Caprica: Season 2 at Beginning of Line is brought to you with limited commercial interruption by Kossler Geminom Vodka.
Previously on Caprica:
A survivor of the MAGLEV bombing and former lover of Fidelia Fazekas asks the new Guatrau to return him to the soil. She does so, not knowing that he has no intention of dying at all. Clarice Willow helps a cylon, U98, get closer to the One True God by saving a human soul. (Episode One - posted 1/11/11)
Caprica Season 2, Episode 2: Prototype
By Juanita Martinez
“Leah, wake up.”
The voices are muffled by the opaque white liquid in which she is immersed. Instinctively she pushes her head above the surface and tries to gasp for air but cannot. Yet her body is not lacking oxygen due to the special properties of the liquid filling her lungs. It is the amniotic fluid of the “skin-job”, nutritional and sterile. Spasms of her diaphragm push it out. After a relieving first gasp, she replaces the liquid with air. Clutching the sides of the tank, she needs no assistance in the warm shallow regeneration pool, but to the right of her is her colleague and friend Megan Gale, and to the left Dr. Susan Murphy.
“Are you alive?”
The room is silent otherwise as Dr. Murphy waits for an answer from Leah. This single question is essential in confirming the transfer of the consciousness into the biological hybrid vessel. Had the human memories and consciousness not transferred or remained inactive, the default script would process this question and the output would always be “no”. Alternatively, any consciousness with an understanding of the language, regardless of any memory of the regeneration event, would always answer “yes”. Megan is relieved to see Leah nod several times. Still discombobulated, Leah remains speechless but seemingly with an understanding of what is going on around her.
Leah listens for any other information, and looks for clues in people's facial expressions.
“Your pulse is high, but this is to be expected considering what you are going through. All other metrics are within normal limits,” Susan says, with her eyes fixed on Leah's vitals on a handheld monitor.
Susan doesn't know exactly what to expect. The transfer of the consciousness data to the body has been performed just a few times and once, unsuccessfully. The heart stopped and the backup was not completely transferred. It was a devastating loss for the project. The memorial was held last Thursday. With the experience fresh in her mind, Susan clutches the handheld monitor until her fingers turn white.
“Don't try to speak just yet Leah,” she says. “Stay as relaxed as possible.”
Leah spits and swallows the remaining resurrection fluid sitting throughout her sinus and throat. It has a sweet, salty and metallic taste to it. The fluid was not formulated for taste; it's there to keep her new body alive. It's the lack of any familiar pleasurable taste to it that starts to make her nauseous and dizzy. Her wrists are held down by Susan and Megan. The sudden sensations of the physical world overwhelm her and she passes out.
“Her blood pressure is dropping!” Susan shouts.
Dr. Steven Fisher rushes to Leah's side and pushes Megan out of the way. Megan stumbles backwards toward the safety of a wall, covers her mouth and begins to cry. Gasps come from other people in the room looking on.
“It's all right. Her data is stored and stable!" Dr. Murphy shouts, although she is not particularly comforted by that. “It’s still within normal limits. Her pulse has normalized. She's fainted.”
Dr. Fisher commands Leah sternly, “Leah! Leah! Wake up!”
Leah opens her eyes again and takes a deep breath.
“We did it,” Leah says with a broad smile.
Loud cheers fill the room, and optimism returns. The project was never in danger of being canceled. One or two deaths wouldn’t do it, as Daniel Graystone was steadfast in reaching his goal. The real danger would be that volunteers were now in shorter supply.
Megan's heart sinks to her stomach. She rushes out of the room and vomits on the floor.
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Megan has been through this experience herself. The attending doctors have been studying her physiology since it occurred, and they have not informed her of any problems. As far as she knows, everything went as planned, but she doesn’t have access to her own data. She remembers the day Leah told her how brave she was and that regeneration is quite a major feat considering all that can go wrong. However, Megan still isn't so sure.
“I feel like I left something behind when I crossed over. Regardless of how small it was, it was still a part of me,” she tells her spiritual therapist the next day.
Megan also sees an assigned scientific psychotherapist from the project but does not feel comfortable telling her everything. Today's visit with Teela is particularly urgent, after witnessing Leah's resurrection, but you could not see that in Teela's eyes.
“What part of you did you think you left behind?” Teela asks.
Megan searches for the answer. “I simply don't know, I've been trying to figure it out for weeks. I'm just unsettled and I miss it -- I mean, I miss her, all the other parts of me.”
Teela sits back on her floor pillow, legs in lotus and reaches for a candle to light.
“Where did they go? Did they die?” Megan starts to panic and tear up.
Teela sets the burning candle in front of her and takes Megan's hands “Calm now, stare into the flame.”
Megan has no choice but to follow her lead, because any alternative would send her into a tailspin of panic.
“You must let go of those parts of yourself that are gone,” Teela counsels. “They do not belong to you, but to God. Your purpose here now is to serve others like you, to help them reach paradise. Who you were before must be abandoned. It is God's will."
Megan calms down and closes her eyes, but the anguish does not dissipate. She hopes that, in time, it will.
In the boardroom at Graystone industries, six silhouettes are visible during the top-secret presentation: Amanda Graystone, project leader; Cyrus Xander; Joseph Adama; Priyah Magnus; and Daniel Graystone.
“This is a major milestone in the project, Dr. Graystone,” says Dr. Susan Murphy, the project manager, as she concludes her presentation. “Now that Dr. Leah Collins has regenerated in the upgraded human body, she is a walking, talking, functional display of our product. More importantly, she has risked…and is still risking, her very own life. What better guarantee can you present to the customer, when the lives of our own staffers are dependent on the product? All doubts regarding safety will quickly diminish.”
Daniel Graystone reclines in his chair at the head of the table as those around him nod. Quite pleased with himself, he enjoys a brief moment, but then it's on to the next challenge. Daniel stands up and walks toward the other end of the table, running his fingers along the tops of each empty chair alongside him.
“Fascinating, and yes, no doubt it is what we originally set out to do, but can we really ensure unlimited regenerations per customer? The bodies will have to become mass produced. The storage facilities will become enormous, not to mention the energy requirements to keep the bodies alive and preserved”
Priyah chimes in, “We may have originally underestimated the scope of this. I mean, we are essentially selling immortality, and by definition, eternity. We must guarantee eternal and unlimited inventory.”
Daniel thinks to himself that he may very well be in the perfect business. By now Daniel has made it across the room and stopped at the glass window that runs from ceiling to floor, supported by a delicate structure of metal beams. Daniel touches the glass and it feels cold, an inherent property of its physical nature. He looks up at the clear sky.
He quickly turns around and gains the attention of his assistant, “We are going to need our best engineers on this project. Cyrus, arrange for me to meet with the team leader at Crichton Space Port tomorrow morning. I also want you to phone the Secretary of Agriculture and set up some tours. They are in the business of enabling life on a massive scale, are they not? As you can imagine, this has all been done before.”
“I feel like I left something behind when I crossed over. Regardless of how small it was, it was still a part of me,” she tells her spiritual therapist the next day.
Megan also sees an assigned scientific psychotherapist from the project but does not feel comfortable telling her everything. Today's visit with Teela is particularly urgent, after witnessing Leah's resurrection, but you could not see that in Teela's eyes.
“What part of you did you think you left behind?” Teela asks.
Megan searches for the answer. “I simply don't know, I've been trying to figure it out for weeks. I'm just unsettled and I miss it -- I mean, I miss her, all the other parts of me.”
Teela sits back on her floor pillow, legs in lotus and reaches for a candle to light.
“Where did they go? Did they die?” Megan starts to panic and tear up.
Teela sets the burning candle in front of her and takes Megan's hands “Calm now, stare into the flame.”
Megan has no choice but to follow her lead, because any alternative would send her into a tailspin of panic.
“You must let go of those parts of yourself that are gone,” Teela counsels. “They do not belong to you, but to God. Your purpose here now is to serve others like you, to help them reach paradise. Who you were before must be abandoned. It is God's will."
Megan calms down and closes her eyes, but the anguish does not dissipate. She hopes that, in time, it will.
In the boardroom at Graystone industries, six silhouettes are visible during the top-secret presentation: Amanda Graystone, project leader; Cyrus Xander; Joseph Adama; Priyah Magnus; and Daniel Graystone.
“This is a major milestone in the project, Dr. Graystone,” says Dr. Susan Murphy, the project manager, as she concludes her presentation. “Now that Dr. Leah Collins has regenerated in the upgraded human body, she is a walking, talking, functional display of our product. More importantly, she has risked…and is still risking, her very own life. What better guarantee can you present to the customer, when the lives of our own staffers are dependent on the product? All doubts regarding safety will quickly diminish.”
Daniel Graystone reclines in his chair at the head of the table as those around him nod. Quite pleased with himself, he enjoys a brief moment, but then it's on to the next challenge. Daniel stands up and walks toward the other end of the table, running his fingers along the tops of each empty chair alongside him.
“Fascinating, and yes, no doubt it is what we originally set out to do, but can we really ensure unlimited regenerations per customer? The bodies will have to become mass produced. The storage facilities will become enormous, not to mention the energy requirements to keep the bodies alive and preserved”
Priyah chimes in, “We may have originally underestimated the scope of this. I mean, we are essentially selling immortality, and by definition, eternity. We must guarantee eternal and unlimited inventory.”
Daniel thinks to himself that he may very well be in the perfect business. By now Daniel has made it across the room and stopped at the glass window that runs from ceiling to floor, supported by a delicate structure of metal beams. Daniel touches the glass and it feels cold, an inherent property of its physical nature. He looks up at the clear sky.
He quickly turns around and gains the attention of his assistant, “We are going to need our best engineers on this project. Cyrus, arrange for me to meet with the team leader at Crichton Space Port tomorrow morning. I also want you to phone the Secretary of Agriculture and set up some tours. They are in the business of enabling life on a massive scale, are they not? As you can imagine, this has all been done before.”
Caprica ©2010, Syfy. A Division of NBC Universal.
Beginning of Line is a fan site with no affiliation to Caprica, Syfy, or NBC Universal. You should totes know that.
And "Prototype" belongs to Juanita Martinez. No, the characters aren't hers, and she can't get paid for it, but if you want to reprint it anywhere, it'd be nice if you asked.
Beginning of Line is a fan site with no affiliation to Caprica, Syfy, or NBC Universal. You should totes know that.
And "Prototype" belongs to Juanita Martinez. No, the characters aren't hers, and she can't get paid for it, but if you want to reprint it anywhere, it'd be nice if you asked.