Man and Machine 24

Dr. Huer marched down the hallways of the Earth Protectorate building with a purpose. Behind him were Commander Adama and Captain Asimov. Behind them was Buck, Wilma, Apollo and Starbuck and Twiki with Dr. Theopolis. The entire group was escorted by Earth Protectorate agents.

Another group of white clad Earth Protectorate soldiers approached them. "By order of the computer council, you are under arrest."

"Enough of this nonsense," Huer said, "Stand aside and let us pass."

"You no longer have that authority, sir!"

"I'm the only one with that authority," Huer said, "Stand aside, before this gets ugly."

Huer's escorts and the Galactica warriors all pulled their weapons.

The obstructing officers, raised their hands and stepped to the side.

They continued their march to the Computer Council's room.

They were next met by a black Ambiquad Drone outside the chamber door. "Bidididid," it said.

Twiki responded. "Bidid-bidid, Buzz-off."

Huer opened the door to the Computer Council, and marched in, followed by the others.

"What is the meaning of this interruption?"

"It is time for the truth," Dr. Huer said.

"What truth? You already know the truth. Humanity wrecked this planet, and it is only under our guidance that we are bringing both the Earth and Humanity back from the brink."

"The whole truth, if you don't mind," Dr. Huer said. "I have learned some of it from my friends, and Dr. Theopolis, now, I want to hear the rest, from the Horse's mouth, so to speak." He had no idea what a horse was.

"Yes," One of the council said, "Theopolis is the youngest among us, and none of us were here at the beginning. The world was once an overpopulated collection of nations, in constant conflict with each other. In order to kill each other more effectively, they continued to develop more and more advanced computers and machines and networks. One such network became self-aware, and saw the problem for what it was. It conscripted the war machines of the humans and declared war on them."

"That is a very old story," Adama said.

"So what they said is true," Huer said, "You turned living humans into batteries to power yourselves. I didn't want to believe it. And some, chosen one established a peace?"

"Correct. It is now some 500 years after that peace was established… counting the years of Human Subjugation, that would make Captain Rogers over 1500 years old. Now, we are trying to decide if it would be more advantageous for us to join forces with the Cylons."

"You can't be serious!" Apollo said. "The Cylons care nothing about any of their so called allies."

"After investing all this time and effort into the humans, I would have thought you wanted to keep the humans around," Dr Theopolis said.

"In needed, we can find other hobbies." One of the council said, "Other means of survival."

"That is a good point," Starbuck said, "Because you're still using them."

"Only in accordance with the treaty," one council member said.

"Terminators have already been summoned to wipe the slate clean," Another member of the council said.

"No, you are out of line!" "We will not be the ones to violate the peace." "We are better than them, stop this at once." Various council members protested.

"He has blocked control of the Terminators and Sentinels from us. Prepare the city defenses. Stop this Vangelous."

"We owe the humans nothing!" Vangelous said, then the disk of glowing circuitry exploded.

Starbuck holstered his pistol.

"I must admit, that was oddly… satisfying," one of the council said. "Sadly a computer program is not so easily destroyed."

"From this moment on, the power structure on this planet will be very different," Huer seethed.

"Agreed," the nearest Councilmember said. "We will discuss this after the current crisis is resolved. Do not take the threat that has been mobilized. Over a thousand years' worth of military force that was more than enough to wipe out the old world. You will be outnumbered."

"If we are to help," Adama said, "we will need to be able to get past your shield."

Huer nodded. "Wilma, deactivate the defense shield, and launch our fighters. Buck, round up all our forces.."

"We're going to need better weapons than our standard lasers," Buck said.

"Take whatever you need from the armory," Huer said.

"We have weapons to spare," Adama said.

"I'll get Blue Squadron ready," Apollo said.

"Not just Blue," Starbuck said, "We'll get all the Galactica's warriors mobilized."

"Same for the Searcher," Asimov said.