#evelyn adama

[allatariel]

Find the Words

Tagged by @cryscal, who gave me the following words to find in my writings: stubborn, rain, discovery, and minute. Thank you so much for tagging me, this was a lot of fun! I wanted to pull all of them from unfinished works I haven't posted yet and I succeeded!

It got pretty long, so I put the passages under the cut.

Tagging: @callioope, @brynnmclean, @madamairlock, @miabicicletta. Your words: beam, steel, harbor, and gentle. Any form of the word counts, and no pressure as always.

Stubborn (from the unfinished chapter 2 of Through all that Masquerade)

Flushing a little under Laura’s steady, expectant gaze, Kara focused on Laura’s chin as she murmured with an odd tenderness, ”I didn’t want Lee to be uncomfortable.” Finally, she raised her eyes to meet Laura’s again, an almost lost look in them. “Zak was so excited for his brother to be a part of the ceremony, they haven't gotten to see each other enough since the project started.” Kara’s gaze dropped back to her hands, palms falling open against her mother’s still cupped around them, an edge of guilt running through her words. “Lee and his dad haven't seen each other enough either.” “And why is that exactly?” Laura kept her voice leading, but gentle, though her eyes narrowed a little again. Kara stiffened. Her faint flush deepened and crashed like a crimson wave up her neck, over the stubborn set of her jaw to engulf her face, her hands clenched into fists in her mother’s tender grasp. Sighing, Laura admitted to herself that she wasn’t going to get anymore out of Kara on the subject, at least with the time they had remaining before they were expected to report to the wardroom. “Well, Zak wants you both there and so do I.” Laura squeezed Kara’s still clenched fists before releasing them and turning back to Cpl. Demirci. The guard nodded to her and Laura stepped back to allow her to slide the cell door open.

Rain (from an unfinished one shot in the same universe as Through all that Masquerade, taking place 22 years before that story)

Laura waved to her mother from the front steps as she pulled away from the curb and the sky finally opened. Raindrops struck Laura’s face and hand as she raised them briefly, shivering at the early autumn chill, before stepping back under the cover of her tiny porch. The rain quickly intensified from drizzle to downpour, shaking free the vanguard of fall leaves. She wrapped her arms around herself, chafing them with her hands while she breathed in for a moment the comforting scent of rainwater soaking into the soil. Turning to go check on Kara, a few tentative piano scales drifted down to her through the open front door. She stepped into the house, closing the door quietly and followed the rising notes up the stairs.  The scales shifted into a simple yet haunting tune that shared many melodic and rhythmic similarities to the various works of Dreilide Thrace, but was distinctly different from any single one of them Laura had ever heard.  At the top of the stairs, Laura found the door to the guest room still open. Kara was lost in the music, perched on the edge of the piano bench. Her little hands glided easily over the keys, seeming as though the piece was crafted intentionally to accommodate her still limited reach.

Discovery (from the unfinished chapter 4 of Run Through the Shadows)

Cassian had just finished juicing the jogans for the punch and mixing it in with the muja and meiloorun juices when Meli popped up behind the counter. “Melian! You scared the life out of me!” their papa gasped as she dissolved into giggles. Cassian remembered only a short while ago when he’d first met her how he had been so convinced she could not be his sister that he ignored all the things that were so obvious to him now. She looked just like their mama, had the same wild sense of adventure as her, too. She also had their papa’s boundless optimism and dogged persistence. Meli had the same sharp, dark eyes he himself found everyday in the mirror. And apparently their grandma’s beautiful voice—this discovery had brought their grandpa to tears the first time he heard her sing. And she was quite the artist, he learned, even at seven and a half. “I thought you were playing hide and seek with Aroha and Kay-Ate.” Cassian narrowed his eyes at his sister. “Did you leave Kay-Ate stuck all alone?” “Of course not!” She huffed back. “We were playing by the oi-oi berry thicket and Miss Muim showed up to pick some for the punch just after Aroha ran to find her mama! She’s helping them while I'm bringing the fruit.” A skilled droid mechanic, Muim had also been with the experiment on Taris, maintaining and refining the KX droids Eryna had designed and built. Eryna had wanted to create a model of droid that could serve as many functions as possible for people living in the far reaches of the galaxy who could only afford to buy one. Meli left the basket of sunfruit and oi-oi berries on the counter, sticking her tongue out at her brother, and ran around to hug their papa. Cassian laughed at her antics and shook his head as she threw her arms around him as well. Just as quickly she was off and hugging their grandpa, who laughed with her as he held his hallikset up and away from the precocious girl. She ran back and grabbed Cassian’s hand. “Come on! I want you to meet my best friend!”

Minute (from another unfinished one shot in the same universe as Through all that Masquerade, taking place 21 years before that story)

Bill wasn’t entirely sure how he had ended up here. About an hour ago, while his mother had sat in his kitchen on the phone with a friend, he had been on the couch with Zak dozing in his arms as he played chess with Lee. Lee, who had insisted his seven years and eight months of age was more than old enough to stay up until midnight, prompting the five years and three months old Zak to beg not to be left out. It’s New Year’s Eve, dad, please? Lee’s plan had originally started with the forecast of a rare night free of Gemenon’s planetshine and a walk to the nearby ice sculpture garden for some stargazing. However, once Zak had insisted on being included, Bill’s mother had agreed with him that taking the still sniffling though no longer feverish Zak out into the cold was ill-advised. Yet somehow not five minutes ago, his mother had emerged from the kitchen and hefted the finally soundly sleeping Zak from his arms and shooed Bill and a barely contained Lee into coats and hats and out the door into the starry night. Truth be told, Bill’s head was still spinning a little as Lee pulled him along.

[i-believe-in-melinda-may]

First Roslin/Adama scene I have ever written.

I am still working on a plan, and need to finish another Battlestar Galactica re-watch before i start to seriously write, but i have written the opening scene for my fanfiction. My plan is for it to be pretty close to cannon (except for the obvious) for the Mini Series and Seasons 1/2, but then things seriously changing from New Caprica. This is the opening scene. I could use feedback because this is my first time writing Roslin/Adama

15 years 11 months before the Fall of the Colony’s.

Desperately hoping that he isn’t too late William ‘Bill’ Adama is running though the Caprica fleet hospital. With how fast he is moving and the look on his face people move out of his way without him needing to say anything, something which Bill doesn’t even realise as he is so focused on his objective. Finally getting to the room he was desperately searching for Bill opens the door and hurries in the second he does he realises that his fear is confirmed, and he was too late.  

“I’m sorry,” Bill says as he walks towards the bed where his wife, Laura Roslin, is sitting holding a tiny baby wrapped in a pink blanket, and looking exhausted. “I tied, I…” Bill starts to say, having no idea how to make up for missing what he has missed, staying a few steps back as he doesn’t know how Laura is going to react.

“Bill,” Laura says, her voice full of pain, and sounding almost defeated, making it clear with one simple word that she doesn’t want to hear his excuses. “Come meet your daughter,” Laura says to him, and Bill walks the few steps to the bed.

“Daughter?” Bill asks, as he walks towards Laura, who nods and once he is close enough, he gently takes the tiny baby from her. “Hi sweetheart,” Bill says, his voice full of amazement and as he looks at his daughter, he feels overwhelming love. “She’s so small,” Bill says, looking down at her, a look of amazement on his face, memorising her blue eyes, the small bit of red hair she has, her noise exactly like her mother, her complexion like his. “The boys were never this small,” Bill notes thinking of their older children Lee and Zak who are ten and eight respectively.

“No, they weren’t,” Laura confirms, being able to picture with perfect clarity what each of her boys, who are currently with her sister, looked like when they were born. “We almost lost her,” Laura reveals, knowing that even though he wasn’t there Bill deserves to know.

“What?” Bill says, looking away from his daughter to look at Laura, his voice full of horror as he can’t imagine never getting to meet his baby girl.

“There were complications, she wasn’t breathing,” Laura reveals. “Cottle worked on her and got her breathing, but it took time,” Laura explains, remembering the terror she felt when she was all alone and though she was going to lose her daughter.

“Is she okay now?” Bill says, looking back as the face of his baby girl.

“She was on oxygen for a few hours, but yes Doctor Cottle says she is going to be okay,” Laura assures him, and as soon as she sees that Laura can see the relief pass over him.

“Good, good,” Bill says, sounding glad. “She’s a strong, just like you,” Bill says, and Laura smiles slightly at that. “She needs a name,” Bill realises, looking at Laura, wondering if she has though about that as he has a few ideas.

“I was thinking we name her after our mothers,” Laura reveals, and Bill smiles as he was thinking the same thing. “EJ, Evelyn Jewel Adama,” Laura suggests. “What do you think?” Laura asks, as she was waiting for Bill to make it official but that’s what she has been calling their little girl.

“I think it’s perfect,” Bill admits. “Hi EJ, I love you so much, and you’ve got two brothers who love you too and can’t wait to meet you, and the most amazing mom,” Bill says as he walks back over to the bed where Laura is and sits down next to her, still holding EJ, being careful that he doesn’t hurt either of his girls. “I love you, Laura,” Bill says to his wife, and as he does, he sees a look of pain pass over Laura’s face.

“And I love you, Bill, so much,” Laura says tears coming to her eyes. “But I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep waiting for you to come home, I can’t keep telling our boys that you’re sorry you’re not around, that you do care, that you’ll be home when you can,” Laura admits, needing to say this now as when she was struggling to give birth to EJ she had a moment of clarity, and she knows that Zak and Lee are constantly hurt by their father not being around, and she doesn’t want them to keep experiencing that pain, she doesn’t want EJ to ever experience it. “You’re my best friend, and we were partners once, but this isn’t working anymore,” Laura admits.

“I know,” Bill admits, as while it is painful for him to admit it, he knows that’s true, and he knows that all he has been doing is letting his family down. “Where does this leave us?” Bill asks, looking at Laura, as he has no idea.

“I don’t know,” Laura admits, as she lays her head on Bill’s shoulder and the two of them drift into silence as they look down at their newborn daughter, neither knowing where they go from here, but both knowing that no matter what happens between them what they want is what’s best for their kids.

[baltears]

hmhmmmmm..... bsg au where joe married fidelia instead of evelyn and the adamas remained a mob family prior to the fall............

[daisytachi]

The Rules: list 10 different characters from 10 different fandoms and then tag people

1 - X-Men (movies + comics) -  Pyro (St John Allerdyce) 2 - Battlestar Galactica - Felix Gaeta, Saul Tigh, Kara Thrace, Bill Adama 3 - The Expanse - Julie Mao, Chrisjen Avasarala and Camina Drummer 4 - Traveler - Will Traveler 5 - Black Sails - Captain Flint and Max  6 - The 100 - Emori 7 - Channel Zero - Amy Welch 8 - The Mummy - Evelyn O’Connell 9 - Stargate Atlantis - Evan Lorne and Teyla Emmagan 10 - Nikita: Nikita and Seymour Birhkoff 

There are sooo many fandoms I want to notice but I just can’t pick one character, actually T.T

Tagged by: @sammysdewysensitiveeyes  Tagging: @nicoleanell, @bombshellsandbluebells and @doortotomorrow

[yetanotherramblingfangirl]

1-4

1. Favorite fictional characters this year

Hecate Hardbroom, Maud Spellbody, Ada Cackle, Mildred Hubble, Dimity Drill, George Crabtree, Marilla Cuthbert, Anne Shirley, Minerva McGonagall

2. Favorite ships this year

Hackle, plus all the the usual suspects [Roslin/Adama, Carson/Hughes, Brenda/Sharon from The Closer]

3. Favorite TV shows to watch this year

The Worst Witch, Mum, One Day at a Time, Murdoch Mysteries, The Great British Bake Off

4. Favorite books read this year

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy 

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Send me fandom asks

[lolcat76]

An Alignment of Interests

For @okaynextcrisis​, who wanted a Bill/Laura arranged marriage fic, and for @cassiopeiasara​, who enabled her.

“You should be happy,” her mother said, “that a man of our station wants to marry you. Most girls in your situation would wind up in a closed sisterhood, and be glad of it.”

Happy. She should be happy, she supposed, that a man of their station found himself in such desperate straits that he’d condescend to marry the oldest, most definitely soiled daughter of the ruling house of Caprica. Frankly, the thought of a closed sisterhood sounded far more appealing at the moment. She could tend goats and weave cloth, and never, ever, ever again have to worry about finding herself hung out to dry thanks to a man’s political ambition.

Things must be dire on Tauron indeed, if the mighty Adama family were stooping so low as to extend an offer of marriage to her. Things must be even more dire on Caprica if her mother were so eager to accept on her behalf. No matter how proud the Adamas were, or how many generations they’d ruled Tauron, they were still dirt-eaters in the eyes of most of the Twelve Colonies.

Things were indeed dire on Tauron, a fact of which Laura was very well aware. Her mother, Gods bless her, had no interest in politics, but Laura had cut her teeth on the scrolls of government. Her father had dragged her to every parliament meeting and off-world visitation since he ascended to the the ruling house of Caprica, and after 20 years under his watchful eye, she could name every dignitary in the twelve colonies, as well as name every lowlife said dignitaries were bartering favors with - or worse- in seedy taverns throughout the colonies.

Some of which she knew only too well.

Laura had seen more than her fair share of dingy bars with Richard in her younger, stupider days before her father ordered him executed for treason. Richard’s execution was enough to restore the semblance of honor to the name of Roslin, but not nearly enough to stifle rumors about the oldest daughter of the ruling house. Rumors that had quite nicely and conveniently put an end to her marriage prospects many years ago, which had been just fine with her.

Fortunately, the Roslins had two other daughters, far sweeter and more agreeable, to trade on the Colonies’ political marriage market. Cheryl had married the son of the ruling family on Libran, and Sandra was currently expecting her second child with Picon’s prime minister. Laura should have made the first and best match, no doubt to the crown prince of Aerilon, even after her role in Richard’s downfall was front-page news all over the Colonies.

Fortunately, their colonies had worked together for far too long, and their fathers had been far too close for Edward Roslin to waste his favorite daughter on a match with Gaius Baltar. Or for Gaius to think her a naive, fuckable fool like the peasants he liked to welcome in his bed. Oh, he’d do business with her family and he’d lean on her sharp mind for help when the farming class refused to grow crops without fair compensation, but he wouldn’t risk his massive ego by wedding - or worse - breeding with her.

Fine with her. She tolerated Gaius because it was expedient, teased him because it was entertaining, but the thought of him laying one of his overly manicured, overly soft hands on her body made her want to throw him, and possibly herself, out of one of the airlocks in her father’s military defense ships.

Still, marrying Gaius couldn’t have been worse than the other prospects across the system that her mother had tossed her way. Gaius was an idiot, but he wasn’t a fool, which definitely gave him points in her book. Also, she was relatively sure, none of the other candidates her mother worried over late into the night would ever have been suitable - the Virgonese never married outside their planet, and the Cancerons, pristine and pure of blood as their children might be, weren’t quite learned enough to be a match for the eldest daughter of Judith Roslin, back when the eldest daughter was still a prize to be won. That left her with the holy rollers on Gemenon, and even her desperate parents weren’t quite desperate enough to sink so low as to align themselves with the Gemenese.

Or the thugs that ran Tauron, and Judith Roslin would never in a million years sink so low, so Laura was safely assured of living out the rest of her life in vaguely shameful spinsterhood, free to do and say what she pleased, as long as she stayed away from treasonous bastards who used her father’s name to gain power.

Or so she’d thought. Apparently, her mother was getting more desperate than Laura had ever suspected.

“A man of our station,” Laura mused. “Funny, Mother, but the last time you tried to marry me off, I don’t recall you ever saying that the Taurons were equal to our station.”

“Well, things change.”

Indeed.

***

“You want me to what?”

“Get married, Bill. It shouldn’t be that difficult for you. As I recall, you’ve done it before.”

The evidence of his first marriage was currently playing tag around the heavy wooden dining table in his father’s dining room, and any second now, one of his sons was going to wind up bleeding on the floor.

Having already told them he wasn’t cleaning it up if one of them knocked their brains out of their head and dumped them all over his father’s prized Gemenese rug, Bill turned back to Joseph Adama. “You weren’t exactly pleased with my first marriage, as I recall.”

Joseph shrugged. “What was I supposed to do? You ran off with the first girl who smiled at you. And look how well that turned out.”

Sure enough, Zak ran face-first into a chair and immediately started howling. Look how well it turned out indeed.

“I’m not getting married again,” Bill grunted over his shoulder as he made his way to his sobbing son.

“Yes, you are,” his father shot back. “And what’s more, you’ll get married to the person I choose this time. A son respects his roots.”

Given that his sons had no respect for anything, least of all gravity and basic physics, Bill was inclined to disagree. He pulled Zak’s hands away from his face and was relieved to see that, other than a rapidly swelling goose-egg, it didn’t look like any permanent damage had been done.

“Are my brains falling out, Daddy?” Zak whimpered.

“No, son. You don’t have any brains to fall out, or else you would have listened to me in the first place.”

“I told him to slow down,” Lee said, and Bill wondered how a six-year-old could be so damn bossy. Lee was standing with his fists balled on his hips, glaring at his brother, and Bill realized just how a six-year-old could be so damn bossy, because his own father was staring him down across the room in exactly the same way.

He should have run like hell the first time Carolanne winked at him and found the nearest priesthood, cloistered himself up with vows of poverty and celibacy, and saved himself from being bookended by two generations trying to kill him. Too bad he never believed in the Gods, because if he did, he’d know for sure they were laughing their asses off at him.

“Lee, go read a book.” Lee opened his mouth to argue, but Bill shut him up with a glare and a pointed finger at the library. “Zak, you’re going to live, so go get some ice on that. And you-” he glanced back at his father, “stop trying to control my life, or I’ll walk out of here with my sons and you won’t have any Adama heirs to replace the ones you lost.”

“Bill. Bill! Willie, damn it, LISTEN TO ME!”

The long-forgotten nickname stopped Bill in his tracks. He pushed his sons out of the room, then turned to face his father. The two of them glared at each other, but Bill wasn’t going to back down. Not now, not when he had kids of his own to protect.

“Willie’s dead, Dad. I’m not him. I was never him. You’ve gotta accept that.”

Joseph Adama sighed, for once looking all of his 62 years. “I know that. But I also know that losing one love doesn’t mean you’ll never have another.”

“That’s a pretty shitty argument, forcing me into marriage just because you got lucky enough that my mother loved you.” Bill looked over his shoulder as he said it, because Evelyn had an almost uncanny knack for showing up just when Bill laid into his father. He might not like Joseph Adama much, but he adored his mother. Even if he questioned her taste in men.

“How about I make you a deal, huh?” Great, a deal. As much as he tried to stay away from politics, Bill at least knew that his father’s deals were always weighted in favor of the house. “You meet this woman. If you hate her, we walk away and pretend like nothing ever happened, and you can go back to letting your sons try to kill each other and building your model ships.”

“And if I like her?” He wasn’t going to like her, but he was willing to humor his father just to hear this argument. It should be a doozy.

“Then you consider marrying her. And in doing so, use her family’s money to help Tauron find a way to fight the drought that’s killing off our people.”

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. No matter how many times Bill told his father he wanted nothing to do with governing the people of Tauron, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to the consequences of the five-year drought on his planet. The fact that his father’s strategy had gone from investing in infrastructure to marrying him off for money could only mean one thing.

“You’re not seriously asking me to consider marrying Laura Roslin?”

***

Knowing what she did about Tauron’s rapidly depleting finances, Laura was shocked that the delegation from Caprica was welcomed with full honors. Including, to her dismay, the pomp and circumstance of the Caprican anthem playing as she made her way down the shuttle ladder, knees locked together in every effort to keep what was left of her dignity intact while photographers snapped photos of her from below.

“I’ll never forgive you for this,” she hissed to her mother, as the Adama family lined up to salute them.

“Add it to the list, Laura.” With that, Judith Roslin tucked her hand into her husband’s arm and went to greet their hosts.

While her parents were busy air-kissing the Adamas, Laura sized up her potential future husband. Dressed in ceremonial garb, he looked almost as uncomfortable as she felt. He tugged at his starched collar, then glared at his gloves, then glared at her with a look that clearly said You better be worth all of this.

Oh, she could have said she wasn’t, if anyone had bothered to ask. Still, she may not have had much in terms of reputation, but she still had her Roslin pride. Laura marched over to him and, ignoring protocol that she must be introduced to him by one of their hosts, extended a hand. “William Adama. I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Miss Roslin. Likewise.” He took her fingers and shook grudgingly. She was surprised he didn’t immediately wipe his hand on his trousers.

“Please. Call me Laura.”

“We’ve prepared a welcome dinner for you. Follow me.”

So much for calling her Laura. She had no intention of marrying the man, but she’d expected to have to work a little harder to turn him off. She was half-tempted to head back up the ladder, because mission accomplished, he apparently wasn’t going to marry her if she were the last woman standing in the Twelve Colonies. Her mother’s manicured nails dug into her shoulder, stopping her retreat. “Come along, Laura, I believe dinner is served,” Judith hissed in her ear.

***

Knowing how her mother hated spicy foods, Laura found dinner to be quite enjoyable. The wine was tolerable, the noodles a little boring without any fresh produce, but watching her mother break a sweat and chug down three glasses of water made this little Tauron adventure almost worth it.

“You haven’t eaten anything. Don’t you like it?” came a small voice from beside her, and Laura had to force herself back into the here and now. One of Bill’s little boys - Lee, the older one - was staring at her. Measuring her up, it seemed.

He looked nothing like his father, save for the blue eyes. Laura remembered the press coverage from Bill’s hasty marriage to the former Carolanne Saville, and she could recall enough of the photos to recognize that Lee had his mother’s nose, coloring, and cheekbones.

His attitude, though, that had to be all his father’s doing. She was used to people staring at her and finding her wanting, but to have it come from a six-year-old…that was a first.

“I do like it,” she assured her tiny host. “But you know what I like better? Watching everyone else eat. There’s so much to learn.”

Lee perked up. “About what?”

“Well,” she said, pointing to her mother. “What about her?”

“It’s rude to point.”

“It is,” she agreed, “but it’s also rude not to answer a question. Now look, and tell me what you see.”

Lee wrinkled his little nose as he studied Judith Roslin. “She hates it.”

“She does,” Laura agreed, “but why?”

Her mother waved to the waiter holding the pitcher of water, then dabbed at her brow with her napkin. “Too spicy,” Lee said.

“Very good! Now, what about him?” Laura gestured to her father.

“He’s not eating because he’s too busy talking to Grandpa. Every time he tries to take a bite, he stops and says something else. And that’s good, because Grandma tells me not to talk with my mouth full.”

“And what about your Grandma?”

“She’s already done, because she’d rather eat than talk to that lady.” Since that lady was her mother, Laura couldn’t help but sympathize.

“And your father?” Laura prodded. “He’s already done too. Why?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Lee scoffed. “He’s done because he wants you all to leave.”

Well. Out of the mouths of babes, indeed. “Why does he want us to leave?”

“Daddy said he’s had enough of women.”

Laura choked on her sip of wine. “He said that to you?”

“No, he said that to Grandpa. I was supposed to be reading.”

She had to give Bill Adama credit for that. If his idea of punishing his kids was making them read, he couldn’t be all bad. “Why weren’t you reading?”

Lee sighed, looking every inch a weary old man. “I’ve already read everything in Grandpa’s library that I’m allowed to read.”

Just what was in Grandpa’s library, she wondered. She’d have to check it out before she left this godforsaken planet. “And you’ve never read something you’re not supposed to read?”

For the first time since they’d sat down, Lee looked distinctly uncomfortable. “You have!” she crowed. His eyes shifted between his father and grandfather, guilt written all over his face as he slid down in his chair. “It’s ok,” she whispered. “I won’t tell. I used to read things I wasn’t supposed to when I was your age.”

Relief swept across his face, and she couldn’t stop herself from brushing the sandy-blonde bangs that fell across his forehead out of his eyes. “I like you, Lee.”

Lee grinned up at her. “I like you too. I wish you were the woman my dad was supposed to meet instead of her.” He jerked his chin at her mother, who had gone from red in the face to a little green around the gills.

She could explain the situation to the little boy beside her, but honestly, what was the point? Come tomorrow, they’d be gone, and she’d never see him again. She didn’t expect the thought of that to sting quite as much as it did. “I wish I were too,” she sighed, and resumed picking at her plate.

Unobserved for the most part, Bill watched as his guest leaned down and whispered to his son. In the three years before Carolanne left, he’d never seen her show as much interest in her son as Laura Roslin had in the last ten minutes. He still had no intention of marrying the woman, but watching her with Lee…his father might have been right. He should have held out for better.

***

Laura  never could sleep in a strange bed, and even in the finest accommodations Tauron had to offer, she was wide awake and sighing as she tossed from side to side. Finally, she gave up and threw a robe over her shoulders. If she were going to be awake, she might as well make it worth her while. She’d likely never get another chance to explore the forbidden corners of Joseph Adama’s library.

She was leafing through the pages of a treatise on socialism when the slight rush of cool air on the nape of her neck warned her that she wasn’t alone. She slammed the book closed and turned, but the apologies died on her lips when she got a good look at the man who interrupted her late-night literary adventure.

“Bill,” she sighed.

“Miss Roslin.”

So much for Laura. “Couldn’t sleep either?” she asked. She couldn’t stop the smile teasing at the corners of her mouth as she watched him shift from foot to foot under her gaze. She liked this Bill, half yawning, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt and trying to smooth down his unruly black hair. Looking incredibly uncomfortable as she gave him the once-over. Yes, she liked sleepy, rumpled Bill so much more than the perfectly dressed man in ceremonial uniform she’d met earlier in the day.

The son of the ruling house of Tauron wore ratty slippers and rolled up the cuffs of his sweatpants. Who knew? Aware of her own bare feet and her tousled hair, Laura tugged her robe a little tighter. “Your son spoke so much of the library that I just had to see it before we left.”

He took the book from her hands and leafed through it, dragging his index finger along certain passages here and there, his lips moving along with clearly memorized text. He closed the book and shoved it back into the case. “So that’s what you were talking about?”

“Among other things.” She shrugged. “Mainly we talked about manners and how unfortunate it is that you’re going to have to marry my mother.”

Priceless, the look on his face. This, right here and now, this was worth the trip to Tauron.

“My son - he misunderstands things.”

“Clearly, otherwise you’d be facing down my father at dawn with pistols drawn.” She shouldn’t be enjoying this, but oh…she was. Poor Bill Adama, unsure whether to apologize for his son or for the circumstances that brought them together.

She decided to let him off the hook. “Your son seems desperate to get his hands on the books you won’t let him read.” Laura dragged her finger along the spines of books that had been banned decades ago, spines of books that were forbidden to more than little boys. “Once he learns how to climb up these bookshelves, you’re in for a world of trouble.”

“You’re no stranger to trouble,” he grunted.

Ah. There it was, time to recount all her past sins. “I suppose not,” she agreed. “Well, this has been a lovely visit to Tauron, but I don’t want to waste any more of your time.”

He caught her elbow as she swept past him, his fingers pressing in to the sensitive skin of her forearm. Any tighter, and he’d leave marks. Any tighter, and she’d leave her own when she slapped him silly.

“You slept with the man who was trying to bring your father down,” he said. Blunt and unapologetic. At least, back in the day, the reporters had tried to be more circumspect.

“I slept with a man, and he was trying to bring my father down. The two were not related, or have you never fucked someone who didn’t have your best interests at heart?” If he could be blunt, so could she.

“I never fucked someone who tried to overthrow the government of my colony.”

No, he just fucked someone who tried to take him for his wealth and power, then dumped him and their children when something better came along. He wasn’t the only one who knew where all the dirty laundry was aired. “And I bet you never had to call the authorities on the person you’d just fucked, the person who told you that he loved you, when you overheard him telling your father’s worst enemy that he’d gotten you into bed, and the rest would fall into place?” He blanched at that. Of course he hadn’t. “No? So, until you’ve been sold out like that, don’t you dare judge me.”

Bill released her arm and took a step back. He couldn’t have looked more shocked or apologetic if she had slapped him, which she still hadn’t ruled out.  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Of course he didn’t. Nobody did, because the story of the sullied daughter of the house of Roslin was far more palatable than the story that her father’s closest aide was actively plotting his downfall and not a single member of the parliament, the cabinet, or the Roslin security detail figured it out before a 19-year-old girl. Throwing the blame on her was far easier than admitting publicly that the Caprican government was weak. “Well, now you do,” she snapped. “So you can make up whatever reason you see fit that a match between us just won’t work, but by the Gods, don’t you dare say it was my fault.”

She swept past him - or tried to - but her borrowed robe was just long enough that she tripped over the hem. She would have fallen face-first into Joseph Adama’s bust of Themis if Bill hadn’t caught her.

“I’m sorry,” he echoed. “I didn’t know.”

“You still don’t,” she said, pushing his hands away. “And I”d like to go back to bed now.”

***

His father hadn’t spoken to him since their guests had returned to Caprica. All well and good, but Bill couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d judged Laura too quickly and too harshly. In the three weeks since their dinner party, Lee hadn’t shut up about his new friend Laura. Laura reads books, Daddy, Lee said. Laura never talked with her mouth full. Laura didn’t like your uniform.

Laura, Laura, Laura. If Bill hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind himself, he might have locked his oldest child in the library and not let him out until Lee was 18.

Laura, Laura, Laura. Laura read books, and Laura had lovely manners, and Laura was perhaps not guilty of the crimes the entirety of the Twelve Colonies had judged her for, these last twelve years.

Laura liked his kid, and for a minute there in the library, Bill could swear that Laura liked him as well.

“We have a new backer,” Joseph said, “from Sagittaron.”

No women of marriageable age from Sagittaron. Fine. “Then take it. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“It’s Tom Zarek,” his father said.

Godsdammit.

***

A nice, quiet cloistered Sisterhood. Perhaps up in the mountains, next to a lake. A lake so clear, it’d be like looking through glass. Laura could leave family and Colonial politics behind and make cheese. Tend goats. Live a simple life.

It had to be better than watching her parents fall apart. Her father had tiptoed around her for the last three weeks, but her mother…holiest of all that was holy, Judith Roslin was working her last godsdamned nerve.

“You didn’t have to be rude,” Judith said.

“I wasn’t the one who embarrassed us by not being able to eat Tauron food,” Laura shot back.

“You hardly spoke to him.” Oh, if only her mother knew. “You could have smiled at him, Laura. You have such a pretty smile.” She could have kicked him in the balls as well, and it would have been much more satisfying. She’d bet her substantial inheritance that Joseph Adama wasn’t telling Bill that he should have fucking smiled at her.

“I worry about you,” her mother said. “I just want to know that you’ll be happy when I’m gone.”

“Mother, I’d rather you’d worry about knowing that I’m happy when you’re still here.”

Judith opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut and walked away. Typical, Laura thought. She turned her attention back to her book, the same book on socialism that Bill had known so well when they met in the library.

She hoped that as Lee grew up, he’d figure out ways around his restrictions to read the books in his grandfather’s library, just as she had done. She also hoped it would work out better for him in the long run.

Then again, why wouldn’t it? The male heir to the House of Adama, even if the House of Adama was Tauron, would definitely fare far better than the daughter of the House of Caprica.

She slammed the book shut and hugged it to her chest. “I should have just run away and lived in a tent in Delphi,” she muttered.

“Laura?”

Her father’s sharp summons snapped her to attention. “Yes?”

“You have a visitor.”

***

Even in the last stages of their bitter divorce, Carolanne had looked a hell of a lot happier to see him than Laura Roslin did now. He figured his welcome was already worn out, so he might as well get to the point. “You know Tom Zarek?” he asked.

“Not personally, no.”

Bill grunted at her evasion. “But you’re familiar with him.”

Of course she was familiar with him. Everyone who had an ounce of civic interest in the Twelve Colonies was familiar with Tom Zarek. She probably owed him a debt of gratitude - bombing that building on Sagittaron had finally gotten her off the front pages of Colonial newspapers all those years ago. “I suppose you could say I’m familiar with his work,” she agreed.

“Did you know he’s taken a seat in the Quorom representing Sagittaron?”

Her head snapped up. “He’s what?”

“Yep. Apparently, after being released from prison, the Sagittarons rewarded their freedom-fighter hero with a position as minister of trade, which means that as a high-ranking official, he’s eligible for the Quorum.”

“No wonder my father has been in such a bad mood,” Laura muttered.

“I thought you kept up with these things?”

“Lately, I’ve had a change of heart,” she sniffed. “I’ve been thinking that a quiet life, somewhere up in the mountains, would suit me better.”

Laura Roslin, hermit? “Hiding out in a cabin by a lake somewhere? I can’t really see you settling for that.”

“You’d be surprised.”

He stepped close enough to get a glimpse at the book she was clutching to her chest, and he couldn’t stop the grin on his face when he saw the title. Maybe she was having trouble forgetting their little tête-à-tête in the library as well.

“Not nearly as surprised as I was when Tom Zarek proposed uniting Sagittaron and Tauron under one government.”

“Good Gods.” She slammed the book on the desk behind her. “You cannot tell me that your father is seriously considering it?”

“He is. But he did say that there was another proposal he’d rather accept.”

“Ah.” She leaned against the desk, crossing her arms again and glaring at him over the rims of her glasses. “I see. You’d rather get in bed with Roslin the tramp than Zarek the terrorist?”

Given that she’d just reignited all of his childhood schoolteacher fantasies with one look, he would absolutely rather get in bed with her. The sooner the better. “Maybe we were too hasty.”

“Hasty is rushing into marriage with a woman you don’t respect to fix a temporary financial setback,” she pointed out.

Temporary, his ass. The drought had already lasted longer than his first marriage, and the Tauron government was running out of options. “Better marriages have been borne of worse reasons,” he pointed out.

“You’re a lousy salesman, you know that?”

And an even worse husband, if Carolanne were to be believed, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “Think of it as less of a marriage and more of a business merger,” he suggested.

“Thank you, but I’ve already merged enough to last me a lifetime. You can show yourself out.”

Bill had no interest in forcing his attention on a woman who so clearly wanted nothing to do with him. He couldn’t blame her - as unromantic as he was, even he knew that “Hey, you’re better than the terrorist alternative, so what do you say?” was hardly the proposal of a little girl’s dreams. He’d find some way around this Zarek problem, or he’d come back here and see if her secluded lake had room for a cabin big enough for himself and his boys. Maybe a dog, too. He could fish. Teach the boys to live off the land without the endless worry about water running out. Steal a few quick peeks at his neighbor’s legs as she tended her plants.

He was halfway through the open door when he stopped. She was still propped up against the desk, her delicate ankles crossed, one shoe dangling from her toes. “Laura? Do you have a green thumb?”

“A what?”

“Nothing,” he said, and smiled to himself. “I’ll see you next week.”

Laura snorted. “What for?”

“To change your mind.”

***

“I’m not going to be good at this,” she hissed.

Bill shrugged. Fair enough; he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be good at it either.

“You’re just trying to get one up on Zarek.”

Not at all true, but he did enjoy Tom Zarek sitting in the third row of the chapel, looking like he’d choke over every So Say We All. Gods willing, Bill muttered under his breath, then caught himself. He might not believe in the gods, but even he knew that wishing death upon one of his wedding guests was hardly good manners.

“I’m going to make you regret this,” she muttered. Bill laughed, then caught himself. The temple was filled with dignitaries from the Twelve Colonies, all of them staring at the two people who were very uncomfortably pledging their vows. “I said we should elope,” his bride continued, spitting out each word just low enough that only he could hear her.

“Laura,” he whispered,” pulling the hand he held into his chest, “I’m not going to regret this.” It had taken him a year to convince her to even talk to him after their disastrous meeting on Tauron, a year of showing up each week with a new book from his father’s library, only to have it returned to him the following week. He’d have given up if he hadn’t noticed a few ratty pieces of paper serving as bookmarks tucked into each returned book. Another six months to let him kiss her. A year after the drought officially ended, she still wouldn’t admit to her family that they were more than just casual acquaintances, and even now he still wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t turn tail and run down the aisle if someone in the temple dared to breathe too loud.

If she could run at all, which, these days, wasn’t happening. “You’d better not,” she muttered, her other hand idly rubbing the swell of her belly. “Because otherwise this baby is going to kick your ass.”

He still wasn’t sure how shotgun wedding was better than business merger, but he didn’t care - all that mattered was that she finally said yes. And it had only taken three years, almost the entire contents of his father’s library, and a small cabin two hours’ drive up into the mountains, built by his own two hands.

The priestess Elosha asked him to say his vows, and he happily repeated them, one hand still clutching hers, the other resting on the baby girl kicking up a storm inside Laura.

He’d stand by her, and support her, and love her, love her even more as their family expanded. His oldest son slipped his hand into Bill’s and squeezed, ready to say his line in the ceremony. “So say we all,” Lee proclaimed, puffing out his little chest at his vow to protect his siblings.

“So say we all,” he echoed.

“So say we all,” whispered Laura, because this woman, his wife, she always had to have the last word.

He could live with that. For the rest of his life, he could live with that.

[negaragunda]

Yedinci kızın yedinci kızı

Funderburke ailesi Winsconsin’in en köklü hanelerinden birisiydi. 1920′lerin sonunda patlak veren ekonomik kriz nedeniyle, hane komşu eyaletlere dağılmaya başladı. Yaklaşık 20 sene sonra bu seçkin hanenin soy ismini taşıyan sadece bir çift kalmıştı. Lawiet ve Rachel, Coloardo’nun Denver şehrine, kendilerine huzurlu bir hayat kurmak için geldiler. Lawiet birkaç sene içinde kasabadaki kilisenin pederi olmuştu. Küçüklüğünden beri babasının kendisi için çizdiği yoldan gitmek istiyordu. Günahkârları kilisesinde ağırlayıp, Tanrı’dan onlar için af dilemek en büyük hayaliydi. Boş zamanlarında da diğer dinler hakkında araştırmalar yapıyor, tarih boyunca insanların inanç türlerini öğrenmeye çalışıyordu. Rachel neredeyse tüm zamanını evde geçirirdi. Kocasına çok bağlıydı. Onu tüm kalbiyle sever ve ona güvenirdi. Aralarındaki tek tartışma, Lawiet’in son zamanlarda odasına kapanıp dinler tarihi üzerindeki araştırmalarını yoğunlaştırması ve ailesine yeteri kadar zaman ayırmamasından dolayı çıkıyordu. Lawiet ve Rachel’ın 6 tane kız çocuğu vardı. Rachel kızlarına, babalarının önemli bir işi olduğunu ve çok geçmeden hep beraber pikniğe gidecekleri yalanını söylemek zorunda kalıyordu. Arianna 7, Evelyn 6, Lillian 5, Allison 3, Charlotte 2 yaşındaydı. Son doğan çocuklarının ismi Mia’ydı ve daha 8 aylıktı. 

Denver Belediyesi, altın madenlerini işletime sokmasıyla, şehirde yeni iş fırsatları oluşmuştu. Rachel çocukları daha iyi koşullarda yetiştirmek için Lawiet’ten işini değiştirmesini istiyordu fakat kocası bu teklifi ne zaman duysa hiç oralı olmuyordu. Lawiet, 8 kişilik bir ailenin vasatın üstünde ekonomik koşullarla yaşaması için pederlik mesleğinin yeterli olduğunu düşünüyordu. Rachel kocasını bu konuda ikna etmek için kafa patlatsa da Lawiet sadece odasına kapanıyor ve araştırma yapıyordu. Çocuklar da aile içindeki soğuk rüzgârlardan ister istemez etkileniyordu. Mia’nın 2 yaşına bastığı hafta, kızamık olması bile Lawiet’in umurunda değildi. Lawiet o akşam odasından aniden çıktı ve ayağını yere vura vura salona girdi. Rachel, bir yandan Allison ve Lillian’ı uyutmak için ninni söylüyor, bir yandan da Mia’nın ateşini düşürmeye çalışıyordu. Lawiet, Rachel’la özel olarak konuşmak istediğini söyleyerek onu mutfağa çağırdı. Rachel, kocasının duygusuz suratını görmeye o kadar alışmıştı ki, karşısında tedirginlikten yüzü bembeyaz olmuş bir adam görünce şaşkınlığını gizleyemedi. Lawiet, eşinin kendisine, ‘ne oldu, neden bu kadar korkmuş gözüküyorsun?’ diye sormasına bile izin vermeden, kelimelerin üstüne basa basa konuşmaya başladı. Rachel duyduklarına anlam veremiyordu. Kocası defalarca aynı şeyleri tekrarlıyordu. ‘Bir çocuk daha istemiyorum. Aklından bile geçirme. Gerekirse ayrı yataklarda yatacağız!’

Aradan haftalar geçmişti fakat Lawiet, Rachel’a neden böyle bir uyarıda bulunduğunu açıklamıyordu. Konu ne zaman açılsa Lawiet sinirleniyor ve odasına çekiliyordu. Aile içindeki bu gerginlikten neredeyse tüm çocukları etkilenmişti. Evelyn giderek huysuzlaşıyordu ve hiçbir şeyden mutlu olamıyordu. Arianna geceleri yatağında sessizce ağlıyor, Lillian ise kimseyle konuşmuyordu. Charlotte için ise durum daha kritik bir hâl almıştı. Ne zaman yalnız kalsa annesinin yanına koşup sarılıyor, korkunç bir canavarın kendisini öldürmek istediğini söyleyip sinir krizi geçiriyordu. Rachel, çocuklarının ruh sağlığını düzetmek için elinden geleni yapsa da kocasının her geçen gün tanımadığı bir adama dönüşmesine engel olamıyordu. Lawiet’in çocuk istememesinin tek sebebinin, yeni bir aile bireyine bakacak mâli durumlarının olmaması ve kocasının başka bir işte çalışmak istememesi olduğunu düşünüyordu. Rachel, işlerin bundan daha kötü noktaya gitmesini istemiyordu. Çocuklarının daha fazla zarar görmemesi için harekete geçmesi gerektiğinin farkındaydı. Fakat ne kadar olumlu düşünürse düşünsün karnında başlayan bulantıların şiddetinin artmasıyla dünya başına yıkılmışa döndü. Nasıl ve ne zaman olduğunu bilmiyordu. Bildiği tek şey hamile olduğuydu ve bunu Lawiet’e söylemesi gerekiyordu.

Rachel, günler sonra Lawiet’i kiliseden dönerken kapının önünde yakaladı. Ona, konuşmaları gerektiğini söylediğinde Lawiet’in yüzü buz kesmişti. Sanki Rachel’in söyleyeceklerini hissetmişti. Rachel da kocasının, bahsedeceği konuyu söylemeden anladığının farkındaydı. Lawiet’in suratı tekrardan bembeyaz olmuştu. Eşinin karnındaki şişliğe bakıyordu. Sinirden titriyor ve yumruklarını sıkarak derin derin nefes alıyordu. Lawiet çocuklarına, anneleriyle kısa bir süre dışarı çıkacağını söyledi ve Rachel’ı kolundan tutarak evin dışına doğru çekti. Rachel, Lawiet’ten kurtulmak için ilk kez kocasına el kaldırdı fakat Lawiet, Rachel’ın diğer kolunu da tutarak yere yatırdı. Lawiet, gözü dönmüş bir caniden farksızdı. Rachel ağlamaya başladığında ise kafasını tutup bayılana kadar defalarca kaldırım taşına vurdu. Kadının yüzü kanlar içinde kalmıştı ve kendinden geçmiş hâlde yerde yatıyordu. Lawiet, bu tüyler ürperten manzara karşısında, yüzündeki rahatlama ifadesiyle hiçbir şey olmamı�� gibi evin garajına yürüdü. Denver’daki ilk maaşıyla aldığı 1933 model Ford coupe’sini evinin önüne çekti ve arabanın arka bagajına yatırıp kapağını kapattı.

Riverwood Ormanı, içinde ufak bir gölün bulunduğu ulusal parklardan biriydi. Kasabadan birkaç kilometre uzaktaydı ve geceleri ıssız olduğu kadar tehlikeli bir yerdi. Rachel kendine geldiğinde ellerinin ve ayaklarının bağlanmış olduğunu hissetti. Boynunun etrafında sarılı bir ip vardı. Yarılan kaşından akan kanların suratında süzülmesininin verdiği hisle o kadar büyük bir şoka girmişti ki korkudan titremek dışında hiçbir tepki veremiyordu. Tüm bunları Lawiet yapmıştı. Elindeki fenerin ışığı karanlık ormanı, arabasının farları da birkaç metre ötedeki gölün sularını aydınlatıyordu. Lawiet, sıkıca kavradığı ipi yanındaki ağacın kalın dallarından birinin üzerinden geçirerek arabasının tamponuna bağladı. Ruhu içinden çekilmiş gibi yürüyerek yerde bağlı hâlde yatan eşine yaklaştı. Rachel, kocasının gözlerine bakıp tüm gücüyle ‘neden?’ diye sordu. Ama bu haykırış Lawiet’e ufak bir fısıltı gibi gelmişti. Artık tamamen kendisini kaybetmişti ve önceki vurdumduymaz hâlinden bile daha bilinçsiz hareket ediyordu. Lawiet, sanki bir şeyden emin olmak istiyormuş gibi elini Rachel’in karnına doğru uzattı ve parmaklarının ucuyla dokundu. 

Lawiet kendisini çamurun içinde buldu. Rachel’in karnına dokunmasıyla arabasının yanına kadar uçmuştu. Bedeni büyük bir acıyla titriyordu. Ayağa kalkmaya çalışırken sol bacağının tamamen uyuştuğunu hissetti. Ardından da elindeki fenerin ampulunun patladığını fark etti. Lawiet az önce yaşananlara anlam veremiyordu. Ormandaki tüm kuşların bir anda çılgınlar gibi sağa sola uçuştuğunu gördüğünde yüzündeki korku ifadesi daha da belirginleşmişti. Lawiet, panikle arabanın şoför koltuğuna oturup haç çıkarmaya başladı. Rachel’in feryatları ormanı inletiyordu. Lawiet bu kez eşini duydu. Ama ona acımak yerine, kendisine acı verdiğini düşündüğü çığlık sesini acımasızca sonladıracaktı. Lawiet gaza bastı ve arabasını birkaç metre ilerletti. Daha sonra koltuğunun arkasındaki yedek fenerle alet çantasını alarak tampona bağladığı ipi çözmek için aşağı indi. Önce Rachel’in öldüğünü gözleriyle görmek istiyordu. Bunun için elindeki ışığı yukarı kaldırıp ağaçlara baktı ve eşini, ipin bağlı olduğu daldan aşağı sallanırken gördü. Lawiet alnındaki terleri elinin tersiyle silerek derin bir oh çekti. Hızlıca yere eğildi ve alet çantasından çıkardığı demir bir kazığı toprağa çaktı. Ardından tampondan çözdüğü ipi bu kazığa bağlayarak, sağlamlığını test etmek için iki eliyle salladı. Belli ki Rachel’in hâlâ yaşıyor olmasından şüpheleniyordu. Lawiet, arabasına binip gitmeden önce, Rachel’in cansız bedenine son bir kez bakıp içini rahatlatacak birkaç kelime söylemek istedi. Ağzından çıkan sözler, insanları günahlarından arındırmak isteyen pederden, aklını yitirmiş katile dönüşen bir adamın sözleri gibiydi...  ‘Artık karanlığın üzerimize çöküp kalbimizi dondurmayacak.’ 

                                                                              *******

Harper, her sabah olduğu gibi bu sabah da kamyonetinin paslı kapısını tekmeleyip açmış ve kendisini yamalı deri koltuklara atmıştı. Gördüğü kötü kâbusun etkisinden kurtulmayı umarak iç cebinden çıkardığı matarasının kapağını açtı. Daha kahvaltı bile etmeden konyağından büyük bir yudum alarak kontağı çevirdi. Alkolün ekşi tadının verdiği titreme hissiyle kafasını sağa sola sallarken ahşap kulübesinin camında Zoe’yi kaşlarını çatarken gördü. ‘Sanırım dışarı çıkarken fazla gürültü yaptım. Bu kadar erken uyanmazdı bizimki’ dedi içinden Harper. O kızgın suratı görmek, içindeki anıları canlandırmaya yetmişti... 55 yıldır hayatında tek bir şey hariç hiçbir değişiklik yoktu. Aynı derme çatma kulübede yaşıyor, aynı yırtık elbiseleri giyiyor, aynı içkiyi içiyordu. Ve tabii her zaman şikayet ettiği ama bir o kadar da sevdiği işini yapıyordu. Riverwood Ormanında ağaç kesiyor ve çevre eyaletlere nakliyelerini yapıyordu Harper. Zoe ile 13 yıl önce tanışmıştı. O günden bu güne ara sıra  benzer kâbuslar gördüğü oluyordu. Harper’i endişelendiren şey ise bu kâbusların görülme sıklığının artmasıydı. 

13 yıl önce soğuk bir sonbahar gecesiydi... Kulübesinde, ormanın derinliklerinden gelen bir çığlık sesini duyarak uyanmıştı. Kapının önüne çıkıp uzun süre ağaçların derinliklerinden gelen sesi dinledikten sonra ikinci bir çığlık duydu. Harper, birinin başına bir şey geldi düşüncesiyle paniğe kapılmış ve kamyonetine atladığı gibi ormanı aramaya başlamıştı. Riverwood çok sessiz ve sakin bir yerdi ve gecenin köründe böyle sesler işitmek hiç hayra alamet değildi. Saatler ilerlemiş, günün ilk ışıkları Rocky Dağları’nın üstünden süzülmeye başlamıştı. Harper kamyonetinin girebildiği her deliğe baksa da hiç kimseyi bulamamıştı. Ağaçların sık olduğu bölgeleri kontrol edememiş olması canını sıkıyordu. Belki de şerife haber vermeliyim diye düşünürken kamyonetinin arka tekerinin büyük bir çamur birikintisine saplandığını hissetti. Matarasından bir yudum konyak alıp küfür ederek aşağı indiğinde gördüğü manzara karşısında buz kesmişti. Harper dakikalarca yaşadığı şokun etkisinden kurtulamadı. Daha sonra güç bela elini tekrardan ceketinin iç cebine sokup matarasını ağzına götürdü. Bir yudum daha konyak içip matarayı kamyonetinin açık kapısından içeri fırlatıp koşmaya başladı. 

Harper koşarken bir yandan gözünü ovuşturuyor bir yandan da küfür ediyordu. Olson Gölü, Riverwood Ormanı’nın içindeki en ıssız yerlerden biriydi ve buraya genelde kimse gelmezdi. Harper bile en son yıllar önce bu çevredeki ağaçların büyüme oranlarını gözlemlemek için gelmişti. Olson Gölü'nün, insanın gözünü büyüleyen, Cennet’ten gelme bir doğa harikası olduğunu düşünürdü hep. Fakat bu kez tam tersiydi. Gölün o masumane yüzü Cehennem’den koparak ayrılmış bir parçaya dönüşmüştü. Gölün yüzeyi kömür haline gelmiş ölü balıklarla doluydu. O kadar çok ölü balık vardı ki sanki dev bir mezbaha çukuru duruyordu Harper’ın karşısında. Böyle bir doğa felaketine yol açanın ne olduğunu düşünürken bir bebek ağlaması sesi duydu. Harper gölün kıyısını kaplayan balçığı döve döve koşmaya başlamıştı. Sesin geldiği yöne doğru ilerledikçe bazı balıkların kendilerini karaya attığını fark etti. Birkaç kere dengesini kaybedip düşse de sonunda onu bulmuştu... Bebeğin bacakları gölün içindeydi. Kolu bir ağacın köküne sıkışmıştı. Altındaki balçık da kurumuştu. Harper, bebeğin bu yüzden suyun içine yuvarlanmaktan kurtulduğunu düşündü. Soğuktan teni bembeyaz olsa da hâlâ hayattaydı... Harper, bebeğin kolunu nazikce sıkıştığı ağaç kökünden kurtararak onu kucağına aldı. Daha göbek bağının bile karnında olduğunu görünce ‘Hangi pislik böyle adi bir şey yapabilir!’ diye bağırarak küfür etmeye başladı. Bebek, Harper’in öfkesiyle daha da yüksek sesle ağlamaya başlamıştı. Harper, elinden geldiği kadar soğuk kanlı olmaya çalışıyordu. Hemen kulübeye geri dönüp bebeğe ilk yardım uygulamanın en doğru tercih olacağını düşündü. Kamyonetine doğru ilerlemeye başlamıştı ki bedeni gördüğü şey karşısında ikinci kez buz kesmişti... Bir kadın karşısındaki ağacın dalına asılmış halde duruyor, bacaklarının arasından göbek bağı sallanıyordu. Harper o an bir cinayet mahallinin ortasında bulunduğunun farkına varmıştı. Gördüğü kadının, kucağındaki bebeğin annesi olduğuna emindi. Kafasından aynı anda yüzlerce soru geçiyordu... Kim böyle bir şey yapar? Bir kadın öldükten sonra da doğum yapabilir mi? Tüm bu olanlara rağmen bu bebek nasıl hayatta kaldı? İşlenen cinayetin, göldeki balıkların ölmesiyle bir bağlantısı olabilir mi?.. 

Harper kısa bir süre sonra tekrar kendisine gelmişti. Bebeğin sağlığı söz konusu olduğu için kaybedecek vakit yoktu. Beyninin içinde akan soru işaretlerini bir süreliğine durdurup kamyonetine atladığı gibi kulübeye doğru yola çıktı. Harper kulübeye vardığı gibi kapıyı tekmesiyle açıp içeri girdi. İşe sobanın üzerine su koyup ısıtmakla başladı. Bir yandan yıllardır kullanmadığı ilk yardım setinin içinde bitmemiş bir alkol şişesi arıyor, bir yandan da temiz havluları nereye kaldırdığını hatırlamaya çalışıyordu. Eline daha önce dikiş iğnesi bile almayan Harper, göbek bağını kesmiş, yaraları dikmiş ve bebeği çamurlardan temizlemişti. Fakat yaşadığı şok yüzünden bebeğin saatlerce aç olduğunu az daha unutuyordu. Buzdolabında kalan son şişe sütü ısıtıp bebeğe içirmeye başladı. Harper, ağlamaların artık tamamen kesilmesiyle bebeği kalın bir battaniyeye sardı ve sobanın karşısındaki sallanan sandalyesine oturdu. Bebeği sallayarak uyutmaya çalışırken öldürülen annesinin kolundaki bileklik aklına geldi. Üzerinde ‘Zoe’ yazıyordu. ‘Sanırım bundan daha iyi bir isim olamaz’ diye düşündü Harper... Bu kâbusu artık daha sık görüyordu. Fakat gördükleri, bir hayâl ürünü değil yaşanmışlığın ta kendisiydi. 13 yıl önce olanlar ve Zoe’nin hayatına girmesi 55 yıllık kerestecilik hayatındaki tek değişiklikti... Sıra dışı bir değişiklik...

                                                                               *******

Harper, Zoe’nin çatık kaşlarının altındaki öfke dolu gözler ile temas kurduktan sonra daldığı anılardan uzun süre çıkamamıştı. Kamyonetinin motorunun dakikalardır boşuna çalıştığını fark etmesiyle bir yudum konyak içip gaza bastı. Harper için yine sıradan bir gün başlıyora benziyordu. Sabah yaşadıklarını saymazsa sıradanlığın yanına can sıkıcılığı da ekleyebilirdi Harper. Çürümüş ağaçları kesip kamyonete yüklerken her gün daha da zorlanmasının nedeni kesinlikle giderek yaşlanıyor olması değildi. Asında bu da bir çelişkiydi. Aynı, ‘ne kadar tekdüze bir hayat geçiriyorum’ diye şikayet ederken Zoe’ye sahip olmak gibi. Harper içinden, ‘belki de yıllar önce bu işi bırakıp, emekli maaşımla şehir merkezinde tuttuğum bir evde yaşamaya başlamalıydım’ dedi. Fakat Zoe’ye bakmanın getirdiği sorumluluğu omuzlarından hiç atamayacağını biliyordu. Ona o kadar bağlıydı ki ondan ayrılmak için birçok riski göze almıştı. 13 yıl önce yaşadığı olaydan sonra şerifi aramış ve ormandaki cinayeti anlatmıştı. Fakat Zoe’den hiç kimseye bahsetmemişti. Polis ve adli tıp uzmanları 6 aydan fazla süredir ormanda, cinayeti çözmeye çalışmıştı. Şerif, en iyi arkadaşı olan Harper’ın evinin polis tarafından bir kez bile  aranmasına izin vermemişti. Harper bunu bildiği için Zoe’yi koruma ve insanlardan uzak tutma konusunda içi az da olsa rahattı. Fakat ne zaman evden çıkıp ağaç kesmeye gitse içine dolan korku ve tedirginliğe engel olamıyordu. Zoe’nin kimsenin eline geçmesini istemiyordu. O kızda daha önce hiç görülmemiş bir şey olduğunu onu ilk gördüğü gün anlamıştı. 

Aradan 13 yıl geçmesine rağmen Zoe sanki 5 yaşında gibiydi. Harper Zoe ile ne kadar konuşsa da ağzından tek bir kelime çıktığını duymamıştı. Hayatındaki ilk ve tek kişi olsa da, Harper’a her zaman gözlerini çatarak, gözünden öfke saçarak bakıyordu. Sanki yaşadığı şeyleri hatırlıyordu ve her şeyden nefret ediyora benziyordu. Uyurken bile yüzünde, yaşamdan intikam almak istermişçesine bir ifade oluşuyordu. Harper, Zoe’deki diğer bir garipliği 4 ay önce fark etmişti. Yıllar geçmesine rağmen gelişimin çok yavaş ilerlemesi dışında bir gariplikti. Harper Zoe’yi her geçen gün kendi kızı gibi gördüğü için, onun sağlığına önem veriyor ve iyi beslenmesini istiyordu. Zoe ise hiç bir zaman iştahlı bir kız olmamıştı bu nedenle Harper ona çoğu zaman zorla yemek yedirmek zorunda kalıyordu. Zoe’in yemek yemeye direndiği bir gece birden elektrikler kesilmişti. Harper, mum ışığında, Zoe’nin ağzına tavşan yahnisinin lokmalarını sokmaya çalışırken birden çok yüksek gerilimde bir elektrik akımına kapılmıştı. Aynı anda da evin tüm lambaları yanmış, içerisi aydınlanmıştı. Harper o gün Zoe’nin vücudunda garip bir elektrik akımı dolaştığını anlamıştı. Harper baltasını ağaca her vurduğunda düşünmeden edemiyordu. Acaba Zoe’nin bedenindeki elektrik, kendisini korumaya çalıştığı zaman mı ortaya çıkıyordu? Yoksa her istediğinde bu akımı etrafına yayabilen özel bir yeteneğe mi sahipti? Harper’ın kafasından yine yüzlerce soru geçiyordu ama en sonuncusu diğerlerinden farklıydı... Zoe’yi bulduğu gün gölün üzerinde yüzlerce ölü balık görmüştü ve bu balıklar adeta kömüre dönmüştü. Harper, ‘Hayır böyle bir şey olamaz! Bacakları suyun içindeydi... Bedeninden çıkan elektrik göldeki tüm canlıları öldürmüş olamaz!’ diye haykırdı ormanın ortasında. Harper’ın içinde bir tedirginlik oluşmuştu ve giderek büyüyordu. Çabucak ekipmanları toplayıp kamyonetine binerek kulübesine geri dönmek için yola koyuldu. 

Harper, kulübesine geldiğinde kapıda şerifi gördü. Posta kutusunun yanındaki çitlerin üzerine oturmuş, kafasını iki avcunun arasına almış ağlıyordu. Evin kapısı kırılmıştı ve yerde lastik izleri vardı. Harper, “Zoe” diye bağırarak kamyonetinden indi. Koşarak kulübenin içine girdi ve Zoe’nin adını haykırarak evi armaya başladı. Harper bağırdıkça şerif daha yüksek sesle ağlamaya başlamıştı. 

- Yapamadım Harper. Ailemi öldürmekle beni tehdit ettiler. Kızın yerini onlara söylemediğim takdirde kızımı ve eşimi öldüreceklerini söylediler. Federaller... 3 büyük TIR ve bir düzine arazi aracıyla geldiler. Kapıyı kırıp içeri girdiler. Kızı uzun namlulu uyuşturcu silahlarla bayılttılar, sonra da beyaz naylon elbise giymiş birkaç doktor geldi. Sanki bir şeyden korunmaya çalışıyorlardı. Daha sonra onu alıp TIR’lardan birine koyup hiçbir şey demeden gittiler. Özür dilerim. Ne olur beni affet!

Harper iki eliyle şerifin yakasına yapıştı ve onu çitlerin üzerinden kaldırıp yere fırlattı. Gözlerinden adeta ateş fışkırıyordu. Yumruklarını sıkmış, şerife onu öldürecekmiş gibi bakıyordu.

- Nereye götürdüler onu?! Zoe’yi nereye götürdüler?! Bunca zaman onun bu evde yaşadığını biliyordun demek! Neden sattın beni? Neden bana söylemedin bunu?

- Sana söyledim Harper! Beni tehdit ettiler. Bu adamlar bir şeyi biliyordu. Yıllar önceki Olson Gölü cinayeti hakkında bana sorular sordular. Öldürlen kadının DNA’larını araştırdıklarını ve sonuçlarda daha önce hiç rastlanmamış bulgulara ulaştıklarını söylediler. O kadın ölürken mucizevi şekilde bir bebek dünyaya getirmişti. Federallerden biri bu bebeği aradıklarını, yıllardır araştırma yapmalarına rağmen hiçbir ipucu bulamadıklarını söyledi. Benim, onların son umudum olduğunu söylediler ve iş birliği yapmaya çalıştılar. Ben bu teklifi reddedince de önce bana işkence yaptılar daha sonra da ailemi öldürmekle tehdit ettiler! Üzgünüm Harper yapmadım! Kızı koruyamadım...

- Sana nereye gittiler diye sordum değil mi?! 

- Nereye gittiklerini bilmiyorum. Fakat sana bir mesaj iletmemi söylediler. Senden bu olayın peşini bırakmanı istiyorlar. Aksi halde büyük bir olasılıka seni öldürecekler.

- Canına okuyacağım hepsinin! Bu evde benden başka birinin yaşadığını nerden öğrendin şerif! O kızı seneler boyunca nasıl özveriyle herkesten sakladığımı biliyor musun sen?!

- Biliyorum sana haber vermeden kulübene gelmeyi sevmiyordum. Çünkü gelip seni bulmamak canımı çok sıkıyordu. Fakat bir gün yabani bir ayının çevredeki kasabalara saldırdığı haberini aldık. Ormanda onu ararken senin kulübenin yanından geçmiştim. Buraya kadar gelince bir de sana uğrayayım dedim. Onu camda görmüştüm. Nefret dolu gözlerle bana bakıyordu. Aklıma senin bir çocuk sapığı olduğun fikri bile geldi. Ama sana güvenim sonsuz olduğu için bu işe hiç karışmak istemedim. Ayrıca o kızın Olson Gölü cinayetiyle bir alakasının olacağı aklımın ucundan bile geçmedi... Harper senden ne kadar özür dilesem de bir işe yaramayacak biliyorum. Ben bir kanun adamıyım ve sen benim en iyi dostumsun. Yıllardır sırrını içimde sakladım ve aileme dahi söylemedim. Fakat söz konusu ailemin hayatı olunca konuşmaktan başka çarem kalmadı...

Harper duyduklarına inanmak istemese de, yıllardır beraber yaşadığı kişinin elinden alınmasının yarattığı acı kalbinin derinliklerine kadar ulaşmıştı. Birileri Zoe’nin doğa üstü gücünün farkındaydı. Ve tüm bunların arkasında devlet vardı. Zoe’ye zarar vereceklerini, onu çıkarları doğrultusunda kullanacaklarını biliyordu. Federal ajanlar tarafından öldürülmek umrunda değildi. Zoe’yi bulup eve geri getirmek istiyordu. Ne kadar kendisine yıllardır kaşlarını çatarak baksa da, tek bir kelime bile konuşmasa da onu canından çok seviyordu. Çünkü Harper’ın hiç çocuğu olmamıştı. Zoe, onun sıradan dünyasını değiştirmiş. Değişen hayatına farklı bir sıradanlık katmıştı... 

Bedeninde büyük bir yorgunluk hissediyordu Harper. Sanki dünyanın bütün ağırlığı üzerindeydi. Gözlerini açmaya çalışsa da bulanıklıktan başka hiçbir şey görmüyordu. Burnunun içinde rahatsız edici bir his vardı. Olan tüm gücüyle elini kaldırıp burnuna götürmeye çalıştı fakat kolunu kaldıracak enerjiyi kendinde bulamıyordu. Derken birinin omzuna dokunduğunu fark etti. Kulağına gelen uğultu giderek duyulabilir bir hâl almaya başlamıştı. Az da olsa etrafındaki sesleri işitebiliyordu.

- Harper, ben şerif Galloway. Burada yanındayım. Hiç merak etme sen iyi olana kadar da ayrılmayacağım. 

- Ne, ne oldu bana? Nere neresi burası?

- Göğsünü tutarak yere yığıldın eski dostum. Doktorlar kalp krizi geçtirdiğini söylediler. Aslında bunları konuşmamam lazım ama için rahat etsin ve aklında şüphe olmasın diye söylüyorum. Hep dalga geçtiğim o hurda kamyonetine dua etmelisin. Sağsalim seni hastaneye yetiştirdim. 

- Beni yalnız bırak şerif...

- Ama Harper yanında durup...

- Git dedim! Ama önce cep radyomu da aç. Kendimle baş başa kalmak istiyorum...

- Nasıl istersen Harper... Radyoyu yanındaki sehpaya koyuyorum. Bir şeye ihtiyacın olursa bana seslen lütfen. Kapının hemen dışında olacağım.

Olayların bu noktaya geleceğini kim bilebilirdi ki... En iyi arkadaşının kendisine ihanet edeceğini, çatık kaşlarıyla hayatına neşe katan küçük bir kızı kaybedeceğini, yıllardır içtiği konyağın kendisini böyle bir zamanda yarı yolda bırakacağını kim bilebilirdi ki. Dışarıda Zoe’yi araması gerekirken, burnunun içindeki rahatsız edici solunum hortumlarından nefes almaya çalışıyor, Galloway’in açtığı aptal radyo istasyonundaki anlamsız söyleşiyi dinliyordu... Harper, şerifi radyonun frekansını değiştirmesi için odaya çağırmaktansa şu anda duyduklarına razı olmayı kabullendi.

“Evet Geroge sana konuk olmak beni gerçekten onurlandırdı. Programı kapatmadan önce bir daha tekrarlamak istiyorum. Söylediklerim kulağa ne kadar bir hurafe olarak gelse de bizim görevimiz bu olasılıkları araştırıp gerçeği ortaya çıkarmak. Dediğim gibi kaynaklarımızda şu ana kadar yaşamış sadece 4 tane ‘yedinci oğlun yedinci oğlu’ var. Bunlardan ikisi Ortaçağ İtalyası ve yine aynı dönemlerde Latin Amerika’da dünyaya geldi. Diğer ikisi de geçtiğimiz yüzyıl içinde İrlanda ve Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde doğdu. Yedinci oğlun yedinci oğlu olan kişi büyük bir güce sahiptir. Etrafındaki insanlara pozitif enerji yayar. Bu enerji o insanları hastalıktan korur ve çabuk iyileşmelerini sağlar. Biz din adamları, bu kişilerin tanrı tarafından gönderildiğine inanırız. Fakat bilim insanları bu olasılığı gerçekçi bulmamakta direnmeye devam ediyorlar. Yedinci oğlun yedinci oğlunun yarattığı etkinin tam tersinden bahsedecek olursak karşımıza ‘yedinci kızın yedinci kızı’ kavramı çıkıyor. Rivayetlere göre daha önce dünyada yedinci kızın yedinci kızı olarak doğan kişi, kaos ve yıkımdan başka bir şeye sebep olmamış. Saygıdeğer hocam Peder Lawiet Funderburke’ün de dediği gibi, eğer bir yedinci kızın, yedinci kızını doğurma ihtimali varsa, taşıyıcı kadın doğumu gerçekleştirmeden gözetim altına alınmalı ve bebek doğmadan kürtajla rahimden alınıp yakılmalıdır.”

WPO Yeraltı Üssü / Minneapolis - ABD (2185) / Çarpışmadan 3 saat sonra

- Sayın Başkan raporlarımızı tamamladık izninizle aktarmaya başlamak istiyorum.

- Evet seni dinliyorum. Umarım tatmin edici şeyler duyarım. 

- Sayın Başkan sizin de bildiğiniz gibi 163 sene önce Oklahoma’da hayata geçirdiğimiz ve yıllardır büyük bir titizlikle yürüttüğümüz ‘Core-Z’ projemiz bizi yarı yolda bırakmışa benziyor.

- Nasıl olur? Onca yatırım, onca teste rağmen... Şu anda kadar hiç sorunsuz işliyordu... Dünyayı bu sayede kölemiz yapmıştık! Nasıl oldu bu?!

- Sayın Başkan, baştan almak gerekirse aslında bundan yıllar önce, hiçbir zaman tükenmeyecek bir enerji kaynağı keşfetmiştik. Bildiğiniz gibi insanoğlunun daha önce karşılaşmadığı bir şeyi deneyim etmiştik. Hiçbir ülke ele geçirdiğimiz gücün ne anlama geldiğini anlayacak durumda değildi. Anlayabilecek olsalar bile en doğru seçim, bu keşfi bir devlet sırrı olarak saklamak olacaktı. Uzun süren geliştirmelerimiz hep olumlu sonuçlar vermişti. Ve sonunda 2022 yılında  Core-Z’yi hayata geçirdik. Oklahoma şehrinde yer altına inşa ettiğimiz üssümüz artık faliyete geçmişti. Önceleri birkaç şehre elektrik vermeye başladık. Birkaç sene sonra ise Core-Z’nin enerjisini ABD’nin tüm eyaletlerine aktarmaya başladık. Fakat elimizdeki enerjiyi üreten asıl kaynağı gizli tutmaya devam ettik. Dünyadaki petrol rezervlerinin bitmesi ve elektriğe olan ilginin artmasıyla da başta Kanada ve Güney Amerika ülkeleri olmak üzere tüm dünyayı kademeli olarak Core-Z ile tanıştırdık. 2056 yılında Dennis Wilcox’ın Başkan olduğu dönemde Core-Z’nin enerjisini kullanmak istemeyen 26 ülke dışında bütün gezegen ABD’nin sağladığı güçle aydınlanıyordu. 2058′deki tüm dünya liderlerinin katıldığı Büyük Enerji Görüşmeleri ile bahsi geçen 26 ülke de ikna olmuş oldu. Anlaşmanın sağlanması için, devletlere sağladığımız enerji hizmetinde yüzde 20′lik bir indirime gittik ama karşılığında tüm dünya ülkelerini tek bir çatı altında toplamayı başardık. Artık Core-Z’nin enerjisini kullanmayan kalmamıştı. Yani bildiğiniz gibi dünya avcumuzun içindeydi. Milyarlarca insanın bu enerjiyi kullanmasına rağmen kaynağımızda en ufak bir güç kesintisi ya da dalgalanması meydana gelmiyordu. Fakat biz yine de gerekli önlemleri almaya devam ettik. Kaynağın özellikle ‘nefret’ duygusunun istikrarlı bir şekilde hep aynı seviyede olmasını sağladık. Nefret, öfke, şiddet ve intikamın onu beslediğini biliyorduk.

- Bunları zaten biliyorum esas konuya gel!

- Efendim, 55 kilometre çapında olduğu bilinen Vorguz asteroidinin, Güneş Sistemi’ne girip dünyaya çarpacağını 9 sene önce öğrendikten sonra, onun imhası için  Core-Z’nin enerjisini kullanmaya karar verdik ve bu doğrultuda bir silah geliştirdik. Dünya üzerinden direkt olarak asteroidi hedef alacak bu silaha tüm ülkeler ‘evet’ dedi. Core-Z’nin yarattığı olumlu etki sayesinde bu enerji kaynağına güvenleri sonsuzdu. Bu durum büyük bir sorumluluk doğurdu ve Vorguz’un imhası ABD’nin üzerine kaldı. Bu noktada kaynağın, Vorguz’dan ve dünyayı yok edecek olmasından bir şekilde haberdar olduğunu ve elektrik üretimini durdurduğunu düşünüyoruz.

- Şuna ‘kaynak’ deyip durma!

- Afedersiniz sayın başkan. Bildiğiniz gibi Oklahoma’daki üstten hiç ayrılmadı. Enerji üretimine başladığımızdan beri oradaydı. İçimizden birinin bize yani insanlığa ihanet ettiğinden şüpheleniyorum ama o reaktöre girmesi imkansız olmalı. Bu durumda Vorguz’u ve dünyayı bekleyen tehdidi, henüz anlayamadığımız bir yöntemle kendi başına öğrenmiş olmalı. Çarpışmaya 30 dakika 22 saniye kala enerji üretimini durdurdu. Vorguz’a karşı ürettiğimiz silah Core-Z’den direkt gelen elektrik ile çalıştığı için depoladığımız güç üniteleri silah için gerekli enerjiyi sağlayamadı. Tamamen hazırlıksız yakalandık. Savunma Bakanlığı’nın, ABD’deki tüm savaş uçaklarını uçurup asteroidi atmosfere girmeden vurarak parçalamaya çalıştığı konusunda söyletinler var ama bu gerçek bile olsa başarısızlıkla sonuçlandığını, içinde bulunduğumuz duruma bakarak rahatlıkla söyleyebiliriz.

- Kayıplar nedir?

- Şu anda iletişim kurduğumuz 21 birim var sayın Başkan. Bunlardan 14′ü Avrupa’da, 3′ü Asya’da, 4′ü de Japonya’da. Enerji depomuzun sağladığı elektriği 3 sene 10 ay ve 21 gün kullanabiliriz. Fakat bir alternatif bulamazsak bizimki de dahil olmak üzere dünyadaki bütün sığınakların gücü bir gün tükenecek. Tahminlerimize göre, çarpışmadan sonra ortaya çıkan enerjinin yarattığı nükleer fırtınanın 25 seneden fazla etkili olacağını biliyoruz. Sonrasında meydana gelecek buzul devrinin de en az 200 yıl süreceğini düşünüyoruz. Fotosentezin tekrar ne zaman başlayacağını tahmin edemiyoruz. Core-Z olmadan hayatta kalmak ve çalışmalara başlamak için izninizi istiyoruz sayın Başkan.

- Anlıyorum... O çatık kaşlı lanet kadın sounda tebessüm etti demek...

[blue-mint-winter]

Caprica ep17 - Here Be Dragons

Graystones and Sam go to the forest in the V-World to look for Zoe, but she turns their horses into dragons. Daniel and Sam talk about his reasons to come along to this expedition and the truth comes up. Daniel is trying to negotiate, but Amanda shoots Sam. Then they decide to wait for Zoe to come to them herself. Meanwhile, Clarice and her husbands are breaking into their house.

Finally Graystones have an emotional family reunion. In the end, they tell Zoe to find them when she needs them. They will wait for her.

When Graystones return to real world, they realize the break-in. They can’t call for help. Daniel stalls Clarice with religious talk, how he wants to know god, when he notices the damaged Cylon body laying in his lab to start moving. Robo-Zoe saves her parents and kills Nestor. Clarice and Olaf escape.

Graystones meet Zoe in the virtual house. Daniel offers her to work with them on creating a real body for her - with skin. Zoe calls it “skinjob”.

On Geminon, Odin predicts Lacy will be taken out because she can control robots, making her too dangerous to their STO superiors. He goes to Diego and says he wants to stay out of this, that he’s not loyal to Lacy, but Diego orders him to kill her. Turns out it was all a ruse by Lacy and her friends, they take out Diego and take a key to the transport, but Lacy decides to stay. She orders the robots to go with them. There’s going to be a coup in STO.

Fidelia is actually Guatrau’s daughter and she tells him about Adamas sending Cylons to Tauron. They decide to kill Adamas. Joseph got almost killed by Frankie, but his mother in law killed the assassin with her cleaver. Sam after getting shot out of V-World comes over. They need to get fake IDs and passports from mafia place.

Evelyn and Willie were building a model ship and she was telling him how ship was like a family and sometimes they lost some crew and had new people join. What a subtle metaphor to her joining the family.

Sam and Joseph are found out by their mafia buddies, Willie comes in as a distraction and Adamas are victorious, but he got shot in the stomach. Poor kid is dead.

One more episode to go!

[sizekitap]

Gül ve Avcı

Gül ve Avcı Asude Ephesus Yayınları

Bir başkaldırıdır aşk… Önce isyancısını yıkar!

Bir Erkek… Varlığı hem tehlikeli ve korkunç, hem de sonsuza değin güçlü ve korunaklı… Onun karşı konulmaz etkisine kapılan bir kadın sıcak bir gülüşüyle ısınabilir, mavi gözleriyle sonsuz bir denize açılabilir, siyah saçlarıyla zifiri bir geceye korkusuzca dalabilirdi.

Ona yaklaşmak ise ateşe çırılçıplak yürümek demekti.

Bir Kadın… Hem bir kraliçe kadar sarsılmaz, hem de titremeye hazır bir yaprak gibi ürkek ve utangaç… Bir erkeği masumiyetiyle prangasız tutsak edebilir, incindiğinde ise bütün dünyaya kafa tutabilirdi. Kalbi ve masumiyeti acımasızca ihlal edildiğinde artık onun için ateşe yürümek zamanı gelmişti.

Kadın ateşten korkmuyordu, çünkü çoktan yanmıştı.

Evelyn Rosa Drummond, en değerli varlığı olan kalbini bu tehlikeli adama sunduğunda onun aşkına erişebileceğine inanmıştı. Oysa tüm varlığını emanet ettiği Harewood Dükü Julian Benedict Wharton tarafından bir fahişe olarak görülmek gibi korkunç bir yanılgının kurbanı olmuştu.

Ve talih, karşısına dayanılmaz bir intikam fırsatı çıkardı. Herkesin çekindiği bu tehditkâr ve gizemli adama yapılan cinayet suçlamasını ispatlayacaktı. Oysa Julian’ın en yakınına kadar sızmayı başardığında, kalbinin müthiş bir sınanmaya tabi tutulacağından habersizdi.

Gönlünü bir kez daha bu cazibeli adama kaptırmayacağına söz vermek ise gölgesine sığındığı bir yalandan öteye gidemeyecekti!

Kitabın Adı:Gül ve Avcı Kitabın Yazarı: Asude Yayınevi: Ephesus Yayınları Kodu: 9786055358945 Sayfa Sayısı: 470 Basım Tarihi: 2015-06

Yazarı Sizekitap’da Ara Yazarı Twitter’da Ara Kitabı Twitter’da Ara Yazarı Facebook’ta Ara Kitabı Facebook’ta Ara

devamı burada => https://sizekitap.com/kitaplar/edebiyat/gul-ve-avci/

[scifi-women]

[tpols]

An exploration of Joseph and Evelyn's life together, set somewhere between the end of the series and the flash forward at the end of Apotheosis. 

This was sort of beta'd by okaynextcrisis, if you want to count me sending it to her in small chunks by text to give her a ton of angsty feels and then getting carried away and writing an entire thing as a beta. 

[i-believe-in-melinda-may]

71 pages of planning my Roslin/Adama fic and still going, but i've now also written this to get a feel for the dynamics and characters.

I also learnt that the original character bible had Laura's mother's name as Judith, so EJ's full name is Evelyn Judith not Evelyn Jewel.

“Please Mom, please,” EJ Adama, who has grown to look more like her mother, with her long red hair tied back into a high ponytail, with her father’s eyes, skin tone and temperament, begs as she walks with her mother through the Caprica City River market, the two of them doing some shopping for dinner. “Please let me come,” EJ begs.

“EJ it’s a work trip, it’s not for fun,” Laura tells her daughter, knowing that her upcoming trip to the Battlestar Galactica could be described as lot of things, but she is sure that fun isn’t on the list.

“Lee’s going to be there,” EJ argues.

“Your brother is going to be there because he is a part of the ceremony, he’s going to be there for work,” Laura tells her daughter, who smirks as that is exactly what she was hoping her mother was going to say.

“That’s exactly my point,” EJ admits. “Mom this decommissioning is just as much about Dad, his career and retirement, as it is about the Galactica. I want to be there for that, to support him, please let me come,” EJ says, looking at her mother with eyes that are identical to her father, eyes that all of her children inherited, and that Laura has loved for most of her life. “Please Mom,” EJ begs.

“Okay,” Laura says, feeling concerned that it might be a mistake, but it is clearly incredibly important to EJ and she knows it would mean a lot to Bill.

“Okay?” EJ asks amazed, as she planned a lot more arguments in case her mother didn’t agree so easily, as honestly, she wasn’t expecting it to be so easy to get her mother to agree.

“Okay, but you should know that your dad’s going to be busy, you might not be able to spend a lot of time with him,” Laura tells her daughter, not wanting her to get her hopes up about how much she is going to get to spend with her dad.

“I know, I still want to go, want to be there for him,” EJ admits.

“Then okay, you can come,” Laura says, putting her arm around her daughter, who is about the same height as her. “I have an appointment tomorrow morning, and a meeting, so I’ll pick you up from school at lunchtime,” Laura tells her daughter, keeping her voice even as she mentions her appointment as she doesn’t want her to worry even though the doctor has hinted that it’s not good news. “Make sure you get your bag ready tonight,” Laura tells her.

“I will,” EJ says excited. “Thank you, thank you,” EJ says amazed, hugging her mother and kissing her check, and as she sees how happy EJ is Laura knows she made the right choice, despite her own reservations. “So, what are we going to do for dinner?” EJ asks her mother as they break apart, but Laura keeps one arm around her daughter.

“That’s a good question,” Laura admits as she looks around. “What do you feel like?” Laura asks.

“Chicken noodle stir fry?” EJ suggests.

“Sounds good,” Laura responds, and the two of them continue to walk through the market, getting what they need.

(LIne break)

A little while after EJ made the suggestion for dinner EJ and Laura are arriving back at their house, both holding shopping bags.

“I’m going to call Lee, tell him I’ll see him tomorrow,” EJ says to her mother as they walk into the main living area.

“First help put the shopping away,” Laura tells her daughter.

And over the next few minutes Laura and EJ put the shopping away and once they do that EJ hurries off to call her brother while Laura gets started on dinner, as she is washing up she reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a pair of dog tags; dog tags that she has kept with her every day for two years, dog tags with the name with the name Zachary Adam on them, and just like she does several times a day Laura stares at the name of her son, the piece of him she keeps with her every day.

(Line break)

After leaving her mother in the kitchen EJ hurries to her room that is bright, full of books viper models and posters, and covered in pictures of her with her friends, brothers, mother, and even a few with her father. Getting to her bed EJ picks up her phone and spends the next five minutes getting connected to her brother.

“Adama,” Lee’s voice answers.

“This is Adama too,” EJ responds, smirking as she speaks.

“EJ,” Lee says, and EJ can see how glad he is to hear form her. “How you doing, Kiddo?” Lee asks her.

“I’m good,” EJ says rolling her eyes at her brother calling her kiddo, but she knows that trying to get him to stop is no use. “So, I’m going to see you tomorrow,” EJ reveals, as she lays back on her bed.

“You’re coming to the decommissioning?” Lee asks shocked, as while he knew about his mother going he didn’t expect his sister.  

“Yep, I begged mom and she agreed. I finally get to see Galactica!” EJ says excited as she has never seen it before, but she knows how much it means to her father.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Lee tells his sister, not wanting her to be disappointed.

“Maybe not for you, but to me it is,” EJ says excited.

“You’ve been the on a Battlestar before,” Lee reminds his sister.

“Yeah, the Valkyrie when I was like six, this is different,” EJ tells her brother, as she can barely remember that trip.  “I can’t wait to see Dad, and the ship,” EJ says excited, as from all her dad has said she almost feels like the Galactica is part of the family, and even though she can’t see it Lee frowns, having a really bad feeling about this.

“Hey, EJ, can I talk to Mom?” Lee asks, wanting to see if his mother has the same bad feeling about this as she does.

“Sure, give me a sec,” EJ responds before getting up and heading to the kitchen.

About a minute later EJ walks into the kitchen where Laura is working on dinner.

“Mom, Lee wants to talk to you,” EJ informs her mother.

“Okay, start to get the noodles ready,” Laura tells her daughter, as she wipes her hands.

“Got it,” EJ says, handing the phone to her mother.

“Hi Sweetheart,” Laura says to her son, as she walks a little away from where EJ is.  

“Hi Mom,” Lee responds, sounding glad to hear her voice. “So EJ’s coming to Galactica?” Lee asks, and Laura can tell that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

“It’s important to her,” Laura explains to her son. “I know it will make things more complicated, but she really wants to come, be there for your father,” Laura explains to her son.

“Right,” Lee says with a bitter laugh. “Have you talked to him lately?” Lee asks curious as he is never sure how often his parents speak.

“A few months ago,” Laura reveals. “He had a couple of days leave so he came to see EJ, we talked briefly,” Laura explains, knowing that Bill knew what she was going to be doing to his ship at that point, so he wasn’t happy with her.

“Right,” Lee says, clearly not sure how to feel about that.

“Lee, your father….” Laura starts to say.

“Mom, I’ve got to go,” Lee says, cutting her off and making it clear that he still doesn’t want to talk about his father. “I’ll see you tomorrow, love you,” Lee says to her.

“Love you too, see you tomorrow,” Laura says before hanging up and after hanging up Laura walks over to her daughter.

“Lee still won’t talk about Dad?” EJ asks, having heard enough of the conversation to realise that.

“No,” Laura says with a sigh, putting the phone down on the bench.

“So, tomorrow is going to be interesting,” EJ realises, though she is still looking forward to it

“Really is,” Laura confirms, not looking forward to it as much as her daughter clearly is, and the two of them proceed to make dinner together.

[m00ndanse]

Caprica  s1e17 - False Labor

[lauracylon12]

That moment when . . .

you girlfriend convinces your daughter to kill you.

[blue-mint-winter]

Caprica ep13 - False Labor

There’s a civil war on Tauron again and Sam Adama gets very emotional about it, because he and Joseph lost their parents in the previous civil war. He wants to help the rebels so he sends money and guns, without Guatrau’s knowledge. His husband doesn’t approve too.

Gun business is run by Atreus and he takes over Sam’s delivery and kills his partner, thinking that this was official mafia business. Guatrau orders Sam to take care of this by the end of the day. He has to protect Gautrau’s reputation.

Sam takes a Cylon from Graystone Industries and kills off Atreus and his guys. Then he wants to send some Cylons to Tauron to help rebels, but Guatrau forbids it. Mafia doesn’t get involved with politics. Also if rebels won the war, they could stop doing business with mafia. This decision is  a hard thing to swallow for Sam.

Evelyn practically moved in with Adamas and finally she seduces Joseph, because he was still not getting that she loves him. What a dumbass lol

Daniel and Cyrus notice weird shipments and non-existent third shift in the company, they know mafia is doing something.

Daniel doesn’t like the commercial for his program for grieving people, but Guatrau likes it, so Daniel has to back off and even reshoot it so the real him would be in it, not just a CG Daniel. Daniel doesn’t have real full power over his company now.

Daniel made avatar of Amanda to spend time with, because he misses her so much. He’s trying to make her perfect, but it’s not working. The avatar is made to love him and please him no matter what, real Amanda isn’t and he notices the difference.

Real Amanda has to get Mar-Beth one of Clarice’s wives on her side so she can stay in the house. Mar-Beth is going to give birth soon and Amanda opens up to her about Zoe being an accident, how she didn’t want her at first and that’s why she thinks Zoe turned out the way she did. Connecting as mothers made Mar-Beth accept Amanda and she was there for the birth. Talking with Duram Amanda admits that she was lying - and that’s how we see that she changed too. I never knew she could be such a great actress, I thought that her story about Zoe was for real. Old Amanda wouldn’t lie and spy like that, but this Amanda wants to bring down these people she thinks made Zoe into a terrorist.

[scifi-women]