiled and tenderly kissed Cree on the cheek. "Bring me the co-ordinates."

Cree buried his face into his hands. Such unbearable, unrequited pain. Even the acts of power had no consolation any longer. Cree wanted to cry. Oh sagan, he needed to howl and scream! To force the desperate compulsiveness out of his mind and tear away the horrible yearning from his heart before it was too late.

Oh, but it already was too late. Much too late. There was only one way Cree could ever find total freedom and tranquility. Cree had to be with Lomas eternally. Or he would have to die.

* * *

Apollo walked to Boomer and Calbâ, who were sitting on the floor, sipping their beweridges.

Boomer glanced up. "Where's Starbuck?"

Apollo sat down. "He'll join us in a centon."

"Oh?" Boomer raised one eyebrow. Calbâ was pouring docarello into Apollo's cup.

"Yeah well, I guess he just likes the view a little more than the rest of us." Apollo grinned.

Boomer's eyes were curious. He had noticed that Apollo was worried.

Apollo did his best to act casual. He smiled at Calbâ. "Your home sure is a pretty one."

"Thanks!" Calba raised his cup and grinned.

Calbâ had shown his guests around his quarters a bit earlier, after they had finished the overwhelming conversation about planet Probability. Definitely not a big place. There were only four rooms. The furnishing was extremely ascetic, but surprisingly elegant.

"Not bad for a bachelor!" Starbuck had grinned and whispered into Apollo's ear. "I knew he wasn't sealed the moment we met him!"

"Sure you did!" Apollo had rolled his eyes.

The living room was all white. The sofa, two chairs, three huge carpets, the walls… Everything, except the glass table next to the sofa. The glass was carved like a prism, so it reflected the light from two white lamps and painted the room with a million colours.

The bedroom was blue. Totally blue, apart from a touch of silver on the ceiling. The only colours of the kitchen were yellow and violet. And then there was one particular room…

It had no furniture. Its walls and ceiling were painted blood-red. Four crimson carpets covered the floor. Seven lamps with bright-red light bulbs and scarlet shades were placed around the room.

Boomer, Starbuck and Apollo had been amazed by each room, but this was definitely the most fascinating.

"This is the place where I don't use my eyes." Calbâ smiled.

"HUH?" Starbuck stared at man. You mean you walk around this room with your eyes closed or something… Why for sagan's sake. Don't you like the colour or…"

"Shut up Starbuck!" Boomer hissed.

Calbâ laughed. "No my friend. Not eyes closed." Calbâ smiled warmly at the others as he continued. "When I enter this room, I see with my soul."

Starbuck eyed Calbâ like he was a madman. "Oh?"

"This room is the same colour as my soul." Calbâ explained. "My soul is the colour of blood. When I enter this place my soul and my being connect with the eyes and the awareness of the universe. And I can see deeper into the centre of life…"

"Well, isn't that great!" Starbuck was now sure the man was a total crackpot.

"Are you looking at the center of life right now?" Starbuck rolled his eyes. "Can you see sagan waving his hand or something…"

"Very funny." The man smiled. "To reach that point I have to spend centars in this room, just looking at the colour of my soul."

Jeeez! "Don't you think you should be getting a little more sleep…" Starbuck put his arm around Calbâ's shoulder. "I mean… When do you guys generally sleep?? During the time of light, you rush out of these caverns to enjoy the warmth of the sun. And when the night falls, you retire to these caves and start partying underground…"

"Starbuck has a point." Apollo said. "When do you sleep?"

Calba looked at Apollo. "We only need to sleep 30 or 50 centons in 24 centars."

"No way!!" Boomer couldn't believe his ears.

"Oh yes, my friend." Calbâ smiled. "The equipment that provides us with oxygen is the reason." Calba turned to leave the red room. The others followed him, listening closely.

"The oxygen we breathe underwater is 83% more pure than the one above the oceans. One of the elements used in creating such purified oxygen is called genorex, which has a composition one could call… refreshing!" Calbâ laughed out loud. "Its consistency is 99% energy… " Calbâ led the others to the living room again. "And that is what our physical bodies are exposed to, nightly."

"Wow!" Starbuck grinned. "Perhaps, if you don't mind, I can take a sample of your underwater oxygen with me before we return to the Galactica. Man, ff I was able to stay awake a secton on end I could win a fortune on the Rising Star… Not to mention, we could sure beat the cylons!"

Calbâ laughed. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, my friend. But if this oxygen is exposed to a ventilation even a fraction different than what we have here, under these oceans, it immediately turns to syflon gas…"

"Frack!" Starbuck frowned.

Calbâ laughed again. Then he eyed his guests. "Please, follow me my friends. I have something to show you…"

Calbâ had led Starbuck, Boomer and Apollo to a tiny balcony that he called the pride and joy of his home. Apollo's could definitely understand why. The little balcony was the garden of eden.

Except for two white wicker chairs, there was no furnishing. Only a thick-leaved grapevine that climbed up the white, ragged walls. The glow from the distant centre of Camileon painted the walls and the leaves of the grapevine golden-brown and created moving shadows behind those leaves. And then there was the sound. The continuous soft whisper of the moving currents and waves of the enormous oceans above. It was like the oceans were telling a tale of a thousand secrets.

* * *

The doctor had left the isolation chamber centons ago but Lomas still kept on staring after him. No! Frack it! It was too early! He wasn't ready! This was definately not good!

The doctor had just given Lomas the good news that he would be free to leave the Sagittarian today. Great! Just great!

In fact, Lomas would have to leave in two centars. The clown of a doctor had looked away from Lomas' pale eyes and mumbled something about needing the isolation chamber for a new patient, who would be brought to the Sagittarian from the Prison Barge today, before sleep cycle.

The doctor had grinned nervously and wished Lomas all the luck in his new life on the Piscean.

Lomas had smiled at the doctor with utter contempt. "Oh, I'm sure my new life will be such a happy one…"

The doctor hadn't answered. He had just given Lomas one more quick, nervous smile without really looking at the man, and then stumbled out of the room as fast as he could.

Lomas' eyes wondered away from the closed door. By lords, there had to be something wrong with the ventilation. The air was freezing! Lomas put his arms tightly around himself, trying to fight the horrible coldness that was rushing into his inside. This was definately not good! The idiot doctor was going to throw him out before he had had the time to refine his plan, to find out about the details of the final destination. And he had not heard from Cree yet. Felgercarb, he had to hear from Cree. Everything depended on the boy now.

Lomas was sweating now. By sagan how he wanted to goudge the doctor's bulging eyes out, to cut his head in half. Slowly tear the doctor's heart out from his chest and feed it to the other patients for dinner. Oh, but of course he wouldn't do it. He was cured. He was like everybody else now.

Lomas arose from the bunk and walked over to the sink to get a cup of cold water. He let the water flow for a long long time before placing the brownish cup under the faucet. Then he pressed the cool cup against his burning forehead for centons before finally drinking the water. All of it. In fact, he had to drink another cupful. And another. And yet another. By heavens, Lomas felt like he was just about to die of thirst. The water started flowing down Lomas' chin and neck as he was devouring it. Oh lords, the water didn't quench his thirst at all. He still felt like he had been walking around and around the enormous deserts of Kobol for endless centuries. The room span around 180 degrees. The cup fell from Lomas' hands. The man tried to grab a hold of the sink as the room disappeared behind a veil of black rivers. They attacked him. The dark dreams. Lomas collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Apollo and the others must have spent centars in that little balcony. Leaning against the paraphet, talking about this enticing underwater world and the legend of the thirteenth tribe. Enjoying the piquant taste of docarello and feeling so peaceful surrounded by the whisper of the oceans.

For some reason, Calbâ was very reluctant to talk about the black queen. What a shame. That was the one thing Starbuck wanted most to talk about.

"What do you mean no man who is alive has seen her?" Starbuck was smoking a fumarello and watching the smoke curling up towards the invisible ceiling of the cavern. "Are you saying that if you lay your eyes on the queen you just drop dead right tehn and there, or what?"

"I don't think that anyone has passed those gates in a hundred yahrens." Calbâ's voice was just a fraction louder than the hum of the oceans. "And if someone has…" Calbâ glanced at Starbuck. "He has never returned to tell about it."

Starbuck didn't say anything. His eyes had found the illuminated gates of the forbidden city, far away on the outskirts of Camileon. The gates seemed somehow brighter than the rest of the nocturnal city. Even the carvings seemed to be visible from the distance. It was so strange.

Too fascinating.

Apollo's hand was caressing Starbuck's back. Boomer's eyes were on the orange-glowing clouds above the city.

"How come you guys have clouds in this place?"

Calbâ looked at Boomer and smiled a little. "When carbon dioxide turns to oxygen, a tiny fraction of moisture is always formed and…"

Apollo poked Boomer with his elbow. "Yeah, buddy. And the rest of the chemical felgercarb you should remember from instructional period."

Boomer smiled. "You wish!"

Apollo winked at his friend. "Oh, I almost forgot you were the instructioness' nightmare, Boomer."

Boomer grinned. "Yeah… But secretly, believe it or not, she adored me!"

"Yeah, right!" Apollo laughed. "That's why you graduated from the InstCC a year later than me. Only because the intructioness liked you so much she didn't want to let you go."

Boomer raised one eyebrow and winked. "What can I do. It's my endless charm!" He grinned.

"And of course my bad grades and unauthorized absences had nothing to do with it whatsoever."

Apollo laughed. "Of course not."

The weather was changing. Calba felt the first shivers. "It's starting to get chilly." He commented. "The temperature always drops a few cekrans before dawn. "

"Why?" Apollo glanced at the man.

Calbâ didn't take his eyes off the clouds. "It's because the machinery that provides us with the oxygen automatically increases its power about five to seven centars after start-up. So the increase in moisture and genorex turn the air colder. The man yawned. "Shall we go back inside?"

"Sure." Boomer turned towards Calbâ. "My cup is empty anyway." He grinned at the dark man. "You still have docarello left?"

"For yahrens to come." Calba grinned too. He opened the door of the balcony and disappeared into the white living room. Boomer followed him.

Apollo lingered by the door.

Starbuck didn't take his eyes off the gates of the forbidden city.

* * *

Aurora was pulling Athena by the sleeve. Quietly they passed the ensigns' quarters and reached the corridor that connected the beta section with the gamma section of. Ahead of them were the entrances to the simulator bays and the solenite storage.

"I think we're fracking lost!" Athena mumbled.

"Listen!…" Athena hissed.

Oh felgercarb! Someone was coming! They both heard the footsteps.

Aurora looked at Athena. "Not to worry." She smiled a little. " You are the commander's daughter for sagan's sake. You have a permission to be anywhere on this battlestar…"

Athena eyed Aurora. She still hadn't gotten over the surprise of seeing her on the Canaris.

"Sure." She whispered. The soft sound of footsteps was echoing from the metal walls. "But don't you think it's a little weird that the commander's daughter is sneaking the corridors of the gamma section with a lady who had no business leaving the Celestra at this centar. And with a bottle of stolen drugs in her pocket for sagan's sake…"

Aurora put her forefinger warningly to Athena's lips. The footsteps were coming closer. "We better go back!" Aurora hissed. "Run! Now!"

Quickly they rushed back the corridor to the stairway.

Oh frack. The door had banged shut and could only be opened with a special code number from this side of the section. Feverishly Athena and Aurora were eyeing for a hiding place.

The bottle they had stolen from the Canaris dropped out of Athena's pockets and rolled two or three metrons down the corridor.

"Leave it!" Aurora hissed. "Come on!"

But Athena was already running after the bottle.

"For sagan's sake girl!" Aurora rolled her eyes. "Are you suicidal or something."

"Shhhh!" Athena halted. They both listened. The footsteps seemed to have turned to another hallway near the solenite storage. Yes! The person was definately going another way now.

"By Kobol!" Aurora wiped her forehead. Athena ran to the bottle, picked it up and quickly returned to Aurora. "We better get out of here." Athena whispered.

"No kidding." Aurora raised one eyebrow.

* * *

Lomas came to. He was conscious now, but still lost deep inside the world of the rivers. Where was the cup? Oh lords it hurt to focus the eyes. He had to find the cup. Lomas tried to sit up. Blinding pain shot through his head. He had to lie back down quickly to be able to remain conscious. Where was the fracking cup?!!

Lomas narrowed his eyes. His hand was feeling the surface of the cold floor. There was a pool of water all around Lomas. Nastily cold water. The man started to shiver again. Hey, but what's this? Lomas' hand recognized the shape of the cup. Quickly he grabbed it and clenched his teeth together as he forced himself to sit up. He needed all his strength now. Lords, the room was spinning, it was so hard to focus. Now, do it!

Lomas hit the cup against the floor as hard as he possibly could. A sound of jingling. Yes! It broke! Carefully Lomas caressed the serratied edge of broken cup. Perfect! He put the cup against the flesh of his arm and pressed. The porcelain dug into the skin and slowly the floor started to turn red. Blood was flowing out of the wound as Lomas continued to press the edge harder and harder into his arm. Such incredible agony! Such pleasure…

Lomas didn't make a sound. He closed his eyes and his face was slowly lit up by a beautiful, tranquil smile of happiness.

Sweet Intensity.

* * *

Athena and Aurora were in Athena's quarters, leaning against the door. By heavens Athena was excited. She had loved the tension of trespassing and the fear of getting caught. By lords, who needs drugs.

She glanced at Aurora. The other woman didn't look at Athena but she knew the girl's eyes were on her and she smiled. Her hand found Athena's and squeezed it a little. No words were needed. The only sound of the room was the sound of their hard breathing.

 

* * *

Starbuck finally emerged to the white living room.

"For sagan's sake, buddy." Boomer grinned. "We were beginning to think you had dropped off the balcony or something. By heavens, you must had been standing there at least another centar after the rest of us left…"

Starbuck didn't answer. He just grinned a little, sort of distracted, and sat down on the floor next to the others. Calbâ gave him a bottle. Apollo's concerned eyes were on Starbuck.

"I sure wouldn't mind a little tour of this city." Starbuck grinned. "You guys must have a couple of legendary discos around here, I mean, all the energy felgercarb and hardly sleeping at all. The nightlife on Camileon must be a frack of a trip compaired to the decks on the Rising Star…"

"Here he goes again!" Boomer eyed Apollo amused.

"I will possibly show you a little more of Camileon tomorrow night." Calba smiled. "But now I think I better retire to the room of dreams and get my 30 centons of sleep…"

"Room of dreams?" Starbuck raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, the blue room." Calba yawned and stood up, still holding the cup of docarello in his hand. "When the morning arises, I will take you to the cities of the sun."

"Cities of the sun…Those must be the ones on the shore, above ocean level." Apollo kept his eyes on Calbâ.

"Yes." The dark man's smile was so likable. "You remember the gates we passed when I brought you into our nocturnal world?" "Yes, of course." Apollo nodded.

"Those are the gates of dusk and dawn…" Calbä was already heading towards the room of dreams. Just before opening the door he turned towards the others. "Behind those gates is the beginning of Florengza, The Rise Of Transient Eternities." Calba yawned. "The first one of the sun cities. Now, good night my friends."

He closed the door behind him.

* * *

Lomas fetched a towel and wiped the blood away from the floor. Then he tossed the towel into the sink and washed his arm. He felt great. The world was once again so wonderfully intense. Everything was progressing so beautifully. Lomas was humming. Yeah, Cree, the pretty boy would probably contact him in a couple of centars, and Lomas wouldn't even have to waste more than one sleep cycle on the sagan forsaken Piscean.

Lomas started packing his few uniforms into a green and brown army bag. He looked around the room. Had he forgotten something. Underwear, hairbrush, black eyeliner that Cree had given him… Lomas laughed out loud. Did that boy really think he would ever wear such felgercarb. Hmmm, what else. Aftershave, the big blue towel, two pairs of boots. Oh, and definately the broken cup … Frack! He had almost forgotten the toothbrush and the shaving equipment. Lomas walked over to the sink to fetch them. What a shame they had taken the laser gun. Oh Well, he would find another means of… revenge. Probably even a better one. That thought made Lomas smile.

"I'm so sorry…"

Surprised Lomas raised his eyes. Cree was standing by the open doorway, looking pale and frightened.

"I tried my best…" Cree's eyes were pleading his mentor to forgive him. The boy took a couple of uncertain steps towards the man. "I couldn't get the co-ordinates…"

Lomas stared at Cree. The boy hesitantly walked closer and closer.

"They caught me as I was inserting the question data into the computer. The guards started interrogating me about my presence at the control center." Cree's voice was frightened and fragile. "But I did manage to delete the data I had already typed before they saw it…" Cree was close to Lomas now, looking at him in the eyes. "Please, I really tried…"

Lomas stared at Cree for a long time without saying a word. Then he turned away. He closed the zipper of the army bag, picked it up from the bunk and walked past Cree towards the open doorway without even glancing at the boy.

Cree's heart almost stopped beating. He tried to fight back the sobs. "I live for you…" He whispered.

Lomas didn't turn.

Cree ran after the man, panic-stricken. "Please, beautiful Lomas…" Cree was now crying. "Don't you understand that I love you…"

Lomas walked out the door without looking back.

Cree fell onto his knees and buried his face in his hands. Now he was lost.

* * *

"I think we better get some sleep too." Boomer arose from the floor. "Although I must admit the genorex could keep me going for sectons..." Boomer picked up his cup and carried it to the kitchen. Starbuck too stood up and streched.

"Where are we going to sleep? The floor doesn't sound too inviting to me…"

"Me neither!" Boomer's voice echoed from the kitchen. "The sofa's reserved for me!"

"You wish!" Apollo grinned.

"Well, I'm off to the turboflush!" Starbuck started walking to the door. "Hey Apollo…"

Apollo's head turned. He saw Starbuck in the middle of the living room, looking at him. "What?"

"Come here." Starbuck was smiling teasingly. His eyes were sad.

"Why?" Apollo raised one eyebrow.

"Stop asking meaningless questions and wasting time." Starbuck grinned. "Now, get your pretty butt over here."

Apollo smiled and walked to Starbuck. "If this is what I think it is, you old goat…" Apollo was grinning. "…Don't forget that Boomer is in the next room."

Starbuck placed his hands on Apollo's shoulders and looked into his lover's eyes. His face was very serious.

Starbuck wanted to tell Apollo so much, but there was nothing he could say. He could only hope that his eyes were explaining what was most important. That his eyes had become now the mirror of his heart and soul. The reflection of Starbuck's endless love.

 

Because In the end, that was the only thing Apollo needed to know.

Before…

"You are like an angel." Starbuck whispered.

"You've been drinking too much docarello, young man." Apollo grinned.

"No, Apollo." Starbuck did not smile. "You are an angel."

Starbuck kissed Apollo's lips so softly. Then he turned and walked out of the living room.

Apollo had a strange feeling. His eyes followed Starbuck. "Don't get stuck in the turboflush!" Apollo shouted with a grinning voice.

Starbuck never answered.

* * *

Chapter 12

Boomer yawned as he entered the yellow kitchen. Calbâ was already there, making something that looked misleadingly like coffee but smelled something like strong vinegar. At that very micron Boomer decided he would definately start his day without a cup of that felgercarb.

Calbâ turned. "Well, hello there." He smiled. "Did you sleep well, my friend?"

Boomer scrached his head and looked around in the kitchen. "Are the others still sleeping? What's the time anyway?"

Calbâ picked up the kettle from the hotplate and placed it on the table, on a violet potholder. "It's two centars after subterranean sunrise." Calbâ smiled at Boomer. "I haven't seen your blond friend yet, but the other one is taking a turbowash down in the basement."

Boomer stopped scratching. "What? You have a basement?"

"Sure." Calba smiled. "But believe me, there's nothing to see except the tiny turbowashroom and a steamroom which us probabilitians call sauinâs."

The man kept humming as he was buttering a piece of bread with a touch of yellow, cheese-like grease. Then he took a sip of the brown, coffee-like liquid and glanced at Boomer. "You want a cup of guskâ?"

Boomer eyed the brown stuff Calbâ was pouring into a yellow cup. "Err… some other time perhaps." For heavens it smelled terrible.

Calbâ glanced at the doorway. "Oh, there's your friend now."

Boomer turned. Apollo was entering the kitchen, wearing one of Calbâ's velvet robes and drying his wet hair with a towel. "Oh, good morning Boomer. It's about time you woke up…"

Calbâ lifted the kettle and nodded to Apollo. "You want some of this?"

"Sure." Apollo was still drying his hair. "Why not."

Boomer rolled his eyes. "Oh well, it's your life buddy…"

Apollo wasn't listening. "What is it by the way?"

Calbâ was already pouring some of that brown stuff into Apollo's cup. "It's guskâ." The man didn't take his eyes off the pot as he poured. "It consists of the black seeds of vignâ. We grow them above the oceans at daytime."

"You what?" Apollo looked at Calbâ. "Hey wait a minute. Isn't that stuff poisonous? I mean, if it's exposed to that gas… whatever felgercarb it's name was…"

Boomer raised one eyebrow and grinned. "You're right. The stuff sure does smell like it's exposed to felgercarb…"

Apollo gave Boomer a glare.

Calbâ laughed. He took a chair and sat down at the table, still eyeing his guests amused. "No wonder you guys have survived all kinds of holocausts…" Calbâ kept still smiling as he leaned forward to take two pieces of red sweeteners from a glass container. He tossed them into his cup of guskâ and swirled the liquid with a spoon. "…You guys definately do not lack in brain cells."

Apollo gave Calbâ a grin.

"Actually, this stuff is safe to drink, trust me." Calbâ's dark, friendly eyes were on his guests. "The seeds are stored in heat tanks for seven and a half sectars before they are being processed. The temperature inside those tanks never drops below 160 cekrans." Calba gestured to the others to come and sit down at the table. "And, as you probably remember, syflos gas is ineffective above 25 cekrans." Calbâ took another sip from his cup and grinned. "And as you can see, I'm still alive and well."

Apollo smiled and took as chair. "Okay, let's taste it then.

Boomer grimaced.

"Hey, where's Starbuck?" Apollo looked at the others. "Boomer, you better go and kick his butt if he's still sleeping. We have to be on our way in half a centar."

Boomer grinned. "My pleasure."

He left the kitchen and headed to the red room. Starbuck sure wasn't in the living room, and Boomer didn't think he'd find his blond warrior buddy in Calbâ's bedroom either. So the red room was the only option. Hmm, perhaps this might even turn out to be his lucky day and Boomer would surprise Starbuck in all his glory… Boomer grinned …Naked.

* * *

"This way…" A red-haired processing technician glanced at Lomas. "Have you been on the Piscean before?"

"No, I haven't." Lomas was smiling at the man oh so pleasantly. "But I'm sure this will be a very comfortable place to stay in. The Piscean looks like such a friendly ship…"

The pro tech didn't notice the sarcasm. "Your quarters are on the hydra deck, in alpha section." The techinician gave Lomas a conspirator's smile and winked. "You are a very lucky man, if I may say so…"

Lomas couldn't believe the pro tech was actually serious. "Is that right?…"

The technician grinned. "Oh yeah! The quarters on the alpha section have private turbowashrooms and there's a parbon juice vending machine at the end of every corridor."

"Well, isn't that just great." Lomas raised one eyebrow.

"Sure is!" The techinician gave a thumbs-up sign. "You couldn't believe what kind of quarters the silicon section on the naval deck provides. By heavens, in the worst case there can be about seven to twelve men crammed in one 24 square metron sized room." The technician rolled his eyes. "Can you believe it! It must be worse than the conditions on the livestock ship for sagan's sake… Want a fumarello?" The pro tech took fumarellos out of his pocket and offered one to his companion.

Lomas smiled and shook his head.

"Do you mind if I smoke? The man was looking at Lomas as he was trying to get the silvery lighter to co-operate. "You know, we are not usually allowed to smoke here on the Piscean. " The pro tech grinned. "What was I saying… Oh yeah. Can you believe it. The naval deck is usually the place where the supreme command of the Piscean usually decides to place all the newcomers." The technician shook his head. "If you ask me that's just total felgercarb that is…Oh, here we are now!" The man stopped and gave Lomas a key. "Make yourself comfortable."

Lomas took the key from the pro tech's hand. "Would you mind telling…"

"Home sweet home!" The technician grinned.

Lomas's eyes were on the red haired guy. Very sarcastic eyes.

"Well, I'll see you in the assembly hall when it's time for the eighth centar of prayer." The technician friendly patted Lomas on the shoulder. "The assembly hall is right opposite the command bridge. You can't miss it! Oh, and if you need something…" The pro tech winked. "Don't hesitate to contact me."

Lomas smiled. "You can count on that…"

"Well, I see you later then." The technician grinned. "Don't forget to wear the cape of penance to the centar of prayer. The cape is placed on your bunk."

"Great." Lomas was still smiling.

It was a pleasure meeting you. Welcome aboard!" The technician patted Lomas' shoulder one more time and then turned and walked down the hall.

Lomas watched the man going until he had turned and disappeared around a corner. By heavens what a nuisance!

Lomas turned and inserted the key into the keyhole of the door. Okay. So, this was unavoidable. Lomas would have to stay here on this sagan forsaken ship as long as it was necessary. For a little while he would have to play an enticing game of masquerade. Pretend to be one of these pisceanian idiots.

Yes, he would have to control his every manouvre very carefully. So carefully that no one would notice his world of dark rivers and power. No one! Oh, but it was a piece of primaries, Lomas almost had to laugh out loud. He could play the game so well. Much too well. Lomas opened the door, stepped inside the dusty room and turned on the lights. What a depressing dump! Yeah, I'm such a lucky man indeed, Lomas sneered. He put the army bag down on the floor and remained standing there by the doorway for centons, eyeing the room, thinking.

Cree had been such a disappointment. What a terrible shame. In the end, the angel face had turned out to be just like all the others. Weak and meaningless.

Lomas' beautiful face was almost sad.

How could he have miscalculated Cree so wrong. The boy had shown so much potential… Lomas sighed. Oh well, now that Cree wasn't going to be much use to him any more, he would have to do all the dirty work himself. But at least this time the dirty work would certainly be taken care of. Lomas grinned.

Then his grin freezed as his mind lingered to his brother. It was beginning to look like Starbuck had been a terrible miscalculation. How could Lomas possibly have been so wrong about something so inevitable…

Oh well. Perhaps it really was time to admit and adjust to a possibility that he might have been mistaken about the power in that man. The power of rage. Perhaps the rivers in his beloved brother's mind were not yet dark enough. But Lomas had been so sure…

Why for frack's sake hadn't he heard from Starbuck! Now there was no more time to wait.

Lomas noticed the grey cape of penance on the bunk. For sagan's sake these people were insane. Staying on the Piscean was definately not going to be easy. It was going to be a challenge. Lomas smiled. He loved challenges.

* * *

Apollo grimaced and put the cup down.

Calbâ eyed the man amused. "What? You don't like the stuff?"

Apollo shuddered. "No offence buddy, but… don't you have something a little less… bitter?"

Calba grinned. "Funny! I've never noticed any bitterness…"

Boomer stepped into the kitchen. Apollo lifted his eyes. "Well?"

"No trace of Starbuck!" Boomer wasn't smiling.

Apollo laughed. "Cut the felgercarb Boomer! What did that lazy old daggit bribe you with? You better go back and tell Starbuck to get his pretty butt ready for the sun cities before I get my hands on him…"

"I'm not joking Apollo." Boomer's tone was serious. "I can't find him anywhere."

Apollo couldn't believe what he was hearing. "When was the last time doctor Salik checked your eyesight buddy. No one can just disappear in an apartment as small as this." Apollo grinned. "Did you look under the bunk…"

Calbâ smiled. "And while you're at it, you better go and check the basement. That is where I keep all my docarello, and what I noticed last night, your friend kinda liked the stuff…"

"Oh lords…" Apollo suddenly gasped.

"What?" Boomer and Calbâ looked at Apollo, startled.

Apollo eyed the others, horrified. "Oh sagan! I should have suspected this…"

"What?" Boomer was impatient now. "WHAT?"

Apollo's voice was forlorn. "Starbuck's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Boomer raised one eyebrow. "Don't tell me that boray flew back to the Galactica and left all the felgercarb to us…"

"No Boomer." Apollo's eyes lingered to the entrance of the little balcony. "The idiot obviously decided to pay a little visit to the forbidden city."

Calbâ shuddered. Boomer was looking at Apollo with disbelief.

"What the frack are you talking about. Starbuck might be a crazy hothead once in awhile but he's definately not suicidal!"

Apollo's sad eyes were on Boomer and Calbâ. "Please don't ask me why, because I do not know…" Apollo spoke with such a quiet, choked voice. "…But this time, he is."

* * *

The hollow sound of the gates closing echoed in the darkness. Starbuck hesitated for a centon. He turned to take a look at the huge, metallic gateway. There was no turning back now. It was obvious that the gate could not be opened from this side. Starbuck was a prisoner of the forbidden city.

"Okay buddy!" Starbuck mumbled. "you made your choice. Now stop being such a pansy."

Starbuck didn't allow himself to think about Apollo at all. That would be much too painful. Starbuck knew he would never see his friend and lover again. Starbuck had made a choice and now he had to live with it. Or die because of it. But Starbuck couldn't stop wondering if Apollo had somehow sensed he had been saying goodbye to him, that moment in the living room. At least he must have noticed the sadness in Starbuck's'eyes.

Starbuck felt a horrible sting in his heart. What if Apollo…

No, no, no! One day Apollo would understand that Starbuck had left because there was no other way. Starbuck knew so well that if he had given in to his heart and stayed, his terrible past would one day have come to hurt Apollo much too badly. Yes, hurt Apollo. And everyone else who mattered to Starbuck. He had to leave.

Starbuck closed his eyes. Please sagan, please let Apollo understand that I did it because I love him more than I could ever love myself, or even life. Please don't let Apollo hate me for this…

All right! Get moving before you need a wheelchair to do so. Starbuck sighed. You have no time or strength for all these memories pal, so the sooner you get them out of your head the better. Besides, you need to find some living beings. Yeah, you need to find the black queen…

Starbuck opened his eyes and looked around. There wasn't much he could see in the humid darkness. He was standing on a narrow street. The wet surface of black asphalt was glimmering in the glow of few faint street lamps. Tall, grey buildings rose towards the invisible ceiling of the cavern. Apparently abandoned buildings. There was no light whatsoever shining from any of the windows. Besides, those buildings seemed to be just about to collapse. A black cat appeared from nowhere and ran accross the street, startling Starbuck. There was a quiet sound of water running somewhere nearby. It must have come from an underground sewer system of some kind. Two huge rats were about four metrons away from Starbuck, apparently feasting on some dead animal's corpse. The hum of oceans waves above seemed somehow louder here in the forbidden city, than what they had back in Camileon. And the whisper of the currents was somehow eerier, colder. Starbuck didn't like it one bit. What a paradise, Starbuck rolled his eyes. The place looked just like those depressing slums in the east side of Caprica city. Oh well, you didn't come here for a holiday…

Starbuck started walking down the deserted, wet street. Walking towards the unknown.

* * *

Athena couldn't sleep. She was much too excited.

Aurora had left a while ago. Jeeez, Athena had had no idea that Aurora could be so intresting a character. They had talked and talked, mostly about the incredible high of an adrenaline rush. The time had just flown by.

Sure, they had swallowed a couple of those stolen pills, but that wasn't the cause for their excitement, or the reason why Athena's eyes were now gleaming passionately in the darkness of her quarters.

Aurora had promised to meet Athena tomorrow, just before sleep cycle.

Athena smiled. Boy she could hardly wait. They were going to carry out a new plan. Experience something more dangerous than the fear of getting caught while trespassing.

Athena felt like she had only found her real self tonight. Looked in the mirror and for once seen totally clearly. She felt like she had just woken up from a stuffy nightmare to greet a new morning that held the unexpected.

This was the beginning.

* * *

Chapter 13

Lomas was looking at his reflection in the mirror. By lords he looked stupid in that cape. The person who had designed it was hopefully thrown on the prison barge. Or even better, shoved out of the felgercarbing airlock… Lomas leaned closer to the mirror to take a better look. Jeeez. there was a hood too. Lomas grimaced. The monstrous hood was definately the most horrifying part of this masterpiece from hell.

The arm still hurt a little. Lomas had cleaned the wound ten centons ago and put a bandage over it. This time he had made a little mistake by cutting himself a little too deep and it had been a bit hard to control the flow of blood because the wound had been too close to the wrist… Oh, but he had succeeded, Lomas grinned. He would always succeed.

Lomas glanced at the timepiece. It was almost time to leave for the idiotic centar of prayer. Lomas took one more look at himself in the mirror, but this time he didn't look at the ugly cape. He stared into his own pale eyes.

So, it was now time to proceed. Lomas felt a shiver of excitement thinking about it. He had been refining the plan over and over again. He knew it was faultless. After the centar of prayer, Lomas would have to slip out of the assembly hall, very unnoticeably, and head down to the shuttle launching bays. He had checked the timetables earlier. There would be a shuttle due to the Galactica about fifteen centons after the mass meeting of the imbecils had ended. Lomas knew he could make it to the launching bay in fifteen centons. No problem. Oh, unless some idiot decided to start talking felgercarb to him after the mass.

He would take the stupid cape off on the way to the launching bay and shove it somewhere, probably in the recycle bins near the elevators. What luck that the idiotic cape was large enough so Lomas could unnoticeably wear his uniform under it. What a shame the sagittarian doctors and the guards had taken his laser gun. Oh well, he knew he could take care of the man in the control center anyway. He didn't need a weapon. Not this time. Not yet.

Okay, it was time to begin. Lomas picked up the key from the table in front of the mirror and headed towards the door. He turned to take one final look at the depressing little room and smiled. He would never return.

Lomas opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. A group of three or four civilian pisceanians passed Lomas, all of them wearing the idiotic cape. One of those pisceanians, a young girl, smiled at Lomas. Such a warm and friendly smile. Lomas smiled back. Fools.

* * *

"I don't understand!" Boomer couldn't take his eyes off Apollo. "Has something happened to Starbuck? Something that made him leave?"

Apollo slowly nodded. "Yes Boomer. Something happened. Just before we left the Galactica…"

"What?" Boomer asked eyes wide. "I haven't noticed anything different in Starbuck's behaviour here on Probability… I think."

Apollo looked away.

"For sagan's sake, Apollo. What happened?" Boomer wanted to shake his friend. "Stop giving me an ulcer. Spit it out!"

Apollo still didn't look at Boomer. "I have no idea. Starbuck refused to tell me."

"That's felgercarb!" Boomer mumbled. "You guys share everything…"

"Not this time." Apollo shrugged. "Starbuck never said a word…"

"You must have known something!" Boomer walked to Apollo. "You were the one to claim that Starbuck is suicidal, for heaven's sake. You must have seen something…sensed something…"

Apollo lifted his sad eyes and looked at his dark friend. "All I know is that just before we left the Galactica, Cree, your little friend, wanted to speak to Starbuck in private…"

Boomer shuddered. "Cree??"

"Yes, Cree" Apollo repeated. "And when Starbuck returned he was…" Apollo eyes lingered away from Boomer to look into that moment of Starbuck's despair. "I had never before seen him like that, Boomer.Never." Apollo's voice was sad. "Whatever Cree told him, it must have been pretty bad…"

Boomer eyed Apollo, shocked. "Cree has nothing to do with Starbuck…"

Apollo lifted his eyes and looked at the other man. "What do you really know about Cree, Boomer…"

Boomer felt a sting in his heart. "Well, I… Cree is…" The dark man fell quiet. What did he know about the boy. Nothing.

There was a moment's silence before Apollo spoke again. "Okay. Are we going to just stand here and speculate for the rest of our sagan forsaken lives…" Apollo's voice had changed from forlorn to determined. "…Or are we going to do something about this!"

Do what?" Boomer raised his eyebrow. "What in the names of the lords can we do?"

Apollo eyed Boomer. "Well, what do you think!" He grinned. "We are going to get our butts to the forbidden city and and bring our idiot friend back."

* * *

There must have been at least ten thousand Pisceanians inside the assembly hall. All of them were dressed in that stupid grey cape. Most of the people were even wearing the sagan forsaken hood and looked like a group of oversized dwarves just escaped from some children's fairytale. The sermon master was a bumptios, little man with a big moustache and stupid prick-ears. The master was wearing a red cape that was much too big for him and his whiny voice hardly carried to the back of the hall.

Lomas kept eyeing the people. He couldn't understand how they had all changed the very micron the little preacher man had entered the assembly hall. First everyone had looked like normal, meaningless human beings. And then, suddenly, when the little man had pattered in, the audience had started reminding a herd of fracking lambkins. And even now those people were listening to the pompous little nuisance preaching like he was a sagan or something alike. Lomas shook his head.

When Lomas had arrived to the assembly hall earlier, the irritating red-haired pro tech had immediately noticed him and rushed towards Lomas with a wide grin on his face, waving his hand and shouting from the other side of the hall. "Well, hello there…"

Lomas had smiled politely, scared to death that the pro tech would decide to give him a hug.

And he almost had. Well, at least he sure would have, if Lomas hadn't stepped a little backwards just in time to avoid it, and extended his hand for a friendly handshake.

The technician grasped Lomas' hand with both fists and kept on shaking it until Lomas was sure his hand was going to drop off. "Well, when are you going to tell me that I was right about your room, eh?"

Lomas eyed the technician pleasantly. "The room is very comfortable, thank you."

The technician laughed like a horse. "Comfortable. Yeah right! It's one of the best guest quarters on the whole fracking ship!"

A dark woman appeared beside the pro tech, smiling.

"Hi honey." The technician winked his eye at the woman. Then he turned to smile at Lomas again. "Meet my little lady." The pro tech grinned. "Quite a package, eh?"

The woman said hello. She seemed a frack of a lot more sensible than the technician.

"We've been sealed for seven sectars now." The man winked. "I'm a lucky fellow aren't I…"

Lomas smiled politely. "She is very pretty…"

The woman blushed a little. "Ed, shouldn't we be getting back to the front row..."

"Oh dear! Oh dear!" The technician gasped. He grasped a hold of Lomas by the arm. "Oh dear!! You've hurt youself!! Oh boy!!"

A little stream of blood was curling down Lomas' hand. Lomas frowned. The wound had opened. Obviously the bandage hadn't been strong enough. Great! Lomas hoped to sagans that the bleeding would stop before someone would get suspicious.

The technician was babbling like a madman. "Oh boy! Oh boy! This is bad! Oh dear. I don't think the doctor has time to fix you up right at this centon, buddy. After all, It is the centar of prayer…" Then the pro tech had eyed Lomas curiously. "Where did you hurt yourself anyway?"

"It's nothing." Lomas pulled his hand away. "I cut myself while shaving."

The dark woman stared at Lomas. "You shave your arms, huh?"

Lomas looked at her. "What?"

"You just said you cut yourself while shaving…"

"Excuse me, I think I just saw someone…"

Quickly Lomas walked away, leaving the technician and his little lady staring after him, stunned. Soon he had vanished into the crowd. There he had kept wondering amongst the Piscenians, observing them, until the sermon master had arrived and the ceremony had began.

And what an experience it had been so far. For heaven's sake. Some of the people there had seemed to go into a trance after the seventh prayer. The oblation had consisted of a piece of a badly manufactured K-biscuit and a sip of water, and the whole occasion had seemed to last forever, since almost every one of those ten thousand piscenian idiots had wanted to line up and have a taste of the the holy stuff. Oh, and the sermon master sure had looked like a cod on dry land as he had raised his bulging eyes towards the ceiling of the assembly hall and bumptiously spouted out the last pleadings of forgiveness to all the sagans.

What a relief this ordeal was going to be over in a few centons. Lomas kept constantly eyeing his timepiece.

* * *

Starbuck's feet were aching. He must have kept on walking along that narrow road forever. But nothing had changed. The buildings still looked exactly the same, abandoned, slummed. The darkness was still exactly as impenetrable and uncomfortably humid and Starbuck still had not seen one living being, apart from those two rats earlier and a couple of cats. The sound of water running was constantly there, making the man crazy. The place had remained exactly the same. Starbuck started to feel like he hadn't moved at all. Like he had been walking and walking for centars but remained in the exact same one spot, like in a nightmare.

Starbuck stopped to think for a centon. What if he really hadn't moved. Frack! No wonder no one ever came to the forbidden city. Travelling without moving wasn't exactly fun.

Starbuck heard a little sound. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the direction where the sound seemed to come from. There were two rats. Feasting on a dead animal's corpse… A black cat appeared from nowhere and ran across the street…

For sagan's sake. He actually was in a nightmare. He really hadn't moved at all.

***

Lomas was moving closer to the exit of the assembly hall. So far no one had payed any attention to him. People were gathering into their own little groups to share opinions about the eighth centar of prayer and the sermon master's glory and miraculousness. Oh yeah, and thank the lords the the pro tech wasn't anywhere to be seen.

The exit door of the assembly hall was near now. All Lomas would have to do is to sneak out and start walking down the corridor as quickly as possibly without looking suspicious. No time to waste now. Frack, he had already lost at least two or three centons because of some high and mighty piscenian officer wanting to welcome him on board the Piscean.

"It's always so nice to see new desciples." The officer had smiled. "If you want to ask something, don't hesitate to contact me." The officer had winked. "By the way, you can call me Al."

Lomas had smiled. By heavens, the corners of his mouth were starting to stiffen from all the pretentious smiling. "Nice to meet you Al. Now excuse me, I need to find a friend…"

Lomas was almost in the doorway now. He was carefully eyeing the people that were standing nearest to him. No one was looking. Perfect. It was time…

"I don't think I have seen you hear before."

For sagan's sake! Not another one of those idiots! Lomas turned, annoyed as frack.

A man had appeared there, beside Lomas. "You must be one of the newcomers." The man's smile was friendly and his eyes sparkled. "I would definately have noticed someone as pretty as you…" The man grinned and started taking off his cape. "Phew, it gets hot in this gown…"

For heaven's sake the man was unnaturally beautiful, Lomas could hardly breathe. He could swear he had never, not once in the whole history of his excistence seen anything so overwhelmingly capturing.

The man was looking at Lomas with his pure-coloured green eyes. A crown of curly blond hair was framing a face of an angel, falling down on the shoulders.

Lomas swallowed. This was the true face of an angel. No, not just a pretty thing to look at, like so many others. This face was created in heavens. Risen from the silvery sparkles of stars and moonbeams. Born from the blinding rays of a thousand suns. This man must have been sent to the world of mere human beings by the sagans.

Lomas couldn't speak. He couldn't take his eyes off from the man. He just couldn't move.

"This was your first experience, wasn't it…" The man's smile burned Lomas' heart like fire. "But believe me, you will get used to it in time."

Oh lords, those eyes. They were like green diamonds. Lomas knew he just had to say something. Anything. "Wgtsgfg…" The man smiled so breathtakingly. Lomas wanted to remain in this time and place eternally, just watching the man smiling.

"Well, I notice that you are in a hurry to get somewhere, so I won't be holding you back any longer." The man casually ran his fingers through his long, blonde hair. "But I do hope we will bump into each other again." He smiled. "I'll be very much looking forward to that."

NO! DON'T GO! Lomas screamed from the bottom of his lungs. The scream was silent.

The man's green eyes lingered on Lomas a little while longer. Then he turned and walked away. The stars dimmed and the world grew dark and meaningless.

* * *

Aurora turned and grinned as she saw Athena approaching her.

"Good, you're wearing black." She whispered as Athena gave her a little kiss on both cheeks. "We can hide better in the darkness now."

Athena smiled. Her heart was beating with excitement. "Shall we go over our plan again…"

Aurora shook her head. "No need to." She ran her fingers through her thick, brown hair. "This is going to be a piece of primaries. And after this gig…" Aurora smiled. "We don't have to do another one for a while. We'll have enough pills to last at least two sectons."

Athena didn't like what she was hearing. "What do you mean we don't have to do another gig? I thought we were doing this for the rush of excitement. Not because of some drugs…"

Aurora glanced at Athena. "I'm sorry girl." She smiled. "Looks like I have underestimated you."

Athena was looking at Aurora. "How?"

Aurora grinned. "Well, considering your former drug addiction, I took for granted that that was what you wanted now too. Drugs."

"Felgercarb!" Athena snorted. "Who gives a frack about drugs. They are just a nice little reward. In fact…" Athena's eyes were shining. "There's something a frack of a lot better to do tonight than sneak into the life center."

Aurora eyed the girl curiously. "Something better?"

Athena was grinning. "Oh yeah…"

"Would you mind sharing then…" Aurora felt a tingle of excitement now. Oh, had she definately miscalculated the girl. In the end, Athena wasn't just the commander's pretty little daugher who merely happened to have an infatuation with drugs. This girl was a frack of a lot more.

Athena's eyes were beaming. "Follow me…"

* * *

The shuttle had left the Piscean exactly eight centons and sixteen microns ago. Lomas knew that because some wiseguy at the back of the shuttle kept informing his idiot friends of the exact micronage of the flight. Lomas was shivering. By heavens he was freezing. And he was on fire. Burning like the solium tanks, ready to explode any micron. Cold sweat was glimmering on Lomas' forehead, and it wasn't caused by the discomfort of trespassing to the Galactica. This was something that Lomas couldn't understand. How could it be possible that the whole meaning of his existence had changed in mere microns. Oh lords, he was in such terrible pain. He flet so undescribably forlorn and lonely. Who in the names of sagans was that blond, beautiful angel? Lomas had to see that man again or he would die.

Lomas had made it to the Piscean lauching bay just on time as the passengers were boarding the shuttle to the Galactica. Then Lomas had suddenly realized there were two guards by the entrance of the shuttle, checking the passengers' identity codes. Lomas had shuddered. Oh frack! He had totally forgotten that everyone who wanted to go aboard the Galactica would be carefully checked. Well, he couldn't turn back now. He had to take this chance.

Lomas' heart was pounding like mad as he was approaching the entrance of the shuttle.

One of the guards looked up. "Hey there! you better hurry up! The shuttle is due for take off in a couple of centons!"

Lomas kept his wary eyes on the officers. By heavens he was now too distracted by the beautiful blond man. His mind wasn't co-operating. Lomas had no idea how to get past the guards.

"Well, come on! Get inside. We have to close this door now." The guard's voice was impatient.

Lomas oh so casually walked to the door.

"Get inside. We don't have all day!" The sandy haired officer wasn't even looking at Lomas now. He was checking his timepiece and talking to his partner.

Lomas was overwhelmed. Could this be possible.

Without looking at them, Lomas walked past the officers. Nothing happened. Nobody grabbed his arm or told him to prove his identity. The guards didn't even seem to notice him as he walked past. They were chatting with each other, totally oblivious to their normal duty.

Lomas almost fainted from relief. Such luck that he had arrived this late. Thank you sagan.

The dark one of the guards casually glanced up as Lomas walked past. Damn, there was something familiar in that man…

The guard kept his eyes on the guy. He could swear he had seen that pretty man somewhere before. He never forgot a face…

"Hey Willie!" The dark guard poked his partner with his elbow. "Shouldn't we have checked the code of every passenger?"

The sandy haired officer looked up. "Hey, my duty cycle is now finished, buddy. If you wanna go in there and check the last man's identity code, be my guest. I'm off to the Tauranian to get a well-deserved cup of ambrosa!"

The dark haired guard eyed the shuttle doorway for a centon. Maybe he should go and check the guy out. He had definately seen that man somewhere before… But then again, the fleet wasn't that large of a community. He had probably seen that bloke on the Rising Star. That was the place where they all gathered at some point…

The dark officer grinned. "Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't be likely that someone would have the nerve to trespass into the Galactica. Let's get out of this place."

The sandy haired guard smiled at his partner. "Okay, Preeb. Time to lock the doors."

* * *

Cassiopeia felt so sick. Oh sagan, she couldn't move. She couldn't possibly eat another bite yet her body was still screaming for more food. Although Cassie was now full as an elephant and she had to lie completely still so she wouldn't throw up, she felt completely empty and unfulfilled. She hated herself for being so fracking weak. She wanted to destroy herself for surrendering to the destruction of herself. If she could have, Cassiopeia would have laughed now. By lords, it sounded like utter felgercarb. But it was the truth.

Cassiopeia had gained at least 10 kilos in mere days. Her stupid fake breasts were even heavier now, hanging like two sacks full of felgercarb. All her clothes were now too tight and she looked like a boray in them. That's why she didn't want to leave her quarters much any more. She just wanted to stay hidden from the eyes of the world. And all this only because she was such despicably weak and destroyed. Cassiopeia closed her eyes now. The only thing she wanted to do was to sleep. Please let me sleep, she whispered.

* * *

The loudspeaker announced that the shuttle was due to land on the Galactica in five centons. Lomas couldn't stop seeing the face of the strange blonde man in his eyes. Everywhere he looked, there was a mirage of the face of an angel, burning Lomas with those green eyes. Everywhere. Amongst the stars in space. Shining so much brighter than all the faraway comets. Between the other passengers, smiling at Lomas. Breathtakingly. Heartbreakingly. Next to Lomas. Watching him in silence. Almost touching his face.

 

Lomas couldn't remember the details of his plan. Frack, he didn't even give a felgercarb about the co-ordinates now. The blond man's green eyes were next to him. Caressing him. Hurting him.

* * *

This was the first time Cree had had the courage, or the stupidity to cut his face. Three slashes on his left cheek hadn't yet stopped bleading but Cree didn't give a frack. He was lying on the floor, face down, numb to the pain. Oblivious to ouside world. Cree had lost his mentor, nothing else mattered now. "Beautiful Lomas." The boy whispered. He opened his hand and the knife rolled to the floor.

* * *

Lomas eyed the co-ordinator for a centon before starting to walk towards him.

The boy was reading data from the screen of sector eight alpha equalizer when he heard a little noise and lifted his eyes.

"Hey, who are you?" The boy's voice was surprised. "What are you doing here. I'm not supposed to…"

Lomas smiled.

The boy stared at the beautiful man who had amazingly blue eyes. Waterpond eyes.

"Are you alone here?" Lomas spoke so softly.

"Why?" The boy asked the man, suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

Lomas walked to the boy. He didn't turn his gaze away from those surprised brown eyes.

The boy swallowed. "Err… My boss will…"

"… be back in thirty centons." Lomas was still smiling. "Am I not right?"

"Well, err… How?…" The boy was stuttering. This guy was weird. Just like those dekar dealers on the Prison Barge. The boy sure knew what they were like. He had bumped into them many many times as he had been there to visit his friend.

This guy was frightening too just like those dealers.

Still, the boy couldn't turn his eyes away.

The man was fascinating as frack.

Lomas was now standing in front of the boy. He didn't speak. For centons he just kept staring into the brown eyes without saying a word. Then he raised his hand and gently touched the boy's lips. Lomas was so amused to notice that the lips were trembling. The effect he always had on these idiots… Lomas smiled. Oh dear, they were just so weak.

Lomas let his fingers linger for a long time. Feeling the softness and the vulnerability of those young lips. The boy was sort of pretty. Not in a very cultivated way, but pretty. Lomas almost wanted to kiss those lips. Almost. He smiled. "Do you want to touch me?"

The boy was afraid to speak. He nodded. His mouth was dry.

Lomas took the boy's hand and placed it on his face. For sagan's sake, the boy was stiff like a wooden doll. Lomas kept a hold of the boys hand and softly started caressing his own face with it, not taking his eyes off the lad. "Do you want to kiss me?"

"Yes." The boy croaked. "Please…"

Lomas let go of the boy's hand and took a hold of his narrow waist, caressing the hips softly. The boy could hardly breath. "Then why don't you?" The look in Lomas' eyes was intrigued. His smile was almost unbearable to look at. It wasn't at all beautiful now. The smile had turned somewhat vaguely distorted.

It looked like the smile of a demon.

The boy shuddered.

Oh, but it was the smile of a man he wanted passionately to make love to.

The boy leaned forward, his lips lingering closer to Lomas'

Lomas' eyes remained open. The look in them was slowly changing.

The boy didn't notice it because his eyes were now closed.

His lips yearning to touch the other man's…

Lomas was looking at the boy's face, so close now. Such a naive face. An uninteresting face. Pretty, yes. But so uninteresting. Lomas was waiting for the rivers to break free.

 

* * *

"Hey, look what I bought!" Adama stepped into the quarters with a wide grin on his face. He closed the door behind him.

Tigh's head peeked from the turbowashroom. He had been washing his teeth. The toothbrush was still in his mouth. "What?"

"Ta da!" Adama pulled a black string bikini-set out of the paper bag. He grinned. "Like them?"

"Sure! They are great!" Tigh grinned with the toothbrush hanging from his mouth. "But wait until I show you what I bought earlier…"

"Show me now!" Adama didn't want to wait. "Come on, let's see it."

Tigh took the toothbrush out of his mouth. He didn't say anything, just walked to the bed and bent down. Adama watched his husband pulling something out from under the bed…

"Okay, my man. What do you think about this!!" Tigh's face was beaming. In his hands he was holding a packet of women's menstrual sanitary towels. Tigh winked. "I bet you can't wait to try on one of these…"

* * *

Sheba was very concerned about her blonde friend.

Quietly she opened the bedroom door and glanced inside.

Cassiopeia was lying on the bed. She seemed to be asleep.

For sagan's sake it was the middle of the day! The curtains were closed and the ventilation hadn't removed the stuffy scent in the room at all. Cassie never seemed to come out of the room these days. Sheba couldn't even remember when was the last time Cassie had really smiled.

Sheba sighed. She closed the door softly. Something was wrong, that was obvious, but Sheba didn't really understand what.

Cassie wasn't speaking to her much. By lords, nowadays Cassie seemed to be always in a foul mood. So easily irritable.

Sheba wanted to help her friend. To talk to her.

But Cassie didn't let anyone close.

* * *

Lomas wasn't kissing the co-ordinator boy at all.

The blonde angel was in his arms, surrendering to him. Taking him over.

Lomas was being devoured by flames of agony and desire. He kept kissing the lips so hard that the boy sqeeked. A mild taste of blood lingered in Lomas' mouth. Oh sagan, Lomas wanted to be inside the angel's heart and soul. He couldn't get close enough. He couldn't get… inside enough! The man was in Lomas' arms but too far away. So far away that it made the desire painful. Lomas was so tenderly, so passionately stroking that blonde, curly, soft hair. His lips found the eyelids of the green jewels that looked like eyes. Lomas' mouth and tongue kept caressing the face of an angel, for a long long time, until… Until he couldn't hold back any longer. Lomas' burning lips found the eagerly responding lips of the beautiful angel and pressed against them so hard. His hands were squeezing the man tighter and tighter against his body.

The boy hoped to sagan that no one would enter the control center now. By lords how the man turned him on. There was no way he could stop now. The boy's throbbing, hard penis pressed against the other man's thigh, yearning for release from the tight uniform trousers. "Please let me make love to you…" The boy wispered with a choked voice. "Please…"

Lomas opened his eyes. For a centon he stared at the ugly little creature in his arms. He couldn't understand. Where was the beautiful angel? What was this meaningless young lad doing here? Taking advantage of Lomas' desire for a much higher, delicate being. Kissing Lomas' neck with a wet, repulsive mouth that felt nothing like the soft lips of the blond man.

The boy lifted his glazed eyes. He noticed that Lomas was staring at him. There was such a strange look in those waterpond eyes. Such a strange look indeed. But of course the boy naturally supposed it was the look of passion and pleasure. Oh, how could he have known that the rivers inside the man's dark mind were being set free. How could the boy have possibly understood that those big beautiful eyes were now the eyes of a monster. "I want you so much…" The boy sighed. He didn't even feel the first strike. The boy fell to the floor.

Lomas' hard fists kept hitting him again and again, even after a pool of dark blood burst out from the boy's nose.

* * *

Chapter 14

The co-ordinator boy was lying on the floor, in the middle of a pool of blood.

Lomas indifferently glanced at the boy as he was waiting for the data to appear on the screen of the central computer. By heavens this piece of felgercarb was slow. Lomas had already waited for at least five centons for the co-ordinates of the cylon basehip 7. "Come on, come on" Lomas kept mumbling, once in awhile eyeing towards the entrance of the control center. Lomas sure didn't want to be surprised by one of… them. Oh well, he still had about ten centons before the captain of the control center, the lad's boss would return.

Lomas glanced at the boy again. He seemed to be still unconscious. Lomas didn't like the boy's face. Such a boring face.

Something flashed onto the computer screen. Lomas turned his eyes away from the boy to look at the data appearing.

"The base ship 7 could not be located. Target outside long scanner range."

Frack! Lomas mind was working overtime. Okay, he couldn't get the co-ordinates of the location of his father, but he could definately find the base ship that was closest to the colonial fleet and get information on Baltar's whereabouts from there. More data appeared onto the screen. Lomas eyed it.

"Target found"

Lomas waited impatiently. Five centons left before the captain would return. Come on you piece of felgercarb!!

"27 hectares west, 88 degrees beta circle, 164 alpha angle."

Lomas breathed harder. He typed more question data and inserted it into the computer.

"The identity code of the target?"

The computer screen flashed blank. Frack! Lomas typed again.

"The identity code of the target?"

"Cylon base ship 7"

Lomas almost screamed. The scanner had found the co-ordinates of Baltar's command ship after all.

Lomas deleated the text from the computer screen. He had two centons to get out of that place. The boy still hadn't moved. Lomas raised one eyebrow. Hopefully the boy wasn't dead. He hadn't wanted to kill the boy. Of course not. He wasn't a killer. He was just too powerful so the weak sometimes didn't survive.

Footsteps.

Frack. Lomas turned off the computer and rushed towards the exit of the control center. Carefully he took a look at the still empty corridor outside. He could hear the footsteps approaching. Lomas quickly sneaked out of the control center and prayed to sagan that he had chosen the right direction as he started running down the corridor to the left.

The footsteps were closer.

Lomas reached the elevators. He pressed the red button. Come on!!! For sagan's sake, the elevator seemed to take forever. Lomas turned to look at the corridor behind him. Thank the lords it was still deserted. Lomas could hear two people talking now. Lomas kept pressing the button. Why was this taking so long. Frack! Someone must have been using the elevator right at this centon.

Lomas turned to take a look back. He saw two men appearing from behind the far end corner. Feverishly Lomas eyed around the hallway. There had to be a place to hide… Lomas noticed a little dent on the metal wall and dashed towards it. It was too fracking small. Lomas couldn't fit into it completely. The two men were walking towards Lomas. Chatting. Laughing. Lomas didn't take his eyes off them. He was't even breathing now.

The men reached the entrance of the control center, pushed the door open and stepped inside, still laughing about something they both thought was very funny.

There was a soft clink as the elevator arrived.

"By the lords of Kobol!" Lomas heard one of the men shouting from inside the control center. "Go get help! Hurry, for sagan's sake!"

The elevator doors opened.

"Is he dead?" The other voice sounded weaker, more horrified.

Lomas started running towards the elevator like mad.

"He's going to be if we don't get help NOW!" The stronger voice shouted.

Lomas saw the elevator doors slowly closing in front of him.

"All right, all right, I'm going!" The weaker voice seemed to be approaching.

Lomas succeeded in grabbing a tight hold of the left door's edge just as it was about to close. Sagan it hurt! Lomas was sure his hand would turn black after this…

Nothing happened for microns. Come on, come on!!! Lomas was trying to force the left door sideways with all his strength.

Yes! The doors opened. Lomas slipped inside the elevator. He could hear footsteps getting closer. This time they were echoing near the exit of the control room. Fracking doors. They weren't closing now.

A pale-faced man hurried out of the control center.

The elevator doors were still wide open. Lomas was holding his breath. The pale-faced man's head turned. Lomas saw the look in his eyes.

"Hey!" The man shouted. "Who are you?"

The elevator doors started closing. Lomas was staring at the pale-faced man.

"Who are you and what the frack are you doing here?"

The man was now running towards the elevator.

"This is a restricted area…"

The man was now only two metrons away.

"Hey, stop!" The man was shouting. "What's you identity code?…"

The elevator doors closed. Lomas closed his eyes.

* * *

The exact same black cat appeared what must have been the thirtieth time. This time Starbuck's gaze followed it as it smoothly ran accross the wet asphalt street. Elegantly the cat moved in the shadows, staying away from the faint light of those few street lamps. The animal was almost invisible in the darkness. Starbuck almost lost track of the cat until he saw the pair of gleaming yellow eyes near the corner of of the building.

The cat had stopped. Its yellow eyes were looking straight at Starbuck. Strange. Starbuck hadn't noticed that the cat would have turned to look at him like this before. It seemed like the cat somehow knew that this time the man's gaze had been following him. The cat's yellow eyes were on the man for much too long a time. It reminded Starbuck of an animal about to attack his prey. Then, after what must have been five centons, the cat turned its eyes away and started to smoothly walk closer to one of the buildings. Just before disappearing behind the corner, the animal stopped and turned to look at the man again. Starbuck knew he had to follow the cat. He started to run after the animal which had already vanished from view.

Starbuck hastened his steps and slipped on the wet grass. He almost fell flat on the ground but just in time he caught a hold of a tree brach or something and succeeded in keeping his balance. Starbuck looked around trying to spot the cat.

The animal was about two metrons away from Starbuck. It was standing in front of a glass tower shaped in a form of a triangle, looking at the man. Starbuck didn't even notice the cat now. He was staring at the triangle, speechless.

The tower must have been about two metrons tall, maybe a little taller, and it was slowly turning around and around. Inside that triangle there were five or six extremely thin flakes of glass and when a blinding light, that seemed to come from nowhere, shone through those thin flakes of glass, they reacted like a prism. The beam of light broke into hundreds and hundreds of rainbow streams which were so bright they were almost painful to look at. Starbuck had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't on sleep cycle.

The cat was still looking at the man. Those rainbow-coloured streams of light reflected from the cat's eyes. The animal was purring softly, licking one of its forelegs. Then the cat streched elegantly and turned to walk slowly towards the triangle. Starbuck's eyes followed the animal.

The cat was now only millimetrons away from the glass surface of the tower. Still the animal kept walking towards it. Starbuck raised one eyebrow. "Frack of a stupid cat. It's going to get a big bump on its forehead..." The cat disappeared. Starbuck's mouth dropped open. The glass triangle was suddenly turning around faster than microns ago. Starbuck was seriously starting doubt his sanity. Especially when he decided to try to follow the cat.

Somehow Starbuck sensed that the animal had led him to this tower of glass intentionally. The triangle had to be some kind of an exit, a gateway out of this dark slummy place where you couldn't go anywhere. A gate to another side, or to another level… "What's the worst that can happen, eh? I get a little bump on my head and become a little wiser for the next episode." Starbuck grinned. "I think I can handle that."

The lights became brighter and brighter the closer Starbuck came to the triangle. Soon he had to narrow his eyes and shield them with his hand. There was now a hum, seeming to come from inside the tryingle. It was soft and quiet but somehow horribly unpleasant and hurtful to the ears. It made Starbuck feel like he was being perforated by electric waves. By lords, Starbuck was sure his hair was sticking straight up, just like colonial dance sticks are supposed to when one is doing the caprisian figuresteps. Starbuck's skin was tingling. The closer he got to the tower, the more uncomfortable the tingling became.

He reached the front of the tower and extended his hand to touch the glassy surface. It felt smooth and solid, just like normal glass. There was no way in frack one could just walk through it without the help of a sledgehammer or something… The wind picked up. Funny, Starbuck never knew it could be so windy inside a cave. He didn't realize that the air currents were actually not the wind at all, but powerful air streams caused by the quick rotation of the tower. The air streams were surprisingly strong. They were forcing Starbuck closer to the triangle, pressing him tighter and tighter against the glass surface… The glass disappeared.

* * *

Lomas walked quickly accross the officers' lounge, which was right opposite the officers' club. He could hear chatting and jingling of glasses and cups from inside the club. The lounge however was empty, thank the sagans. Lomas knew he had about fifteen centons before there was a shuttle leaving to the Piscean. Lomas hated going back there. It wasn't part of his plan. He was never suppose to return to that ship of fools. But he had to return. The blond man was there.

Lomas looked around. Still no one there in the lounge. But he would have to hurry. The whiny-voiced man and his pal might even now be in one of the elevators, coming after Lomas. He had to get away from the Galactica. Lomas was almost by the opening of the beta section now. Still two more corridors to go before he would reach the shuttle lauching bay. Lomas hastened his steps.

He entered the first corridor. Frack. Someone was there, about ten metrons away, walking away from Lomas, his back towards him. Lomas stopped. He waited until the person disappeared. Then he proceeded forward. Lomas turned to take a look back to make sure no one was following him. Then he started running. He rushed down the corridor like mad, all the way to the end of the hallway. It was hard to breathe, Lomas had to slow down for a centon. One more corridor to go. Lomas stopped and took a moment to catch his breath. He saw the boy from the corner of his eye. Lomas turned.

"What have you done to your face?" Lomas stared at Cree, repulsed.

Cree didn't answer. He was just standing there, opposite Lomas, with a glazed gaze.

"It was nice to meet you…" Lomas grinned very unpleasantly. "But you must excuse me, I have to run." Lomas turned and stepped into the final corridor.

"I saw you…" Cree whispered.

Lomas turned. "Oh really."

"I saw you coming out of the control center." Cree's glazed eyes weren't really looking at Lomas' face now. They were lingering somewhere between his chest and his right arm.

Lomas didn't speak. He was staring Cree now, very warily.

"I saw the boy on the floor." Cree's voice was eerily quiet. Lomas hated that voice.

"Cree, I have to go." Lomas eyed the boy with contempt.

"Take me with you." Cree's whisper was barely audible.

"What?" Lomas was sure he had heard wrong.

"Take me with you wherever you go." Lomas suddenly looked at Lomas in the eyes.

"You're out of your felgercarbing mind!" Lomas didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "For sagan's sake…"

Cree was staring at Lomas, in silence. The man didn't like the desperate look in those eyes.

Only five centons before the shuttle to the Piscean was due. Lomas hesitated. He hated the boy. Cree was weak and useless. But maybe… Lomas eyed the lad. Maybe he could use the boy… in some way.

Lomas walked to Cree and took a hold of him by the arm. "All right. Get moving then!" Lomas pulled Cree by the arm. Cree still didn't say a word.

They started running down the final corridor towards the launching bay. The only sound was the echo of their steps.

Cree was smiling.

* * *

Starbuck squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Nothing had changed. He was still standing on the top of a moss-covered cliff. Before his eyes opened a vast lake, it's tranquil waves glimmering in the light of the summer sun. Small islands were rising from the lake as far into the horizon as the eye could see. Bruce-like trees and birches grew dense on all the islands and Starbuck could see a few tiny summer cabins, red or brown, here and there, almost hidden behind the trees. The cabins were apparently empty at that very moment or so it seemed. The sky was clear blue. Just very few light summer clouds were hovering peacefully towards the east.

A bird or two were singing somewhere much further away. A sound of little waves lapping against the rocks on the shore accompanied the distant birdsong. There was such a mild wind it felt like a soft caress. It was the most beautifully serene place Starbuck had ever seen. He had been there before.

***

"I'll take you to my quarters." Lomas was leading the way. Cree's adoring eyes were on his mentor. "You will wait for me there." Lomas glanced at the boy indifferently. "There's something I need to do before we leave. You will not astray from the room. Do you understand?"

Cree nodded. He felt so good being close to the beautiful man now. He wouldn't have minded if they were to go to the end of the universe. He was with Lomas, that was all that mattered.

Lomas' disgusted eyes lingered to the marks on Cree's left cheek . "And for sagan's sake, do something to that face."

Cree subconsciously touched the cuts on his cheek. He had been stupid. By lords he would never destroy his face again like this. Frack no! Cree wanted to be pretty from now on, for Lomas' sake.

Lomas kept on walking a couple of steps ahead of Cree. "I wasn't supposed to return to this place any more…"

Cree hastened his steps until he reached Lomas side. He looked at the man in the eyes and saw a strange fire in them.

"…But something happened." Lomas whispered. "I had to come back."

Cree didn't understand, but he didn't care.

"The sagans wanted me to return." Lomas smiled. "This was meant to be…" Lomas had to find the blond man. The angel.

They arrived at Lomas Pisceanian quarters. Lomas opened the door.

Cree eyed the room. How he loved the scent of Lomas, that was hovering all around the place.

Lomas turned to look the boy. "I have to go now."

Cree nodded.

"You'll find some efficient disinfectant in the closet in the turbowashroom. Take care of your face now." Lomas smiled. "Like a good boy."

Cree smiled too but Lomas wasn't looking at the boy any more. He had turned and left the room. Cree remained standing there, facing the closed door with a smile on his face. Looking at Lomas, although he was no longer there.

* * *

Boomer was dragging his rucksack towards the door. "Come on Apollo! The sooner we get going, the quicker all this felgercarb will be behind us."

"In a centon!" Apollo glanced at Boomer. "I'll be right there…"

"What's taking so long for sagan's sake!" Boomer frowned. "Don't you realize that the more time we waste, the bigger trouble Starbuck might get himself in!"

"Calm down Boomer!" Apollo grinned. "I'm reloading my communicator so it won't ran short on power too soon after we enter the forbidden city. We'll be ready to leave in just a couple of centons." Apollo lifted his eyes and glanced at Calbâ. "You coming with us?"

"You won't find your friend."

"What?" Apollo's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe the man had said such a thing. "If that was meant to be a joke it sure wasn't very funny…"

The expression on Calbâ's face was serious. "If your friend is in the forbidden city he can never be found."

Apollo forgot he was holding the reloading equipment. It dropped to the floor. "What felgercarb are you talking about…"

Calbâ's eyes were kind, but very sad. He walked over to Apollo and put his hand on the man's shoulder. "There's something I haven't told you about the forbidden city."

* * *

Lomas had been walking around the Piscean for centars. Sagan, he was getting desperate. So far there had been no trace of the beautiful man. All the faces Lomas kept seeing were meaningless. Faces of nothingness. Still he had to keep on searching. He had to find the angel.

People were starting to look at Lomas in a funny way when they saw him passing the fourth time. Lomas didn't give a frack. There must have been tears of frustration in eyes because Lomas was surprised to see that the back of his hand was wet after he had wiped his grey veiled eyes with it. Lomas' feet were so tired they ached but it didn't make any difference. His head was pounding, the lights hurt the eyes but Lomas didn't even notice. He kept on searching.

* * *

"I found the batteries Starbuck! Now we can finally get the radio working!"

Shocked Starbuck turned and gasped.

Seventeen yahren old Apollo was friskily walking towards him, towards the cliff top, with a huge smile on his pretty young face. "Hey, what were you dreaming about, buddy! Wake up! I thought we were going for a swim before we leave! Get you suit on!"

Starbuck could do nothing but stare.

"Guess what!" Apollo kept his eyes on Starbuck. "Father said we can come here for two sectons next sectar, just the two of us." Young Apollo grinned. "Isn't that great! Boy I hope the stupid boat co-operates…"

* * *

Cree raised his eyes as Lomas stepped into the room.

"I took care of my face like you told me to." Cree smiled. "Look, it's much better now."

Lomas didn't even glance at the boy. He walked past him and went into the turbowashroom, banging the door shut behind him.

Cree stared after the man with frightened eyes. He arose from the bed and walked to the closed turbowashroom. Gently he knocked. "Lomas?"

No answer.

"Beautiful Lomas? Is everything all right?" Cree heard a sound. A very familiar one because he had made that sound so many times himself. "Lomas, open the door, please!"

A choked sigh of agony.

Cree stopped knocking at the door.

He heard Lomas sighs growing louder.

Cree quietly walked away from the door and climbed back on the bed. He knew his mentor was entering the rivers. Slashing himself with a blade. Cree smiled.

* * *

Calbâ kept his eyes on the other two men. "There's something I have not told you about the forbidden city."

Apollo and Boomer were both silent, waiting for the man to continue.

Calbâ too remained quiet for a while. He walked towards the yellow table and took a chair. Then he lifted his eyes. "I think you better sit down."

"Just tell us what you are about to, Calbâ." Apollo's voice was impatient.

Calbâ sighed. "If you go to the forbidden city, you will not arrive at the same world as your friend."

Boomer rolled his eyes. "Well of course! And why didn't I come to think of that myself…"

Calba smiled a little. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. Even though you pass the same gates and arrive at the same place as Starbuck…" Calbâ kept his eyes on the others. "You will enter a completely different world."

Boomer stared at the dark man. "Uh huh…"

Calbâ laughed softly and melancholically. "I guess I better start from the beginning."

"Oh, if you don't mind… Boomer grinned. "Please do!"

Calbâ was silent for a micron as he poured a little guskâ into a yellow cup and took a sip. Then he took a deep breath. "The army of the black queen is not human."

"So?" Boomer raised one eyebrow. "I recall hearing that before…"

Calbâ paused and took another sip of guskâ. Apollo was tapping his foot on the floor. "Just so you understand. They are not human. They have a completely different way of existing. I mean, their world is different…"

Apollo eyed Calbâ. "How?"

Calba looked at Apollo. "As you know, the universe known to us has three dimensions. Four if you include time."

"Go on." Apollo took a couple of steps towards the table.

"No one knows where the black queen and her army originate from…" Calbâ watched Apollo walking closer. "But one thing is for certain. Their universe is outside and inside the one that we are in."

"What?" Boomer stared at Calbâ. "Would you mind repeating…"

The black queen comes from a universe of eleven dimensions." Calba kept his eyes on the others. "And that is the way the forbidden city exists."

"Meaning what?" Apollo had now taken a chair and sat down.

"Eleven dimensions is something the human brain is incabable of comprehending. So, if the human brain is exposed to such circumstances it either tries to find a way to operate in it or it distructs."

Apollo was horrified. "Are you saying that Starbuck's brain could be damaged…?"

"Not necessarily..."Calbâ eyed the mild darkness behind the window.

"Then what??" Boomer was getting angry. For sagan's sake the man was speaking slower than the retarded apes in Caprica Central Zoo.

"When a being whose brain is formed like the human one enters the eleven dimensions of the forbidden city, the being most apparently enters the world of his own memories." "Uh huh…" Boomer raised one eyebrow. "Meaning?…"

"It means…" Calbâ continued softly. "…That your mind creates an environment that your brain can adjust to…"

"Your memories…" Apollo ended the sentence quietly.

Yes. Calba glanced at him. "Your mind enters the memories of your past although physically you remain in the present tense." Calba looked at both of the men. "We call it the entwining."

Apollo's face was pale. "And you are telling us that everyone enters his own memories…"

"Exactly." Calbâ continued. "As you know, everyone's mind is different…"

Apollo turned his eyes away. "So everyone enters a different world when one passes the gates of the forbidden city."

Calbâ put a hand softly on Apollo's shoulder. "You can never find your friend, Apollo. Not in that city…"

"Hey wait a minute!" Boomer furrowed his eyebrows. "How in heavens do you know all this stuff anyway. Just a couple of centars ago you told us that no one has ever been to the forbidden city or at least one has not returned from the place…"

"Yes." Calbâ smiled melancholically. "That is true." "Then, how in heavens do know this stuff." Boomer eyed the man with disbelief. "Are you trying to feed us with felgercarb…"

Calbâ's voice was patient. Hell, the guy never seemed to get tired of explaining things... "One of the black queen's soldiers once succeeded in escaping from the forbidden city once."

Apollo's eyes grew wider. "Why? What happened?"

"I do not know why he wanted to escape…" Calbâ glanced at Apollo. "But he was caught and killed in mere centars…" Calbâ's thoughtful eyes turned to stare out of the window. "He did however have enough time to tell us about the world of the black queen before he was killed…"

***

Starbuck watched the young Apollo passing with a grin on his face and the sun in his hair.

"Well Bucky, are you coming or not?…"

"I'm coming…" Starbuck answered, startling himself.

Starbuck couldn't understand how in the names of the lords this was possible but he knew he had somehow returned to his own past. How vividly Starbuck could still remember this very day… Remember all those days…

The first time Apollo had persuaded Starbuck to come to the family cabin with him… It had been right after the first yahren of the academy had ended and the second secton of the first sectar of summer vacation had just begun. They had been only sixteen.

Starbuck had been reluctant and hesitant. Although he wanted so much to spend the summer with his new beautiful friend, his first real friend, Starbuck always felt uncomfortable and shy in the company of commander Adama and Ila, Apollo's mother. Starbuck sure liked little Zak but the younger sister, Athena annoyed the frack out of him.

Besides, Starbuck knew very well that he would only feel out of place intruding someone else's family like that.

Apollo, however, did not give up and soon Starbuck found himself sitting next to Apollo in Adama's black turboram, heading towards the outskirts of a small caprican village called Ottawan, about 1175 metrics from Caprica City. That was where the commander and his family owned a small island, in the middle of one of the biggest lake on Caprica. Ottawan was such a beautiful place and Starbuck sure fell in love with the island the very first micron he set foot on the shore.

There was a little red cabin, the main cabin, built on the top of a cliff. The view over the huge lake was breathtaking. Starbuck could hardly take his eyes off it. Another cabin, a smaller one, was a little further away, hidden in the woods. It was built very near the shore. The waves could almost reach the front steps. The brown wooden sauna was quite a surprise to Starbuck who had never before seen such a thing in his life, but after the first experience Starbuck, to his utter amazement, found it to be one of the top pleasures of life… There was no plumming on the island, no running water, no power for communicators. In fact, there was no power at all, not even solium. Nothing but the beauty of nature and a wonderful ability to clear the human mind from all disturbing thoughts.

The red boat was a nuisance though. Adama seemed to be the only one who was cabable of handling the boat without any trouble. Apollo and Starbuck always had to struggle the felgercarbs out of the engine before it finally consented to start up.

That first visit had been a prelude to a habit that had lasted for yahrens to come. During the boring winter days in the academy, Starbuck and Apollo had counted the days until it would be summer again and time to return to that cabin.

Starbuck didn't know enough words to describe how much he enjoyed the company of Apollo and yes, his family too. Starbuck loved purifying his mind with the serenity of nature and having memorable adventures in the center of that little ottawan village, which in fact surprised the frack out of Starbuck for turning out to be quite an active place when it came to nightlife…

Apollo and Starbuck must have spent at least two sectons in that cabin on every summer vacation until they finished the academy and joined the military. Even now Starbuck was sure those days must have been so close to being the most happy ones in his entire life. Happy ones, oh absolutely. Painful ones too.

Starbuck's eyes were still following the seventeen yahren old Apollo, who had by now reached the waterline and was ready to dive into the lake.

"What's the matter with you buddy?" Grinning Apollo turned to look at Starbuck. "Get your butt down here!"

Starbuck could remember this day so very well. Too well. In three centars they would go to the center of Ottawan village and they would meet a particular person. Someone who Starbuck would rather have forgotten.

* * *

Cree was awake. He was listening to Lomas tossing and turning in the living room, once in a while getting up from the sofa and walking around the room, restlessly.

Lomas had hardly said more that two or three sentences all night.

Cree had tried to get physically close to the man, but Lomas had just turned away in silence.

When Lomas had stepped out of the turbowashroom, Cree had looked at him warmly.

"How was it?" Cree had smiled. "Was it good?"

Lomas had glanced at the boy without saying a word.

Cree's admiring eyes had lingered on the man and then he had noticed a stain of blood on the man's uniform sleeve. A bigger stain that it should have been. Cree had gasped. Frack, half of the sleeve had been covered in blood.

"Oh sagan, Lomas…" Cree had whispered. "What's wrong?"

Lomas hadn't answered. He had walked to the army bag placed on the floor near the bed and without paying any attention to Cree, opened the bag and taken out a clean tunic.

Cree had been holding his breath as Lomas had pulled off the stained tunic and revealed his pale, lean body. By heavens, the man truly was beautiful. Cree had so much wanted to touch Lomas. Kiss the wound on his arm. Make love to the man's soul.

Lomas had pulled the clean tunic on. Then he had taken his jacket from the back of a chair and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Lomas had returned centars later, even more in despair than the first time.

Cree couldn't understand. And to be honest, Cree was started to be frightened of Lomas. The man didn't seem to be the person Cree had gotten to know. The passionate master of dark mind rivers. The beautiful, enticing elf of light. The fragile, gentle man Cree had come to love more than life. Still, there was nothing in this universe that could prevent Cree from following Lomas to the edge of the world.

Cree had watched Lomas pacing around the room with such a pained look on his face. When the boy had risen from the bed and turned on the light, Lomas had looked at him furiously and told him to turn it off. For some reason the man had wanted to remain in darkness. Like if he had wanted to see only the world inside himself and nothing else.

Cree had fallen asleep by accident. When he had woken up, he was alone in the bedroom. Quietly Cree had crept to the bedroom door only to notice It was locked. For sagan's sake. Lomas had locked Cree inside. Through the door Cree could hear the restless pacing, the sighs…

Cree kept listening to those sounds through the sleep cycle until he heard Lomas' steps approaching the bedroom door and a key turning. Cree pretending to be asleep.

Lomas stepped into the room and remained standing by the doorway, obviously staring at Cree in silence. Then, after centons the man quietly left the room, leaving the bedroom door open.

Cree opened his eyes. He turned and looked.

Lomas was there, in the living room, obviously just about to leave the quarters. He lifted his eyes and looked at the boy. Their eyes met.

"You are a fool Cree." Lomas said quietly.

Cree didn't answer.

"A fool." Lomas repeated. "You should leave me, Cree. Leave me now because soon it will be too late." Lomas gave Cree a smile.

Cree shuddered. The smile was horrible. Not alike a smile at all but a grimace of despair.

"You should leave Cree…"

"I can't." Cree whispered. "I love you."

Lomas turned his eyes away from the boy. He walked out of the room.

* * *

"What's taking him so long." Apollo glanced at the timepiece on his wrist. Apollo and Boomer had been strolling circles in Calbâ's garden for at least for five centons, waiting for the dark man. Apollo was getting impatient. "What is he looking for?"

Don't ask me." Boomer shrugged.

Right then Calbâ rushed out of the house carrying a half a metron sized, spanner-like thing. "Now we can go!"

Boomer eyed the thing. "What is that? Your vacuum cleaner?"

Calbâ laughed. "This thing here is a serrata, an essential part of the boterra."

"The what?" Boomer raised one eyebrow.

Apollo glanced at thim. "You know. The flying pot that brought us to Camileon."

Calba walked to the two men. "A stroke of luck that I did find the serrata, I might add." Calbâ grinned. "The so-called pot doesn't fly without it."

"Great." Apollo smiled. "Let's get going then."

"Are you sure you want to leave today?" Calbâ eyed Apollo and Boomer for a centon. "Tonight we have a celebration of Rage here in Camileon. If you stayed, I can promise you that you would see something that you have never before experienced."

Apollo was already walking towards the boterra. He turned to smile politely at Calbâ. "Thank you for the invitation, but we really must leave now…"

"Celebration of rage" Boomer raised one eyebrow. "Sounds kinda anarchistic. I hope you you're not going to set fire to turbo vehicles, beat up law enforment officers and go on a rampage after a bloody game of foot-triad…"

Calbâ laughed. "That's the name of the ocean, Boomer. Gnasâ, the Ocean of Rage. Tonight we celebrate the ocean above us."

"Oh, that's a relief." Boomer grinned.

Apollo's smiled too."I'm sure your celebration is an intriguing one, but we need to go to the Galactica and get help…"

Calbâ looked at the Apollo. "Why do you not believe me my friend?.There is nothing you can do for Starbuck now."

"Maybe not…" Apollo replied quietly. "But then again, maybe there is." Apollo lifted his eyes to look into Calbâ's. "I cannot give up hoping. Not as long as I live. There has to be a way to find Starbuck…"

Calbâ sighed. "I sincerely do hope that you will succeed in some way."

"So do I." Apollo smiled. "So do I."

Apollo wanted to get to the Galactica as soon as possible to get some help from doctor Wilker. To have any chance in finding Starbuck in the forbidden city they would need some kind of a mind transformer, and Apollo knew that doctor Wilker was the only person on the Galactica who could possibly invent and build such a thing...

Apollo was climbing into the boterra when halfway he turned to look down to shout something to Boomer. He noticed Calbâ still standing in the middle of the garden, thoughtfully looking at Apollo. "Hey, what are you waiting for. Don't forget we need you to show us the way to the cities of the sun."

"Yes…" Calba smiled absent-mindedly. "But there's…"

"Well, come on then!" Apollo turned and continued to climb into the vehicle.

"There's one more thing…" Calbâ kept his eyes on Apollo.

"What?" Apollo looked down at the man. Then his lips turned to a grin. "I knew it. You are going to change your mind after all and come to the Galactica with us."

"No my friend. " Calbâ spoke. "Unfortunately what I'm about to tell you is something you don't want to hear."

"Uh oh…" Apollo grimaced. "Now you're gonna tell us that this boterra is broken…"

Calbâ smiled vaguely. "Apollo, when you and the Galactican doctor start building the mind transformer…"

"Yes?" Apollo eyed the man.

"You need to keep in mind that the world of the memories is not very accurate."

"Meaning?"

"The pressure of the eleven dimensions tend to distort the function of the brain, so the memories won't be the exact things that have happened in reality." Calbâ didn't want to burden his friends' hearts more, but he had to tell them what they were dealing with. "In most cases the memories turn more or less into nightmares…" Calbâ sighed. "That is the way of the forbidden city.

* * *

Lomas couldn't stop searching. He was now beginning to be so sure that the angel had been only a reflection of his own imagination. An image of what Lomas had hoped to see all his life. The man didn't exist. Still he couldn't stop searching. Centar after centar. Desperately. Maybe, if Lomas wanted hard enough, perhaps his mind rivers would reflect that image of the angel again, even for a little while, for a passing centon… Lomas could finally have a moment's serenity. Total fulfillment.

Lomas was sitting in a cantina, in the west section of hydra deck. He had a cup of something in front of him, on the table. Lomas had no idea what the cup contained. He had just asked the waitress to bring him something to drink. Anything. The waitress had eyed Lomas disapprovingly and said that alcohol was prohibited on the Piscean. Lomas had glanced at the girl wearily. "Well, bring me a cup of felgercarb then, for sagan's sake. Anything goes. Just leave me alone." The waitress had looked at Lomas scornfully and disppeared. Only to come back in a couple of centons, carrying a blue cup, which she placed on the table and charged three cubits for it.

Lomas was staring into the cup, swirling the liquid with a little spoon when he sensed that someone walked past him. Very very close, almost touching his arm. Lomas raised his eyes, annoyed. The blond man was walking towards the exit of the cantina. Lomas' heart stopped. He shot up from the chair and knocked down the cup. The liquid ran all over the table and started dripping onto the floor. Lomas didn't notice. He started running towards the doorway as fast as he could. The blond man was now near the stairway. A group of people appeared in front of Lomas and he lost the man from view. Panicking he started pushing the annoyed people out of his way. "Watch it, lad!" An astrabilious old man almost spat on Lomas. The old man's companion, another old man commented with a loud tone. "These youngsters. They are out of control nowadays. All of them." The old man snorted. "When I was your age, young man…" Lomas didn't hear anything.

He was running towards the stairway. Damn it, he couldn't see the blond man anywhere. Lomas flew down the stairs to the lobby of the starfish deck of the omega section. Still no trace of the man. Lomas was almost crying now. He had to find the angel. He just had to… Desperately Lomas looked around the deck. He saw people everywhere. Meaningless people. Not the blond man. Lomas ran towards the corridor that led from the starfish deck to the private quarters of the omega section.

A guard stepped in his way. "And where do you think you're going young man?"

"My aunt is dying." Lomas hissed. If glances could kill, the guard would have dropped dead right then and there. "I have to go and take her to the life center." Lomas tried to see something over the guard's shoulder. He was sure the man had gone down the private corridor. "Please let me go…" Lomas pleaded. He tried to push the guard out of his way. "…Or my uncle will come here and you're in deep felgercarb!!"

The guard was getting annoyed now. "Listen lad. If you haven't disappeared from my view in thirty microns I will call a little back up. And then you can be sure that your aunt is not the only one dying…"

The elevator doors of the starfish lobby opened. Lomas knew immediately there was something familiar in that whiny, weak voice… He turned. The pale-faced man from the control center stepped out of the elevator accompanied by two other men. They started walking towards the guard.

Lomas had no time to hesitate. He had to get out of the starfish deck. He flew towards the stairway and ran up the stairs as fast as he possibly could. He could hear the annoying whiny voice greeting the guard in charge of the private corridor.

Lomas reached the top of the starway, breathing heavily. He stopped and tried so hard to get his breathing to calm down a little. He had to hear what the pale man was saying.

The guard laughed. His broad guffowing must have echoed to the last ship in the fleet. "What? The crazy man running towards the stairway? No, I haven't seen the him earlier." The guard lowered his voice a little and apparently leaned closer to the other man. "I think he's one of the newcomers." The guard hissed. "The supreme command always seems to place all the worst losers of the fleet on this ship. Annoys the felgercarbs out of me, it does." The guard's voice became louder again. " Why are you looking for that lad anyway?"

The whiny voice spoke. "I'm sure that is the man I saw on the Galactica yesterday. There is no way I could have made a mistake."

Lomas shuddered. Oh frack.

"He killed a computer co-ordinator. A young boy, merely the age of 20." The whiny voice sounded pretensiously forlorn. "Can you imagine…"

The guard mumbled something. Lomas couldn't hear what.

The whiny voice continued. "These two men with me are officers from the prison barge."

"Hi there..." The guard apparently nodded to the two officers.

"If you find out more about this man, I want you to contact me, or these officers immediately." The whiny-voiced man was obviously smiling at the guard. You can easily hear a smile from someone's voice.

The guard mumbled something that sounded like "Frack yes!"

"Here's my code and my telecom number." The whiny voice continued. "And here is the contact number to the prison barge offices.You've been a great help to us…"

Lomas wasn't listening any more.

Quickly he started towards the elevators that would take him to the hydra deck. That had sounded like trouble. Lomas knew he had to go and fetch his stuff as fast as possible and and then get the frack away from this ship. Lomas' tried to ignore the terrible pain in his soul. No, he couldn't listen to his heart now or he would risk everything. He had to proceed with his plan as long as it was possible. But maybe, if for some reason he would survive… Lomas closed his eyes for a fraction of a micron. …He would return to the Piscean and find the angel. Oh yes he would…

Lomas started running.

***

Starbuck and the young Apollo had walked through the small center of Ottawan and were now approaching the sportsground which was one of the few places where the youngsters of the village usually gathered together to spend the evening cycle at the end of every secton.

From a distance Starbuck could see a group of young people lying on a mattress that was normally used for high jumping. It was such a weird sensation. Starbuck was now looking at faces he hadn't seen in thirteen yahrens.

Apollo was saying something to him, but unlike back then, this time Starbuck wasn't listening. He kept his eyes on the group of people and noticed two boys getting up from the mattress and starting to walk towards Apollo and Starbuck. By heavens, Starbuck couldn't turn his eyes away from the one with longer hair. Starbuck had to remind himself how to breath. It was almost too overwhelming to see the boy exactly the way he had looked like in the very beginning.

The long haired boy, Vega had been Starbuck's first real love. Oh well, at least it had been something very close to being love… By lords had it frightened the felgercarbs out of Starbuck to realize he was homosexual. But then again, on the other hand, it had felt so wonderfully enticing, like entering a new secret universe full of promises.

Starbuck had been so ashamed of his new feelings. And so intrigued by them.

He had kept those feelings so carefully hidden from the rest of the world. Even from Apollo. Starbuck's charade, his reputation as a womanizer… or rather a girlizer back then, had been very carefully built.

Starbuck had shared some beautiful, many painful, and all very secret moments with Vega, but his heart had always remained unrequited. Unfulfilled. Yes, Vega had treated Starbuck badly, hurt Starbuck in so many ways. But the main reason for Starbuck's heart being unfulfilled had been because of Apollo. Starbuck knew that now. Everything in his life had been because of, and for Apollo. Everything.

The memories of Vega were hurtful and it had taken Starbuck a long time to get over them. Yet there he was. Vega. Standing in front of Starbuck. looking so innocent and so young. Just like the way he had back then, at the age of seventeen.

Everything happened exactly the way it had before. The chatting on top of the white diving rack. The taking of the rowing boat and sneaking into the nearest island. Meeting all the others in the sportsground and then building the idiotic tent from the synthetic resin that was normally used for shielding the high jumping mattresses against moisture.

Starbuck couldn't influence the words he spoke, nor the movements he made.

Came the moment to crawl into the tent. The moment to experience the first secret touch. Part of Starbuck hated to relive this now, but the other part was overjoyed.

Starbuck could see Vega a little further, veiled in the dusk. Oh lords the boy had the same shy, enticing look on his face. Starbuck swallowed. He smiled at Vega and started crawling towards him, feeling shy.

Something was different.

Vega wasn't looking at Starbuck at all. This time he was smiling at Apollo.

A sudden feeling of jealousy and hurt rushed into Starbuck's heart. Why for sagan's sake was he having these feelings. They didn't belong to this moment. This had not happened. This was not happening. That smile… Starbuck stared at Vega. That wasn't the smile the boy used to have. It had somehow changed into something completely different. Into something very familiar…

Vega's eyes were hungrily looking past Starbuck and the boy's smile was like a beautiful invitation of a fiend. The kind that Lomas had…

Quickly Starbuck turned towards Apollo who was crawling into the tent right behind him.

"I know this sounds crazy…" Starbuck's mouth dropped open. Apollo wasn't there. Confused Starbuck turned to take a look ahead and there he was. In Veca's arms, his eyes on Starbuck.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were gay, Starbuck?" Apollo's eyes were somehow rude. "Don't you know its not nice to keep secrets from a friend…"

Apollo's grin was unpleasant and obscene. Starbuck couldn't believe his eyes. Apollo's hand was stroking Vega's hair but his eyes were on Starbuck. Arrogant, amused eyes.

"Why don't you leave us now for twenty centons, Starbuck." Apollo whispered and winked. He turned and kissed Vega on the mouth in an ugly, repulsive way.

Something was stabbed through Starbuck's heart and it started to bleed.

Vega turned."Yo, Bucky boy, what are you wating for. Give us a little privacy will you..."

Apollo laughed. "Oh, let him watch. Maybe he likes to watch…"

"Yeah…" Vega smiled at Starbuck. "You like to watch, huh? Well watch this…"

The two boys kissed again, hard.

Vega turned to look at Starbuck, grinning. "Or perhaps you would like to join us, Bucky boy…" Vega winked. "Come to my arms brother dearest..."

Starbuck shuddered. The boy didn't look like Vega at all. In fact, the boy wasn't Vega any more. He was Lomas.

"Enjoying the view?" Startled Starbuck turned.

A twelve yahren old Athena was crawling into the tent with a grin on her face. "Well, hello there Bucky." Athena leered. "Surprised to see me?"

Starbuck closed his eyes. This was not happening.

"No time to take a nap now Bucky." Athena's sarcastic voice echoed somewhere nearby.

Starbuck didn't want to open his eyes but he did.

Athena was sitting in front of him, legs crossed. In her hands she was holding a used condom. "Guess who just raped me, Bucky…" Little Athena laughed. "Oh Yes, I got raped on the way here."

Sagan, please stop!" Starbuck whispered. "Please stop…"

"Guess who raped me, Bucky…" Young Athena was looking at Starbuck, eyes gleaming.

This is not real! This is definately not real!

"Little Zak did it!" Athena laughed. "Little Zak raped me!"

Starbuck's face was horrified.

Athena's kept her amused eyes were on Starbuck. "And guess what?" Little Athena grinned. "He promised to do it again."

"No…" Starbuck squeezed his eyes shut.

"Don't we just love our relatives, Bucky…" Athena's laughter echoed in the dusk.

The black queen was looking at the man lying on the ground. What an intriguing specimen. Not many human beings have had the stupidity to enter this kingdom.

The queen arose from the chair and slowly walked around the man, not taking her eyes away from him. What intresting brain storage. So many fears. Fascinating.

The black queen knealt down beside the man and reached out to touch his hair. Then she leaned a little forward and whispered into the Starbuck's ear. "Show me your darkness."

***

Cree turned, startled, as Lomas rushed into the room.

"I'm leaving. Now." The man glanced at the boy. "And you are not coming with me."

"Yes I am, Lomas." Cree's smile was a little melancholy.

Lomas tossed his stuff into the army bag as quickly as he could and then closed the zipper. He straightened his back and looked at Cree. The boy was just standing there, watching.

"I don't love you Cree." Lomas said coldly. "I dispise you."

"I love you." Cree whispered.

Lomas turned and walked towards the door. Cree was standing in the way. The boy refused to move an inch. "You are an idiot, Cree." Lomas looked at the boy with so much contempt.

"No, Lomas." Cree smiled. He still didn't move.

Lomas put the bad down and stared at Cree into the eyes.

"I'm coming with you, Lomas." Cree's voice was soft. "Don't forget I know what you have done and where you are going." Cree smiled. "You have no chance of getting to your destination if I open my mouth in the wrong place and to the wrong people…"

Lomas didn't answer.

"I'm coming with you, beautiful Lomas." Cree whispered.

Lomas raised his hand and hit the boy in the face as hard as he could.

Cree cried out loud and fought to keep his balance. For a little while he could see nothing but bright dots dancing in darkness.

Lomas hit the boy again. Cree fell to his knees, holding his head with his hands.

Lomas stared at the boy kneeling there, in front of him, softly sobbing. Lomas hesitated. Then he extended his hand, took a hold of Cree by the chin and forced the boy to face him.

Cree couldn't look at Lomas. He kept his eyes lingering.

"Stand up."

Cree couldn't. His legs were not carrying him. He still wasn't looking at Lomas.

Lomas took a hold of the boy by under his arm and forced him up.

Cree squeeked.

Lomas placed both hands on Cree's cheeks and brought his face closer. Very close.

Cree was trembling, sobbing quietly. His horrified eyes finally looked into Lomas' icy oceans and Cree drowned.

Lomas was not smiling. He leaned closer and kissed Cree softly on the lips.

Cree jolted violently.

Lomas' lips were caressing Cree's tenderly, almost not touching, oh but burning like solium fire.

Too soon Lomas moved away and the kiss ended like it never really had happened at all. The only thing that lingered on was the pleasant tingling on both of the men's lips and the torch inside Cree's wounded heart.

"You are a fool Cree." Lomas whispered.

"Yes Lomas." Cree's pretty eyes were full of tears. "I'm a fool because I can't stop loving you."

Lomas eyed the boy for a centon. Then he suddenly smiled. "Come on then, you fool. Let's get out of here."

* * *

"What are you doing up so early?"

"Athena?" Starbuck opened his eyes.

One of the orphanage instructionesses was walking towards Starbuck with her hands on her hips. "Well, Starbuck. Why are you up this early? It's hardly sunrise…"

Starbuck's mouth dropped open. By heavens, that woman had died yahrens before the distruction of the colonies. Starbuck hardly got out a word. "Miss Diera?…"

"Perhaps this time I should punish you, young man." The expression on the woman's face was stern, but Starbuck could vividly remember that the woman was only trying to hide her amusement. "you have been here for three yahrens, Starbuck. You should know the rules by now. No sneaking out of the dorms until given permission."

Starbuck realized he was standing in the hallway which led to the orphanage primaries storage cabins. Oh, he just had to smile. Starbuck knew every inch of that hallway. By lords he had sneaked to the cabins to steal primaries more times than he could even count.

The instructioness eyed Starbuck for centons, an angry expression on her face. Then suddenly she laughed. "All right then Starbuck. I'll let you off the hook for the last time. But if I ever catch you sneaking down these corridors again, I will have to put you in detention, is that understood." Starbuck grinned at the woman. He had always liked miss Diera. She had never been unreasonably strict like most of the other orphanage instructionesses. And how could Starbuck ever forget that this was not in the least the first, nor the last time Diera let Starbuck get away with… things.

"Not so fast, miss Diera…"

Starbuck and the instructioness both turned.

The siress of the orphanage was standing a little further away from them, holding a whip in her hand.

Starbuck stared at the old woman. She didn't belong to this moment.

"I have been waiting for a long time to do this." The siress smiled while she was rolling up the sleeves of her white tunic. "I'm going to start with you, lad. Now be a good boy and take your shorts off."

Starbuck couldn't believe this. He was going to get a spanking at the age of 33, trapped in a memory that wasn't even accurate. If the situation had been less plausible, Starbuck would have burst out laughing.

The siress walked closer to Starbuck, eyes gleaming. "Guess what, little boy." The siress smiled. "I just decided that spanking you isn't going to be quite enough."

Starbuck stared at the woman.

"I just decided that we are going to donate you away. Isn't that wonderful." The siress grinned. "And what coincidence that there just happens to be someone who is very willing to adopt you, little lad." The siress who was now in front of Starbuck, holding that whip. "You are such a lucky boy, Starbuck." The siress was smiling. "Not many of our young deciples get a chance to be reunited with their real families."

"Chameleon…" Starbuck whispered, hopefully.

"No, son!"

Starbuck turned and gasped.

Baltar was standing at the far end of the hallway, waving his hand. "Welcome home, sonny." Baltar smiled. "Now we can finally get to know each other really well…" The man started walking towards Starbuck, not taking his eyes off the boy. Baltar grinned. "Really well indeed…"

The black queen was intrigued. The specimen seemed to have more fears than most other individuals. Perhaps this specimen deserved to be treated differently than the others. Oh definately. This one was going to be special. The queen smiled.

* * *

Chapter 16

The forest was dark.

Starbuck could hear the cries and pleads of other children further away in the woods. Starbuck felt just as scared and on the verge of tears now, as he had back then, on the night of the cylon raid. "Mummy!" Starbuck mumbled, startling himself. What the frack are you doing? Starbuck rolled his eyes. You must be going crazy. For sagan's sake, You're a 33 yahrens old heroic fighter pilot and this is just a mere memory. This is not happening now!" But still Starbuck couldn't stop his heart from pounding. Anything could be hiding in the darkness. The monsters from under the bed had surely found their way to the forest and were now behind the trees, grinning at the little scared boy, ready to attack him. "Mummy!!" Starbuck called out again, frightened.

There was no answer. Just the whisper of the wind.

One could hardly see further than a metron in the darkness. Pale shadows were moving on Starbuck's little tunic every time the red moon drifted into view from behind the tall trees. "Daddy?" Starbuck whispered. You are insane, Starbuck shook his head. He knew so very well that the orphanage people would soon come for help. Nothing scary would happen in the forest. No monsters would appear from the shadows. Nothing horrible would attack him from behind and sink its long sharp teeth into his neck. Pull yourself together old man.

"This time, the history changes."

Starbuck jumped two metrons into the air. He turned to the direction where the voice came from.

"Isn't it a beautiful night Starbuck? Moonlight and everything…"

"Father.." Starbuck gasped. "In the orphanage they are going to tell me you're dead…"

Chameleon was leaning against a pine tree. "Oh, you are not going to the orphanage Starbuck."

"What?" Starbuck stared at Chameleon.

"You won't be taken to the orphanage this time." Chameleon smiled. "As I said, the history changes."

"How the frack can something that has already happened yahrens ago suddenly change?"

"It already has." Chameleon was grinning. "I never adopted you in the first place."

"Huh?" Starbuck could only stare.

"Such a lucky little boy you are, Starbuck." Chameleon was still leaning against the tree.

"You were never abandoned. Isn't that great."

"That's right, sonny." Baltar appeared next to Chameleon and put his arm around the man's shoulder. "And we are not here in the forest at all."

Baltar looked around and grimaced. "Isn't it awful here. Why in the names of the lords are we wasting any more time than we have to in a place where we actually are not in at all."

Starbuck was sure he must be on sleep cycle.

"Let's get away from here, shall we." Baltar gestured Starbuck to follow. "Come on, sonny." Baltar grinned. "I have a lot to teach you, my boy. A lot…"

Chameleon was looking at Starbuck. "You don't mind if I stay behind, do you? As a wise man once said… " Chameleon grinned. "Three's a crowd."

"That's right Chameleon." Baltar smiled. "Of course Starbuck doesn't mind. Don't forget that this never really happened."

Chameleon slapped his forehead. "Oh, of course. I'm not actually here." The man smiled. "Well, off you go then Starbuck. Be nice to your father…"

* * *

"What the frack are you doing…" Aurora hissed. "I'm not sneaking into that place!"

Athena turned. "Why the frack not? It's not a bigger deal that stealing pills from the Canaris."

Aurora kept her eyes on Athena. "Hey, I got into enough trouble on the Celestra for stealing weapons and I'm not going to do the same mistake now."

"Who said you need to steal anything." Athena turned to examine the lock on the storage door. "I'm the one who wants to steal a gun."

"Why?" Aurora rolled her eyes. "You are in the military for sagan's sake. You're the commander's daughter and you have the captain of the blue squadron for a brother. You could get your hands on a pile of weapons a frack of a lot more easily than by stealing them from the squadron arsenal...

Athena sighed impatiently. "Oh Aurora. I can't use a marked weapon, you should know that!"

"They are all marked." Aurora was looking at the girl.

"Yes, but marked for general military use." Athena eyed the lock. She knew what the key code was. If only Aurora would shut up for a micron so she could concentrate. "…And what I have planned, well, I can't really use a gun that is marked for the use myself or my family, can I…"

Aurora kept her eyes on the younger woman. "You still haven't told me what you are going to do, Athena. And I'm beginning to notice it's not something that I want to participate in."

Athena sighed with impatience. She let her mind to forget the lock for a micron and turned to look at Aurora. "Okay, let's get things straight. I thought you were like me. That you liked doing forbidden stuff, Got a high from doing something dangerous. Obviously I was wrong."

"What?" Aurora eyed the girl with disbelief.

"If you want to back off, that's fine." There were flames in Athena's eyes. "But there is nothing that can stop me now. Nothing. I have been let down too many times. Now I don't have anything to lose."

"Athena…" Aurora took a hold of Athena's arm.

"Shut up and listen. The first time we stole drugs from the Canaris I realized something. I liked the way I was. Independent. Untouchable in so many ways. Giving a frack to the rest of the world." Athena smiled. "No drug could take me that high." Athena's eyes were shining. "The next couple of times we experienced with the unforbidden, the feeling got even stronger. There is no way I could ever turn back to the life I was leading before. Not now."

Aurora could just stare at the younger woman.

"I need more… " Athena grinned. "More…

"If you're not careful girl, you will get caught."

"I don't care." Athena sneered as she glanced at the Aurora.

"But why weapons for Kobol's sake." Aurora asked, quietly.

Athena smiled. "It's better that you don't know."

"Athena, you're not going to…" Aurora's grasp on Athena's arm tightened.

Athena laughed quietly. A delighted laugh. "Of course I am. Revenge is the ultimate high." Athena grinned. "The ultimate level of independence…"

"That's felgercarb!" Aurora hissed. "Revenge is evidence that you are dependant on the past..."

Athena eyed Aurora, unpleasantly. "No one asked for your opinion, so you better keep it to yourself." The younger woman turned to look at the code lock again. "You're either with me on this, or you're not." Athena spoke without looking at Aurora. "But I'm going to proceed just the way I want to."

* * *

Lomas put his forefinger to Cree's lips to gesture him to be quiet.

They listened for a micron. There was no sound of human voices, nor an echo of footsteps. It seemed safe to proceed.

"Let's go." Lomas whispered. He pulled Cree by his arm.

Smoothly they ran towards the door at the far end of the corridor. Cree kept his eyes on the man as they were running. He loved Lomas so much. They reached the end of the hallway. Lomas pressed one ear against the door, then he turned to look at Cree. "This is your last chance to turn back."

"I'm coming with you." Cree smiled.

"Fool." Lomas snorted. "Well, let's get moving then." Lomas pushed the green button and held his breath as the heavy door started to open. Slowly, he let himself breathe out as he saw that the next corridor was deserted. Lomas still held onto Cree's arm as they quickly slipped into the other hallway. He took a look around to make sure there weren't any surveillance waves or tracking devices in this corridor. There was nothing, and Lomas wasn't surprised. He knew that most of the ships in the fleet were not that well equipped. In fact, the Galactica and the prison barge were probably the only ones with waves.

Still few more corridors to go before they would arrive at the launching bay.

"Are you going to steal a viper?" Cree whispered curiously.

Lomas eyed the boy, bored. By lords Cree could be stupid sometimes.

"There are no vipers on the Piscean." Lomas hissed. "You should know that."

Cree didn't answer.

"We'll have to steal a shuttle." Lomas was now whispering more to himself than to the boy. "Yeah, I know they are a frack of a lot more slow than the vipers, but there is no time to sneak onto the Galactica to nick a viper."

Another door. Lomas pushed the button and it opened with a loud hiss. The two men gasped. In front of them opened the lounge of the naval deck. For sagan's sake they had gotten lost.

Frack, frack frack, Lomas' mind screamed. Quickly he reached out to press the button again and the door closed. Lomas leaned his back against it, closing his eyes for a micron.

Cree was staring at the man. "You know…" Cree started. "If we…"

"Shut up." Lomas was too tired to listen to the boy's felgercarb. He had to concentrate.

"There is no other way out of here than through the naval deck." Cree said, cautiously, ready to receive a whack from the man. "The previous door could only be opened from one side…"

Lomas opened his eyes. "What did you just say?"

Cree stepped a little backwards. He didn't answer.

"Frack!" Lomas cursed. He rubbed his forehead with his hand for a micron and then he looked at Cree. "Well, we have no choice then. Come on." Lomas turned and pressed the button again. The door opened.

The men held their breath as they stepped out of the corridor into the lively lounge. No one seemed to pay any attention to them.

Lomas had no idea how to find their way out of the naval deck. There were five corridors, all leading to a different direction. And none of them had any signs or marks overhead. Nothing that would reveal where the corridors would lead.

"This is just fracking great!" Lomas hissed. "Okay, we just have to take a chance." Lomas eyed around the lounge to make sure they still hadn't been noticed. Then he took a hold of Cree's tunic sleeve and together they started towards the corridor nearest to them.

"Are you sure the man is still on the Piscean?"

"Where would he go? We have placed guards on the landing bays of all other ships!"

Lomas almost stopped breathing. He knew that voice. Quickly he turned to look to the direction where the voice came from and frowned.

By heavens this sure was his unlucky day. The fracking whiny-voiced man from the control center was approaching Lomas and Cree with the two officers from the prison barge.

"What if the killer has left the fleet completely." One of the guards spoke.

"Are there any security guards placed on the Piscean launching bay?"

"I don't think the man is stupid enough to leave the fleet." The whiny voice replied. "Where would he go, for sagan's sake…"

Lomas eyed feverishly around the lounge to find a hiding place. The three men were getting closer.

"But yes…" The whiny voice carried on. "I have arranged a couple of guards on the lauching bay."

"Come on Cree!" Lomas whispered. Quickly they started back towards the corridor where thay had just come out from.

"That's stupid, Lomas." Cree hissed. "We will only be trapped in that hallway…"

Lomas stopped. He turned to look at Cree. "Did you just call me stupid?…"

Cree swallowed. "I'm sorry, Lomas. It just slipped out of my mouth. I didn't mean…"

Lomas raised his hand, rage gleaming in his eyes.

Cree almost stopped breathing. "Lomas, those guards… We have to run…"

"How nice to see you again."

Lomas' hand fell limb to his side and the fury in the eyes turned to an expression of shock.

Cree stared at the man that had appeared beside them.

"I had no idea you had been placed on the naval deck or in the silicon section for that matter."

The blond man's smile was just as breathtaking as Lomas had remembered.

"But it's very nice to see new pretty faces around here…"

Lomas was suddenly totally lost for words. He couldn't breath, he was paralyzed. Everything else in the whole universe vanished but the angel who was standing in front of him. This was heaven.

"Who are you?" Cree asked the man suspiciously. "Do we know you?"

Lomas couldn't believe his ears. By lords he wanted to kill Cree but he couldn't move. He couldn't take his eyes off the man.

The blond man glanced warmly at Cree and then turned to look at Lomas again.. "Well, not yet but I'm hoping that you will get to know me." The man smiled. "May I take you to the silicon club. They make delicious mushies in that place…"

Lomas swallowed but the chunk in his throat didn't disappear. He still couldn't speak.

"We are in a bit of a hurry…" Cree replied.

What did that boy just say!! Lomas slowly turned to look at Cree with so much rage burning in his heart.

Cree kept his eyes on the blond man. "It was nice meeting you, but we really must get going…"

Lomas hit Cree in the face. Hard.

Cree yelped and his hand flew to the burning spot on his cheek. "Lomas…" Cree could hardly gasp.

Lomas turned towards the blond man, who was looking stunned and startled. "We would… I would be more than happy to accompany you to the silicon club." Lomas croaked and his heart was racing like mad. "I would love to come with you…"

The blond man smiled a little suspiciously. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to cause any trouble…"

Lomas couldn't look away from the those green eyes. He was afraid to look away for even a micron in case the angel would disappear if he did. "You could never cause any trouble…" Lomas was till croaking. "I have been looking for you…"

"You have?" The blond man smiled, surprised.

Lomas was afraid to touch the man's arm. He reached out a little but then let his hand drop. "My angel, you do exist…" He whispered.

"What's going on here?"

The whiny voiced man from the control center took a hold of Lomas' shoulder from behind.

The prison barge officers were standing a little furhter back.

Lomas was horrified. No! It can't end now!! Not now!!

He turned to look at the whiny-voiced man in the eyes. Lomas had no idea what to sayor what to do. He had never felt more scared and frustrated in his life. All the rivers were still. All intensity had just disappeared. This time Lomas was merely a prey.

The blond man smiled politely at the three officers. "I'm so sorry, but I must confess that it was all my fault."

Lomas' jaw dropped. Stunned he stared at the angel.

The whiny-voiced man turned. "I beg your pardon?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The blond man's face was friendly. "I lost my temper and gave a little slap on my little brother's ear…"

The older man glanced at Cree. "This is your brother."

"What?" Cree gasped.

"Oh yes, officer." The blond man smiled. "He's a little stubborn once in awhile but will definately grow up to be a man with dignity."

"Yes…" The older man prolonged the word. "Sometimes you need to raise you family with a strict hand." The man grinned. "I remember when I had to teach my little sister some manners when she was younger. Oh dear, what a hothead she was." The man shook his head. "But believe me, now she's one of the best communicator experts on the the Celestra."

"Hey, wait a centon…" Cree croaked.

"The pressure of responsibility…" The blond man sighed. "You must never underestimate it."

"Never." The older man smiled. "Please excuse us now, we have important duties to care of."

"Certainly, officer." The blond man stood aside to let the old man pass.

Cree was staring at the blond man, horrified.

Lomas too was looking at the man, but in his eyes were a million stars. "You saved me…" Lomas whispered, softly. "You saved me…

"What kind of trouble are you in?" The blond man asked quietly. His eyes were concerned.

"Will you come with me…" Lomas was so afraid to ask.

Cree looked like a fish on dry land as he was trying to say something but no words came out.

"Come with you?" The man's voice was surprised. "Where?"

Lomas hesitated just for a fraction of a micron. Then he took a gentle hold of the man's arm. A thousand lightnings struck straight through his body. Lomas was hardly able to control the shivering. "Come with me…" Lomas pleaded, softly. "Please…"

* * *

"Starbuck! The colonies are gone! All of them!" Athena ran after Starbuck, her voice still so forlorn and full of shock. She reached Starbuck and grabbed a hold of his arm, making him turn.

"What do you mean gone?" Starbuck eyed the girl hesitantly. Athena was obviously talking felgercarb. Starbuck didn't have time for this. He turned and started down the hall again.

Athena ran after him.

For heaven's sake Starbuck didn't want to relive this memory. He tried to squeeze his eyes shut and force his mind to remember the details of the best pyramid game he had ever had. It didn't help. The panic and despair caused by the holocaust and the distruction of the colonies was now so alive around him.

Starbuck kept on heading down the corridor, trying to ignore Athena and the mindless felgercarb that was coming out of her mouth. Oh how much Starbuck wanted to turn and embrace the girl. Comfort her and tell her softly that he knew she was telling the truth. But Starbuck couldn't alter the way he acted.

"Starbuck!" Apollo was running towards him, waving his hand.

"Apollo? What are you doing here?" Starbuck gasped. "You are on Caprica with Adama…"

Apollo looked at Starbuck like he was crazy. "What are you talking about. Why should we go to Caprica. It's destroyed."

Starbuck stared at Apollo. "Exactly because of that! You need to go down to the planet and face those few survivors. You need to tell them to spread the word to everyone who is still alive on the destroyed twelve colonies that the Galactica survived and that we all must flee…"

Apollo shook his head. "You're crazy Starbuck. There is no way I'm taking my father in the middle of that destruction. If there are survivors on the twelve colonies, well, they can take care of themselves"

"Apollo…" Starbuck's eyes were wide.

Apollo was looking at his blond wing man. "Why did you do it Starbuck?"

"What?" Starbuck couldn't understand.

"Betray us." Apollo's face reflected detest. "You gave us into the hands of the cylons. You were the one to lead our worst enemy to the colonies."

Starbuck stared at his friend. "What the frack are you talking about?"

"Why did you destroy us Starbuck." Apollo said quietly.

"Hey wait a centon!" Starbuck gasped. "Are you saying that I'm responsible for this felgercarb…"

Apollo's sad eyes were on his wing man.

"You can't be serious…" Starbuck placed his hands on Apollo's shoulders. Then he remembered that this was not happening. Starbuck burst out laughing. "This is crazy!!"

"You will be taken to the prison barge." Apollo determinedly removed Starbuck hands from his shoulders and eyed the man coldly. "In two sectons you will be executed."

Starbuck couldn't stop laughing. He couldn't take this any more. "Please sagan, let me die now." Starbuck wiped away tears of laughter with the back of his hand. "Or am I already dead? Am I in hell?"

Baltar appeared next to Starbuck and poked him with his elbow. "Hey, sonny. How does it feel like to be punished for the sins committed by your father..."

Starbuck saw Lomas standing further away down the hall. He was wearing a white sealing gown and blood-red lipstick was smeared all over his face.

"I'm you Starbuck." Lomas smiled. "And you are me."

"That's right." Baltar laughter echoed in the hallway. "We are all just one entirety."

Lomas winked. "One happy family…"

Apollo stared at the blond pilot. "I'm so sorry Starbuck. We could have been friends…"

Starbuck couldn't answer. He just couldn't. He couldn't stop laughing.

* * *

Lomas was pulling the blond man by the hand as he was leading the way down the last corridor to the Piscean launching bays. Cree was stumbling behind them, swallowing his tears. His cheek was still burning.

None of the three men had spoken since they had left the naval lounge.

Lomas stopped. He listened for a centon. "Okay, this is it. We'll sneak into the bay and take the first private shuttle we can find." Lomas glanced at the blond man. "We'll take a private one because they are a fraction faster than the larger, public ones." Lomas turned to proceed forward but the blond man stayed put. He gently detached Lomas' grasp from his arm and then looked at the man with the waterpond eyes.

"What is going on?"

"Please, just come with me." Lomas turned to glance at the blond man, pleadingly. "I will tell you everything as soon as we have gotten far enough from the fleet."

"The fleet?" The blond man eyed Lomas warily. "Hey, wait a centon. Are you guys going to leave the fleet?"

Lomas took a deep breath. "Please, please come with me."

Cree was looking at Lomas with hurt in his eyes. "Why for frack's sake do you want this stranger to go with you?" Cree's voice was narked. "You sure didn't want me to come along."

Lomas ignored Cree completely. He kept his eyes on the blond man. "Please…"

The man didn't move. He kept his eyes on Lomas, very wary eyes. "What's going on?"

"Trust me." Lomas was almost praying the man. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

The blond man laughed a little. "Famous last words…"

Lomas couldn't smile even though he wanted to. He kept his pleading eyes on the other man. "Please, come with me. Without you my intensity will be meaningless…"

"What?" The blond stared at Lomas. "Hey hey hey… Hold on a centon. Listen, I work down here as a controller of solium equalizers. I know a place where we can talk, privately. I need to know what this is all about. I can't come with you unless I know we you are going and what this is all about…"

Lomas was almost hysterical. "We don't have time to talk, for sagan's sake! I promise you that I will explain everything to you when we get out of here…"

They heard approaching footsteps. All blood disappeared from Lomas' face, making him look pale as snow.

"Come." The blond man took Lomas' hand. "follow me…"

Together they started running quietly towards the shuttle offices nearby.

The blond man suddenly stopped and looked at Cree who hadn't come with them.. "Hey, you too! Come on! Quickly!"

Cree didn't move. He kept his forlorn eyes on Lomas.

"For sagan's sake Cree. Get you butt down here!" Lomas hissed. He ran to Cree and grasped a hold of his arm. "Come on!"

***

Starbuck opened his eyes. He was lying on a cold beton floor on his back. It was too dark to see anything and Starbuck's head was pounding. He grimaced as he tried to sit up.

Something that felt alike a hand was placed on his shoulder and Starbuck was gently pressed back to lie down. "Where am I?" Starbuck whispered. He couldn't get his voice out properly. He was dying of thirst. "Hey, who are you?"

"You have been brough to the only place in my kingdom where your brain can function normally. This is a room of three dimensions." A voice carried from somewhere in the place. Apparently it was very near to Starbuck, but he just couldn't really tell.

"Your eyes will adjust to the darkness in a couple of centons, but you need to be in a lying position or you will lose consciousness."

"Who are you?" Starbuck asked. "Is this another memory?" Starbuck tried to see something in the dark room. "Is this a memory that I have forgotten?"

"This is reality." The voice sounded amused. "Why, do you often forget memories?"

"Who are you?" Starbuck couldn't care less about the pounding pain inside his head now. He forced himself to sit up. Dizzyness immediately came over him and the darkness started quickly crawling closer. Silvery dots started dancing in front of Starbuck's eyes. He leaned his head against his hands for centons and little by little his full consciousness returned. By heavens he was thirsty. Starbuck lifted his eyes. He could hear someone or something moving in the room. "Baltar?" Starbuck's heart missed a beat. Then he snorted. Why for frack's sake would Baltar of all people be in this strange dark room with him.

"Your father is not here." The voice answered.

Starbuck jerked. "What did you say?"

"I have been watching you memories" Starbuck was sure he could hear the being moving closer. "I have fed on your darkness."

Okay, so this was another nightmare after all. Starbuck sighed with relief. Soon he would wake up and find Apollo sleeping next to him. Man, won't Apollo be amused when he's going to hear about these insane dreams.

"I am the black queen." The voice whispered into Starbuck's ear.

A candle was suddenly lit in the room. Starbuck shielded his eyes with his hand. The figure next to Starbuck had no shape, no form. It had no colour nor were its movements perciptable in the way they could be understood. The being was very close, kneeling beside Starbuck, looking at him. Starbuck could see the being but he couldn't really understand it. Its actions were recognizable but somehow unexplainable. The being didn't make any sense. Yet, in some way Starbuck's mind could comprehend the entirety. "The black queen…" Starbuck breathed. "You mean that black queen?"

"Oh, I didn't know there were others..." The being seemed to raise one eyebrow.

Well, at least it looked like it. Sort of.

Starbuck stared at the queen. By heavens, she sure didn't look anything like a queen. In fact, the being didn't look like anything, period. And yet it looked like everything… But definately not like a queen.

"Errr… Nice to meet you your highness." Starbuck had no idea what to say in a situation like this. Who would!

The queen laughed. "Welcome to my world, specimen."

"Huh?" Starbuck's eyes were wide. "What did you call me?"

"Why are you so afraid of yourself?" The black queen asked curiously.

"I have been watching the dark side of your memories, and all of them end up with fearing what you are yourself." The black leaned a little closer to Starbuck. "Tell me about your childhood…"

"Hey, hang on a centon queenie." Starbuck snorted. "I'm not in the need of a shrink here. And even if I was, give me one good reason why I should trust you. No offence your highness."

"Ooooh, touchy!" The queen smiled. "You are a funny specimen. Well, let me give you some advice…"

"Thanks, but…" Starbuck's eyes tried to find a door somewhere in that room. "Okay, if you really want to give me advice, then tell me how do I get out of this place."

"There is only one way to leave the forbidden city."

The queen's face was too close. It made Starbuck uneasy.

"You cannot leave unless I decide to transcend you with my mind."

Great, Starbuck rolled his eyes.

"Perhaps I will soon transcend you." The black queen whispered softly. "Perhaps…"

"Oh, you might possibly let me go?" Starbuck smiled sarcastically. "Well, aren't we lucky…"

"You are a darker specimen than most." The queen's eyes were on Starbuck. "And it intrigues me…"

"Man, I always thought I was blond…" Starbuck grinned.

The queen was silent for a micron. Her eyes seemed observant. "So funny…" The smile on the queen's face had faded. "Do not underestimate my rage, specimen. It can be very easily awaken."

Starbuck didn't say anything. Why in the names of the lords did he always have to bump into these power tripping crackpots.

"As I said, your subconscious fears intrigue me, so I am considering of transcending you." The queen continued. "But only because it entertains me to be aware of the fact that sooner or later you will have to confront those fears. To face yourself."

"All right. Give me a mirror and I'll face myself." Starbuck mumbled. "Then you've had your fun and you can let me go."

The queen's eyes diminished. Her voice suddenly changed from pleasant and low to almost unaudible. "My rage is about to awaken…"

Starbuck clicked his mouth shut. The queen really did look insane, and with these alien fruitcakes, you never knew how unpredictably they would react… "If I transcend you…" The queen was now merely whispering. "You have to promise me that you will let me see the battle of your mind. To be present in your final confrontation through your eyes…"

Starbuck still didn't say anything. What could one say to such felgercarb. This didn't make any sense.

The black queen stood up and moved little further away. Then she turned to look at Starbuck. "Before you are transcended, I will entwine my mind with yours. Entwine eleven dimensions with three." The queen smiled apologetically. "Oops, I'm sorry, I meant four dimensions, including time."

Starbuck kept his disbelieving eyes on the being.

"Then I will detach my mind from yours when the confrontation is over. I can promise you that I will not interfere in any way. You will not be aware of the entwining."

"Really?" Starbuck snorted.

"I will have to submit enormous capacities of energy when I am entwined." The queen continued. "So, if you want me not to interfere, you will have to go and face the bases of your existence now, immediately after you are transcended from the forbidden city."

"Is that so…" Starbuck rolled his eyes.

"If you disobey, you will die." The black queen smiled. "Or worse, you will be chained to the world of eleven dimensions for the rest of your life. Do you know what that means?"

"Well, I'm sure you're going to tell me…" starbuck replied with sarcasm.

"It means that you will relive all your memories until you die." The queen's voice was still too quiet. "And those memories will be the inaccurate, distorted ones.

Starbuck swallowed. "Okay, I'll do what you want. But do you mind clarifying… I mean, so far I have no idea what it is that I am about to do…"

The queen smiled. Her eyes enlargened again. She walked closer to Starbuck, knelt beside him and touched his face.

Starbuck flinched a little but he kept his eyes on the queen.

"I will now show you images of options what will and what might not happen." The queen's hand was still caressing Starbuck's face, his forehead. "These are visions of your yet unfulfilled future. It will be in your power to choose which one of these visions will become your reality." The queen's voice was melodious. "But if you decide not to carry out one of these visions, one of these destinies." The queen smiled. "You will remain trapped in distorted memories until you die. Now close your eyes…"

Starbuck closed them, slowly.

"After you see this you will understand." The queen softly touched Starbuck's hair. "And then the dicision to let live or let die will be all yours…"

***

The blond man quietly closed the door of the equipment room and turned to look at the others. "Okay, what's going on?"

Lomas had no idea how he could ever explain the rivers, or the meaning of intensity. There were no words for such. Not now anyway. Lomas walked to the man and looked at him straight in the eyes. "I never believed there could be such intense thing as what I felt for you the very micron I saw you after the centar of prayer." Lomas eyes were so honest and his stare didn't falter.

Cree flinched violently. He tried not to listen.

"I don't think there is a word for what I feel." Lomas' voice was soft. "You are from the heavens. The only angel I have ever believed in."

Cree couldn't bare to listen to this. His heart was being torn out of his chest.

"I'm going to leave the fleet, because I am different than all the others." Lomas kept his now eyes on the man. "I can't explain it. I don't know how to…"

The blond man's face was tender as he was listening.

"But I need to go. I can't stay here." Lomas' voice choked. "And if you decide not to come with me, I will die…" Lomas paused for a micron.

The blond man walked closer to Lomas and took a hold of his hand.

"…Because, if you are not coming with me…" Lomas' huge eyes were veiled with tears. "I will not go…"

Cree pressed his hands tighter against his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

"…And if I stay…" Lomas had to turn his eyes away. "…They will destroy me."

The blond man extended his hand and touched Lomas' face very tenderly.

Lomas lifted his eyes and the look in them made the blond man swallow.

Cree stood up. He violently pushed Lomas and the blond man aside and started to run towards the door of the office. Tears were flowing down Cree's cheeks. He just had to get out of the room right now before the pain in his heart would destroy him. And perhaps outside, surrounded by the silence of the corridor, Cree could pretend that this had only been a terrible nightmare. That this had not happened. Perhaps he could even find a blade of some sort somewhere in the bay storage cabins. Frack you Lomas. I'm going to cut my face until you can't recognize me any more. Frack you. Frack you! Without saying a word Cree rushed out the door, which closed with a bang that echoed eerily in the office.

Astral looked at Lomas, concerned. "I think you should go after him."

Lomas didn't answer. He took the blond man's hand and pressed it tightly against his own cheek.

"My angel…" Lomas closed his eyes. "Please come with me…"

The blond man grinned. "Errr, actually, my name is Astral..."

Lomas leaned closer and kissed the blond man softly. He had to fight so hard to control the fire in his heart, to control the passion of the rivers. Oh lords, how much Lomas' whole being yearned to be inside the man's soul, his entirety. Be careful with intensity, Lomas' mind kept warning him. And he would be, very very careful. Lomas definately did not want to frighten the angel away now.

Lomas opened his eyes but his lips still lingered very close. So close that Lomas' breathing was caressing the other man. "Angel Astral…" Lomas whispered. "I have been waiting for you all my life. Please come with me."

* * *

Starbuck opened his eyes.

The black queen was still there, kneeling beside Starbuck, looking at him. "You don't need to speak." The queen smiled. "I know what your decision is."

Starbuck turned his eyes away. He didn't want anyone to see the darkness of his mind that his eyes might reveal by accident. Starbuck knew now he was a monster after all. Just like his insane brother. Just like dear father, who was going to be murdered by the hand of his own son.

* * *

Astral kept his puzzled green eyes on Lomas. No, it didn't scare him to hear about the other man's feelings. He wasn't anguished to be suddenly holding someone's heart in the palm of his hands. But it did bother him that the other man was so… definate. Like being obsessed.

"I'm going to be very honest with you" The blond man spoke. "What I feel for you now is unexplainable enchantment, almost uncontrollable fascination. You are something that I have never before experienced… Something overwhelming…" Astral was speaking softly. "But love…"

"Please don't speak." Lomas said tenderly.

"Love is a mere word. A concept that is far less than the beauty and the intensity with what we are surrounded."

Lomas touched the other man's lips.

"I was created for you."

Astral fell silent for a moment. Then he spoke. "You know nothing about me, Lomas."

"There is nothing about you that I do not know." Lomas smiled. "Everything else that you are, or what you have experienced, they are just mere details. Meaningless."

"But…" Astral wanted to talk some sense into Lomas' head. "Hey, I'm a Pisceanian for sagan's sake. Doesn't that matter?…"

"Why should it matter?" Lomas smiled. "Nobody's perfect… Except you."

Astral shook his head, partly amused, partly confused. "You must be aware of the fact that us pisceanians are allowed to have physical contact only once in seven yahrens. It's our religion…You do know that don't you?"

"You will change, my angel. In fact, you are already changing." Lomas took the man's hand and kissed it. "Besides." Lomas smiled. "We just had physical contact, dear. We kissed…"

Astral grinned. "Okay, I admit it. I've never been that religious to start with…"

"And that was so much more than a kiss." Lomas' voice was grew even more gentle. "Not only did our lips touch, but our souls touched too, they entwined.That wasn't mere physical contact. It was the meaning of everything." Lomas was looking deep into Astral's eyes. "Whatever you are, it is what I am living for."

"Are you saying that you wouldn't care whether I had murdered a man or not…" Astral kept his disbelieving eyes on Lomas. Something was definately disturbing about this pale-eyed man, but Astral was much too enchanted to be on his guard.

"Would you care if I was a murderer?" Lomas asked, eyeing Astral very closely. "Would you accept my darkness?"

"I don't know." Astral replied truthfully. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Yes." Lomas answered. He didn't turn his eyes away from the blond man.

Astral gasped. "You have?…"

Lomas grinned. "Well, I used to be in the military. I've killed a frack of a lot of cylons…"

Astral laughed.

Lomas kept his eyes on the blond, now unreserved man. "I have never killed an innocent human being. I am not a monster, Astral." Lomas' eyes were very honest. At this very moment he was telling the truth. He couldn't remember killing the co-ordinator boy. The rivers were too still.

***

"Come on!" Ensign Daniel hissed impatiently. He kept his alert eyes on the yet deserted hallway. "What's the matter with you? We've done this before…"

Ensign Mic hesitated. "I know, but… What if we get caught…"

Daniel sighed agonized. "Okay. What's gonna happen, huh? The worst punishment we can get from drinking ambrosa illicitely in the private sector of the Galactica is probably some extra duty shifts…"

"Yeah, I guess…" Mic didn't really want to do this. Besides, drinking nicked ambrosa in a damp storage cabin wasn't that much fun, but Mic didn't want to disappoint Daniel…

"Okay." Mic grinned. "Let's do it."

"That's the spirit!" Daniel's smile was wide. Quietly he pushed open the door and the boys slipped into the dark room.

"Light a match Mic." Daniel hissed. "There should be a mattress sometwhere. We can sit on it…What the frack!!…" Daniel suddenly stumbled on something.

"What?" Mic's surprised voice came from somewhere in the darkness. "What is it??"

"I don't know…" Daniel tried to see what the thing had been. "Light the the damn match will you!!"

"Okay, okay!" Mic was mumbling. "As soon as I can find the… Aaah, there."

The room suddenly became mysterious and alive. The ensigns saw each other's shadowy faces in the flickering of the tiny flame.

"Hey, you look cute in this light." Daniel winked.

Mic blushed and quickly turned his eyes away. He saw something on the floor. "Hey Daniel…"

"What?" The other boy turned to look at the direction of Mic's stare. What is it?…" Daniel narrowed his eyes.

"Oh shit!!!" Mic's face was pale as snow. "Let's get the frack out of here!!"

"Why?? What it is?" Daniel raised one eyebrow. "What's the matter with you for sagan's sake. You've been acting weird all day. If I didn't know you better I would think…" Daniel gasped as he saw what was lying on the floor.

A man.

Cadet Tate, eyes wide open in a pool of blood.

* * *

Chapter 17

"Have you seen Cassiopeia?"

"What?" Rigel emerged from the bedroom and glanced at Sheba. "What are you mumbling, girl? Didn't your mother teach you not to speak with you mouth full."

"Cassiopeia…" Sheba fell quiet for a micron and concentrated on chewing and swallowing the tulipian bud she had just put in her mouth. "Have you seen her today?"

"I think she's still sleeping." Rigel replied absent mindedly while looking in the mirror and adding gloss on her lips.

"But it's the middle of the day, for sagan's sake…"

"Yeah, but she's always in her bedroom…" Rigel started brushing her long hair.

Sheba swallowed another bud and took a sip of parbon juice. "That's what I'm worried about, Rigel. She's becoming a hermit."

Rigel glanced at Sheba and grinned. "I'm sure Cassie is just fine. She's just depressed about her tecra implants…"

"I don't thinks it's just that." Sheba answered thoughtfully. "Maybe we should try to talk to her…"

"Well, I have to get going." Rigel took one more critical look at herself in the mirror and straightened the collar of her launch controller's uniform. "My duty shift starts in fifteen centons." Rigel walked over to give Sheba a quick kiss and then turned to leave the quarters. "See you before sleep cycle…" She grinned just before disappearing.

Sheba eyed the closed door of Cassiopeia's bedroom. Then she arose from the chair and walked to that door. "Cassie?" Sheba knocked. "Are you awake?"

No answer.

Sheba tried to open the door but to her surprise it was locked. "Cassie?" Sheba raised her voice a little.

Still nothing but silence.

"Oh well, maybe she is still sleeping." Sheba shrugged. She returned to the table and continued to enjoy the buds and the parbon juice and soon Sheba forgot all about her blond friend as she sank into the enticing world of Military Magazine.

In her bedroom Cassiopeia was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the two dozen zecratans she had just poured onto the palm of her hand. The empty bottle was on the floor.

* * *

"Are you ready for the transcendence?"

"Hold on." Starbuck hesitated. "I don't know where Baltar's base ship is. How can I…"

"Don't worry. I will make you aware of the exact co-ordinates while the trancending happens." The queen stopped strolling around the room. "Anything else?"

"Well, yeah…" Starbuck looked at the queen. "I only have a viper. I can't really cover longer distances than thirty or fourty hectares at the most. If the ship is outside system Escapade I'm in deep felgercarb…"

"The cylon base ship 7 is now 26 hectares away from the fleet. Exactly 25 point 14 hectares from the surface of the planet Probability. You won't have any trouble reaching the ship."

Starbuck eyed the queen curiously. "How do you know…"

"Please. I'm tired of explaining things to you." The queen was getting impatient. "Besides you wouldn't understand it anyway."

"Does it have something to do with the dimension thing?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes, partly." The queen kept her eyes on the man as she walked closer. "Now, can we proceed…"

* * *

Lomas opened the door quietly and looked down the corridor. It was empty. "Okay, let's go." He took a hold of Astral by his hand. The touch sent a violent shiver through Lomas' body.

The two men ran to the metallic doors at the end of the hallway, only to find that the doors were locked.

"Frack!" Lomas frowned. "I can't believe this…"

"Hey, don't forget that I work here." Astral grinned. He quickly inserted the key code into the receiver and the doors slid open.

There were couple of mechanics here and there around the bay, but none of them payed any attention the the two men.

"Shouldn't we find your young friend?" Astral glanced at Lomas.

"Why?" Lomas didn't look at the blond man. He kept his eyes on the mechanics and the vehicles, trying to spot a suitable shuttle to steal.

"Well…" Astral swallowed. "I thought…"

"You thought wrong." Lomas said absent mindedly. "Hey what do you think... The betaordinated shuttle over there seemes to be a good choice. It smaller than the carriers but quite big for a private one…"

"Well, it sure is bigger than most." Astral smiled. "It belongs to the commander of the Piscean."

"It's his unlucky day then, because that's the one we are going to steal. Come on…" Lomas started to go.

"Hey wait!" Astral took a hold of Lomas' arm and made him turn. "I never said I was coming with you, Lomas."

Lomas grinned. "You never said that you wouldn't…"

Lomas forced himself to believe the blond man was only hesitating. In normal circumstances Lomas would have considered that to be rather intriguing, a sort of a challenge, but in this case it was shattering Lomas' heart to tiny pieces…

"My beautiful angel." Lomas whispered. "Please, don't test me like this. There is no need to…"

"I'm very serious." Astral didn't turn his green eyes from Lomas.

"So am I." Lomas took Astral hands. "Without you I am nothing."

Astral's face was sad. "Lomas, listen…"

The sound of footsteps made Lomas turn. He saw two mechanics walking towards the doorway. "Frack, they'll see us! We are trapped!"

"Calm down." Astral hissed. "Wait…"

Lomas could hardly breath. He leant his back tightly against the metallic wall and tried to become invisible. The mechanics were approaching…

"Don't worry." Astral's whisper was barely audibly. "I'm quite sure they are heading to the omega section or to the detacking areas. The mechanics don't usually go to the offices…"

The two men were now only a metron away. Lomas kept his eyes on them and prepaired to be ready to strike the very micron they would become a threat…

The mechanics turned and disappeared into another corridor.

Lomas closed his eyes and allowed himself to slowly breathe out. His hands were still shaking. "That was too close…"

He opened his eyes and looked at Astral. "Come on, let's go. Now is the perfect time…"

"There he is!! That's the man!!"

Lomas and Astral turned, slowly like in a nightmare.

The whiny-voiced man was at the end of the corridor, shouting and pointing his forefinger at Lomas.

Three pisceanian guards entered the hallway just behind the whiny-voiced man.

"Frack! Frack! Frack!" Lomas cursed with devotion. Quickly he looked around the launching bay and his eyes lingered for a micron on the betaordinated shuttle that was only a few metrons away. Lomas' mind was working with the speed of a laser generator.

The pisceaning guards were now running towards Lomas and Astral with their weapons drawn. For sagan's sake, Lomas would have given twenty yahrens of his life for a little laser gun.

Astral turned his frightened eyes to take a look at Lomas who quickly took a hold of Astral's hand. "Let's go!"

They started ranning towards the betaordinated shuttle as fast as they could. "We'll make it! Come on!" Lomas was urging, breathless. Astral almost stumbled on a tiny suction flatbox on the floor and sprained his ankle. He yelped.

Lomas quickly turned to look at Astral, concerned. "Are you okay?…"

"I'm okay, keep going…" Astral was out of breath too.

A hand grabbed a strong hold of Lomas and jerked him backwards.

"Not so fast, corporal."

"NO!" Lomas tried desparately to fight free from the grip but it was no use.

The puffier one of the prison barge officers was determinedly holding onto Lomas' shoulder, while the shorter one was running towards them from the bay elevators, his hand reaching for the weapon in the holster.

"Run!" Lomas cried to Astral. "RUN!"

The blond man didn't move.

He kept his frightened eyes on Lomas who was being held by the officer.

"Astral, please run!" Lomas pleaded.

A shot echoed in the launching bay and the officer holding onto Lomas' shoulder suddenly let go and bent down with a surprised, choked cry.

Astral gasped.

Cree was standing in front of the betaordinated shuttle, pointing his laser gun at the guards.

He hurriedly glanced at Lomas. "Come on!!!"

"Cree, what the frack are you doing?" Lomas shouted. "Are you out of your felgercarbing mind?"

"Come on, Lomas!" Cree shouted, his voice trembling. "We have to get out of this place!!"

"Young man, put down the gun." The whiny-voiced man tried to keep his voice calm. "Do not make things more difficult for yourself."

"Lomas, please!!!" Cree was almost crying. The pisceanian guards seemed to be getting over their hesitancy and started running towards Lomas and Cree.

"Stop right there!" Cree peeped, still pointing the gun at the guards. "Stop!"

The guards kept running. One of them was almost able to grab Lomas now.

Cree started firing.

Lomas dived on the floor to take shelter but Astral just stood there, completely paralyzed.

"You're crazy!!!" Lomas screamed at Cree.

Cree kept desperately firing until all the guards had been hit. The whiny-voiced man had dashed out of the corridor, obviously frightened as frack but mainly to quickly get some help.

"I'm doing all this for you, Lomas." Cree whispered when the sound of gunshots silenced.

Lomas raised his head and looked straight into Cree's eyes. "Why for sagan's sake?"

Cree smiled, so sadly. "Because I love you, Lomas."

Lomas couldn't turn his eyes away from the boy. He couldn't stop his heart from breaking.

* * *

Apollo had to squeeze his eyes shut and open them again. "What the frack!…" Quickly he turned towards Boomer who was still fighting his way through the grass. It must have grown at least a metron and a half just overnight.

"Just my luck…" Boomer was out of breath. "Even the vegetation is plotting against me…"

"Boomer! Starbuck's viper is gone!!"

Boomer looked up. "What?" he puffed. "Speak up. I can't hear you…"

"Starbuck's viper…" Apollo stared at the two remaining vipers. "It's not here… It's gone…"

Boomer reached Apollo's side. "Stop talking felgercarb…" He paused. There were only two vipers left. "I can't believe this!" Boomer frowned. "One of them is stolen."

"No, Boomer. It's not stolen!" Apollo's impatient voice cut in. "Can't you see that it's Starbuck's viper that has gone…"

"So?" Boomer glanced at Apollo and raised one eyebrow. "Someone decided to take Starbuck's viper instead of mine. So what?" Boomer rubbed his forehead and sighed. "And to be honest, it doesn't really surprise me…" Boomer grinned. "My viper is in a frack of a lot more bad condition than yours or Starbuck's. Just look at the rusty spots…"

"Starbuck has returned from the forbidden city. I just know it…" Apollo could hardly control his voice.

Boomer turned to take a longer, a very suspicious look at his friend and fellow warrior. "Is that so? And what else does your magic crystal ball say…"

"I'm not joking Boomer." Apollo took a hold of Boomer's arm and pointed to a spot in the grass. "Look!"

"What is it?" Boomer narrowed his eyes and watched as Apollo picked the thing up.

"It's Starbuck's lucky cubit!"

A shiny piece of golden metal shone in the sun. Boomer rolled his eyes. "Hey, come on. I know the man loves cubits but… "

"No, Boomer." Apollo's eyes were shining. "This is definately Starbuck's…"

"Apollo, calm down. You've obviosly spent too much time underwater…"

Apollo grinned. "This is not a cubit Boomer. It's a… well, it's sort of an inside joke…"

"A joke that you're going to tell me, I hope..." Boomer kept his eyes on the dark-haired pilot.

Apollo's eyes were twinkling as he looked at the piece of metal he was holding in his hand. "Boomer, remember that evening when Boxey and Starbuck were playing pyramid at the officers' club…"

"Which evening?" Boomer raised one eyebrow. "I do recall several ones..."

"Yeah, but this one was different." Apollo was smiling. "You remember it!"

"I do?" "Of course you do. It happened a couple of sectons after Starbuck and I had established our relationship." Apollo grinned. "And it was one of those nights when Boxey won."

"He won every time, Apollo…" Boomer sneered. "Starbuck always let the boy win. Intentionally..."

"Let me tell you a little secret, Boomer." Apollo's grin was wide. "No, he didn't. And it sure frustrated the frack out of him.." Apollo eyed Boomer, eyes sparkling. "But don't you dare to mention this to Starbuck or you'll be in deep felgercarb…"

Boomer grinned.

"Anyway, it was time for Boxey to go to sleep cycle. Athena took the boy by the hand and started to lead him away from the club. But Boxey suddenly let go of Athena's hand and ran back to Starbuck to give him a good night kiss." Apollo's eyes were shining. "You remember how Boxey took Starbuck's hand and placed one of Muffit's spare circuits on it. You know how those things look a little like cubits…"

"Uh huh…" Boomer remembered.

Boxey had gently closed Starbuck's hand around the circuit. "This will bring you luck the next time we play, Starbuck" Boxey had smiled. "You're going to need it."

Starbuck had kissed the little boy's head and winked. "I'm gonna beat you next time, soldier."

"No you won't." Boxey had grinned. "But I sure am happy that I have two daddies…"

Then Boxey had ran back to Athena and they had left the club.

"Starbuck kept that circuit." Apollo smiled dreamily. "And he always called it his lucky cubit…"

"Okay, It's Starbuck's, I'll give you that much." Boomer consented. "But he could have dropped it when we first landed on this planet…"

"I saw Starbuck playing with it in Calbâ's living room, Boomer." Apollo looked at the other man. "Starbuck had the lucky cubit the night he disappeared…"

* * *

Athena glanced at her timepiece for what must have been a hundreth time. Why wasn't the shuttle ready for boarding yet. For felgercarb's sake, the shuttle should have been launched five centons ago.

Athena started biting her nails. Frack, there was no time to waste. Salik would leave for duty in a mere centar and Athena had to get on the Tauranian before that. But by lords this felt good. The thrill…

* * *

Did you check the quantitative data on the solium depot? We need three full tanks to be able to cover 27 hectares…"

"All the five tanks are full." Cree heard Lomas' voice echoing from somewhere near the shuttle doors and shouted back from inside the flightdeck.

"Are you ready, Lomas? We need to close the doors. There will be guards down here in mere microns." Cree heard a low hum as the shuttle engines activated and he smiled, pleased. "Great, the thing works. Hey Lomas we really need to get going!" Cree lifted his voice again.

Lomas didn't answer.

"Hey, I'm serious!" Cree shouted. "Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and the laser denudation reactors of the launching bay, the Pisceanian bridge control must be by now aware of the course of events that just took place…"

"Hold on a micron Cree!" Lomas answered with an impatient voice. He was standing by the door of the shuttle and his waterpond eyes were shocked.

"I'm not coming with you, Lomas." Astral remained standing two or three metrons away. He kept his unflinching gaze on Lomas and there was a sad, apologetic look on the man's beautiful face.

"I'm begging you, my angel." Lomas' tried to swallow away the tears that burned in his throat. "Please don't kill me like this…" Lomas closed his eyes for a micron to try to gain control of himself. When he opened his eyes again Astral could see they were veiled with tears.

"Lomas, we have to go!" Cree shouted from the cockpit. "The shuttle scanner shows that there are already people on the way down here…"

"You have to go, Lomas." Astral said softly.

"I'm not going without you." Lomas whispered. "Without you I have no reason to go."

"Lomas…" Astral pleaded. "You have to save yourself. For me."

"Why?" Lomas couldn't understand.

"Because I care for you." Astral replied, quietly.

"Then come with me, please…" Lomas was begging from the bottom of his heart.

"No Lomas." Astral smiled melancholically. "But I'll be waiting for you to return. Some day…"

Seven guards rushed into the lauching bay. A shot from one of the laser guns almost hit Lomas, who avoided it in a matter of only a hundreth part of a micron.

"I'm closing the doors!" Cree screamed from the flightdeck. "I'm closing the doors NOW!"

Lomas couldn't turn his pained gaze away from Astral as the metal doors started closing in front of him. Lomas felt so powerless, so lost. There was now nothing he could do now but watch his life, his soul disappearing out of reach in front of his eyes.

More shots were fired. Lomas didn't give a frack. He kept staring at the angel. The veil of tears in Lomas' eyes made Astral's figure glimmer. Like an angel…

"I'll be waiting for you." Astral whispered. There were tears in his eyes too.

The doors were now almost closed. Lomas grabbed them and tried desperately to force them open. "NO!!!" Lomas screamed. "I'M NOT GOING WITHOUT YOU!!!" But what could a man do when facing the power of technology. The merciless doors closed. The last thing Lomas could see was beautiful Astral standing there, looking so forlorn. And his barely audible whisper lingered amonst the sound of laser shots.

"It's too late, Lomas. " Astral's lips mimed. "It's too late…"

The doors closed.

Lomas kept banging his fists against the door. "I'LL COME BACK FOR YOU ASTRAL!!!! I WILL RETURN!!!!!!!"

Suddenly there was an oscillation as the shuttle took off.

"I WILL COME BACK…." Lomas lost all his strength and he fell silent as he leaned his limp body against the metal doors. Lomas buried his face into his hands and slowly slid to the floor. "In some way, I will return…" Lomas whispered. "I promise you…" He knew he wouldn't.

Lomas let go of life and let himself to sink into the bottomless ocean of despair. There was no reason to fight now. Just emptiness.

Cree glanced at Lomas from inside the flightdeck, worried as frack. It was such a nightmare seeing the man suffering so much. Cree sighed. When his mentor was suffering, Cree was suffering too. After all, they were one.

A little smile lit up Cree's face as he was directing the shuttle away from the Piscean. Finally Lomas would belong to only him.

* * *

Starbuck checked that the co-ordinates inserted into the control computer of his viper were accurate. He sure didn't want to get lost this far away in space. Starbuck now had every intention of returning to Apollo and the fleet after he had met Baltar face to face.

For the first time since he had met Lomas on the Sagittarian, Starbuck felt calm and balanced. He had no need to run away now, not from himself. Not from the past. Not from the dark side that he had come to discover inside.

The dark side was always there, in every human mind. It was unavoidable. The way of existence. Yes, Starbuck realized that now.

But there was one more thing he needed to do before he could receive a complete peace of mind from his past. Starbuck needed to face the source of his darkness. He wanted to face Baltar. To talk to the man... And then shoot the fracker...

* * *

"Are you saying that Starbuck's viper never landed on the Galactica!" Apollo stared at Rigel.

"I have not seen him land nor have I received any data from his viper." Rigel answered. "Should he have returned?"

"What about before you started your duty shift, could he have landed before you arrived to the bridge?" Apollo was persistent.

"There are no markings about the landing of a viper, Captain." Rigel eyed Apollo. "Any viper, except now yours and liutenant Boomer's. I'm sorry."

Apollo looked at Boomer who was standing behind him. This couldn't be. Starbuck's viper had left the planet Probablity before theirs and there was no other place Apollo could possibly imagine Starbuck would want to go to. Unless he had gotten lost… Apollo suddered. Then he shed the horrible thought. That was much too unlikely. Starbuck was the best pilot in the blue squadron. Frack, he was the best pilot on the whole Galactica. There was no way he could have gotten lost.

"Maybe you were wrong about Starbuck." Boomer said, warily. "What if his viper really was stolen by some Probabilitian arsehole…"

"I know Starbuck left the planet." Apollo looked at Rigel again. "Can you track the viper using the long range scanners?"

"There is no sign of a viper within 20 hectares." Rigel turned her eyes away from the computer screen and looked at Apollo. "There was only a Pisceanian shuttle, but it disappeared from the scanners a couple of centons ago…"

"This is impossible." Apollo couldn't understand. He looked at Rigel. "Would you try again…"

* * *

Starbuck double checked the tracking scrambler to make sure it was turned on. The pilot smiled. Without the visibility of alpha, beta or gamma waves there would be no way he could be spotted by a cylon radar or a scanner. Any scanner for that matter.

Starbuck eyed the viper's radar. He would reach the base ship 7 in approximately fourty seven centons. It sure wasn't going to be easy to aboard a cylon ship but if the viper was invisible in the base ship's scanners, maybe Starbuck would be able to sneak by without any interference from cylon squadrons.

* * *

Thank the sagans there were no vipers on the Piscean. The Galactican ones never had a chance to launch their vipers fast enough. When the word about the escape had reached the bridge of the Galactica, the pisceanian shuttle had already vanished from scanners.

Cree checked once more that he really had remembered to push the seven red tracking control buttons to position omega. Of course he had. Those Galactican vipers would never be able to follow them now. The tracking inhibition device was turned on. Cree grinned. What an enormous stroke of luck that the shuttle they had stolen belonged to the commander of the Piscean. It sure was a frack of a lot better equipped than any other shuttle they could possibly have gotten their hands on.

Cree turned to take a look at Lomas, who was still cuddled up on the floor next to the shuttle doors. Cree wanted to so much to leave the flightdeck for even a micron and go to the conveyance sector to comfort his mentor. Cree yearned to kiss the man softly on the lips and look deep into those forlorn waterpond eyes. To run his fingers gently through Lomas' wavy hair and tell the man that from now on everything would be fine. Cree would always be there to take care of him… The boy sighed. He couldn't leave the fracking shuttle controls.

* * *

Lomas' eyes were not closed. They were staring at the emptiness that had devoured him. There was nothing he could hold onto now. He wasn't alive any more.

Lomas didn't move as the nightmares arrived. He didn't make a sound when they whispered words of death into his ear. Nor did he care when he felt those clammy hands start reaching all over him, desecrating him.

Lomas surrendered without a fight to the blades of darkness. He didn't even sigh when those blades pierced into his eyes and cut into his mind to destroy all what was left of intensity.

Lomas was ready to die. Because he was already dead.

* * *

Chapter 18

The shuttle landed on the Tauranian.

Athena unfastened her seatbelt and watched the other passengers pass her by. It wasn't until the very last one of them had gotten off the shuttle when Athena rose. She checked that the gun was still well hidden inside the cape and then she moved to the aisle.

"Have a nice day, officer." The man-on-duty who had collected the duckats earlier smiled at Athena by the doorway. She absent mindedly nodded at him.

Athena stepped out of the shuttle and looked around the landing bay. She had no idea which direction to proceed. Athena had never been on the Tauranian before. Nor did she know where the quarters of doctor Salik were. She strolled towards the elevators, a metron or two behind the other shuttle passengers.

A good looking bay technician winked at her but Athena didn't bother to react.

There was a strong smell of solium in the air. Much stronger than on the Galactica. It kind of surprised Athena, whose first thought was that the bay filters were deteriorated and could be a possible health hazard. Athena knew 98 percent of the colonial passenger freighters were older and at least a third more unreliable than battlestars, and, not suprisingly, less equipped too. To be honest, In normal circumstances, most of the ships in the fleet wouldn't meet the colonial flying standards and would be withdrawn from aviation. Perhaps the Tauranian was one of them.

Athena followed the other passengers into an elevator. Now, all she had to do was to find Salik…

* * *

"Lomas, we will reach the destination in fifteen centons." Cree shouted from the flightdeck. "I think you should come here…"

Lomas didn't answer. Cree turned to looked at the man who was still leaning against the shuttle door and staring into the distance without seeing a thing. "Lomas, for sagan's sake…"

Cree made up his mind. He left the shuttle without control and exited the cockpit. He walked to Lomas, knealt beside him and took his hand.

Lomas violently teared his hand away.

Cree was quiet for a long time, just looking at the man, puzzled. Lomas seemed to totally ignore the presence of the boy.

"Your life could have been so different…" Cree finally said, simply.

Lomas didn't react. He kept staring into the unknown.

"…That is why you are here." Cree stood up and walked to the flightdeck without turning to look back.

Lomas turned his head and his eyes followed the boy going.

* * *

Apollo knocked at the door of his father's quarters. He had made up his mind to launch squadrons to search for Starbuck but for that he needed the commander's permission. No one seemed to come and answer the door although Apollo could swear he had heard voices from inside the quarters. He knocked again. "Come on! What's taking so long…"

The door opened.

Apollo's mouth dropped open and his jaw almost thumped to the floor as he saw Kadeem standing in the doorway, wearing a pink tutu. "What the frack!!…"

"Hello Apollo." Kadeem smiled.

"Who is it?" Apollo heard his father's voice from inside the room.

"What in the names of the lords is going on here…" Apollo hardly got out a word.

"Come in, Apollo." Kadeem opened the door a little wider to let Apollo into the quarters.

Apollo could do nothing but stare.

"I see you're back, son." Adama smiled. "Then why don't you join us. We are just about to have mushies for dinner…"

"Father… what are you doing"…" Apollo hardly got out a word.

"Oh, you mean this…" Adama glanced at the yellow boob tube he was wearing. "This is just something that Tigh gave me yesterday." Adama grinned. "You like it?"

"Do I like it?" Apollo stuttered.

Tigh appeared into the living room, wearing a pair of black silk stockings and an apron with pictures of little pink baby capricorns on it. "Oh, hi there Apollo. How was Probability?"

"Are you all out of your felgercarbing minds…" Apollo didn't know whether to burst out laughing or run out of the room screaming bloody murder. "What the frack is all this?…"

Adama smiled. "A new experience."

"The mushies are done. Shall I open a bottle of ambrosa now?…" Giles came from the kitchen. "Or do you guys want grog instead of…"

"Giles, we've got company." Tigh cut in.

Apollo stared at Giles' velvet, scarlet coloured evening gown and the blond wig which reminded him of an old-time Aerian movie star, a sex symbol of her era.

"For sagan's sake Giles…"

"Staying for dinner, Apollo?" Giles smiled.

"I have to go…" Apollo mumbled. "I think Boomer's looking for me…"

Adama lazily arose from the couch. "Hold on, Apollo. We need to talk…"

* * *

A hand took a hold of Cree's shoulder from behind.

"Contact the base ship 7 using beta waves and remember to turn off the tracking scrambler."

Cree turned, very surprised to find Lomas unexpectedly having appeared into the cockpit. Cree grinned, but tried to hide it. "Yes corporal."

"When you have established connection with the cylon centurion in charge, let me do the talking." Lomas kept his expressionless eyes on the space behind the shuttle windshield. "We want to aboard that ship without combat."

"Yes corporal." Cree just couldn't stop grinning.

"Cree…" Lomas turned to look at the boy.

Cree lifted his eyes. "Yes?"

"Thank you." Lomas smiled.

Cree blushed.

* * *

The cerargyrite section. This should be it.

Athena pressed a button and the metal door slid open. Athena drew the gun out from under her cape and stepped through the doorway.

A tauranian cook whom Athena had run into a couple of centons earlier had told her where to find doctor Salik and his family. His family… Athena grimaced. Fracking liar of a boray!

Athena continued down the corridor, eyeing the doors. According to the tauranian cook, Salik's… and his fracking family's quarters were the fourth one from the hallway entrance.

One…

Two…

* * *

"Permission to aboard the base ship 7 granted by commander Baltar." A monotonous metallic voice of a cylon centurion flooded through the shuttle communicator.

Lomas smiled a little. Obviously he had not been mistaken about his father's well-hidden weakness. His stupid carelessness when it came to his son… Lomas leaned a little closer to the communicator microphone and said his sarcastic "By your command." Then he looked at Cree. "Carefully follow the co-ordinates the centurion will shortly give you."

Cree glanced at Lomas. "Okay…"

"Don't worry when you see fighter squadrons appraching." Lomas continued. "They are only launched to accompany us to the base ship. They will be no threat to us…" Lomas smiled at the lad. "Now, excuse me, Cree, but I need to recede to privacy for a few centons…"

Cree eyed the man with cusiosity. "Why?"

"To be strong enough to bring an end to the unjustice that began so many yahrens ago…" Lomas smiled. "…I need to open one more gate… The final gate."

Cree stared at the pale waterpond eyes. "What… what do you mean?"

Lomas' face was, if possible, now even more beautiful than ever before. Terrifyingly beautiful. "It is finally the time to open the spring of all the dark rivers of my mind." Lomas smiled. "Hatred."

* * *

"…Experiencing new horizons is nothing to be ashamed of." Adama concluded. "Especially in a situation like ours. Torn away from our homes, constantly searching for a place to establish lives on… Our beings need simulation in any form we can find it."

"But if you ask me…" Tigh cut in unexpectedly. "We don't need to come up with any explanations." Tigh walked to Adama and put his hand on the older man's shoulder. "The human mind has always remained a mystery. Even the whole meaning of the universe is unknown. Why should we chain ouselves to something that we are not. If we can't follow our real nature, then I don't see the point in human existence..."

Apollo eyed Tigh. "Partly, you are right. But if we take a closer look at what you just claimed…" Apollo walked closer to Tigh and Adama. "The human mind has so many shades. If we let ourself to follow what might come naturally, then how can one possibly condemn deceit, violence, murder, rape, incest… As you said, the human mind is a mystery…

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Giles cut in. "Enough of this philosophy felgercarb. To cut a long story short. We like to dress in drag. Apollo wants to make love to Starbuck, others want other things, mushies taste good, and muffit is a robot. End of story. Now let's eat dinner…"

* * *

Athena knocked and waited. Soon she heard footsteps approaching and a click as the door was opened. Athena found herself face to face with the boray of a very suprised doctor Salik. No turning back now.

"Athena!" Salik gasped. "By the lords of Kobol, what are you doing here?…" Salik quickly glanced at the yet empty living room doorway behind him. Then he took a strong hold of Athena's shoulder and started shaking her. "What the frack are you doing here, Athena?…" "I'm here to prevent you from hurting anyone else, loverboy." Athena smiled.

Salik let go of Athena's shoulder and moved a couple of steps back, horrified. Athena was pointing a laser gun at Salik's head. "For sagan's sake, girl…"

Athena pulled the trigger and fired two shots. One at Salik's head and one at his chest. As she moved the gun to point at Salik's groin for the third shot, a middle-aged woman ran from the living room. Athena lifted her eyes and fired. The woman fell to the floor.

Silence.

Athena eyed the two bleeding figures. Revenge.

"Mummy?"

Athena turned her head and saw two little boys standing in the bedroom doorway, with tears rolling down their little cheeks. Athena raised the laser gun and fired. She didn't stop until the boys were lying very still on the floor next to their parents. Softly Athena closed the door.

* * *

Starbuck was beginning to get more and more disturbed by the fact that there were no cylon fighters visible by eyesight nor detectable in the scanners.

Maybe the cylons had developed a new, different kind of defence technique… No that was felgercarb. The cylons wouldn't take such a stupid risk by letting an intruder get abnormally close to the sphere of their base ship. Besides, apart from Baltar, the cylons were much too predictible and uncomplicated to be able to lay out a new defence plan… Starbuck knew he was, or at least hoped to sagan to be, invisible in the scanners of the base ship. But he knew from experience that there was always a fighter squadron or two on patrol somewhere close by the base ship. This was definately very strange…

* * *

"Cassiopeia?" Sheba tried the door again. "Are you all right?…"

No answer.

"Cassie, you better open this door before you are in deep felgercarb!…"

Silence.

Okay, that was it. Sheba was sure something was definately wrong.

Sheba hurried out of the quarters and headed to the control center where the very seldom needed master key to all the places on the Galactica was usually kept. Sheba was determined to get that door open in one way or another, even if she had to break down the whole damn thing. Cassiopeia was in trouble, Sheba was fracking sure of it. She hastened her steps.

* * *

"No, I can't give you permission to lauch squadrons to search for lieutenant Starbuck." Adama's voice was slightly apologetic but very firm.

"Father, I don't understand..." Apollo was shocked. "There is no immadiate cylon threat, nor is there any obvious probability of a hostile situation." Apollo walked closer to Adama, not turning his eyes away from the old man. "Starbuck is like a son to you…"

"Apollo, we are in the sphere of a fairly unknown planet, and evidently within reach of a undoubtedly aggressive community as you described the society of the so-called black queen. We cannot predispose the fleet to any risk. We need those squadrons to be prepaired and standing by…"

"But Starbuck…" Apollo's voice was choked. "We need to find him, father. I need to find him…"

"Apollo, you are the captain of the blue squadron. You have the training of a military leader and it should be very clear to you that in any possibly dangerous situation the captain's obligations…"

"I know, father." Apollo admitted quietly, but his heart couldn't give in. "There has to be something that we can do…"

Adama's voice was soft. "All we can do now is wait…"

* * *

Athena hurried down the corridors to get to the lunching bay as fast it was possible without arousing suspicion. Her body was shivering with sweet excitement and her heart was in flames the size of starliners. Sagan it had felt thrilling to expose oneself to such risk and then succeed in destroying someone who deserved to be destroyed. Athena's eyes shone like two suns. She tried to stop grinning by herself but she couldn't. Okay, she hadn't planned to kill the woman and the little boys but they had been witnesses… Besides, once Athena had started there had been no stopping. She simply couldn't stop. It had felt too good. The thrill of pressing the trigger, the suspense and horror of a possibility of getting caught, the feeling of pure saganliness right at the micron of the killing… By lords! It had felt better than the most perfect orgasm. This was definately a new beginning for Athena.

* * *

The key got stuck. "Frack!" Sheba cursed. "Come on you piece of felgercarb…" There was a click and the bedroom door suddenly jolted open. Sheba hurried into the room and almost immediately noticed the figure lying face down on the bed.

"Cassie, are you asleep?" Sheba approached the bed.

Cassiopeia's left arm was hanging from the side of the bed and touching the floor while the other arm was trapped under her torso in an unnatural position. The woman's face was deeply buried in pillows and Sheba wondered how Cassie was able to breath…

Sheba reached the bed and shook Cassiopeia by her shoulder. "Hey, it's way past sleep cycle…"

The limpness of the woman scared the felgercarbs out of Sheba. She started shaking Cassie's shoulder way harder.

"Hey, you lazy daggit! Don't temp me to kick your…" Sheba paused. She saw the empty bottle of zekratans on the floor near the bed. "Oh sagan! What have you done, you idiot…"

Horrified sheba flew out of the room and dashed down the corridor towards the sections of the life center and sick bay to get help…

* * *

"Show me that tape again." The Tauranian security officer in charge didn't look at his assistant but instead kept his thoughtful eyes on the blurry standstill picture of the cerargyrite section surveillance footage. "There's something very familiar in that figure…"

The security assistant rewound the tape and played it again. Both of the men were closely observing the figure of a woman pulling out a laser gun, shooting four people and then quickly leaving the scene of the massacre.

"Again." The security officer didn't take his eyes of the figure of a woman.

The assistant rewound the tape.

"Play it at 60 percent slower speed…"

There it was again. The woman knocked. The door was opened. The woman pulled out a gun and fired two shots. She turned her head as if being interrupted.

She fired again…

"Stop the tape." The security officer leant a little forward, looking closely at the figure of the woman. "Frame the area 4 angle 88… Good, now bring that framed picture to the front as a close-up…"

The security officer stared at the face of the woman for centons. Then he turned his disbelieving eyes towards his assistant. "It's the fleet commander's daughter for sagan's sake..."

* * *

"I can't get a hold of Salik." Doctor Wilker said, concerned. "I don't understand. He should be on call." Wilker looked down at the figure of Cassiopeia. "This doesn't look good, Sheba. Cassie looks like she's in bad shape…" Wilker lifted the unconscious woman's eyelids and pointed the solenium spotlight to the pupils. There was no reaction. Wilker looked up at Sheba. "I need you to help me to take her to the life center immediately. Okay, take a strong hold of Cassie by under her arms…"

"But, shouldn't we wait for some help?" Sheba hesitantly eyed Wilker. "I don't know if I can carry her all the way to the life center…"

"There's no time to wait, Sheba." Wilker was already turning Cassiopeia's limp body a little to get a better grip of her ankles. "The help will catch us on the way. Now, come on, let's pick her up!"

"Doctor Wilker…Is she…is Cassiopeia…?" Sheba couldn't find words to ask the question she most feared.

"No,Sheba. She's not dead. Not yet.".

Seba closed her eyes and said a million thank yous.

But we can't waste one more micron." Wilker paused and cast a very serious look on Sheba. "There already is a 92 percent possibility that Cassiopeia has suffered serious brain damage…

"Lords, no!" Sheba gasped.

* * *

Cree was directing the chuttle very carefully, and on the verge of a heart attack and nervous breakdown, towards the enormous base ship's landing area, accompanied by at least a squadron of cylon fighters. Cree had never before seen a cylon base ship from such a close distance. Nor had he ever had the pleasure of being voluntarily escorted by his worst enemies to the place of his worst nightmares... What irony! If there was a sagan he sure had a distorted sense of humor. Cree swallowed. Okay, everything would be all right. All he had to do now was to keep calm. Just think about Lomas! Think about Lomas! Lomas take care of everything! You can always trust Lomas! For sagan's sake they would both die!! This was ludicrous!!! Calm down, you idiot! Nothing's going to go wrong! Cree sighed with utter capitulation. They were doomed…

Cree heard a voice of a cylon pilot instructing him through the communicator. Cree followed the instructions and brought the shuttle down to 2 point 7 angle.

What the frack was Lomas doing at the back of the shuttle. He had been gone forever. Cree was beginning to panic. And hadn't the man just said something about releasing rivers. Cree knew exactly what that meant. Just great! What if Lomas got dangerously carried away and cut himself too deep by accident. Or what if he ended up killing himself!! For sagan's sake, Cree would have to meet all the cylon metalheads and Mr. Baltar on his own. Just fracking great! Cree tried to keep his mind concentrated on the approaching landing areas.

For felgercarb's sake he should have confiscated all the sagan forsaken blades Lomas could possibly have gotten his hands on, the very micron they had launched.

No shit. He should never have let the crazy daggit sit down at his table on the Rising Star in the first place!"

* * *

Lomas had no need to cut himself now. Oh no. He could easily reach the previously unattainable. Feel the formerly hidden and untouched.

He was ready.

* * *

"The shuttle to the Galactica now boarding." The loundspeaker announced. Athena arouse from the bench and walked casually to the slowly moving line of people waiting to get through the rutine of identity code check.

Athena couldn't stop grinning to herself. She didn't give a frack if other people thought she was insane. In fact she didn't give a frack about anything now. Athena could almost hear the blood gushing through her head and her heart beating from the rush of the utmost thrill. All Athena wanted now was to get to her quarters and take a couple of those stolen pills to complete the perfect high, to take the undescribable adrenaline intoxication to the extreme.

The two tauranian officers absent-mindedly checked Athena's identity code and one of the guards smiled at her very amiably. "Hello Athena. How are you doing…"

"I'm just great, Criedo. Just great." Athena smiled. "I see you're still an officer on the Tauranian…"

"Sure am." The guard grinned. "And you can congratulate me, Athena. Soon you can start referring to me as Lieutenant Criedo…"

"That's wonderful, Criedo. I'm happy for you." Athena grinned. She continued to walk through the shuttle doors. "You deserve your promotion."

"I sure do!" Criedo grinned. "Say hi to your brother from me…"

Athena slowly let her body relax on the narrow shuttle seat and closed her eyes to relive the intense moment of the killing again. She shut her mind to the outside world and concentrated only on the sensation of the after-excitement. Now the only thing she wanted were those pills… And she couldn't wait to share the details of the moment with Aurora. Well, she had to share the moment with someone…

Athena's head jolted backwards a little as the shuttle to the Galactica took off.

* * *

The security officer of the Tauranian was on the telecom with one of the on-duty bridge co-ordinators of the Galactica. The officer kept insisting that the fleet commander should be alerted immediately.

A private matter…

Part 3

Part 1