chiron_survivor | Hiding in plain view. ((open to anyone!))

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Hiding in plain view. ((open to anyone!))

She didn't flee to the Nexus immediately. At first, she was just in shock. The cylons were back, except this time, they were running the government. A "coalition" government, but everyone knew what that really meant.

It didn't make sense to her. They hated humans. Why not just destroy them and be done with it?

Her boyfriend assumed it was some sort of elaborate revenge plot, or a way to salvage the aspects of humanity the cylons considered worth keeping. He wanted her to agree with him, to be red-hot about it, too, but Adia was too distracted. She kept seeing Caspar's face -- the one she thought she knew -- and comparing it with the ones she kept seeing, wherever she went.

She could tell it was bothering him, that her attention was elsewhere.

Later, in the middle of the night when she knew she wouldn't be missed by any humans, and prayed she wouldn't be missed by any cylons, she PINpointed to the Nexus.

She sat at a Nexus terminal and typed out a message for anyone to read.

The cylons are on New Caprica.

Only then did she cry.

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He gives a nod. Although he doesn't like the idea of her being in a place with the potential for a massacre, he respects her decision. It's not like he wouldn't do the same in her position. Adia's an intelligent woman, she will probably think this through far more thoroughly than he ever would.

"Then you know what to do. But Adia," he looks her in the eye, "do not forget the Nexus. It is going to be your greatest advantage. If you get a hint of danger, grab your friends, get back here. Understood?"

He takes a breath before adding, "And if you need anything else, message me. I can fight almost as well as I can heal. Or at least cause a distraction."

If the cylons had started shooting when they landed, she would have done just that. It's almost more nerve-wracking that they didn't. But she's determined to stick it out, for the other humans. "I understand. I just had to get away for a little bit, this time."

Adia presses a hand to her mouth and tries to hold back sudden tears. She's touched that Martel would offer such help, and terrified at the thought of what would could happen to him if she dragged him into some altercation. "I don't plan to get into that sort of trouble," she says finally. "But thank you."

"I know you don't," he assures her. "You're too smart to do something like that. But this is war, or close enough to it. Whether or not the war is ending, or has ended, it is still close, and you must still be ready for anything."

Lichtenstein sits up straight. Perhaps he might encourage her to be strong. It's not something he does often, so he's not certain how to start. "What you must do now is know what you will do if the worst was to happen. Understand your priorities. And please remember that if you don't stay alive, then you can't help your friends. In the meantime, take things as they come. Focus on your work. Do not think on things until they have settled, unless they call for an evacuation. Structure yourself and you will be ready for anything."

"You're right," she says softly. She needs to get her act together. "I just wish I didn't see his face everywhere. It's like a nightmare each time."

"I still have my work," she agrees. "The cylons are letting us continue our infectious disease research. Even if they put a Four in charge." She frowns, looking a little disgusted. "He doesn't even have a name, just goes by his model number, and he's going through all our work. Every little detail. I know he's just trying to familiarize himself with it, but it... it just feels gross. Like he's stealing from us."

"You'll come out the stronger for it. For everything." At least he's sure of that much. Presuming she doesn't break down completely before she builds herself back up....

He shares her frown. "I hope there's nothing they can use in your research. They might not want to kill everyone, just have a greater hold over them... But your research wouldn't involve any diseases like that, would it?"

"I'll be able to bench press a car once this is all over then," she jokes weakly. She knows what Lich means.

"Any of the diseases we studied could be dangerous if left unchecked. But that would hurt them, as well as us. I don't think he'll find anything that could be used for biological warfare." She grimaces. "I still hate it. And the one working with us is just as bad. She talks to me like we're colleagues. Like she didn't spend over a year actively trying to kill all of us."

He opens his mouth to explain what he meant, then catches himself before he does. Humour, he'd forgotten about it.

One less thing to be worried about, at least. He crooks an eyebrow. "Has nobody explained that until things have settled between humans and cylons they should keep things strictly professional?"

"Some people in the lab just give her the cold shoulder," Adia explains. "I... I don't know why I let her prattle on to me about God and forgiveness. I never thought a cylon could be... pious, but she is. Maybe more sanctimonious than pious."

Lichtenstein flinches. It's bad enough being invaded by robots, but religious ones too? "And you listen to her? Why?"

She looks down. That's a good question. She should have told Julia (this one had a name) to go frak off a long time ago. "I was scared at first, that she might get mad if everyone in the lab ignored her..."

She's quiet for a second or two, then looks up. Under her fear and exhaustion is an expression of pity. "I have a friend here who is clairvoyant. She showed me a vision once of a cylon in a great deal of pain... it was the same model. I just... she was the enemy for so long, and she might still be, but she isn't a monster." She rubs her arm. It sounds dumb now that she's said it out loud.

His frown deepens. "I know Caspar was your... friend, and that this one may be good too, but be careful. In they end, which side would they take? You must know who your friends are. And you must choose your friends carefully."

"She's not my friend," Adia snaps before looking away, embarrassed. Martel is offering sound advice. "I certainly don't trust her. But that doesn't mean I have to generate even more animosity in the lab. We have to work together, for now." She sighs heavily and rubs her eyes. "They have emotions, too, and it's stupid to think of them as simply intelligent machines. That's what got us into trouble in the first place."

Lichtenstein very correctly decides that it would not be the best time to sigh about 'women' and the strangeness of the female mind. Instead he readjusts his seat. "There is a difference between treating them as soulless things and treating them as enemies. You must keep things strictly professional. Emotional or not, you don't want one cylon doing a Caspar on it. It will hurt more. When things change, your attitude can change."

"I'm not..." Adia trails off weakly, then sighs. She's tired; she does not have the fight in her to defend her reasoning to Lich. She can barely defend it to herself. She suspects Lich wouldn't understand why it's easier to talk to Julia than ignore her.

Caspar would be great at keeping things strictly professional. He'd probably give Adia the same advice. The irony is not lost on her.

"When she talks about her God, it reminds me of the one on your world."

"God being created by evil robots... yes, I could see that," he snorts. It really wouldn't surprise him. "At least your gods are clear in their nature. A trickster is a trickster, a lover is a lover. One god is unreadable. Rather like the cylons, by the sound of it."

"Their god is forgiving, too," Adia murmurs, thinking back on her usually one-sided conversations with the cylon. "Like yours. But you're right... you know what to expect, with our gods. And even our gods don't know the future, but apparently theirs does."

He twitches when she calls it his god, but pushes it aside. Then he crooks an eyebrow. "Certainly says something about how they see themselves. 'Seers' are almost as tricky to deal with as gods."

She doesn't miss his expression, this time. "I just meant the god that people on your Earth believe in," she says in appeasement. "I just think it's a strange coincidence."

Adia smiles faintly and adds, "We have seers, too, but they commune with The Fates. Our religion is big on fate." She kind of makes a face at that, then looks more thoughtful. "But the cylons... they can communicate with one another over a vast network. And not just thoughts, but memories, emotions... almost like a collective consciousness, but not quite, because everyone is still an individual. So maybe it's easier to know your future if you have such a huge sample of data."

A slight frown crosses his brow but he nods. "It is."

"A lot of good they did," he grunts when she talks about the seers in her world. He never had liked them much. "Easy to make a prediction, not to know your future. Far too many random events for that, I would think... It must be hard to understand a race with such a different set of behaviors and influences."

"They seem to think it's one and the same," she replies. "But they're... yeah, they're hard to understand." And then she frowns again, as if upset with herself. Caspar wasn't hard to understand. At least, she didn't think he was. "They are so good at being human when they don't know that they aren't..."

"I'm sure human behavior is well documented in your world," he points out. "I'd be surprised if they weren't able to recreate or mimic it."

He tries not to frown even more, but it's difficult. As strong as Adia is, this seems to have shaken her far more than anything else. Even worse, he can't do any more about it than offering a few words. That is going to irritate him.

"Do you want a drink?"

It's not easy seeing your dead really-a-robot ex-boyfriend's face everywhere. Literally. Although Lich might also chalk that up to a problem of a woman's mind. Adia is still simmering in her thoughts, and the question catches her by surprise. "A drink?"

People turn to drink when these sorts of things happen, don't they? She's seen it happen to other people. But she hasn't become an alcoholic, and a drink sounds awfully appealing right now. If anything, it'll help her go back to sleep. "Sure."

While he could ask if she would prefer coffee or tea, he finds it highly unlikely she wouldn't want something stronger. Lichtenstein nods and stands. "I know just the place. Come with me."

Usually he would go on ahead once he saw her stand, but this time he waits, making sure she's in step with him. It's not far from where Adia was sitting, but a change of scenery will distract her. At least, he hopes it will. "Yes, a stiff drink and a good night's rest. That's what you need. Nothing else quite does the job for stress like this."

She rouses herself out of her seat, the emotional pain of the last few days more obvious when she stands. "Doctor's orders?" she says to Lich with the faintest of smiles. She walks beside him, glad it isn't far. "There's a man that visits the Nexus sometimes. He always manages to find a bottle of hypervodka hiding in a couch."

"Doctor's orders. Excluding children or those at risk of kidney failure," he adds as he keeps an eye on her. He doesn't fold his hands behind his back, just in case she stumbles.

"Hyper..." Lichtenstein shakes his head. "I probably don't want to know the effects of that. I get the impression you don't drink on a regular basis."

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