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Esther blinked once as the world came back into focus. They had been on a slope and then there had been dogs and she had been turning around to help Mike and…A bright flash of light. That was all she remembered. Now she blinked again and the blurs resolved into a metal ceiling.There were the sounds of people quietly talking. She tried to move her head, but she couldn’t. Then she tried to move her body and she couldn’t move that either. Something was holding her. Esther tried to say something but she realized there was a mask on her face.She started to try and move, try and get out, but the only things she could move were her hands and feet…“Kid’s waking up,” the medic said.The raptor was in the port flight bay, moving to the elevator that would take it to the forward hanger.Sandra thought, and unbuttoned her harness, gesturing at the boy to do the same. He nodded and moved over to Esther, rapidly talking in his language.The medic pulled the mask off and she started jabbering back at him. On several occasions her voice rose in a tone that Sandra knew well. Some variant of “you’re frakking me. Right?”The kid looked up at the clunking sound as the elevator clamps locked down. Before the elevator lowered into the midspace airlock, the top hatch sealing as air filled the chamber.“Right,” the medic said. “We’ve got the transfer team for the sickbay ready. Give me a hand.”Sandra nodded and made shooing gestures at the kid to get back as the rear door of the medevac raptor opened up, revealing the crowded bay.“Welcome to thekids,” Sandra said and then grinned. First non-colonial humans to ever board the ship. They should have baked a cake for ‘em.“Mike, this istime to be telling jokes!” Esther had said.“I’m not,” Mike said. “Wein space! Behind the moon! We’re on a ship and it’s huge!”Mike had forced himself not to close his eyes as the hanger had engulfed their ship while the pilot chattered away to someone else. Moments later, they were on an elevator, heading down to a…Esther couldn’t see. She couldn’t move her head. But Mike… Mike blinked. There were ships and men and women galore all running around and handling stuff… on one side there was a ship that looked like the one they were on, only with a lot more guns, then something that looked like an aerodynamic tank with wings and a turret.“This isMike breathed.“I know. The ceiling is stopping my heart with amazement,” Esther said.“I’m sorry,” Mike said, “But after you fell, they put you in this. I think they may be afraid you hurt your back or something.”“Myitches.”Mike looked around and then stretched out his finger to lightly scratch her nose.Several of the people chuckled at that and Esther’s sigh of relief.That made Mike feel better. As amazing as this was, he was still alone with Esther in a ship with a bunch of armed people and a robot. The fact that they laughed made them less…scary.And then the back hatch opened and several people came walking in with clothes that screamed “Doctor” and some of the soldiers did something to the stretcher that brought it free from the deck and lifted Esther up, transferring her to a wheeled gurney right outside the deck.Mike followed. They wereseparating him from Esther.Outside there was more stuff. What looked like a monorail brought a big package in from somewhere else, which was lowered onto a little flat-bed truck. There were lots of little bays that were divided from each other, some with ships in them, some empty. Above them there were platforms and pathways with what looked like a second level of bays. As they passed one bay, Mike blinked and stared.There was a giant robot in it. It must have been eight feet tall! Its frame was studded with what must have been weapons, while what looked like a place for a man to sit was open to the air, some mechanics doing incomprehensible things to its frame.Behind it, there wasthing, this one lower to the ground but longer, multiple legs and a turret on top of its body. It also had a space for a person open, but that looked more like a really cramped cockpit than anything else.Mike couldn’t stop staring…and then started laughing, a tinge of hysteria in his voice.“What is it, Mike?” Esther sounded concerned.“It’s…they’ve got big suits, likeMike said. “But the lady working on them, she’s using aor something like it. No magic lasers… just aBut soon enough they were in another part of the ship, one that screamed“Hang on, Ester, I think they’re going to try and help you.” Mike said as he held her hand.“I hope not, I mean, this ceiling is so much more interesting than the last one.”“You’re being sarcastic right?”“No, I’m trying to distract myself from the fact that Dad said I couldn’t go out tonight. We did, almost got eaten and now, if Dad asks “Did I go out…” I’m going to have to tell him I broke his orders worse than any kid in the history of man did.”“Oh c’mon!” Mike said. “They’re aliens.”“And would we have met the aliens if we had stayed home?”“We’re busted, aren’t we?”“Totally.”With that, a doctor came in (Mike didn’t know the language, but she shooed him away like a doctor would) and started pulling down some devices, putting them over Esther.She looked young to be a doctor, not to mention she was pregnant. That was weird. Ann’s mom had only worked until she got pregnant and then had quit her job at the school and even if she didn’t, this had to be a warship…so why was she here and not back on her planet?” Then another robot came stomping out to join the doctor as the girl-soldier who had been with them from the start pulled Mike back a little.“Until we get a blood sample and run an allergy test,” Madylan said. “We can’t risk any invasive treatments.”“Agreed.” Helix 7 said. Evidently, Helix was a pretty popular name among the cylons, Madylan thought again. Cylons only added numbers to their name to distinguish themselves from other members who had chosen the same name. According to Helix, the current custom was no more than 10 cylons to a name, but as their population increased, it expected a new policy to be put in place.“Well, let’s run the imager…and well, body is the same as ours… no sign of fractures or serious brain trauma. Some minor abrasions… let’s get them coated, the foam shouldn’t trigger an allergic reaction. We can get blood from there.” She nodded in approval. The Marines hadn’t been able to know for certain if anything they did might cause further injury and so had refrained from doing more than putting sterile gauze on them.Helix tilted its head. Madylan nodded.“I know, but seriously, what if they have a thing against needles? We can get what we need and wait for the rest until someone canthem. ”A swab of blood from one of her scratches made the girl hiss, but nothing worse. That was put into the sampler.“Okay, we can let her loose.” Madylan said and started undoing the smartfoam and other restraints.Shaking her head, Esther sat up on the bed, looking around at the doctor, the robot and the soldiers. She jabbered at the other kid for a moment, then ran over to him and took him by the arm where he tried to look protective.Madylan frowned slightly. Were they a pair? She quickly keyed in a request to the computer and it came back negative. Neither the blood nor the imager had shown any signs of pregnancy.After all, Madylan hadn’t been much older than those two when she’d had her first…