The bridge is broken.

[youarefalling]

It was like the world was ending. It came complete with signs, and that same atmosphere of creeping terror so thick it was like you could reach out and run your hands through it. I have been here before. I should have seen the signs, read them correctly.

Since I arrived here I've felt that my sight is gone. It hasn't bothered me until now.

Why

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[madam_prez]

The events of the past week had shaken Laura as well, but she had remained firm in her faith. She didn't know why the Centurions had come here, and she was still afraid that there might be more, but she knew there had to be some reason for it.

She just wished she knew what it was.

She saw the man sitting outside the Compound in obvious despair and paused, looking down at him sympathetically. "Are you all right?" she asked.

[youarefalling]

"I don't know," I say, because the truth is that I don't. If I knew for sure that I wasn't all right, that would be one thing, but everything solid has gone from under me and now I'm not sure how I feel anymore.

I look up, and the woman is unfamiliar. I try to smile, and it feels horrible on my face. "I mean... yes, mostly. I'm not hurt."

[madam_prez]

"It's been a hard week for everyone," Laura remarked. "And there's more than one kind of injury."

She sat down beside him, looking at him curiously for a moment. "I'm Laura," she said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

[youarefalling]

"John." I smile thinly. "Hello, Laura. And no, not really. Not unless you can talk to God." I say the last with bitter humor; I'm not sure what good even that would do now. How exactly do you tell God that you're royally pissed off at Him?

[madam_prez]

"I'm not from Earth," Laura said. "I don't worship the same God that you do." She thought maybe she might find out more about the Earth god from talking to this man, though. "But I'm guessing that you and your God had a falling-out. Am I right?"

[youarefalling]

I had thought before that there was only one God. Now I have no idea. "You might say that," I say, shrugging. "He used to talk to me. Since I arrived here He's been silent." My mouth twists so hard it almost hurts.

"I think that perhaps He isn't here at all."

Which, in some ways, is even worse.

[madam_prez]

"It's been my observation," Laura said quietly, "that gods have all sorts of different ways of talking to people. And if you have faith in them, they won't abandon you."

[youarefalling]

"I had faith," I say. This is the closest I've come in months to being angry. Not at her. Maybe even not at Him. It's a pointless, directionless anger, and I know from experience that that kind can be the most destructive.

"Through everything. Through the end of the world, all the way to my own death. He gave me a purpose. It's gone now."

[madam_prez]

"Maybe you need to find a new purpose."

Laura continued to eye him curiously. "What happened?"

[youarefalling]

"In my world," I say, struggling to put my own feelings into words, something that hasn't been a struggle for me in so long, "there was a plan. Maybe not everyone could see it, but it made sense. Even in the end with the sky falling all around us it made sense." I take a breath and kick at the dirt.

"A week ago the sky fell here. I don't see any plan in it."

[madam_prez]

"There was a plan in my world, too," Laura told him. "The sky fell, but the gods had a plan for us, to save us. Some people doubted it, but it was real. And I think coming here was part of that plan. We're here to learn something, my people and I. Maybe that's why you're here, too."

[youarefalling]

I don't tell her that I think that sounds ridiculous, mostly because it doesn't. But something in me finds it hard to believe. Strange, when for so long that hasn't been an issue for me either.

Everything now is strange.

"So what do you think you're here to learn?"

[madam_prez]

Laura smiled. "Well, that's the tricky part. I'm not sure yet." She considered for a moment, and added, "I think we're here to learn more about Earth."

She didn't want to consider Kara's theory - that they were here to learn how to get along with the Cylons. That wasn't going to happen.

[youarefalling]

I return the smile, faintly. "That's the kind of thing that can take a long time to learn," I say. "Some people never do." And it kills them.

Though, to learn... to learn anything.

Maybe there's something in that.

[madam_prez]

"It's a big subject, that's for sure. But I'm learning more every day."

From this conversation, she had learned a little more about how the people of Earth felt about God. Or this person, anyway.

"In my world, Earth is a place of refuge promised to us by the gods. I admit I'm starting to think it's not much of a refuge after all.""

[youarefalling]

"In my world, Earth was a gift that people destroyed, out of greed and pride. God punished them for it." Except it wasn't so much punishment as the removal of the gift. It makes sense. If a child is purposefully breaking his toys, you take the toys away.

"Perhaps your Earth is different."