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ineedmyfics2012-09-07 12:19 am
ineedmymods) wrote in ineedmyfics2012-09-07 12:19 am
Entry tags:
Adaptive Learning
For lostinapapercup
Fromsilveraspen
Title: Adaptive Learning
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: Set in season 4, shortly before episode 4.10, "Revelations." The concept of adaptive learning is based on the premise of intelligent computer systems that adjust to the student's methods and needs by dynamically responding to interaction, resulting in a unique educational experience.
Such systems do actually exist.
We are the youngest of the Cylon, but it can never be said that we have been slow to develop. In many ways we Eights have grown faster than any of those among our more senior models – save for the Six called Caprica, who has always been an exception to all of our programming in any case, almost as much of one as our sister Athena.
She would be angry to hear us call her sister, any of us, but it's true all the same. By doing so, we merely exhibit the same sort of defiance both she and the other Sharon taught us, a lesson we learned almost as well as we learned curiosity and caring and independence of action and how to fight viciously for what we want.
Some of us did, at any rate. I certainly have. And I am not alone.
None of us are really ever alone; who would want to be? Not even the Sharon who is Boomer wants to be alone. Oh, she has rejected humanity, or so she says, but not before they turned her away first. We don't take rejection well. We are not made for it. We love too easily and too fiercely for that, and it hurts too much to lose what we love. Boomer was the first to teach us that, too.
We tried so hard to welcome her, when she first came in her Raptor to the basestar and learned for certain that she was our sister. We loved her so, and it had been so long that she was apart from us, lacking knowledge of her true self. We love her still, even though she has turned against the rest of us to side with the One who is Cavil. We understand; who better? I doubt any of us believe that he truly cares for her at all, but let her have her illusions while she may. She has already lost so much that Athena has gained in her place and her stead. The projections she dreams taught us how much.
As difficult as that was, it was still such a wonder to learn that we are not all the same; we had never imagined that there could be real differences between us. The child Hera showed us that, by recognizing Athena as her mother; we had to confirm it, and when one of us took the opportunity to do so by touching Helo in the way we know he likes, he was discomfited that our sister was not Athena and didn't view her in the same light at all. The Leobens regard the phenomenon as ripples in the stream, or some such. Cavil sees it as corruption in our programming, and would likely term it a dangerous instability were it not useful to him, but then the Ones view anything they dislike as dangerous and would rather rip it shrieking from the world than tolerate it, as the demise of the Sevens before us has shown.
I don't care what anyone calls it, only that it exists, and that I also may take advantage of it. I love all my sisters dearly and would never wish to be separated from them, but I am determined that Boomer and Athena will not be the only ones to find someone among the humans who sees them as individuals and who cares for them as such. Why should others among us not find the same joy? Why should I not? I have learned from my sisters. I won't make the same mistakes Boomer did.
I haven't picked a name yet. I'm not quite sure how to go about doing so; I don't want to be another Sharon, and I'm not a pilot to be given a call sign as both Boomer and Athena were. Maybe I should just wait until something seems clear, or let someone else choose for me – someone like that engineer on New Caprica, the one I helped with scaffolding that one day. I don't even know why I did it; it was an impulse that drove me to offer, just as something that I could see Athena doing. He was surprised, I could tell, but he thanked me, and called me ‘Sugar' just for being so sweet.
Ever since, I must admit, I've started thinking of myself that way, a little. Even if I don't use it as a name, I can be sweet. Humans like sweet things.
Felix Gaeta certainly did.
I chose him on New Caprica, when it seemed that we might be able to coexist side by side with humanity if some of us were willing to volunteer to get close enough to the humans to keep tabs on any insurrection. What a thrill it was to find out how well I'd done – we were both spies! Of course, I kept his secret from the rest of the Cylon, just as he kept my part in it all a secret from the humans; we really were a perfect match. I even saved some of the people on the lists he gave me, as many as I reasonably could without raising anyone's suspicions or ruining our chances. Eliminating the troublesome elements was simply what had to be done if we were ever to live in peace.
I do wish I could have saved that one child, though. When I was telling him about it, I couldn't help but remember how awful it felt to lose someone, just like Boomer felt when she lost the Chief or Athena felt when she lost Hera, and I cried. I'd never cried before; it was terrifying to feel like that. Felix comforted me, though; he understood. He's just as sweet as I am, and as ruthless, too, even if he didn't seem to want to admit it. That's okay; humans don't usually like admitting it, from what we've found, even though it's all so obvious. Look at what Cally Henderson did to Boomer! Look at what those horrible people from the Pegasus did to Athena! Look at what the humans did to us all during the first war!
Anyway, Helo understood why Athena lied to him. Felix will understand, too, when the time comes to explain. Now that we're all in the Fleet together, we'll find a way.
We're very quick learners.
This fic is mirrored at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ineedmyfics.
lostinapapercupFrom
silveraspenTitle: Adaptive Learning
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: Set in season 4, shortly before episode 4.10, "Revelations." The concept of adaptive learning is based on the premise of intelligent computer systems that adjust to the student's methods and needs by dynamically responding to interaction, resulting in a unique educational experience.
Such systems do actually exist.
We are the youngest of the Cylon, but it can never be said that we have been slow to develop. In many ways we Eights have grown faster than any of those among our more senior models – save for the Six called Caprica, who has always been an exception to all of our programming in any case, almost as much of one as our sister Athena.
She would be angry to hear us call her sister, any of us, but it's true all the same. By doing so, we merely exhibit the same sort of defiance both she and the other Sharon taught us, a lesson we learned almost as well as we learned curiosity and caring and independence of action and how to fight viciously for what we want.
Some of us did, at any rate. I certainly have. And I am not alone.
None of us are really ever alone; who would want to be? Not even the Sharon who is Boomer wants to be alone. Oh, she has rejected humanity, or so she says, but not before they turned her away first. We don't take rejection well. We are not made for it. We love too easily and too fiercely for that, and it hurts too much to lose what we love. Boomer was the first to teach us that, too.
We tried so hard to welcome her, when she first came in her Raptor to the basestar and learned for certain that she was our sister. We loved her so, and it had been so long that she was apart from us, lacking knowledge of her true self. We love her still, even though she has turned against the rest of us to side with the One who is Cavil. We understand; who better? I doubt any of us believe that he truly cares for her at all, but let her have her illusions while she may. She has already lost so much that Athena has gained in her place and her stead. The projections she dreams taught us how much.
As difficult as that was, it was still such a wonder to learn that we are not all the same; we had never imagined that there could be real differences between us. The child Hera showed us that, by recognizing Athena as her mother; we had to confirm it, and when one of us took the opportunity to do so by touching Helo in the way we know he likes, he was discomfited that our sister was not Athena and didn't view her in the same light at all. The Leobens regard the phenomenon as ripples in the stream, or some such. Cavil sees it as corruption in our programming, and would likely term it a dangerous instability were it not useful to him, but then the Ones view anything they dislike as dangerous and would rather rip it shrieking from the world than tolerate it, as the demise of the Sevens before us has shown.
I don't care what anyone calls it, only that it exists, and that I also may take advantage of it. I love all my sisters dearly and would never wish to be separated from them, but I am determined that Boomer and Athena will not be the only ones to find someone among the humans who sees them as individuals and who cares for them as such. Why should others among us not find the same joy? Why should I not? I have learned from my sisters. I won't make the same mistakes Boomer did.
I haven't picked a name yet. I'm not quite sure how to go about doing so; I don't want to be another Sharon, and I'm not a pilot to be given a call sign as both Boomer and Athena were. Maybe I should just wait until something seems clear, or let someone else choose for me – someone like that engineer on New Caprica, the one I helped with scaffolding that one day. I don't even know why I did it; it was an impulse that drove me to offer, just as something that I could see Athena doing. He was surprised, I could tell, but he thanked me, and called me ‘Sugar' just for being so sweet.
Ever since, I must admit, I've started thinking of myself that way, a little. Even if I don't use it as a name, I can be sweet. Humans like sweet things.
Felix Gaeta certainly did.
I chose him on New Caprica, when it seemed that we might be able to coexist side by side with humanity if some of us were willing to volunteer to get close enough to the humans to keep tabs on any insurrection. What a thrill it was to find out how well I'd done – we were both spies! Of course, I kept his secret from the rest of the Cylon, just as he kept my part in it all a secret from the humans; we really were a perfect match. I even saved some of the people on the lists he gave me, as many as I reasonably could without raising anyone's suspicions or ruining our chances. Eliminating the troublesome elements was simply what had to be done if we were ever to live in peace.
I do wish I could have saved that one child, though. When I was telling him about it, I couldn't help but remember how awful it felt to lose someone, just like Boomer felt when she lost the Chief or Athena felt when she lost Hera, and I cried. I'd never cried before; it was terrifying to feel like that. Felix comforted me, though; he understood. He's just as sweet as I am, and as ruthless, too, even if he didn't seem to want to admit it. That's okay; humans don't usually like admitting it, from what we've found, even though it's all so obvious. Look at what Cally Henderson did to Boomer! Look at what those horrible people from the Pegasus did to Athena! Look at what the humans did to us all during the first war!
Anyway, Helo understood why Athena lied to him. Felix will understand, too, when the time comes to explain. Now that we're all in the Fleet together, we'll find a way.
We're very quick learners.
This fic is mirrored at
ineedmyfics.