"For a while," Cottle hesitated, clearing his throat.
She raised her head at the strangled tone in his voice and turned to her stomach to watch him, straining her neck to see his face. His eyes were brimming with tears. Unable to reach him in another way, she awkwardly patted his socked foot with her free hand. "For a while...," she repeated coaxingly.
"For a while I hoped that the Cylons would blow the Galactica out of the sky. They had every opportunity. But they failed. Adama is a cunning old fox." He softly touched her head, as if reassuring her. "He'll live."
Thinking of Adama, she wondered if Jack had anyone to share his burden with, a companion like she had found in Bill. Did he have a place where he could let his guard down, a place to refill his energy? Humanity needed their CMO; humanity used him and drained him; and now he wanted out, desperate for rest, for peace.
It made sense.
"My life," he rumbled, "my life has become a chain of impossible crises. We've run out of supplies; basic things like bandages first. We replaced them with cloth."
She nodded, remembering it.
"But as soon as it was solved, the next crisis struck. There are more wounded and sick everyday," he said, "and there's less equipment and drugs to give them. There's no hope. This morning we ran out of penicillin." He hesitated, gauging her from under his furry brows with an unexpected hint of compassion.
She raised her brows at it, but he abruptly closed his mouth. Laura squinted at him, silently willing him to go on, but he looked away.
"No penicillin?" she prodded. It was such a basic antibiotic.
"The fact of the matter is," he said gruffly, "we are running out of everything. We replaced food with algae, but there's no easy fix for the lack of medication. Algae make a damn poor basis for penicillin. We are reverting back to medieval practices. Soon modern medicine will no longer be within the reach of humanity. My usefulness has expired. You don't need me any more."
She made a protesting sound. "Your job is not your life."
"But it is," he said. "Just like your job is your life. Only worse."
"Worse? How?" There was a hint of incredulity in her voice.
"These numbers on your white board..."
She stifled the thought he could soon be one of them. "What about them?"
There was a long pause.
"I know their names," he said.
YOU ARE READING
The Airlock
FanfictionCottle was one of the few people who appeared to be unaffected by the war. His unflappable discourtesy negated the Cylon threat, dismissing it as irrelevant, and patients drew strength from it. Laura knew she did. A weeping Cottle was disturbing o...
