Battlestar Galactica Glen A. Larson

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Stop this rambling.'he thought.She's dead! Admit it toyourself. She has to be dead! There's no other
possibility.
Adama felt the tears well up in his eyes. Walking into thehouse, he didn't have to stop for the scanning
device, whichhad been reduced to a knobby lump of debris and dangled bya wire from a jagged hole in
the wall. The front door hunguncertainly from a single hinge. He went directly to the livingroom, to the
row of holographic photographs that had beenimplanted into a wall years ago. There was a single source
of light in the room, a rectangular candle with each of its twelvepermanent wicks ablaze. Each flame
represented one of thetwelve worlds, and Adama felt a momentary odd surge of joy when he saw they
all still burned, as if the candle were sayingto him that the colonies must, and will, survive.
He remembered the pleasure Ila had found in that candlewhen she had discovered it in a nearby town
bazaar. Shealways delighted in searching for bargains, and would oftengo too many uneconomical miles
out of her way and comeback arguing that her latest purchase was especiallyeconomical. The flickering
light from this special candle caststrange auras on the series of pictures she had so carefullyselected
before arranging for the laser procedure that made them part of the wall. There were photographs of the
entirefamily, he and Ila, Athena and Apollo and Zac. Zac. Hecould not bear now to look upon the eager
hopeful smile ofZac, nor could he examine the chronological half-circle ofphotos that traced Zac from
child to adult.
Adama recalled a recent conversation with his youngestson, one of the last talks they had had. Zac,
somewhat drunkfrom a glass of the unusually potent Libran wine whichalways tasted so mild but
provided such a heady kick, hadrevealed to his father his intention to eclipse Apollo. He saidhis whole
life was directed toward bettering his brother'sachievements. When Adama had begun to provide
soothingfatherly advice, Zac had interrupted him by telling him hesimply didn't understand.
"Father, all the time I was growing up, it was Apollo this and Apollo that, every second thing I heard
about was somebig heroic Apollo exploit. Well, okay, don't get me wrong.I'm just as proud of him as
you and Mom are, as Athena is,but don't you see we all have somebody we have to beat.Sometimes it's
just some idealized role model, sometimes it'ssomebody real. With me, it's Apollo. I love him, but I've
gotto beat him."
Adama had tried to convince Zac that there was more tolife than a stratified sense of competitiveness,
but the boywouldn't listen. He had left his son that night feeling a vague sense of failure. Had he invested
his children with a distortedambition to succeed? Or was it the war that fired up his heroicambitions?
Perhaps Adama had devoted so much of his lifeto the war, hardly taking note of his own considerable
achievements in it, that he had failed to give his progeny aproper perspective on life. Perhaps he had
made Zac andApollo, even Athena, pale copies of himself. All of them weregeared to perform heroic
acts, make important decisions, assume leadership as naturally as others went about dailytasks. Years
ago Adama himself had accepted suchresponsibilities as natural consequences of being his ownfather's
son. Was it possible that the cracks in a life devotedso completely to military matters would start
emerging in the third generation? No-he was being too hard on himself. Zacmay have been unreasonably
ambitious, but he was alsoyoung. Adama suspected that at the age of twenty-three hemight have been
similarly oriented toward success and just asenergetic in talking about his future hopes. And his other
children, Apollo and Athena, showed no signs of personal orpsychological problems. Apollo, combining
bravery withintelligence, was a fine fighter pilot, one of the best, andAthena's sharp-witted ability to
synthesize information inorder to come to a quick decision seemed to destine her foracommand post.
As he looked away from the pictures of his children,Adama realized that he was exaggerating Zac's
slightlybesotted declarations because of his own deep sorrow. Zachad just shown a natural, youthful [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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