x
You who have followed this story thus far may wonder how it is that I know so many details. As I said in the Preface, where I have lacked facts I have used conjecture, but I have been able to build up my fancy upon two main documents. These are the log of the Galactica (a dry and analytic commentary) and the notebooks of Adama which are colorful but lamentably brief. His journals have given me clues to his motives but they cease with the death of Starbuck.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCzYfW8EYg
I have pieced together the next events from the Galactica's log until that final instrument itself ceased to record.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzfy94sibZ
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2q86cgNsOA
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeC4jrYAwgO
Within microns of the Galactica reappearing in our spacetime it was evident that the ship was in peril. Not only were the guidance computers behaving erratically so that the mercystar began to tumble but a fundamental error was made on arrival when the Galactica attempted to occupy a patch of space at the same time as a small asteroid. The resulting explosion ripped through the wall of the ship destroying fuel and some of the cells in which life-forms were resting. The structural damage was so severe that whole sections of the ship had to be abandoned as the vacuum of space sucked the atmospheres from the ship.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzJb4VmcLN
While the infection of the bio-crystalline system resulting from the self-hatred of the Starbuck/Guell was extensive, it did not stop parts of the ship from functioning effectively. The body of a man dying of cancer may yet heal a cut on the finger. Following its most basic planning, the Galactica closed down parts of its operation and sealed whole sections of the ship. These sectors were effectively abandoned. Decisions were made in accordance with long-established priorities as reports of the extent of the physical damage poured in.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQg70Qe0S2W
Adama stared out into black space at the windows in astonishment, his mind unable to cope, as the stars wheeled by. It is so stated: no human could have coped with so sudden and so complex a disaster. Adama dragged himself away from the window and plunged through to the small contact room and threw himself onto his couch and opened his mind to the Galactica. This was the wisest thing he could have done. He provided the courage and humanity the Galactica needed at its moment of trial. With systems blackening and closing down, those parts of the Galactica's bio-crystalline brain that were unaffected drew strength from Adama and reconstituted themselves. It is not as flexible or versatile as the human brain, but it is not bad. Functions were deployed as the Galactica sought to save itself. Diseased sections were severed from their root crystals. New junctures grew and within mili-centons the ship was beginning to cope.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ986VuKu4UI
Rockets fired in a complex sequence and little by little the wild tumbling of the ship was countered until at last the Galactica was turning about its own axis in a regular manner and a semblance of gravitational up/down was achieved.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzX8kCycPo
Adama sat up from his couch. His head hurt as if struck by a flying brick. But in some ways he felt better. He did not know why but the Galactica did. Gone was the screaming and agony of Starbuck/Guell. In its place was a great and healthy silence.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVDclL84SX
Gone too were the biorhythms of a large number of the species that the Galactica closed itself from hearing the gasps and roaring and rasping and weeping of those sections which were slowly leaking their atmospheres into space. It spared Adama that knowledge also, aware that it needed to protect him from grief and despair so that he could provide courage and strength.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QHrqVYI1h
I must record one tragedy which may upset you. Consoeur Hawkovich whom we have come to know as Hawk died during these minutes.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLLheAofq0
Upon becoming aware of the danger to the Galactica, her imperative was to reach the DME section where she could be of most help. She descended from the control area via a vacuum chute and was at one of the portals leading into the DME sector when that portal was shut down. As she touched the security lock to gain entrance to the DMC sector the lights died. She heard the emergency bolts slam home behind the ceramic skin of the DME. Moments later she found that the vacuum chute would no longer respond to her summons and I supposed she guessed the terrible truth. Then, in the cooling darkness, she heard the whisper of the escaping atmosphere.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5ViGG6lcj
She could not have known that there was lingering sentience in the walls of the Galactica. She could not have known that her words would be recorded as she made her last affirmation while the temperature dropped and the air vanished. 239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWlQpsAgiv
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLeggIHD3b
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiALlBbcB24
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub9nNZ7EXv
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1ApVKIwdL
"I affirm the oneness of Life.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiEpMZKJwJ
I number the stars amongst my friends,239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GlFWUFIqu
Shining in darkness and the serene moon.
Praise I the rising sun that gladdens me.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTxK6lN6Su
To its goodness all holds239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLiA4xrWqv
The falling leaves.....239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAJflREnLR
The rising sap.....239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbZ2u5aAv9
The strong roots.....239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe70T6rsO7J
Together all holds: the fish, the birds
And the things,239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYvlpaqj37
And then crawlers in darkness like I.
I affirm.....239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lDu0UXtDH
.......................................Oh darling, it is cold."239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRLEWZslmI
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmloIIel3c
And while Hawk died at a deserted gateway, the Galactica set about restoring itself. That is how the Galactica saw itself. The mercystar could not jump in space until it had made repairs. It could not diagnose its own illness until it had spare bio-crystalline awareness and that could not arise until it could rest some of its systems.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoCDr8kDft
In the sector of space where the Galactica had arrived there was a single bright sun. Swinging in orbit around this was a single giant planet.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPG8aL2OG3
"We must land and take stock," said the Galactica to Adama. "For all our sakes."239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CTJ1IL0LR
The Galactica jockeyed close to the planet, avoiding a cluster of asteroids and a large moon which swung around the planet in a fierce orbit. The planet had seas of deep green. Gray land masses rose gradually from the seas in rounded hills like ripple marks left in the sand by a retreating tide. The Galactica informed Adama that these undulating land masses were covered with plant life. There was no evidence of animal life though it could be presumed.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXy6KRkuGR
The atmosphere was not breathable for humans but the planet was stable and would provide a satisfactory resting place for the Galactica. A landing place was selected on a stony plateau some six hundred maxims above sea level and fifteen laxars from the coast. The gravity was three times Kobol normal, but the Galactica could handle that.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2onAZSSpQh
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaRhtlDfJh
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRb4rnUiHNW
239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLandknU0Nw
And without a doubt it could have except that that guidance computer which took the ship down to the surface miscalculated slightly the new mass of the Galactica and in effect reduced power to the anti-gravity units when the ship was still some feet above the ground. It recognized its error and compensated a fraction of a micron later, but that was too late. Just as the speed of light is measurable, so it takes time for asterons to flow through bio-crystalline tendrils and for gravity units to grab.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUJn1tY7yV
The Galactica lurched and struck the stone and scrub surface of the planet. It sustained structural damage and partly rolled before its gravity stabilizers locked and held it firm.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpALlWWYcr
Among the parts damaged was the automatic log. Thus....239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBCy3Ql7qk
From now on we have no guides save the memory of Adama. This narrative must therefore change. Henceforth I will be providing a case history. For it is a truth that as Adama regained his health with Serpentine and myself in the Jadirel Garden, so he revealed the deepest secrets of the last events on the Galactica. 239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsG9F3SKUY
Let me not mislead anyone, what follows is not a happy story. Before embarking on it we shall enjoy ourselves with the story of Serpentine the nurse-Cylon.239Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkBfgYaWSP
