(no subject)
First in a series of Gaius Baltar's prison visitors. Baltar pov.
Just over 1,100 words. Gaius, Brother Adrian, and Head Six.
“’With Zeus leading them, they began to seed Gaia with life and Uranus with a swathe of stars. And, so they did, and when they looked down to see what they had done, Earth lacked only two things: man and beasts. And, on seeing that, Zeus summoned his two sons - Prometheus and Epimetheus. And then he bade Prometheus set to work, forming mankind in the image of the Gods-‘”
“I'm bored, Gaius.” Six's hand cupped his cheek and turned his head to her cold-hearted perfection. To her perfect skin, to her perfect blue eyes, and that perfect mouth that nuzzled his unwashed face.
“Why are you here?” Gaius asked bitterly, turning away, focusing on the fool with the book on the chair, who looked up and peered through the bars that separated them.
“I've come to offer comfort and succor,” Brother Adrian murmured, blushing behind his greasy glasses.
“What is it about you, Gaius?” Six asked, slipping her cold arm around his hunched shoulder. “Are you really so needy?” Her lips slicked down his cheek, while her hand played with his hair.
“That's very nice,” Gaius responded, “but, really, from where I'm sitting, isn't that a little impractical?”
“Faith in our Gods is never impractical,” Brother Adrian replied. His face lapsed into earnest and Gaius tried to suppress a sigh.
“He's right, Gaius,” Six sing-songed, hand straying to his pants. She toyed with the string that held them up, fingernails worrying the loosely tied knot. “You should know by now that Faith is God's will. Or in your terms, the catalyst in the crucible of belief.”
“Oh, that's rich,” Gaius spat, struggling to his feet and stepping away from his thin straw mattress, and that cold Six with her white dress and her blonde hair, and her plans and agendas that tossed him around like a ship in a storm. “What other nonsensical platitudes are you going to bore me with?”
Six's face grew hard. As hard and as cold as an alabaster statue. And just as beautiful and perfect.
Gaius sighed. Acquiesced. “Just say something 'real', please...?” Six blinked and Gaius imagined warn blood pumping through those porcelain veins, imagined the beat of her heart.
“You should use him. Bend his faith to your will.” She yawned and stretched, her long arms and legs making that ridiculously uncomfortable mattress look warm, seductive...inviting.
“Let faith become your guide,” the Brother intoned, his weak gaze following Gaius as he paced along all two hundred and seventy-six bars of his cell.
“How?” Gaius asked, turning to the Six on the mattress. “But, more imperatively, why?”
Brother Adrian came to a decision, closed his grubby-paged book and dragged his chair closer. “Brother, I can see you're conflicted,” he began, leaning forward as if addressing a friend. “Even a little confused...”
“How perspicacious of you,” Gaius said, hardly sparing him a glance.
“My mother once told me that only a fool would hide his faith behind intellect.”
Gaius blinked, rubbing sore eyes that watered under that persistent light. “Only a fool would think that faith is a substitute for vocation.”
Brother Adrian choked on an in-breath, and metaphysically reeled backwards, the victim of a king-hit.
Gaius stopped his pacing and raised a conciliatory hand. “I'm sorry, Brother. It's been so long since I had a vigorous discussion...any discussion, really.” He shrugged, and put on his best contrite face. “Is this really what you want?” He shot a glance at Six, curled sinuously upon his grubby mattress. There was the faintest hint of a smile upon her face.
“Where's my guarantee?” Gaius continued, turning his full attention to the man in front of him, voice heavy with accusation. “I believed in you once before...”
Brother Adrian blinked, fingers clutching his handwritten Book of Zeus with its copious underlinings, high-lightings and scrawled annotations, as if it was a lifeline. “It's true that I can only offer intangibles, but upon their complete acceptance comes the promise--”
“And with this promise, is it foolish of me to aspire to something more than this? Is something better even possible?” Gaius gripped the cell bars for added emphasis, and added the hangdog look he did so well, gaze sliding to the recumbent blonde of the knowing smile. “If you're here simply rehashing your wares, when are you you going to tell me that improvement is inevitable.”
Six tipped her head back and laughed, her red-lacquered fingers covering her mouth.
Brother Adrian considered then smiled. “Faith is merely a bridge that enables the unknown to become known. It's the first step towards belief.” He waved his space-pale hand at the cell, the bars, the mattress and the unseen God who watched him as one would watch a fly crawling up a wall. “The Gods love us, but they love us more when we strive to be perfect. Zeus ordered us to be made in His image but Prometheus could not make us complete. That's something we have to do for ourselves.”
“They're trying to improve you,” Six intoned. “Make you into a better man.”
Gaius flashed her a black look. “Before they kill me?”
“There's still time,” Brother Adrian said, voice bright with false reassurance, his hand stretching out to rest on the bars. “Embracing faith is the first step towards spiritual growth. Faith's acceptance enables a transforming illumination to enter the dim dark corners of the soul.” He opened his book, fingers flicking through the pages. “Yes, here... 'And, upon seeing the wonders therein, all will be revealed to the supplicant of the pure heart. He will trace the contours of Their faces, his lips shall sing Their words... and upon his complete surrender, he will revel in the joy of Their will.”
“See, Gaius?” Six purred, rolling onto her stomach, dress hitching up those long, long thighs. “With a little application...a little self-improvement... A man could go far with your talents...”
“So, I'll get to revel in joy?” Gaius asked, barely keeping the contempt from his voice.
Six patted the mattress in reply, the unspoken deferred payment for acquiescence and surrender.
“That's a compelling argument,” Gaius relented, stepping closer to the fool on the chair with his half-open book. Taking Brother Adrian's limp hand in both of his own, Gaius looked earnestly into that doltish face and squeezed the hand tightly, until Brother Adrian nodded, actively imbibing the sum total...of nothing.
“How can I help you? Brother Adrian asked, watery eyes lighting with a kind of fervor. He lifted his free hand and placed it on top of Gaius' own, the clammy promise of another soul's salvation.
Gaius looked furtively around his cell, then beckoned Brother Adrian closer with a nod, head dipping as Gaius sought his ear to whisper, “You, er, wouldn't have a cigarette on you, would you?”
xx
Just over 1,100 words. Gaius, Brother Adrian, and Head Six.
“’With Zeus leading them, they began to seed Gaia with life and Uranus with a swathe of stars. And, so they did, and when they looked down to see what they had done, Earth lacked only two things: man and beasts. And, on seeing that, Zeus summoned his two sons - Prometheus and Epimetheus. And then he bade Prometheus set to work, forming mankind in the image of the Gods-‘”
“I'm bored, Gaius.” Six's hand cupped his cheek and turned his head to her cold-hearted perfection. To her perfect skin, to her perfect blue eyes, and that perfect mouth that nuzzled his unwashed face.
“Why are you here?” Gaius asked bitterly, turning away, focusing on the fool with the book on the chair, who looked up and peered through the bars that separated them.
“I've come to offer comfort and succor,” Brother Adrian murmured, blushing behind his greasy glasses.
“What is it about you, Gaius?” Six asked, slipping her cold arm around his hunched shoulder. “Are you really so needy?” Her lips slicked down his cheek, while her hand played with his hair.
“That's very nice,” Gaius responded, “but, really, from where I'm sitting, isn't that a little impractical?”
“Faith in our Gods is never impractical,” Brother Adrian replied. His face lapsed into earnest and Gaius tried to suppress a sigh.
“He's right, Gaius,” Six sing-songed, hand straying to his pants. She toyed with the string that held them up, fingernails worrying the loosely tied knot. “You should know by now that Faith is God's will. Or in your terms, the catalyst in the crucible of belief.”
“Oh, that's rich,” Gaius spat, struggling to his feet and stepping away from his thin straw mattress, and that cold Six with her white dress and her blonde hair, and her plans and agendas that tossed him around like a ship in a storm. “What other nonsensical platitudes are you going to bore me with?”
Six's face grew hard. As hard and as cold as an alabaster statue. And just as beautiful and perfect.
Gaius sighed. Acquiesced. “Just say something 'real', please...?” Six blinked and Gaius imagined warn blood pumping through those porcelain veins, imagined the beat of her heart.
“You should use him. Bend his faith to your will.” She yawned and stretched, her long arms and legs making that ridiculously uncomfortable mattress look warm, seductive...inviting.
“Let faith become your guide,” the Brother intoned, his weak gaze following Gaius as he paced along all two hundred and seventy-six bars of his cell.
“How?” Gaius asked, turning to the Six on the mattress. “But, more imperatively, why?”
Brother Adrian came to a decision, closed his grubby-paged book and dragged his chair closer. “Brother, I can see you're conflicted,” he began, leaning forward as if addressing a friend. “Even a little confused...”
“How perspicacious of you,” Gaius said, hardly sparing him a glance.
“My mother once told me that only a fool would hide his faith behind intellect.”
Gaius blinked, rubbing sore eyes that watered under that persistent light. “Only a fool would think that faith is a substitute for vocation.”
Brother Adrian choked on an in-breath, and metaphysically reeled backwards, the victim of a king-hit.
Gaius stopped his pacing and raised a conciliatory hand. “I'm sorry, Brother. It's been so long since I had a vigorous discussion...any discussion, really.” He shrugged, and put on his best contrite face. “Is this really what you want?” He shot a glance at Six, curled sinuously upon his grubby mattress. There was the faintest hint of a smile upon her face.
“Where's my guarantee?” Gaius continued, turning his full attention to the man in front of him, voice heavy with accusation. “I believed in you once before...”
Brother Adrian blinked, fingers clutching his handwritten Book of Zeus with its copious underlinings, high-lightings and scrawled annotations, as if it was a lifeline. “It's true that I can only offer intangibles, but upon their complete acceptance comes the promise--”
“And with this promise, is it foolish of me to aspire to something more than this? Is something better even possible?” Gaius gripped the cell bars for added emphasis, and added the hangdog look he did so well, gaze sliding to the recumbent blonde of the knowing smile. “If you're here simply rehashing your wares, when are you you going to tell me that improvement is inevitable.”
Six tipped her head back and laughed, her red-lacquered fingers covering her mouth.
Brother Adrian considered then smiled. “Faith is merely a bridge that enables the unknown to become known. It's the first step towards belief.” He waved his space-pale hand at the cell, the bars, the mattress and the unseen God who watched him as one would watch a fly crawling up a wall. “The Gods love us, but they love us more when we strive to be perfect. Zeus ordered us to be made in His image but Prometheus could not make us complete. That's something we have to do for ourselves.”
“They're trying to improve you,” Six intoned. “Make you into a better man.”
Gaius flashed her a black look. “Before they kill me?”
“There's still time,” Brother Adrian said, voice bright with false reassurance, his hand stretching out to rest on the bars. “Embracing faith is the first step towards spiritual growth. Faith's acceptance enables a transforming illumination to enter the dim dark corners of the soul.” He opened his book, fingers flicking through the pages. “Yes, here... 'And, upon seeing the wonders therein, all will be revealed to the supplicant of the pure heart. He will trace the contours of Their faces, his lips shall sing Their words... and upon his complete surrender, he will revel in the joy of Their will.”
“See, Gaius?” Six purred, rolling onto her stomach, dress hitching up those long, long thighs. “With a little application...a little self-improvement... A man could go far with your talents...”
“So, I'll get to revel in joy?” Gaius asked, barely keeping the contempt from his voice.
Six patted the mattress in reply, the unspoken deferred payment for acquiescence and surrender.
“That's a compelling argument,” Gaius relented, stepping closer to the fool on the chair with his half-open book. Taking Brother Adrian's limp hand in both of his own, Gaius looked earnestly into that doltish face and squeezed the hand tightly, until Brother Adrian nodded, actively imbibing the sum total...of nothing.
“How can I help you? Brother Adrian asked, watery eyes lighting with a kind of fervor. He lifted his free hand and placed it on top of Gaius' own, the clammy promise of another soul's salvation.
Gaius looked furtively around his cell, then beckoned Brother Adrian closer with a nod, head dipping as Gaius sought his ear to whisper, “You, er, wouldn't have a cigarette on you, would you?”
xx